The first M42 mount camera...well not. The second maybe since this is the second model of the Contax SLR. This is the Contax D, and the first was the Contax S. Both are virtually similar models with the exception of the placement of the flash synch and other details. The S was from 1949. This one is 1950 or 1951.

 The Contax SLR was made by Carl Zeiss Jena, and was the first SLR which incorporated (fixed on the body) the pentaprism for eyelevel viewing. 35mm SLRs have been around, starting with the Exakta, for about 15 years when the Contax was introduced, but it was only at this time that the eyelevel finder became an integral part. The eylevel viewfinder made SLRs even more popular, and this Contax put the 35mm SLR one step closer to domination.

 The Contax SLR used the M42 screw mount first devised by KW. Contax then became Pentacon (Pentaprism Contax) after a trademark dispute with  Carl Zeiss West. This camera can still be used today with any M42 lens with manual, preset or manual-switch diaphragm lenses.

The M42 screw mount was considered at one time as the 'universal lens mount"- many camera makers used this mount fro their cameras and their lenses.  The only drawback which this system used is its limited abilities to lend itself to more automation.

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*Cameras courtesy of Zoilo “Yet” Andin.

1. SEAGULL 203

This is another offering from the Seagull Camera factory.  Like the more common Segull TLRs, this folding camera is a conglomeration of the best designs found in other folding cameras made by other manufacturers.  Its basic shape follows that of the Agfa Isolette and similar folding cameras.  But unlike the Isolettes, the Seagull 203 has coupled rangefinder focusing.   Zeiss also brought out folding cameras with coupled rangefinders, but they used separate wedges which stuck out off the lens board.  The Seagull used a far more compact and elegant system.

The Seagull 203 uses 120 film, and gives an option to select 12 6X6 or 16 6X4,5 exposures.  Film advance is by a lever, but there is no automatic stop.  Instead,  there are two red windows on the back to show how far to reel the film and  line up each frame.   The film gate has hinged masks to reduce the 6X6 cm square frame to 6X4,5 cm.   In some models of the Seagull 203, there is an exposure dial on the top plate to figure out exposures.

The lens found on this camera is the same as the lens found on the Seagull TLRs- the triplet “Haiou” 75mm.   However in this camera, the lens uses ‘front cell’ focusing (only the front element turns during focusing).  The focus is from 1 metre to infinity.  Fstops 3,5 to 22.

The shutter is a Compur-inspired three-blade leaf shutter.  Like the shutters found in many Chinese cameras, this one is timed to give exposure times of 1/300 to 1 second.   It also has a self-timer,  marked with a “V” on the shutter speed ring (the V mark follows the German style of indicating this function).  The advance lever is coupled to the shutter release to prevent double exposures.  The shutter has to be cocked manually before the shutter can fire.

The folding design allows the camera to fold into a neat package.  Its main weaknesses  are the potential loss of film to lens parallelism (the lens board is held up with metal struts which extend and collapse everytime the drawbridge door is opened or closed) and the potential of the cloth bellows to develop holes.  These are not unique to the Seagull- just about any folding camera is prone to these faults.

2. HONGMEI HM-1

This is another folding camera.  It has the same physical specs as the Seagull 203, and has the 12/16 exposure option too.  But the Hongmei (Red Plum) HM-1 is simplified.  No rangefinder, just an optical viewfinder. The shutter speeds range is 1/200 to 1/10 sec only.  The shutter has to be cocked manually before it can be fired.  There are also more visible plastic parts.

The optics is also a triplet, front-cell focusing lens.  Many have expressed concern about front cell focusing and say that it is inferior.  However, with cameras like this, sharpness is probably the least of concerns when using them.  This was the typical family camera in China in its day.

Its similarity with the Seagull is not surprising.  A lot of cameras manufactured in China were made by different factories.  These factories probably worked on the same  designs supplied by a central design bureau;  this resulted in cameras which were virtually alike, or else had the same specifications but with some modifications.

3. PEARL RIVER TLR

China made a lot of TLRs.  Most were patterned after, if not the exact clones, of the Seagull.  These were made  bydifferent factories. The Pearl River however is different.   Its features are significantly different- they were simplified.  There were several Pearl River cameras made.  This is the simpler one.

The lens used is also a  75mm f/3,5 Triplet.   There is absolutely no internal coupling between the film advance and the shutter. Each action has to be done separately and completely noted.  Just like with most of the camera which date from up to the 1930s.   The lack of coupled controls meant that either blank, or double exposures can result if the user forgets to wind or forgets that he forgot to wind, respectively.

The shutter is cocked by a lever before it can be tripped.  The shutter range is simplified- 1/250 to 1/25 sec only.  Film is advanced by knob, and has two red-film windows for  12 and 16 exposures.

4. SEAGULL -DF

Seagull started making 35mm SLRs in the 1970s.  The Seagull DF series was based on the Minolta SR-2 of 1958.  It used the Minolta bayonet mount, the same cloth focal plane shutter, and even the take up spool is the same. The DF even has a 58mm normal lens- a focal length popular for normal SLR lenses in the 1950s It is said that Minolta released the design to the Chinese in the 1970s.

