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Zeiss iKon Contaflex S Matic wire repair

Started Dec 10, 2021 | Discussions
SamMcD New Member • Posts: 3
Zeiss iKon Contaflex S Matic wire repair

Hi all I have just received my latest film camera. It's in very good condition overall and thankfully the shutter is snappy and not sticking. However there is one small blue wire that is loose of a terminal that I can see when the mirror is raised. I'm competent with a soldering iron but it's probably a bit deep inside the body. Does anyone have any ideas on the best way to go about re attaching this wire to it's post? Here are some photos. Thanks!

Blue wire clearly visible

ProfHankD
ProfHankD Veteran Member • Posts: 9,147
Re: Zeiss iKon Contaflex S Matic wire repair
1

SamMcD wrote:

Hi all I have just received my latest film camera. It's in very good condition overall and thankfully the shutter is snappy and not sticking. However there is one small blue wire that is loose of a terminal that I can see when the mirror is raised. I'm competent with a soldering iron but it's probably a bit deep inside the body. Does anyone have any ideas on the best way to go about re attaching this wire to it's post? Here are some photos. Thanks!

Blue wire clearly visible

Obviously, the correct answer is to open up the camera enough to get at it better, but with a decent soldering iron, I think this is directly do-able. I don't think you can strip the wire more, but tweezers and very careful soldering (maybe with a little flux on the wire tip) you can probably re-attach it.

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OP SamMcD New Member • Posts: 3
Re: Zeiss iKon Contaflex S Matic wire repair

Hi, thanks for the reply funnily enough I came to the same conclusion today and decided to give it a crack with a small pair of tweezers and my small iron. Success! I just melted about a millimeter of the insulation off as well so I could tin a bit more of the wire and get a decent contact. The light meter now works properly and selects the Aperture required for correct exposure as it should. Here's a photo of the repair I think it'll hold Nice. Just have to get a roll of film now! Does anyone have a fix for the battery door? Mine looks fine and the little clip is still there but it won't stay closed. This is with a mr9 cell. It will latch if there is no battery.

OP SamMcD New Member • Posts: 3
Re: Zeiss iKon Contaflex S Matic wire repair

I have just shot a test roll of film through using the light meter. I'll post samples once it's developed but I think everything went well. I just used a cheap roll of Kodak gold 200 I could get locally but that'll be good enough for a decent test.

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