Repairing Contax Zeiss 50mm f1.4 lens

[ic-racer]

I have another Rollei 1.8 50mm in front of me. If I unscrew the whole front of the lens, it comes off and then 3 screws are visible, around the perimeter of the lens. Try unscrewing the whole front.

I had always thought the Contax and Rollei lenses just different in the mount, but perhaps the they are only the SAME in the optics and the style of the rubber rings. I saw a Contax 1.4 image on the net and sure enough, it does not have the screws on the focusing ring that are clearly visible on the Rollei version.

[mtjade2007]

Ice-racer, you are probably right. Contax 50mm 1.4 lens probably has the same design that the front barrel can be unscrewed off. I have tried to unscrew it but never made it so far. The problem is in tools. With bare hands it won't turn at all. The space on the front barrel is no wider than 5 mm. My hand simply could not have enough friction to turn it. I can not find a proper tool to try it. I actually bought a Micro-tools lens wrench. I bought the largest one they had. It is still not large enough. It is a 55 mm lens wrench. It needs to be something like 60 mm. I may need to build one myself. I am thinking of building one with hard wood. Any suggestions on this?

[ic-racer]

Have you tried a rubber 'jar opener' ?

[John Koehrer]

Set the lens to it's closest focus. This will give you a little bit more surface to grab. Check again for set screws that may have been hidden when the lens was at infinity.