I came very close to having a Contax IIa or IIIa restored by Henry just=20= because of the convincing and enthusiastic words on his website. The=20 exterior cosmetics of the two Contaxes (IIa and IIIa) I bought didn't=20= seem worth the expensive procedure Henry takes them through. Also the longer Zeiss lenses I biefly owned (4/85mm Triotar and 4/135mm=20= Sonnar) and the finder accessories didn't impress me compared to their=20= Leica SM equivalents. Zeiss chrome is not as good as that of Leitz and=20= the tolerances of moving parts (focussing) seems to be wider in Zeiss. =20= The interior and exterior bayonets of the Contax RF are a most peculiar=20= way of attaching lenses. The little focussing wheely for your right=20 index finger only works for the standard lenses in the interior=20 bayonet. All other lenses fit on the exterior bayonet and have to be=20 focussed in the "modern" way with your left hand on the lens. The other thing that kept me from moving ahead with building a Zeiss=20 Contax system was the price of the wide angle Biogons on EBAY. The=20 availability of new SC lenses from Voigtl=E4nder=20 (http://www.cameraquest.com./nrfVClens.htm) makes the issue worth=20 reconsidering. Anyone have a really clean IIa or IIIa (red dial !) with=20= Sonnar 1.5/50mm or Biogon 2.8/35mm for sale? Jan On Sunday, April 3, 2005, at 03:01 AM, FreeLists Mailing List Manager=20 wrote: > I am aware of Henry Scherer. His website has some > interesting things to say about the Contax. I gather than he > thinks many of them were never really tuned up to peak at > the factory. He obviously loves these cameras. > Richard Knoppow > Los Angeles, CA, USA > dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx