Contax IIA film takeup spool question

I have two Contax IIAs, one color dial and one black dial. They have different styles of takeup spools. One has a takeup spool which

requires you cut the leader on both sides so that a center thin tab (about half the original width of the film) remains. You then push this

through the spool and it bites and holds. You then tighten it up and close the back and you're done.

 

 

The other has a spool that uses a conventional leader with a tab at the bottom in which you tuck the bottom of the film leader. It holds too

and you close the back and then you are golden.

 

 

Both systems work. I was just curious about why the two different styles. Perhaps one is early and one late? One perhaps belongs in

another similar camera (like a contaflex or Kiev or something)? Any experts out there who would care to comment? Thanks.

 

 

As a p.s. my two M2's also have different systems. One uses a tuck in leader, and one has the M4 system with a 4 bladed leaf where you lay the fllm through the leaves (it's a KS15-4). So the idea that there could be two systems in the same camera isn't that weird. I'm just curious.

<p>The take-up spool with the slot in the center sounds as if it is not a genuine Contax item but is instead the spool out of a regular film cassette. I have 2 Contaxes and several Kievs - all have a spool which accepts a half-width leader on one side of the film.</p>

<p>Or perhaps that center-tab spool was originally from a Contax film magazine.</p>

<p>I think Mssrs. Bebbington & Shriver are correct, though posting photos of the spools would be very helpful. The 2nd type of spool sounds like the standard post-WWII Zeiss Ikon spool (also used for the Contarex); the spool should be black plastic with an angled slot for the film leader & a little hook/tab to catch a sprocket hole. A later post-WWII spool had 2 straight slots, a large 1 for the whole standard leader & another smaller slot next to it (I assumer for trimmed leaders). The spool for the pre-WWII Contax (& other 35mm cameras like the Tenax II, Super Nettel, & Nettax) was more like the later post-war spools, but was black metal & had a zig-zag slot on 1 side for inserting the whole standard leader & a small slit on the opposite side.</p>

<p>Ok, here is the first spool.</p><div></div>

<p>And here is the second</p><div></div>

<p>And here is a little camera porn</p><div></div>

<p>2nd spool looks as if it came from a metal reloadable cassette (maybe even a Zeiss one). Way back when, it was possible to buy 35mm film in darkroom reloads, these were 35mm film cut to a 36 exposure length but not in a cassette, just wrapped in black paper in a canister. The outer end of the film as supplied was trimmed to a center tongue which would have fitted the slot in spool 2, the other end (inside as supplied, but which finished up on the outside after you had wound the film into a cassette) was trimmed to a conventional leader. The center trimmed end had a punched hole in it which hooked over a pin in the center of the slot to hold the film and not let it come off again, so if you used this as a take-up spool intending to rewind the film into its original cassette after making all exposures, you would have to make sure to stop rewinding just before the end of the film, otherwise the end of the film with the hole would rip away from the pin. possibly straining the winding mechanism and releasing shards of film and causing scratching. Finding a Contax spool should not be too hard, one from a Kiev will do as well.</p>

I think I agree. I think someone wound from cassette to cassette and they ended up putting the center of the reloadable

cartridge back into the camera. It works, but it's a little irritating and you do have to be careful when rewinding. I notice

that KEH had a spool. Didn't look identical to mine but it was clearly designed as a takeup spool and it was cheap so I'll

try it.

 

 

Both these cameras made it through Henry Scherer's rebuld process. I'm surprised he didn't bring the spool up but these

cameras needed a lot of work. I dropped one of them 5 feet to concrete. The other one had a pretty rough viewfinder.

They're both perfect now.

<p>David, your first picture shows the plastic spool found in post-war Contax IIa's and IIIa's, and also found on Contaflex I, II, III and IV cameras too. Apparently Zeiss supplied a plastic spool for the Contax II and III from 1940 onwards, but I've never seen one. The second image shows a film cassette inset spool, but it looks remarkably like the ones in pre-war Leica FILCA cassettes.</p>

<p>The picture below shows some of my Contax spools, the two on the left are pre-WWII with the wavy slot, the one on the right is a Kiev type. All work fine on any Contax.</p><div></div>

<p>I go with Christopher Chen, I own two different types in my Contaxes as described above. All of my Contax spools have "Contax Made in Germany" on one of there sides written. Zeiss Ikon was using a similar proprietary cassette system like Leitz for many of there 35mm cameras before and after the war. It is very likely that over time these have been replaced by their first owners. There has also been a Zeiss Ikon film which had a very similar (if not the same) size. But they all should have Zeiss Ikon or Contax written on them (they were marketed as "the Contax Spool" in German).<br>

Here is a link from a Japanese collector / repairman showing some variety:<br>

http://www.cameraguild.jp/zeiss/aniline/spool.htm</p>

 

<p>Gawd, those are beautiful cameras!</p>

<p>They are beautiful. And the IIA and IIIA solve the crooked finger problem where you try to focus the 50mm without blocking the viewfinder. But having two different bayonets and two different ways of focusing was a little annoying. And they seem to be more difficult to maintain too. But the lenses are great and the IIA is very pleasant to use and a lot easier to load then my Leica IIIf. This failure to create a really ergonomic design was worse in the Contarex. </p>

<p>David, concerning the maintainance - just use them regulary and they will keep on going; I'm using the light meter on my Contax IIIa too, works still fine even with slides but it occasionally needs use (light coming in), only real problem I could see so far is the rangefinder prism if it doesn't give a clear image, obviously difficult to re-silver...<br>

same feelings about the Contarex.</p>