Contax Authorized Repairs

Hello,

the data about SamCa are:

SAMCA (S.N.C.)
RIPARAZIONI MACCHINE FOTOGRAFICHE
Via Dei Landi 15/R
I-16151 Genova (Italy)

Phone: +39 (0)10 412237

The owners are Messrs. Luigi Sammartini and Luigi Casanova. I don't think that the two old gentlemen would use any email though.

An interesting interview to the owners of this repair laboratory was published in "Scatti nel Tempo", April 2004, pages 50-53. The .pdf can be downloaded at http://www.scattineltempo.it/doc/SNT_APRILE_2004.pdf

Best wishes,

Enzo
 
Contax Repairs

Contax Repairs

What are we going to do when all these old gentlemen retire and no longer repair Contaxes. When I had my IIA serviced about 4 years ago, the repairer, who was in his late 70’s, said that was the last one he was going to do. I don’t think it is something you can teach yourself and it would be difficult to make a living from mending film cameras. My local man in Sussex, who does not do Contaxes, but is a fully trained film camera technician (Olympus UK), makes most of his money by removing the IR and AA filters from Nikon and Canon DSLR’s.
 
I agree: people seriously able to put their hands in a Contax (either II/III or IIa/IIIa) are fewr than in the past: most of those still operative are getting old.

On my last visit to SamCa (absolutely Worth to!), the two gentlemen clearly said that they tried to train young people looking for a serious job: they find some, they stay for a few months, then leave, looking for something else, in the consumer electronics branch. When they'll feel too tired to go on, they'll simply close and a treasure of knowledge, tools, etc. will be lost forever.
By the way, they were the official Leica repair laboratory, when the firm I. Cattaneo of Genoa was the official importer of Leica cameras and they had their technical training in Wetzlar.

It's a pity, but until such people are active, our cameras have a future.

E.L.
 
The other problem of course is spare parts. When I had my Leica M4 rebuilt over last winter, it needed a new mask for the rangefinder, as the old one was fungus contaminated. The repairer commented that I was getting his last one. He had had more on order for a long time from Leica but was still waiting. I have a dead Minox C, which is going to stay dead for lack of a circuit board and new shutter blades. I could probably get the shutter from a cannibalised camera but it was very common for the circuit boards to be damaged by corrosion from leaking mercury batteries and there are none left. This is what had happened to mine, as it had been left in a drawer with its PX27 battery in, after the shutter crashed. Luckily I still have a working Minox C as well, so not too worried.

Wilson
 
As frustrating as this is, I suspect digital gear will have an even shorter service life, because, like, you know, new is *always* better. :p
 
Just try to have serviced a 15 years old Olympus 1300XL digital camera...

At least, a nearly 80 years old Contax-II, besides being usually working, can be serviced and spare parts even made new (except curtains...).

E.L.
 
ToCad has stopped Contax repair.

ToCad has stopped Contax repair.

Effective April 1, 2015 ToCAD America will cease service of all Contax equipment.
 
Mimi said:
Effective April 1, 2015 ToCAD America will cease service of all Contax equipment.
Click to expand...

ALL international Contax/Yashica service partners have now quit servicing C/Y equipment under Kyocera contract, as even the last cameras in production are now past the 10 year service life for which Kyocera had to provide parts and repairs.

Not all of them will quit, they may still continue on their own. Tritec in Germany for example appear to handle repairs wherever they have parts. But the parts situation will now approach that for older cameras, where a increasing number of faults cannot be repaired any more (at least when going by the official manual).
 
It appears that remaing spares inventory has been taken out from dealers (Alpha in UK) and maybe Tocad in US and as well from Hamburg and shipped back to Japan (don't know if to be scrapped or what). Kyocera has closed the optical product line and even their contact email, so emails sent to them are denied directly.
Tritec in Germany still service but don't have many parts.
It seems using our Contax equipment might prove much harder in the future.
I am in need of a bayonet mount for my MM 28-70mm vario-sonnar, aftr getting negative answers from Tocad, Tritec (Germany), Alpha (UK) , Zeiss and Kyocera themselves. Might finally remove from another lense and send it to a custom laser-cutting business to measure in stainless steel
Best regards to all
 
robertofollia said:
It appears that remaing spares inventory has been taken out from dealers (Alpha in UK) and maybe Tocad in US and as well from Hamburg and shipped back to Japan (don't know if to be scrapped or what). Kyocera has closed the optical product line and even their contact email, so emails sent to them are denied directly.
Tritec in Germany still service but don't have many parts.
It seems using our Contax equipment might prove much harder in the future.
I am in need of a bayonet mount for my MM 28-70mm vario-sonnar, aftr getting negative answers from Tocad, Tritec (Germany), Alpha (UK) , Zeiss and Kyocera themselves. Might finally remove from another lense and send it to a custom laser-cutting business to measure in stainless steel
Best regards to all
Click to expand...

