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.

West Germany: Zeiss Ikon AG Stuttgart

After World War II Zeiss Ikon was split into a West-German and an East-German part. It was reformed in West Germany, and trademark disputes followed with the part that was left in East Germany. Stuttgart became the company's domicile. Zeiss Ikon merged in the mid 1960s with Voigtländer, another important German manufacturer that was controlled by the Zeiss Foundation since 1956. The product lines of Zeiss Ikon Stuttgart were different from the East German company's products. The Ikophot light meters were made in Stuttgart.

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.

East Germany: VEB Zeiss Ikon Dresden

Postwar production began early in May 1945. But it was interrupted because several factories were closed for dismantling their production machines. The machines were given as reparation to the soviet camera makers which had suffered demolition during the war. The production of the sophisticated Contax rangefinder cameras was prepared in Dresden and relaunched with new machines in Jena before all the machines were transferred to Soviet camera maker Kiev. In 1948 the East German part of Zeiss Ikon became state owned. Production and development of Ernemann projectors and movie cameras were continued from 1949. Camera production was continued in 1947 with the Tenax and the Ikonta models. Soon the company's stock of shutters was running out. In 1950 it decided to produce its own shutters. In 1948 the company could introduce its advanced SLR model, the Contax S. Since there were suits about trade mark names with the West-German Zeiss Ikon AG, VEB Zeiss Ikon was renamed to VEB Kinowerke Dresden in 1958. Later it became the main part of the East German combinate Pentacon.

After German reunification

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).

Zeiss Ikon History Timeline
Image by collectiblend.com

35mm

Interchangeable Lens Rangefinder

Dresden

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

Stuttgart

• Contax IIa
• Contax IIIa

Fixed Lens

• Contessa 35 (later models 1960-1973)
• Contessamatic, Contessamat
• Colora, Colora F
• Contina
• Continette
• Ikonette
• Symbolica
• Tenax Automatic
• Tenax I

Folding

• Contina I / II
• Contessa 35 (1950-1955)
• Ikonta 35 [1](Image rights)
• Super Nettel
• Super Nettel II

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" (or the "Cyclops")(1959-1966)
• 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
• Nettax
• Icarette
• Cocarette
• Ikonta
• Super Ikonta A
• Super Ikonta B
• Super Ikonta C
• Super Ikonta III
• Super Ikonta IV

TLR

• Ikoflex Ia
• Ikoflex Ib
• Ikoflex Ic
• Ikoflex II
• Ikoflex IIa
• Ikoflex III
• Ikoflex Favorit

Box

• Box Tengor

127 film

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

Other film

• Nixe A & B
• Baby Cocarette

Plate models

Folding bed

• Maximar A (6.5x9) & B (9x12)
• Ideal 250/3 (6.5 x 9cm)
• Ideal 250/7 (9 x 12cm)
• Ideal 250/9 (10 x 15cm)
• Ideal 250/11 (13 x 18cm)
• 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 / Ercona II

Zeiss Ikon / Cosina

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

Light Meters

Ikophot

• Ikophot

Links

In English:

• The Zeiss Historica Society
• Zeiss Contax Rangefinder Lens Price & Information Guide
• Zeiss Ikon section at www.retrography.com by Simon Simonsen, Denmark
• Zeiss Ikon instruction manuals in butkus.org's Library
• Zeiss Ikon Price Guide at CollectiBlend

In German:

• cameras of Zeiss-Ikon's predecessors at Klaus-Eckard Riess homepage [2]
• Company history at dresdner-kameras.de
• Story of Zeiss Ikon at phototechnik-online.de by Gerd Jehmlich
• Images of Zeiss Ikon cameras at www.amuseum.de

In French:

• Cameras and user manuals at www.collection-appareils.fr
• Zeiss Ikon page at Collection G. Even's site