|
|
Post by olddocfox on Sept 8, 2015 15:29:24 GMT -5
The Zeiss Ikon Dresden group introduced the C ontax Spieglereflex or Contax S at the St. Erik’s Fair in Stockholm, Sweden in the fall of 1948. It was an impressively innovative camera that introduced the pentaprism. For the first time, a 35 mm Single Lens Reflex could be used at eye-level and the viewfinder was free of the left-to-right reversal that plagued waist-level finders. The Contax S was lovely to look at and it introduced one of the longest lasting lens mounts. But there were serious flaws beneath that top cover. Read about this intriguing SLR and see lots more pictures of it by clicking on the link below the photograph.  Click here to read my PDF document (new link) |
|
|
|
Post by hannes on Sept 9, 2015 0:08:22 GMT -5
There's a problem with access rights, I'm not allowed to view
Hannes
|
|
|
|
Post by Rachel on Sept 9, 2015 7:29:10 GMT -5
Here is my Pentacon FM from the Contax S family of cameras. Flaws in the design there may have been but mine works fine even if the shutter is a little noisy.  It is fitted with semi-automatic CZJ Biotar f2/58mm Serial No 5632361. I also have a rather nice book on the Contax S Family of Cameras by Peter Dechert. |
|
Stephen
Lifetime Member
Still collecting.......
Posts: 2,718
|
Post by Stephen on Sept 9, 2015 12:44:48 GMT -5
I have a working one, It has never faltered, it is the Pentacon version.
On the strange flash contact in the tripod socket on the early ones, I think this matched a Zeiss "flash bar" that fitted the bottom, with a built in PC contact, and the bar had further threaded holes for the tripod. Rather than a odd mistake, it was more to get the user to buy the correct fit Zeiss flash bar!
Stephen.
|
|
|
|
Post by conan on Sept 21, 2015 3:18:03 GMT -5
This was the camera that ushered in the modern 35mm SLR era as its basic design elements are clearly seen in later East German and Japanese designs. It is truly a classic that indicated the direction of future SLR design.
The Contax S also caused Zeiss West to go down a path that would prove disastrous for much of the West German camera industry. Zeiss East found that the conventional Contax shutter would not fit in the design and adopted a conventional horizontal focal plane shutter. In this period Zeiss West and Zeiss East were already engaged in some serious ‘arguments’ over product names. Zeiss West were re engaging Leica and had constantly used the Leica shutter design to prove that the Contax shutter design was superior. Any similar camera from Zeiss West would be later to market and would me seen as second to the East Germans and an acknowledgement that the Leica conventional design was perhaps superior. Compur were already prototyping their new shutter design and Zeiss West jumped on it because it was a 35mm SLR that was different to the East Germans and did give not Leica a chance to ‘crow’. The between the lens design was later followed by Kodak, Voigtlander and Braun at a time when the Japanese camera invasion had started. The early sixties saw the market dominance of the horizontal focal plane shutter and proper interchangeable lenses whereas the Compur type SLRs could only be slightly revised. The German manufacturers reacted too little and too late. Voigtlander had been totally absorbed by Zeiss and their conventional design would appear later as the Zeiss Icarex, Kodak would show an advanced prototype Retinaflex conventional SLR in 1964 but ‘pulled the plug’ because it was too expensive to manufacture and would be more expensive than the Nikon F. Braun just gave up.
I have omitted the Contarex which is more a piece of engineering art for the sake of it and was a piece of very expensive male jewelry that preceded the gold chains era of the 80s. It was a product looking for a market that it never found and really was confirmation that Zeiss West did not understand the 35mm market.
|
|
hansz
Lifetime Member
Hans
Posts: 697
|
Post by hansz on Sept 21, 2015 8:25:10 GMT -5
Contarex? Agreed, but the Zeiss lenses it came with...  IMG_1662 by Hans de Groot, on Flickr Something between love and hate. |
|
Stephen
Lifetime Member
Still collecting.......
Posts: 2,718
|
Post by Stephen on Sept 21, 2015 10:19:35 GMT -5
What is rarely mentioned is the Pentacon developed vertical shutter, that could have fitted, with a squeeze, the far earlier Contax S.
The original Contax shutter could never have fitted a reflex, the top roller simply occupies the space where the screen and bottom face of the prism are.
The East Germans did try putting the top roller above or behind the shutter, but it then got in the way of the viewfinder, or produced a bulge on the camera back.
Flat fan or blade curtain shutters were are very new idea, Copal and Seiko in Japan developed versions, mechanical release at first, then by relay and electronics. But the East Germans had beaten them with the Practica version, and in several ways it was better designed. Copal's design took a while to settle down.
Practica shot themselves in the foot with the rest of the L series camera not matching the shutter quality.
In the 40's, when the Contax was designed, metal shutters were rare, only featuring in Rotary Cine style shutters, like the Robot etc. Bell and Howell experimented with them on design work for the Foton.
The only choice was between Focal plane and leaf shutters. Zeiss and Pentacon were able to use a close copy of Leica's shutter as the war closed all patent rights in Germany.
Zeiss's entire pre-war Contax camera design was governed by the Patent war with Leica, they altered everything just enough to steer clear of litigation.
As the Patents etc., were sorted out by the 1950's, It left several makers able to copy the Leica shutter without payments. Zeiss Pentacon went for copying, but later suffered from the Japanese copying the vertical metal flat plate shutter.
The ideal design for the ContaxS would be to fit a Seiko !, but the designs were 20 years apart.
