Contax mirror slip
Ha[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]llo geordiefred,
thank you for your info. I have several Contax bodies, all loaded with different films, 137,139, RTS II, RTS III, 167, 159, RX, AX. Most of them show this mirror slip. Having experienced some other problems with some of these bodies, I can't understand how the reliability of Contax can be rated higher than the reliability of Leica. I have asked Kyocera to repair the slipped mirrors free of charge, as this is obviously an inherent default, caused by the choice of an unsuited adhesive for the mirror on its support, and a lacking mechanical stop preventing slipping. The answer was, that I can have it repaired, but at the usual charge. If it was only one body, I would have accepted this, but not for so many of them. So I helped myself in the following way: I put an aluminium disk of 41 mm diameter and 8mm thickness, backed by a 3 to 4 mm thick disk of elastic foam as used for packaging purposes into the bayonet cover, swept the mirror up by pressing exposure time T or B, and put the cover with the disks carefully in place. The face of the alu-disc contakting the front edge of the mirror should be very smooth. I had the disc made on a lathe. The idea is: when the tiny weight force of the mirror makes the mirror creep forward slowly over a long time, a larger force in the opposite direction should make it creep back faster. With the body laid on its back, and the mirror in the up position, the mirror is forced back by its own weight, by the weight of the alu-disc, and by the elastic force of the compressed foam-disc between alu-disc and bayonet-cover. I left the body undisturbed for several weeks, and when I looked, the mirror indeed had crept back, not quite to its original position, but far enough to avoid touching the lens in its movement. I applied a thin line of two-component epoxid-resin adhesive to the front of the mirror and its support to prevent it from creeping again. So far it has helped. One final remark: Anybody applying this procedure is doing so at his own risk!
Good luck
Echbeck16[/FONT]