Contessa 35
Contessa 35 533/24 Second version of this classic folder image by ja1vbn (Image rights) |
Contessa was the name given to a family of 35mm film cameras produced by Zeiss Ikon in Stuttgart between 1950-1955 (folding) and 1960-1971 (non-folding). These were mid to high-end rangefinder/viewfinder cameras with fixed lens. The lens was generally a Tessar lens which produced very good pictures for the time.
The original name for the Contessa's camera design was 522/24 Ikonta 35 which was then changed to 533/24, with the old desingation going to the Contina for the lower-end cameras in 1954.
Folding Contessa
The Contessa 35 was designed by Hubert Nerwin, as part of the effort to rebuild the Zeiss Ikon name after WWII. Initially designed as a folding rangefinder, these variants were similar to the Super Ikonta's concept since they had that characteristic extra lens for the coupled rangefinder. Produced between 1950-1955 it was a high end 35mm folding rangefinder camera with catalog number 533/24. Zeiss Ikon took every detail into account for design and built, highly over-engineered by today's standard, inside and outside of the camera. It is not only the outside appearance, with lots of chrome used, very eye-pleasing design, a small foot that keeps the camera levelled when placed on a table, and a solid feel, but also the image quality, and the balance of the camera in the hands.
The Contessas were fitted with the 45mm/2.8 Zeiss-OptonTessar, with a 10 blade diaphragm closing to f/22. Tessar lenses are great performers even by today's standards, especially those marked Opton T* lenses which were coated. Uncoated lenses work best with a lens shade. These lenses are marked Zeiss-Opton because the West German part of the business couldn't use the name Carl Zeiss.
Rangefinder is coupled and has a base of 42mm, giving good precision for shooting at f/2.8 but better at f/8. Zeiss used a prism instead of a mirror, which has made them very long lasting.
Lightmeter is an uncoupled selenium meter placed on the corner of the camera, that covered a relatively wide range of EVs (7-13 @ISO 100). These lightmeters are simple, and rarely fail.
Shutters were either a Compur Rapid or a Synchro Compur, depending on the year of production, and the shutter must be cocked manually. A double exposure prevention is present, driven by the film sprocket cogs inside the camera. Film wind and rewind is done via wheels at the bottom of the camera, the film counter must be set manually to S when loading.
There were 2 iterations of this camera:
Zeiss Nbr | Model | Years | Lens | Shutter | Notes |
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533/24 | 35 | 1950-1953 | f2.8 45mm Tessar | Compur Rapid B-1-2-5-10-25-50-100-250-500 |
X synch |
533/24 | 35 | 1953-1955 | f2.8 45mm Tessar | Synchro Compur B-1-2-5-10-25-50-100-250-500 |
MX synch, selftimer |
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2nd version Contessa 35 (533/24) by Süleyman Demir |
The non-folding Contessas
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Between 1960-1970 the name Contessa was used again for a family of fixed lens non-folding cameras that included Contessa, Contessamatic and Contessamat. Initially the same name and catalog number as the folding camera was used, but later it was changed to a new catalog number.
The models showed the evolution in design, internal and external, with the letter E (entfernungsmesser) added to the name of the cameras to indicate the presence of a rangefinder. These cameras are of a modern design, with rapid film advance, coupled lightmeter and very informative viewfinders. Initially, they came with a Tessar 50/2.8 lens and lightmeter coupled with the shutter which is of the Prontor family.
In the mid-60s the Contessamat line came in production, these cameras had a speed priority system that allowed for an AUTO operation. The viewfinder showed the aperture and red marks for over/under exposure. The lens was a Color-Pantar 45/2.8 or a Tessar 50/2.8
Zeiss Nbr | Model | Years | Lens | Shutter | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
533/24 | 35 | 1960-1961 | f2.8 50mm Tessar | Prontor | range finder |
10.0632 | Contessa | 1960-1961 | f2.8 50mm Tessar | Pronto | view finder, low budget model[1] |
10.0637 | LK | 1963-1965 | f2.8 50mm Tessar | Prontor 500 LK (B,15-500) | view finder |
10.0638 | LKE | 1963-1965 | f2.8 50mm Tessar | Prontor 500 LK (B,15-500) | similar to LK but with range finder |
10.0639 | LBE | 1965-1967 | f2.8 50mm Tessar | Prontor 500 LK | range finder and flash aperture settings hot shoe for flash |
10.0634 | Contessamatic | 1960-1961 | f2.8 50mm Tessar | Prontor SLK (B,15-500) or Pr SLK Spezial (B,1-500) | viewfinder |
10.0645 | Contessamatic E | 1960-1963 | f2.8 50mm Tessar | Pr SLK Spezial (B,1-500) | range finder lightmeter reading in viewfinder |
Contessamat | 1964-1965 | f2.8 45mm Color Pantar | Prontormatic | viewfinder | |
10.0652 | Contessamat SBE | 1963-1967 | f2.8 50mm Tessar | Prontormatic 500SL (B,15-500) | rangefinder |
10.0654 | Contessamat SE | 1963-1965 | f2.8 45mm Color Pantar | Prontormatic 500 | rangefinder |
10.0656 | Contessamat STE | 1965 | f2.8 50mm Tessar | Prontormatic 500SL | rangefinder |
10.0351 | S-310 | 1971 | f2.8 40mm Tessar | Prontor 500 S | viewfinder |
10.0354 | S-312 | 1971 | f2.8 40mm Tessar | Prontor 500 S | similar to S-310 but with range finder |
At the end of the life of the West German Zeiss Ikon company, two very innovative cameras branding the name Contessa came to life, S310 and S312. These cameras were developed by Voigtländer and after the merger of the two companies came to the market under the Contessa S-31x and the Voigtländer VF 101 name simultaneously. Auto exposure control made them ideal for the new point-and-shoot market in the 1970s.
References
- Model List of all Zeiss Ikon 35mm cameras by Clayton Rye (archived)
- Something Zeiss to say (archived) A website about classic Zeiss Cameras by Greg Bedore
- Stephen Gandy's Notes on the Contessa 35
- Hubert Nerwin at the Zeiss Historical Society (archived)
Notes
Links
at www.collection-appareils.com by Sylvain Halgand (in French)
- Zeiss Ikon Contessa 35 and Zeiss Ikon Contessa 35 version 2
- Contessa 35 by Stephen Gandy at cameraquest
- Contessa
- Contessa LKE
- Contessa S310
- Zeiss Ikon Contessa Pages at Pacific Rim Camera
- Contessa 35 manual at Mike Butkus' orphancamera.org site
- Contessa LKE manual at Mike Butkus' orphancamera.org site
other