Vintage film cameras

[Kenzie]

Seagull is a Chinese brand. I have 201? Rangefinder but would love a tlr. Been trying to focus on buying film and shooting with what I have but just picked up a partly dismantled Contessa for £1.20 plus post.

[Kenzie]

Paging Doctor Zeiss....













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[johnnyrod]

Helloooo! But where's the top plate? You could print something I guess. Does it work? How did you come by that? The meter has two ranges, there is (should be) a knob on the top for the match-needle metering. The bright light range is with the flap down and is in green, you flip it up by pressing the side of the flap pivot and you get the low light range (green spot on the flap pivot now hidden - mnemonic). Not much else on the top, cold shoe and a film reminder disc. I see you have the red T (see after the "45mm" on the lens ring), I'm not sure of the difference but this is the top line Tessar lens.

Rollei film is supposed to be worth a look. How much is it all over there? When would you be going to Japan Kenzie?

Just got back from Spain yesterday, was a long difficult trip and I spoke more Spanish than I ever thought I had in me. Took not one shot with the K2 but about 150 or more with my phone, mainly copying documents for my dad. His flat is now horrendously noisy all night so got little sleep, need to catch up and then figure out what I'm doing next.

Kenzie I had a thought about your Certo, I'll see if I can clean up the mounting threads for the shutter onto the struts but failing that then it might be necessary to use basically a thick washer instead, will see how it goes, then try to sort out the collimation. I'd like to finish it, go over the Bessa, and get them back to you so I can look at something else, but every time I have a go, another obstacle comes along, like the knackered threads! I'm wondering if the parts are stainless, it can do that and feels familiar. Anyway will get there in the end.

[Kenzie]

Hey Johnny, hope you had a good trip. I have the top plate and a bag of bits for the camera including the cold shoe and bits of the rangefinder. The prisms have come apart but I cannot find how they fit back together. Haven't really looked at it properly yet. The shutter works, a little slow on the slower shutter speeds but top end is fairly snappy. Bellows are good too. Came with a case from West Yorkshire cameras for £1.20 plus post.

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[Kenzie]

Have made it usable. Can't see much in the viewfinder due to issues with the rangefinder but it should work. What is the significance of the red T?



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[johnnyrod]

You have quite a bargain there. Right now I don't know how to get the prisms back together, but it is possible, just a case of alignment, I think they are geared to the focus ring, and move in opposite directions. Do you get a rangefinder spot anyway? Does the meter work? Re. the red T, before about 1960 (this is a 50s camera) the red T denoted their premium lens coatings, the lens glass and formula is the same as the ones without the T. Is the glass clean? Also, yours is the Compur Rapid by the look of it, which is slightly older (a couple of years) than the Synchro Compur on mine. Both go to 1/500, the only real difference is yours is X sync only and mine has a now-pointless MX switch. After the war Zeiss made them all X synch as it was easier, unless they had the MX switch, so if you wanted to use flash bulbs you just had to use a slower speed i.e. longer than 20ms (1/50th second) so the shutter would still be open when the flash bulb lit up. Do some googling about the prisms, there won't be much but there'll be something I would think.

[Kenzie]

No, I get some weird sideways view. I can focus using the scale on the front. Meter doesn't respond. There is a couple of screws under the top plate that are stuck and I can't remove them to access the rest of the rangefinder, may have to drill the heads off. I have found enough screws to replace what's missing. Don't worry, I won't post it to you!
Would be around 2026 before Japan, would be our 20th anniversary.


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[johnnyrod]

Dead meters are not so uncommon, try sliding the cell back and forth though as they often have grotty contacts and this can clean them up a bit. If you can see a bright spot then that's a good start as the half-silvered mirror is still good - they also lose their abilities, especially with a bit of ham-fisted cleaning. Just cleaning up the VF/RF windows and mirrors really helps as I've found a lot of old cameras have fairly dim viewfinders, and a bit of dirt is the last straw. I've never worked on the rotating prisms but they are the same principle as with the Super Ikontas so maybe if you can't turn up much info for the Contessa then google for them instead. You're no stranger to scale focus though!

[Kenzie]

I think I will try shooting with it first then worry about fixing it over the Christmas break. The camera itself is in great condition, and I am amazed I got it so cheap. Quite enjoyed night tripping in Vegas, plenty of light. Didn't notice any damage caused by airport scanners thankfully.

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[johnnyrod]

At least check the collimation first, it sounds like it's been fiddled with, would be a shame to lose a roll just because of poor focus - we don't have the sunlight just now for f22 all the time! I noticed how shiny it is, mine needs a bit of Brasso or similar on the metal parts, but these things were made old skool, lots of paint and chrome plating.