Even the font used for “Seagull” on the logo appears to be similar to what Minolta used in their original logos.  ”DF” may stand for ‘dongfang’ ( “东方“）or “East”.

This camera will take in any Minolta MD mount manual focus lens. It is meter-less and do not require batteries to run.  Its shutter range is 1/1000 to 1 sec.  And uses FP and X PC connectors for flash as there is no hot shoe.  Make sure to select X when using modern electronic flash!.

The quality of this camera is rather high.  The operation is smooth and shutter is relatively quiet for mechanical SLR standards. The finish is quite fine and the fittings are perfect.  The viewfinder is also quite bright and snappy.

Seagull still make 35mm SLRs.  Their current crop are exact copies of the Minolta X350/X700 series.  Same lens mount, but lots of plastic body parts.  These newer Seagull has AE shutter priority feature.

Many Thanks to Yet Andin for allowing his cameras to be photographed and featured in this page!

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Today, the second batch of paRodinal I brewed in 2006 turned 5 years old.  Still in its original recycled HDPE bottle.  Half-full, and was stored in not-so-fair conditions: indoors, but not in the dark, and in unregulated tropical temperatures which reach about 35ºC or more in the summer.   The bottle has warped, perhaps due to the same reasons why ‘real’ rodinal plastic bottles warp in long-time storage: air depletion of sorts.

This was the second batch I made, the first being the trial one made according to the original Donald Qualls formula.  After using half of it, I decided to keep this as a control specimen, to see how long it will work, by keeping it half-full in a bottle, without special storage conditions.     The label of this solution is still clearly marked with its brewing date: 20 February 2006.   That’s 5 years to this day, 20 February 2011!  Another batch, made 5 months later was also kept as a control specimen.  This other concentrate was made with the modified paRodinal formula which I use now.  I will know by June if it kept as well as this one.  It appears it did.

Why the control batch?  One of [the 'real'] Rodinal’s advantages was longevity.   It has the unique ability to remain potent after years of storage even after it has been opened and partially used.  The other endearing qualities of Rodinal, like compensation and increased edge sharpness, have already been observed with paRodinal.   Longevity is the only quality left to be seen, and can only be appreciated after some years have passed.  Five years is fairly long enough.

To initially test this 5-year old concentrate’s potency, I subjected it to the “standard test” method I use for testing other paRodinal baths whose efficacy has become questionable:  by dabbing a bit of the concentrate on a piece of unexposed film.  The dabbed area, when the concentrate is good, will darken quickly, and turn black in about 2 seconds.    This is what I expect to see with freshly made paRodinal.   With this old concentrate, I did not expect much.  If the dabbed area did not darken, I wouldn’t have been surprised since the liquid was crusty and deep red-orange in appearance.

But to my surprise, the old concentrated darkened the dabbed area as quickly as the a new concentrate did:

Seeing this made me trust the old concentrated to be good enough to do some real developing.   I made a 1+50 solution and developed a roll of “Fomapan 400″ ,  for 11 minutes at 20ºC.    This is the standard time for Rodinal diluted in the same manner.  No extension or compensation of any sort for any perceived weakening of the developer due to aging was made.  The film was developed as if the concentrate was new.

The negative that emerged from the wash looked normal.  Not underdeveloped, as what should have been if the developer was already weak.   In just about every way, they look like the other negatives developed in developers made from newer concentrates. These are the photos from those negatives, which by the way were exposed in an Exakta VX SLR:

Seeing these results would indicate that paRodinal can indeed live long like the real Rodinal.  There was no precise scientific method used to test the real condition of the developer.  Just an observation made from what a 5 year old paRodinal concentrate was able to do.

I also checked on a bottle of Agfa Rodinal which still contains about 1/4 of its original volume.  It’s about 8 years old.  It has the same red-orange colour of paRodinal.

There are tales of finding 40 year-0ld Rodinal concentrates which still worked.  Only time will tell if paRodinal will also do the same.

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Kiev, and the Contax cameras they were patterned after, were great cameras.  Overengineered to give a certain amount of precision that you and your mum would love.  But the complex mechanism, so full of parts and movements, made it prone for more opportunities for failure.  For instance, the shutter.  The metal focal plane shutter used in Kiev had some distinct advantages over the Leica style double cloth type.  It will never burn pinholes.  It will likely to keep its timing better too.  But it had a serious weak point- the shutter run on fibre straps.  Brass slats running, pressing, and bearing on silk ribbons would soon wear the latter out, causing it to break.  Breakage is inevitable- wear, age, and even the climate will eventually kill the ribbons.  And often this breakage happens without warning.  The ribbons aren’t visible, so their state cannot be assessed easily.

It happens quickly too.  One moment the shutter winds and fires ok.  Then suddenly, the winding knob will turn heavier than it did just a few shots ago.  The shutter will fire with a different sound.  The ‘click’ no longer sounds complete- the closing sound that completes the cycle seems to be missing.  All indicators of shutter breakage.  And when you take off the camera’s back, this is what you’ll see- an empty gaping hole where the shutter once was:

The shutter can be wound. But instead of seeing an opening and closing blind, only one set seems to be moving.  Or none at all if the two ribbons broke.

