Contax T, anyone?

Hi Efix, glad to hear that you got your camera back. Enjoy it.

I didn't realise that there were any places that repaired Contax T's anymore. I have a camera with a mis-aligned rangefinder (both horizontal and vertical), but which is otherwise fine - I wonder if they could repair it?
 
sleepyhead said:
I will just add - I wonder how difficult it is to adjust the rangefinder myself?

Anyone have any experience?
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I was just going to suggets that. I am certain that somewhere in the deepest hidden basement compartments of rff you'll find the info you need, but I don't remember what thread I saw that information in.

An rf adjustment can probably be made anywhere, since you don't need spare parts for that. You can also download the Contax T repair manual somewhere, maybe do a Google search on it. But I think you have to pay for that.
 
I adjusted the Horizontal alignment on mine. Behind the wind on lever there is a little plug. Remove this and then you need a watchmakers size screwdriver. The adjustment screw is situated diagonal to the left towards the center of the camera. Shine a torch in there and you can see it. Took me about 2 minutes to adjust mine and now it is spot on.
 
Interesting camera. I have to admit, I'm torn on the lens. Probably my favorite compact auto exposure and I love it up close, but I'm not sold on it for distance shots yet. Maybe I need to run a roll of color.

First one is a bit of a center crop due to accessible locations:
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6794443624_327954f0b4_b.jpg
 
muf said:
I adjusted the Horizontal alignment on mine. Behind the wind on lever there is a little plug. Remove this and then you need a watchmakers size screwdriver. The adjustment screw is situated diagonal to the left towards the center of the camera. Shine a torch in there and you can see it. Took me about 2 minutes to adjust mine and now it is spot on.
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THANKS for this information - I'll try to adjust it myself!
 
Brian, if you want closer focusing, try the T2 or T3. The T3 focuses down to .3 meters, but has a different lens (a 35mm f/2.8 Sonnar). The T2 has the same lens as the T and focuses down to .7 meters. Both are AF, though, and the T3 especially is crazy expensive and hard to repair (like all old Contaxes).
 
I owned a T3 for a short while - I couldn't get along with the autofocus and went back to my Contax T, but the 35mm lens on the T3 is KILLLLLER. Better than the 38mm on the T, which is way above average.
 
sleepyhead said:
I owned a T3 for a short while - I couldn't get along with the autofocus and went back to my Contax T, but the 35mm lens on the T3 is KILLLLLER. Better than the 38mm on the T, which is way above average.
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Funny. I never got the impression the lens on my T3 was special. I sold it shortly after buying it. It was good but no better than my GR1v or TC-1 that I used to own. I don't rate it as highly as the Rollei AFM35 that I now own. I just don't understand all the fuss tbh.
 
With the lighter nights, and brighter days, I decided to put Rollei 80S in the T, rather than my staple XP2 super.

muf -thanks for the adjustment tip. i could tweak my vertical alignment slightly.
 
kram, I don't know if you're much of a colour shooter, but you should really try some low-speed colour film (preferrably slide film like Velvia 50 or Elite Chrome 100) in the T. That Zeiss lens does magic when it comes to colour ...
 
muf said:
I adjusted the Horizontal alignment on mine. Behind the wind on lever there is a little plug. Remove this and then you need a watchmakers size screwdriver. The adjustment screw is situated diagonal to the left towards the center of the camera. Shine a torch in there and you can see it. Took me about 2 minutes to adjust mine and now it is spot on.
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muf, thanks for this information.

I tried this adjustment today on one of my Contax T's with a rangefinder that's off.

I did as you wrote, but over to the left diagonally from the hole in the back of the camera was a yellow thing that moved when the shutter fired, and I couldn't see any screw. I poked around a bit with a torch, but couldn't get around that tiny yellow thing, and was afraid of doing damage.

I then removed the cameras top plate, hoping for better access, but there is no way to access the screw from the top without also removing the circuit board, so I stopped there.

I think I'll try again with another T I have and see if I can access the screw on that one.

Any and all advice is appreciated!
 
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To revive this thread, here's a recent picture of my black Contax T with the A14 flash unit attached:


Contax T + A14 Flash by efixphoto, on Flickr

I've decided I should finally give the flash a try, because otherwise the T is useless indoors (except of course with fast film, but I (almost) exclusively use it with Elite Chrome 100 slide film.)
 
This is un-f*@#ing-believable. My T has developed the same shutter fault (irregularly exposing too long or not at all) that I just had fixed for 200 € earlier this year.

Here's to hoping I can get it fixed again on warranty. Did this ever appen to anyone else? If they don't re-fix it on warranty, I'm not sure I'm going to invest more money in this camera ... I shot no more than five rolls in the past months. I don't think a just serviced camera should break down again after that ...

:bang:
 
That's really really annoying! Sorry to read it.
Good luck getting the T up and running again.


efix said:
This is un-f*@#ing-believable. My T has developed the same shutter fault (irregularly exposing too long or not at all) that I just had fixed for 200 € earlier this year.

Here's to hoping I can get it fixed again on warranty. Did this ever appen to anyone else? If they don't re-fix it on warranty, I'm not sure I'm going to invest more money in this camera ... I shot no more than five rolls in the past months. I don't think a just serviced camera should break down again after that ...

:bang:
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I called the place that repaired my T, and they told me to send it in again. The warranty on the repair was good until August (1/2 year, it was fixed in February), but they may fix it again free of charge once they had a look at it. I guess they want to make sure whether it's the same fault again, and/or whether it is related to their previous repair job.

Let's pray for the best ...
 
AAAARGH! The Contax T frustration continues. I got the camera back, allegedly repaired free of charge. However, now the shutter doesn't respond at all. Consistently.

How much worse can it get ... Sending it back, hoping there's still something that can be done ...

I guess I don't need to stress how frustrated I am ...
 
Quick update: after the camera has been with the repair people for weeks now, I recently inquired about the progress and they stated they had ordered a relay that controls the shutter, which apparently had caused the problems.

Let's pray it'll be fine when I get it back ...
 
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