Contaflex Shutter/Lens Assembly

Disassembly and reassembly

The Contaflex shutter/lens assembly has a reputation for being difficult to work on, especially the later versions. Some people will tell you not to even bother trying - well, that's not for me and I had no hesitation in trying to fix mine which had sticky slow speeds and lens surfaces in need of a clean.

What I'm showing here is the method of disassembly and reassembly of the shutter/lens assembly for a Contaflex Super. I believe the Contaflex III, IV and Rapid are similar though not exactly the same. It may be the later Contaflex Super B is also similar as all these models use a Synchro-Compur shutter. Later versions used a Synchro-Compur X and I don't know how similar they are.

Needless to say, anyone following this does so at their own risk.

Note that the pictures here were not necessarily taken in the correct order so some may show parts which the text suggests have already been removed and vice versa.

Probably the most common problem with the Contaflex shutter is sticky slow speeds caused by the slow speed escapement not running very well, if at all. Fortunately, this can be accessed through the front of the assembly and doesn't require the assembly to be removed from the camera. However, some problems, maybe a sticking shutter for instance, may require removal of the assembly from the camera. Here, I'm showing pictures with the assembly removed but it's up to you to decide if it's necessary or not. To remove the shutter/lens assembly from the camera, there are three screws accessible from inside the camera which will release the assembly. I don't have a picture to show here yet but I'll add one as soon as I can.

To access the shutter mechanism, remove the front lens element then the three screws which hold the front cover in place.

Underneath you'll find the bayonet mount which the front lens element bayonets into (also the auxilliary lenses which are available). The bayonet is held by four screws. Remove the screws and lift the bayonet off carefully without disturbing the shutter speed dial underneath. Also look out for the ball bearing which sits in the notches of the shutter speed selector lever. This may come away with the bayonet if there's sufficient grease to make it stick or it may be left behind. The shutter speed dial is now loose but, before lifting it away, note what speed is selected (or, alternatively, set it to 1/500 before starting). Now lift the shutter speed dial away and note the brass intermediate ring (that's what I'm calling it) underneath. This intermediate ring couples the shutter speed dial with the aperture dial such that, if the shutter speed is changed, the aperture also changes to retain the same exposure. This is achieved by a single gear mounted on the intermediate ring which engages both the shutter speed dial and the aperture dial. The intermediate ring itself also rotates to accomodate different exposures and, once the shutter speed dial has been lifted, if the intermediate ring is moved, you'll lose the synchronisation between the shutter speed dial and the aperture dial and the only way I know of getting this back, other than through trial and error, is to strip the rear of the shutter/lens assembly to realign everything - which is a right pain but see below if you have to do it.

So, mark the gear on the intermediate ring and the body of the assembly next to it so, if it does move (and it will), you can get it back to the same position.

Intermediate ring gear marked.

Having got the shutter speed dial out of the way, you be left with a black cover plate covering the shutter mechanism. To remove it requires removal of the lens element which is now exposed. This element simply unscrews but is locked into place by a tiny pin. This pin is mounted in a recess on the inner edge of the lens surround. It may be sealed.

The pin has a tab on it which can be rotated into a position where it can be gripped with tweezers. The pin simply pulls out. This allows the lens to be unscrewed which then allows the black cover plate to be removed.

Underneath, the shutter mechanism is still partially obscured by the shutter speed selector lever. To remove this, first remove the circlip around the lens mount then the lever. These are shown outlined in this picture. The green outline is the circlip.

What you should now have are parts removed like this.

With the shutter mechanism exposed, servicing can now be done. The following picture identifies the slow speed escapement (green), the self timer escapement (red) and the flash contacts (blue).

I'm not going to suggest how to service these parts as I'm still a novice on these particular shutters but note that anything you squirt, spray or otherwise apply to the shutter mechanism WILL end up on the shutter blades as they, when retracted, are immediately under the mechanism. You've been warned.

This may be all that is needed in which case, reassembly is the reverse of the above - just make sure the intermediate ring is back where it started before refitting the shutter speed dial and make sure the shutter speed dial is refitted with the same shutter speed set as it was before removing it.

