Lomopedia: Zeiss Contax I

Introduced by Zeiss Ikon of Dresden in 1932 and manufactured until 1936, the Contax I or original Contax was a 35 mm rangefinder camera designed with the goal of surpassing the then successful Leica II camera in mind.

According to Camera Quest, a statement from the 1934 Contax Brochure boasted of the Contax having "an entirely new design," its "very simple construction is quickly understood whereupon the numerous technical advantages will be found to allow of obtaining unexcelled results under all conditions."

The original Contax was noticeably different from its rival Leica II, sporting a die-cast alloy body with a vertically traveling metal focal plane shutter, similar to the ones found in Contessa-Nettel cameras. It also had interlocking black-finished brass slats, which were aligned by silk ribbons. Its lens, which was of Contax bayonet mount, was designed by Ludwig Bertele.

Zeiss made sure that their rangefinder camera would outdo Leica's features; the Contax was made to have a longer rangefinder, a faster top shutter speed of 1/1000, faster handling with a removable back for quicker film loading, and a quick bayonet lens mount rather than a thread mount.

Photos Taken with the Contax I

All information for this article was sourced from Wikipedia, Camera Quest, and Pacific Rim Camera.

geschrieben von plasticpopsicle am 2014-03-26 in #Ausrüstung #lomopedia #35mm #rangefinder #review #zeiss #rangefinder-camera #contax #lomopedia #contax-i