Adjusting Focussing Barrel on Carl Zeiss 35-70 Vario Sonnar

[wilsonlaidlaw]

Does anyone have experience of adjusting the focussing/zoom barrel on the CZ 35-70 Vario Sonnar. Mine would focus beyond infinity and the distance readings were out all the way through. I sent it away and it has come back worse so that now the focus changes as I zoom even at infinity and will not even reach infinity focus at 70mm with the focus barrel on its stop. At 35mm it still focusses beyond infinity. I have found the adjustment screws under the rubber sleeve. Although I am good with small tools and have done many minor camera repairs in the past, in view of the high cost of this lens I would not want to start playing around unless someone can advise me what each of the three screws does.

 

[Andi]

Hi Wilson,
I had the same problem years ago. I sent it to Zeiss-Germany and it came back perfectly adjusted and cleaned like new. The costs were about 150 EUR. Where have you sent yours? If possible you should give it only to the authorized Zeiss subsidiary in the US (ask your local contax-dealer or have a look at

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). To my experience this is the only guarantee for a 100% repair-performance!
Best regards
Andreas

 

[wilsonlaidlaw]

Andreas,

I took the lens to the nearest specialist dealer to me in the UK who is = a Contax enthusiast (he uses an RX himself). He has a repairer who is apparently used to servicing Contax's and their lenses. My experience = with sending things to the main Contax agents in the UK (Kyocera/Yashica UK) = for repair/servicing has been very poor so that is a route I am reluctant to = go down again. The lens does not need cleaning but what I suspect may just = be a minor but very careful adjustment with quite a lot of trial and error = to get it absolutely right. I am prepared to put in the time and care but = want to know the methodology before I embark on the project.

Best regards

Wilson

 

[tbc]

Wilson, Seems that whoever fixed your 35-70 VS lens got the adjustment wrong! Why not ask them redo it?

 

[wilsonlaidlaw]

Tom, The man who did the adjustment has offered to have another go. However = it is about 45 minutes drive each way to get to the shop, which with = leaving and collection of the camera/lens means a total of three hours and about = 25 litres of super plus unleaded at horrendous UK prices. I lose the = camera for a week, with no guarantee that it is going to be any better when I = get it back. There's an old saying "If you want a job doing properly, do it yourself" and this is a maxim I intend to obey.

 

[tbc]

Hi Wilson, Your quote, "If you want a job doing properly, do it > yourself" and this is a maxim I intend to obey.> Makes a lot of sense. I would negotiate with him that at least the lens was usable to infinity (you lost some close focus) before, and now it is NOT usable for general picture taking. I would feel it reasonable that he refund your money. Best wishes.

 

[wolfgang]

Hi there!

These problems are very familiar to me. My lens had a "special" barrel, so it would have cost €600 to get it repaired. Zeiss Oberkochen told me that is the price, take it or forget it - and I forgot it and sold the lens on a "fleemarket" and got due to its fault only €350. I would never buy this lens.

Regards
Wolfgang

 

[singlo]

Hi Wilson,
My experience with Contax UK has been fine. But I don't think you can get it repaired cheap without warranty cover. They repaired my Aria two years ago. Recently my Contax AX was also sent to Contax UK for major malfunctions but they couldn't fix it. I thought it would be destined to be an expensive titanium doorstop.Then surpringly they forwarded it to Contax Germany (they have more expertise) and now I got my AX back working perfectly.