Zeiss Ikon

Zeiss Ikon is a German company that was formed in 1926 by the merger of four camera makers, and indeed the word Ikon came from Ica and Contessa-Nettel, two of the constituents in the merger. The other two companies were Ernemann and Goerz. The company was a part of the Carl Zeiss Foundation, another part being the optical company Carl Zeiss. Logically, most of the Zeiss Ikon cameras were equipped with Carl Zeiss lenses. Soon AG Hahn für Optik und Mechanik, Kassel, and Goerz Photochemisches Werk GmbH, Berlin, joined the Zeiss Ikon syndicate. It became one of the big companies in the phototechnical capital Dresden, with plants in Stuttgart and Berlin. Until WWII Zeiss Ikon was the world's market leading maker of 8mm movie cameras.

After World War II, Zeiss Ikon was reformed in West Germany, and trademark disputes followed with the part that was left in East Germany. Zeiss Ikon merged in the mid 1960s with Voigtländer, another important German manufacturer that was controlled by the Zeiss Foundation since 1956.

Zeiss Ikon ceased the production of cameras in 1972. It was a terrible shock for all the German camera industry. Parts of the Zeiss Ikon product line then went to Rollei, and part of the know-how was used to revive the Contax name in collaboration with the Japanese maker Yashica.

Today Carl Zeiss is reviving the Zeiss Ikon name. The new Zeiss Ikon camera, introduced at the 2004 Photokina show, is a rangefinder camera compatible with Leica M-mount, developed in Germany and built by Cosina in Japan (with lenses made in both Japan and Germany, like those for the Contax G1 and G2).

35mm

Interchangeable Lens Rangefinder

Dresden

• Contax I
• Contax II
• Contax III
• Nettax
• Tenax II

Stuttgart

• Contax IIa
• Contax IIIa

Fixed Lens

• Tenax I
• Contessa
• Contessamat
• Contina
• Ikonette
• Tenax Automatic

Folding

• Super Nettel
• Super Nettel II
• Ikonta 35
• Contina I / II
• Contessa 35

SLR

• Contaflex I (1953-1958)
• Contaflex II (1954-1959)
• Contaflex III (1956-1958)
• Contaflex IV (1956-1959)
• Contaflex Alpha (1957-1960)
• Contaflex Beta (1957-1958)
• Contaflex Prima (1959-1965)
• Contaflex Rapid (1958-1960)
• Contaflex Super (1959-1963)
• Contaflex Super (new) (1964-1966)
• Contaflex Super B (1962-1965)
• Contaflex Super BC (1965-1968)
• Contaflex S (1968-1971)
• Contaflex 126 (1967-1971)
• Contarex Bullseye (Cyclops)
• Contarex Professional
• Contarex Super

Together with Voigtländer:

• Icarex 35 (BM)
• Icarex 35 (TM)
• Icarex 35S (BM)
• Icarex 35S (TM)
• SL706

TLR

• Contaflex

120 film

Folding

• Nettar
• Nettar II
• Icarette
• Cocarette
• Ikonta
• Super Ikonta A
• Super Ikonta B
• Super Ikonta C
• Super Ikonta III
• Super Ikonta IV

TLR

• Ikoflex Ic
• Ikoflex II
• Ikoflex IIa
• Ikoflex III
• Ikoflex Favorit

Box

• Box Tengor

127 film

• Piccolette
• V.P. Icarette
• Kolibri
• Ikonta 3x4 (Baby Ikonta)

Other film

• Nixe A & B
• Baby Cocarette

Plate models

Folding bed

• Maximar A (6.5x9) & B (9x12)
• Ideal A (6.5x9) & B (9x12)
• Trona (9x12)
• Trix / Orix (10x15)
• Universal Juwel A (9x12) & B (13x18)

Strut folding

• Nettel
• Miroflex A (6.5x9) & B (9x12)

VEB Zeiss Ikon (Zeiss Ikon East)

35mm SLR

• Contax S
• Contax D or Pentacon
• Contax E or Pentacon E
• Contax F or Pentacon F
• Contax FB or Pentacon FB
• Contax FM or Pentacon FM
• Contax FBM or Pentacon FBM

35mm Fixed Lens

• Tenax I and Taxona

120 folder

• Ercona

Zeiss Ikon / Cosina

• Zeiss Ikon (rangefinder)
• Zeiss Ikon SW (viewfinder)

Links

• There is a short history of Zeiss Ikon at dresdner-kameras.de, see under "Firmen"
• Story of Zeiss Ikon at phototechnik-online.de by Gerd Jehmlich
• Listing under "Contax" are many Zeiss Ikon instruction manuals in PDF format (Adobe 5.0 required) and HTML versions that can be translated. Full manual scans with enlarged pages showing parts of the camera.
• Zeiss Ikon page at Collection G. Even's site