As a Leica owner it is
easy to consider oneself as being on top of the heap as far as cameras go. That is not incorrect. As a whole,
cameras and lenses, nobody currently makes anything better than Leica, but they
are not as alone as many of us like to believe.
I have written is the past
about a few cameras that were definitely equal to the Leica, like the Alpa or
the short lived Kodak Ektra, for instance.
But nothing has ever been able to match the Zeiss Contarex
Electronic. Not that is was capable to
outperform the Leica cameras that were made at the same time, but in overall capabilities,
nothing ever matched that camera.
Many of us are familiar
with the Leica Reflex cameras, starting with the original Leicaflex from 1964. It evolved to the Leicaflex SL and finally
the Leicaflex SL2. All were extremely
well made cameras with an outstanding line of lenses. As far as overall results go, nothing could
perform any better.
Leicaflex Standard
Leicaflex SL
Leicaflex SL2
One of the main reasons
for the overall performance capabilities of Leica equipment is the extremely
tight tolerances that Leica has always applied in the manufacture of their
cameras and lenses. While no camera and
no lens will ever be able to as good as the ideal, it is necessary to try to
come as close to that ideal to assure the best possible performance. In this regard there is very little that can
compete with Leica.
© Somerville
The Zeiss Contarex cameras
were such a line of camera. They applied
the same or similar tight tolerances to their cameras and lenses as Leica
did. The crowning achievement of Zeiss cameras
started with the original Zeiss Contarex 1 from 1960.
It was the so-called Cyclops
model, characterized by the external ligthmeter, mounted above the lens. It was a big, heavy, extremely well made
camera, and until the Leicaflex Standard was introduced in 1964, it was without
question the Best SLR camera available.
That camera evolved to the
Contarex Super in 1966 with the main difference being the through the lens
metering system.
The final version was the
Contarex Electronic. The
development of this camera started at the time of the introduction of the
Contarex Super and both cameras remained in production until 1974 when Zeiss
ended camera production.
At its time, there simply
was nothing that could match the overall capabilities of the camera. Besides standard features like through the
lens metering, the camera also offered interchangeable focusing screens, motor
drive, even a 250 exposure back. While
these are features that were also offered by other manufacturers, one exclusive
were interchangeable film backs, not unlike what was standard with may medium format
cameras.
While no SLR at that time
offered automatic exposure control with through the lens metering, the Contarex
super Electronic did offer an external metering unit which could be added to automatically
control exposure of the camera in an aperture control mode. It would meter the light intensity though its
own lens. The unit was attached to the
camera with a cable.
These exclusive features
resulted in me selling the most sophisticated camera system ever to the
University of Minnesota. One of their
departments contacted me with a special request.
They often had guest
lecturers which used slides during their presentations. The idea was to copy the slides while they
were being projected during the lecture without any interruptions.
That required automatic exposure control to compensate for different
densities of the slides. They modified a projector and devised a
beam splitter which allowed the camera, equipped
with a 50mm f/2 Zeiss Planar and a bellows to focus directly on the
transparency while it was projected. However, the automatic
exposure control unit could not be part of the ligthpath. Instead it was positioned close to the
projection screen and connected via a cable to the camera. A 250 exposure back allowed a large number of
exposures to be made without the need to reload the camera.
Another claim to fame for
the Contarex Super was that it was the first camera to be used in outer
space. Several cameras, including Leicas
had been used inside the space craft during orbit, but none ever outside in
open space.
This occurred during the
first American spacewalk by Ed White. He
had been given an experimental maneuvering device which consisted of a
propellant tank attached to a handgrip and a crossbar with small jet nozzles at
each end. The camera was mounted in the
middle, on top of this device. The maneuvering
unit turned out to be a failure, but the camera functioned flawlessly.
With all of the Leica equipment that I have owned and used over the years, I still miss the Contarex 1 that I owned for a few years. The only reason why I sold it was the unfortunate fact that Zeiss decided in 1974 to leave the camera market. The Zeiss labeled cameras that followed were all made in Japan buy another manufacturer. While those were very nice camera in their own right, none ever approached the overall quality of the Contarex line of cameras.
With all of the Leica equipment that I have owned and used over the years, I still miss the Contarex 1 that I owned for a few years. The only reason why I sold it was the unfortunate fact that Zeiss decided in 1974 to leave the camera market. The Zeiss labeled cameras that followed were all made in Japan buy another manufacturer. While those were very nice camera in their own right, none ever approached the overall quality of the Contarex line of cameras.
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A brief of history of king of camera of its time. Its really help me to understand the history of camera. How technology changes day by day. I really cannot imagine that how really technology effect the camera sector. It’s really wonderful to go back in time and how was the camera in early days. In those days these cameras were really influential. I am really amazed by the look and view of those camera. They were really special of their generation. Thank you for sharing this important info. I will suggest my every friend to look at this. Thanks.
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