Stephen.
|
|
mickeyobe
Lifetime Member
Resident President
Posts: 7,280
|
Post by mickeyobe on Sept 21, 2015 11:49:29 GMT -5
The only choice was between Focal plane and leaf shutters. Zeiss and Pentacon were able to use a close copy of Leica's shutter as the war closed all patent rights in Germany.
Stephen.[/quote]
Stephen,
Other than the semi circular extension at the top of the camera, which I don't think got in the way of anything, how about the circular shutter of the Universal Univex Mercury cameras? They had a full range of speeds from B and 1 to 1/1000 seconds.
Unlike the leaf and focal plane shutters, the Circular shutters did not seem intent on destroying themselves.
They are quiet, smooth and gentle.
There must have been some strong objections to their use but I can't imagine what they may have been.
Mickey
|
|
Stephen
Lifetime Member
Still collecting.......
Posts: 2,718
|
Post by Stephen on Sept 21, 2015 12:21:27 GMT -5
The objection was the hump! ..you could just about get away with a cine camera shutter,(after all, that's what the rotary shutters are), if the frame was small as in the Robot, Univex, Pen F, etc.
Put a full frame in there and the hump would be vast!
The only camera to use a rotary shutter on full frame 35mm was the USSR made Kiev 10 and 15...and I hear you saying "that's not a rotary shutter", but in fact it is, a Fan shutter that follows a radial path, in other words a rotary or at least a portion of a rotary shutter
The fan blades are like a traditional ladies fan, mainshaft at the bottom under the frame, the left blades follow the right, with the shutter gap in between, and they overlap as the shutter is cocked. It was unique and worked very well indeed (given Russian assembly!). But too complex in parts count compared even to the Contax shutter. It really was a very good shutter indeed, and completely USSR.
Stephen.
|
|
Stephen
Lifetime Member
Still collecting.......
Posts: 2,718
|
Post by Stephen on Sept 21, 2015 12:44:12 GMT -5
The only other main oddity in shutters was the somersaulting Venetian blind, the 10 blades opened, and to prevent the blades showing, then moved in a somersault path, to prevent the Venetian blinds shadow on the film, with the blinds closing again after the somersault. The advantage of this type is the incredible speeds it can run at, and lack of vibration. Bell and Howell experimented with them in the 1940's.
Stephen.
|
|
|
|
Post by conan on Sept 21, 2015 14:10:12 GMT -5
Zeiss's entire pre-war Contax camera design was governed by the Patent war with Leica, they altered everything just enough to steer clear of litigation. As the Patents etc., were sorted out by the 1950's, It left several makers able to copy the Leica shutter without payments. Zeiss Pentacon went for copying, but later suffered from the Japanese copying the vertical metal flat plate shutter. Stephen. |
|
|
|
Post by conan on Sept 21, 2015 14:11:34 GMT -5
The horizontal focal plane shutter was not a patented design, manufacturers could only patent the mechanism and internal design. The horizontal Focal plane shutter is more of a generic description for the two blinds because of the vast number of different internal gearing methods used to get it to function. The Contax was a Zeiss effort to knock the Leica off its pedestal by out specifying the product and producing a range of accessories close to launch rather than the Leica whose accessories had grown over time. The Contax problem was its shutter design and Zeiss spent a lot of money and development effort getting it to a reasonable stage of reliability after its initial awful reputation. Zeiss were all over Germany before the war but the primary management sections were in the West and with the ensuing ructions between East and West Zeiss after 1947 this meant that Zeiss was ‘stuck’ with their vertical concept and Zeiss’s history of being run like a bureaucracy and their corporate culture ensured they would not admit that the East Germans had got it right when the East German Contax S was launched.
(I sometimes wonder if the first Contax was the inspiration for the Argus Brick)
I don’t think the Japanese can be accused of copying the vertical metal shutter as they used it more for inspiration and went in different directions and developed it to the levels it is today.
|
|
mickeyobe
Lifetime Member
Resident President
Posts: 7,280
|
Post by mickeyobe on Sept 21, 2015 14:15:19 GMT -5
The objection was the hump! ..you could just about get away with a cine camera shutter,(after all, that's what the rotary shutters are), if the frame was small as in the Robot, Univex, Pen F, etc. Put a full frame in there and the hump would be vast! Stephen. Thanks, Stephen. Now I know and can understand the problem. Mickey |
|
|
|
Post by conan on Sept 21, 2015 16:59:58 GMT -5
Hansz, that is a very serious looking piece of metal and glass and I would guess you would not need a press pass to look like a professional with that around your neck. A friend of mine believes that photographers from this era live longer because they had to develop upper body strength and strong heart muscles to carry their gear around. Notwithstanding with that Super around your neck and a bag on one shoulder that probably had 4 or 5 kilos of equipment in it and a Metz wet cell flash on the other shoulder it would have been a fair amount of weight lifting and carrying exercise to lug it around.
|
|
hansz
Lifetime Member
Hans
Posts: 697
|
Post by hansz on Sept 21, 2015 17:47:24 GMT -5
Ah, that's why - at 65 - I still go to the gym to do my exercises:-)
Body is about 1 kg, lens more than double.
Zeiss Ikon was not the only brand to take things heavy, carrying my Canon F1-New with motor with 4/300 around is a burden as well... I believe that Nikon F2/F3 gear is also (in)famous in this area. Of course, in earlier times (like Ansel Adams) it was the only way to go.
But, I love the Zeiss optics, some believe the lenses of the Contarex line were hand-picked. Anyway, they are examples of the very best the industry has to offer.
|
|
