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My Aria has problems

dcphotos

Member
Hi all, glad to find the forum. My first 35mm camera was a Yashica FXd, I moved up to Contax lenses and eventually an Aria body.
I'm a photographer by trade, I shoot Nikon digital with my work. I have always shot a roll of film every now and then and want to start shooting more.

So I got the Aria out. On auto rewind it pulls the film after 5-6 shots. I turned that off and shot a test roll, had it processed by the good folks at Indie Film Lab(great process and scan service). No frames overlap but the advance isn't even and it seems that the stuff is all focused a few inches behind the point I focused. Not sure if the latter problem is a mirror/glass/mount issue or my eyes have gotten old.

Kyocera wants $175 to do a repair. Might go that route, but thinking about another body. I always wanted a RTS3 back in the day, still seems like more than I have to spend on this though.

I don't know enough about the ST, RX, 167mt and others. I have a tla 360 flash and would like for it to continue to function in ttl.

I also really like the design and idea of the AX, but I worry that it would malfunction sooner or later.

Any advice? Resources for used gear outside KEH and eBay?
 
All of the Japanese Contax cameras will start to malfunction at some stage, so like any digital camera, you'll have to accept that they'll stop working and won't be worth anything, or that the costs of fixing them will far exceed their value.

Unless you buy into the German Contax system, or Leica, Hasselblad, ArcaSwiss, etc then the cameras will have to be seen as disposable.

Nick
 
No, none of the "modern" Contax models from the 1970s onwards. They were a co-operative effort between Yashica (who were taken over by Kyocera, the Kyoto Ceramics Company), Zeiss Oberkochen, Porsche Design and Cosina. Cosina made the cameras and the majority of the lenses in Japan.

The classic Contaxes are the pre-war, and early post-war models from Zeiss.

Zeiss has started making rangefinders again, under the Zeiss Ikon brand, but this time using the Leica M bayonet, which means there's a vast range of suitable lenses available. Again, the bodies are made by Cosina in Japan, alongside the re-created Voigtländer (and Epson R-D1) brand.

This article from Wikipedia has a wealth of information on the various incarnations of the Contax brand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contax

Nick
 
Yeah those Zeiss rangefinders are nice, but pricey. I shoot my work digital, film is fun. My rangefinder is a Kiev 4a, I have the Helios 50 1.8 and the 35 2.8 for it and it's actually pretty nice. In face I tested it against a Contax 2a in mint condition and you can tell little difference in the optics.

I'm anxious for the ST to arrive. I got a lot of nice images with the Aria, working with those 3 lenses and film brings back memories of when I was using it and had great times.
 
I suspect the problem with electronic cameras is that parts such as circuit boards will get harder to find. I believe Kyocera guarantee parts etc until 2015, ten years after production ceased which is pretty good. I suppose they wanted to keep their options open in the future and so did not want to alienate photographers just in case. With mechanical cameras the rise of home 3d printing (so called replicators ) might mean we will be able to down load schematics for camera parts and make them ourselves at home
 
Good to see some discussion the forums! So do we just talk about cameras on this site or use them? I'll get to posting when I get my ST if it's the latter.

This is a photo taken of my dog with Aria/50 1.4/portra 160:

398983_4612239872440_1828073044_a.jpg


My pet donkey, Aria/135 2.8/portra:

419528_4612239352427_288993780_n.jpg
 
All of the Japanese Contax cameras will start to malfunction at some stage, so like any digital camera, you'll have to accept that they'll stop working and won't be worth anything, or that the costs of fixing them will far exceed their value.

Unless you buy into the German Contax system, or Leica, Hasselblad, ArcaSwiss, etc then the cameras will have to be seen as disposable.

Nick

And not just the Japanese Contax, any camera with electronics will eventually poop out, it's just a part of the price we pay. Best modern Contax for reliability would likely be, IMO, the S2 or S2b, which (apart from the meter) are all mechanical.
 
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