Thanks for the concise update, Roberto. Looks like any Contax users may have to go down the decidedly expensive route of buying multiple bodies and glass and also investing in the lesser seen Contax repair manual and brushing up on their soldering skills and precision screwdriver handling.
 
Well, found the bayonet part (an italian member from flickr had a dead 1,7 planar and sold me the part).
Anyway, there's something I find weird with all that kyocera/Zeiss nightmare.
When they were still trading I was told to send my lenses to Oberkochen (Zeiss), but they no longer support them.
Kyocera does not want to know anything and the former service centres have nothing available. but formerly they only dealt with cameras, not lenses, am I right?
Anyway, to make a long story short I found a workshop in Spain who was also a Contax service point who will be regulating and adjusting my Vario Sonnar as it is no longer sharp under 5,6 (has taken some bashing)
Shipping tomorrow. Will post the results once I have it back
main page:
http://www.iredfoto.com/
they deal with:
http://www.iredfoto.com/servicios.html

In Spain there were also different appointed dealers in MAdrid
Playmon (I used them 10 years ago servicing a dead RTS, came back nice but with no new light seals, otherwise, work was well done)
Playmon S.L
Servicios técnicos Fotograficos
C/Puerto Rico 8a, 28016 Madrid
Tlfno: 91 573 57 25 - - - 91 504 21 95
Fax 91 573 57 25

And these ones according to a list from "canonistas" forum

Talleres Pentaprisma - Madrid
C/ Isabel Tinteros,5 local 2
28005 Madrid
Tfno.: 91 354 05 67
Fax: 91 354 05 68
E-Mail: [email protected]

Prisma
Hortaleza, 23 -
28004 MADRID
TLF.: 91 521 51 36
FAX: 91 521 95 59

I might suggest creating a list of worldwide support centres who would be willing to care for our dear cameras and lenses in order to help other forum members.
Best regards
 
robertofollia said:
THANK YOU!!!! so much for this valuable input! So maybe they got hold of the remaining stock parts from Kyocera when they took all the parts located in Hamburg back to Japan.
This way I can stay safe and calm my dear little contaxes might continue to soldier on...
Best regards and thanks again
Click to expand...

glad this info was helpful. don't know anything about this place, other than their website says they service all contax cameras...
 
Well, some more news, I found this nice guy on the net
http://www.contax139.info/
He used for 30 years around his trusty 139 and knows loads about them. Agreed to fix my S2 as they share many parts, as well as the workhorse FX3.
My S2 was sent due to my absolute inability to take sharp pictures at full aperture (issue that had never been solved since 14 years ago after hundreds of euros spent in Spain and in Germany offical service) and because meter stopped working.
Peter did a wonderful service. Dismantled camera completely, removed viewfinder rotten foam, diagnosed meter problem due to loose rivet in battery compartment and... found the mirror box was... loose!!!!
camera came feeling new.
So if you have a S2, 139q, 159MM or yashica FX3, don't hesitate to drop a line to Peter, in the UK.
Best regards to all
 
Roberto, thanks for this update to the thread. I'm glad you found Peter and he was able to get your cams back up to spec. His analytical skills are clearly top notch -- determining that a loose rivet caused a meter problem? Impressive!

Selfishly, I'm still hoping to find someone similar in the U.S. so I don't have to pay "WOW!" shipping fees that could total more than the repair itself.
 
Hi Scott,
Thanks for your kind words.
You can't imagine how much money I wasted on bad repairmen (one in Barcelona and another one in Service centre in Germany). The german service cost 260 euros and camera came back exactly as it left home (out of focus pics under f 5,6)
Peter wrote a loong email with all faults he found (bent rewind shaft bush, out of shape film door corner, rotten foam, the dreaded battery box rivet -he might have diagnosed that with a multimeter, as there was not enough current flow, small defect in shutter blinds and... many loose bolts, that means no proper previous service).
I have put it to test with a repaired by me fungus free tamron 28mm f 2,5, in which I managed to get sharp results from raindrops on m car's windshield at full aperture!
short focal lenses almost always produced out of focus pics in my contax since 2002 (when the camera was just 7 years old)
But now it's back to full health.
Hope you can find somebody in the US (there's nippon photoclinic for the newer elctronic ones and the rest of the range)
Shipping is horrendous, but even worse is customs tax. Hadn't I found Peter, I would have sent my camera to Nippon's, and get a nice letter from customs Dept in Spain claiming vat and tax from an imported good... (which was not imported but bought new by me in Spain).
Best regards and good luck. Should I get some news about somebody in the US I will let you know

All the best
Robert
 
I just had my G2 serviced (for AF motor issues) by Nippon Photo Clinic in NYC and they were super courteous in communication, quick with the turn-around and fairly priced. I had to have a circuit board replaced as well and it was all taken care of for a digestible fee.

It was definitely a positive experience given how concerned I was that my camera was going to become a paperweight.
 
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