Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/03/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]The Contax Universal, as it was originally known, was a brainchild of Zeiss Ikon's Dr Heinz Kuppenbender, and it was launched at the Leipzig Spring Fair of 1932. The name derived from a combination of three of the company's best known rollfilm and plate cameras - Contessa, Ikonta and Tenax - came from a worker in the factory who won a competition to find something suitable. It would have been easy, of course, for the makers to copy the Leica, the way so many others did in the years to come. But, instead, the first Contax presented photographers with an amazingly different and extremely advanced design. Features for what eventually became known as the Contax I included: - - A metal focal plane shutter, rather then the traditional cloth type, and on that ran vertically, rather than horizontally. - - Shutter speeds up to 1/1000 second, unusual at that time on a 35mm camera. - - A coupled rangefinder. - - Bayonet mount for lenses, rather than the then more traditional screw mount. - - A wide range of lenses, including super fast optics as wide as f/1.5. - - A completely removable back for easy film loading. - - A new way of focusing via a cogged wheel, geared to the lens focusing mount, that fell neatly under the middle finger of the right hand as the camera was raised to the eye. No moving parts outside the camera body, a concept relatively new to this particular generation of photographers. Acceptance of the quality Tessar lens, already a favourite among photographers from larger formats. All of which was something of an eye-opener in 1932. The camera, with its square-shaped black body made from silium, the latest and hardest of light alloys, fulfilled the photographer's dream of a small, lightweight, compact that coupled advanced technology with superb results, from both its engineering and the already recognised quality of Zeiss lenses. These included some of the first high-speed lenses for 35mm photography, an f/1.5 50mm Sonnar and an f/2 85mm Sonnar. A 28mm Tessar was the first wide angle lens of this focal length to be available for the 35mm format. Unusual for an interchangeable lens camera of the day, the Contax had a fixed viewfinder (others would use separate accessory finders that slotted into the camera's accessory shoe). Its view showed a scaled-down vision equivalent to the angle of view of the 50mm lens, but a sliding mask adapted it for the views of 85mm and 135mm lenses. Faced with photographers who used the word 'miniature' to define 6 x 6 cm, looked upon today as medium format, Zeiss went to town with the advertising... 'Contax, the camera for 1932. The ideal camera for modern people - everything you've always wanted in a camera', shouted one advertisement of the time. Today we have other Contax cameras, but the advertisement from 1932 still holds good. The cameras for 1997 are the T and G models together with the Contax SLR systems. The Zeiss lenses still have the contrast and resolution, the true sense of depth and openness, along with the other qualities that always endeared them to their users. Contax are now made by Kyocera in Japan in co-operation with Zeiss. The lenses are still designed in Germany (Oberkochen). I used a Contax T2 for some time and now I have a Contax TVS, both with Sonnar lenses. I have never been disappointed by the image reproduction with these cameras. The TVS is the ideal camera concept for me. The lens could have been a bit faster, but the focal range is just fine for reportage, 28-56mm. It is, of course, a modern camera with modern technology. It has a number of enhancements, and is more versatile than its predecessors, not considering the lack of interchangeable lenses. But in that case, why not choose a G1, or a G2? Or wait for the digital models to come? Any support is acceptable if it reproduces 'life' as we like it. Oddmund (trolling again) - --------------------,,^..^,,----------------------- I bhfad uainn go le/ir an drochrud... Djalli qendrofte larg prej te gjithe nesh... Far from us all be the evil thing... Oddmund Garvik garvik@i-t.fr