Contax F / Pentacon F

[Peltigera]

My newest purchase - the export version of the Contax F.  Test film is loaded but is having to wait until tomorrow.  All works well with no film so I have high hopes.  Shall be using it with my Super-Takumar 55 mm lens which I already know to be good.

[Stephen]

Nice camera, pity Pentacon went with the KW Practica for the mass market. With the Takumar it will of course behave itself as a Pentax!... pity Pancolors, Tessars and Oreston lenses are a bit pricey nowadays. The strong point of the Contax was the M42 mount, took everything.

Go easy with the shutter, wind on and set speed in sequence, and do not force anything if it jams, they can be temperamental, but my own is not, they can vary. A quality camera from Zeiss Dresden (East Germany).

[Peltigera]

Test film is back - not entirely good news. There is a light leak which I think is caused by a hole in the first shutter curtain  - it is not apparent when I take several pictures in a short time and is very apparent when there is a time delay between pictures. I leave the camera wound on with the shutter cocked which is why I think it is the first shutter curtain.  When I look at the shutter, it is clear that is has been worked on in the recent past. The brass strips between the two curtains are mostly black but with a shiny rivet in the middle.  I will have a better look with a torch this evening when it is dark.

[Stephen]

Classic tiny pinhole in the first blind, to find don't forget the obvious, the image it upside down, so lower edge right corner is the place to look. I usually use matt black cellulose car paint, it is tough and dries out completely, no risk of the stuff sticking the rolled shutter together. It also dries in a few minutes in warm conditions.

There are other things like black silicon gasket goo, which sticks well, and go off completely when set, but are more difficult to apply to the cloth.

With cellulose, you can add carbon black as well to the paint to make it denser, but I find matt black is enough. The car touch in paints these days are acrylic water based, and may not penetrate as well as the real cellulose. Halfords make tins of matt black, but expensive for a tiny amount.

An alternative is Humbrol enamel paint, from modellers shops(or Revell equivalent), which is soluble in cellulose thinners. They both do a dense matt black, and you can get a small tinlet.

Buy a small bottle of genuine cellulose thinners and add about 25 % to the paint. It aids penetration into the cloth and speeds drying, which is not so quick as car paint. It can take about 2-3 hours to dry completely, best left overnight in warmth.

Despite being paint, the paint is supported by the cloth weave, and although it may crack a bit in use, it should keep the light out.

Stephen.

[Stephen]

If a hole is big enough to be seen, then you can use superglue, one of the very thin types, to add to the area around the hole, and then glue in a patch of thin silk tape. But this is delicate work, and needs a lot of attention to not getting the glue where it is not needed! The patch can be applied with a slow setting superglue, some take up to two minutes to set. The whole repair are should be minimised as much as possible, so as not to leave a rigid patch that might affect the operation.

Stephen.