There is one other thing I discovered which may be worth mentioning. If the shutter is stuck open, it may be possible to free it from the front without removing the whole assembly from the camera and disassembling the rear of the shutter. During my efforts, the shutter decided at one point to stick open. Nothing I did could persuade it to close. However, once I removed the back of the shutter, it only need a gentle nudge of the shutter spring to make the shutter shut and, ever since, it's been OK. Now it is possible to do this from the front. If you look at the picture below you'll see I've identified the shutter spring (I'm not sure this is the main shutter spring but it has something to do with closing the shutter).

Shutter spring from rear of shutter assembly

The end of the spring where it bends sharply towards the outer edge of the assembly can be seen from the front of the shutter through the slot which the lever that opens the shutter for viewing runs.

Shutter spring viewed from front of shutter

So, if the shutter is stuck open, it would be possible to nudge the spring from the front through the slot. Certainly worth a try considering the problems in removing the back of the shutter.

Hopefully, what follows won't be required but, as I also removed the back of the shutter/lens assembly I'm showing that here too.

If you just want to clean the rear lens element, the shutter/lens assembly can be removed and the rear lens element unscrewed and cleaned without any further disassembly. Note: I have seen it said that unscrewing the rear lens element upsets the lens alignment. I can't see how this might happen as the lens is firmly mounted and, as long as the lens is fully screwed back in afterwards, it should go back to it's original position. This might have have only applied to early Contaflex models though.

With the shutter/lens assembly off the camera, remove the rear lens element before attempting to remove the rear cover as it makes life easier. Set the aperture to f/5.6. Unscrew the four screws holding the rear cover (red in the picture below) and also loosen the screw holding the flash sync/self timer lever (green).

Lift the cover starting around the edge opposite the self timer lever and then slide it off the self timer lever (slackening the self timer lever makes it easier). As you lift the cover, watch out for the idler gear that sits between the aperture adjustment gear and the teeth around the inside edge of the intermediate ring, it may fall off.

With the cover removed you can then lift off the aperture dial. It's also possible to now lift off the intermediate ring but, to do so, it's first necessary to remove the aperture actuator mechanism. This is outlined in green in the following picture and is removed by removing the aperture return spring (in red) and then lifting the actuator off. This removes the obstruction of the end of the actuator which engages with the aperture dial. On mine, I removed the intermediate ring to clean inside it though I'm not sure it's improved the operation much.

I assume that further access to the shutter or aperture leaves would be from this side of the assembly but I never ventured that far as I didn't need to.

Reassembly of the shutter/lens assembly requires that the shutter speed dial and aperture dial along with the intermediate ring are all correctly aligned. This is how it's done.

Reassemble the front of the assembly first, at least refit the shutter speed dial and the bayonet to hold the shutter speed dial in place. Make sure the shutter speed dial is engaged into the shutter speed selector lever. Set the speed to 1/500.

At the rear of the assembly, rotate the intermediate ring until the end of the milled out section aligns with the edge of the notch in the assembly body as shown in the picture below (red). As a rough guide as to where the intermediate ring needs to be, look at the position of the teeth on it's inner edge releative to the position of where the idler gear sits (green).

To try and make this clearer (it's important) I've tried to show the position of the slot in the diagram below.

Now fit the aperture dial with f/22 aligned with the 1/500 on the shutter speed dial. Make sure the aperture dial sits down on the intermediate ring gear (yellow in above picture) and make sure the end of the aperture actuator engages with the slot on the aperture dial (blue in above picture). Now, carefully, adjust the aperture to f/5.6 and use two pieces of sticky tape to tape together the shutter speed dial and the aperture dial so that they don't move from this position. The cover can now be refitted. This can be difficult especially getting the flash connector up through it's slot. Other problems to watch for are the idler gear on the aperture control falling off it's spindle and the self timer lock lever not going back into position. Also, once the cover is on and the screws tightened, the aperture dial may seem reluctant to move. I never figured out why this is but it always happened. I found the best way was to refit the screws loosely, enough to stop the aperture dial from lifting away from the intermediate ring and then remove the sticky tape and to rotate the aperture dial, then tighten the screws a little more and rotate the aperture dial again. Keep doing this and it all seems to come together correctly. Finally refit the rear lens element.

Compared to the difficulty in actually doing it, the above sounds simple and I wouldn't recommend this to anyone without at least some experience of camera repair. But if you do it, hopefully this will save some of the hours I spent trying to work out how to get this apart and back together again.

Any comments or additional information welcome.

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