Taking off the shutter cover/film gate plate will reveal what happened.  Expect to find one ribbon- usually the one on the right (next to the large gears), and its break approximately 1 – 3mm from its stitched end.  Sometimes two ribbons break.  Same place too.

In this camera, the two ribbons snapped.  The original material used by the factory – “Арсенал” in the Ukraine- was woven acetate. The two main concerns in ribbon replacement are, 1- the mechanical aspects of repair; and 2- getting the suitable material to replace the broken ribbons.  The latter involves using substitutes such as tailoring or ornamental ribbons, or camera straps from camera repair suppliers.  Many people have reported success with ordinary acetate ribbons.  However, getting one in the right width (3mm) and thickness is not easy.  The wrong size- such as being slightly over 3mm or thicker than what the shutter eyelets can let pass – can result in shutter failure.

The repair can be done without removing anything more than the shutter cover/film gate.  This camera was taken apart more extensively to allow other repairs like Rangefinder calibration.  In Kiev and Contax, the entire shutter assembly has to be removed for simple rangefinder adjustments like vertical or horizontal/infinity alignment.

Closer examination shows that the Ribbons in this shutter failed because of age and wear.

Note and memorise the positions of the original ribbons- where they were attached, and how.  Measure the distance between the folded ends attached to the spring loaded roller at the bottom and the upper shutter blind.  With broken ribbons, this might not be possible.   This is about 11 cms long.

The ribbon material chosen for this repair is a Japanese made material sourced from a camera repair supplier.  It is made of real habutae silk. Not acetate or rayon since the fibres don’t melt and fuse when put to a flame.  It is exactly 3mm wide, just what Kiev or Contax needs.  Real silk is smooth and strong, so it has the strength needed to withstand the shutter’s strain for some years. Silk is one of the strongest natural fibres.  It’s thinner though, but the eyelets on the shutter blinds which ride on the ribbons can be crimped a bit for the grip.

I have read somewhere that the ribbons used by Zeiss for the Contax was made in Japan.  This was before WWII.  The ribbon shown in the picture is described to be suitable for Contax shutters too.  So I added one to the other and tried to see if the ribbon would work. It did.  In my initial test, I actually fired the shutter 200 times.  At around 800, there was no frilling or any signs of deterioration, even when observed at 5X magnification.  Rick Oleson suggested  to me to test a possible material for suitability by firing (the shutter it’s on) at least a hundred times.  This one went through 800 cycles without showing any changes.  Two years later, the Kiev I put it in still works.

(I also used a locally sourced acetate ribbon for some of the Kiev shutters.  This also worked.  But it’s harder to insert it into the numerous shutter parts it has to snake through.  I’m also down to my last 2 metres and I can no longer find the same thing in the tailoring suppliers.)

Cut the ribbon to suitable length.   11 cm is the distance between the shutter blind and the roller, and a bit of extra length is needed for the folded ends.   I cut a small strip of card to serve as the measuring template.  This makes the cutting of this precious material efficient with minimal or no loss.

After cutting, the 10,8 span is marked.  Folds are made on these positions.

The ends of the ribbon strips should be treated with a dopey material like nailpolish or cyanoacrylate glue to seal the ends and make them stiffer for insertion.  The end which will be used for insertion should be tapered a bit.

Once the dope sets, trim to taper one end.  Then bend on the marks.  The folds should be 10.8 – 11 cms apart.  The folds will hook on the roller and the spring blinds at their respective ends.

Insert the ribbons through the rollers, then through the eyelets of the lower shutter blind, and pull out end for attachment to the upper shutter blind.  Make sure that both ribbons have the same length between the roller and the upper shutter blind.

The ribbons need to be glued, and then sewn to keep them in place. Use a figure-8 stitch for all four ends.

Turn the lower roller to reel in the lower shutter curtain and the newly attached ribbons.  The ribbons will wrap around the lower shutter blind.  Use the tensioning screw to turn the lower roller.

Once reeled in, begin tensioning the shutter.  Tensioning is going to be very very fiddly.  The location of the tensioning screw, its size, and the procedure needed can be taxing to your patience and sanity.   On top of that, the camera must be on its side, where there is nothing to keep it in that position.   The tensioning screw is held in place by a locking plate, which in turn is locked by a smaller setscrew.

Once you are able to pass through the hurdle of tensioning the shutter spring properly, you should be able to cock and fire the shutter.   There are actually a lot of parts involved- such as the synch switch actuating lever found on the lower left side (this can detain the lower shutter blind from going up), the catches and the long spring on the lower blind, the curtain separating ramps on the upper part of the film gate, and the large retaining hook on top.

The ribbon should look tight and should pull the lower curtain evenly.  The lower curtain shouldn’t just fall down when the shutter is fired. Instead it should glide on the ribbon downwards.  If it falls too quickly, the eyelets which hold on the ribbons are too loose and need to be crimped a bit.

There is actually more work involved in making the Kiev shutter work properly after the new ribbons are installed.  A lot of procedures in disassembly and reassembly, as well as accessing camera parts have been omitted here.  Such are not discussed in this article.  Refer to the links given above for more information.

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