Re: A great camera named Contax

[ireland@blazenet.net (Robert Brummett)]

>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

And by God the troll catches fish, you angler, you! You don't own a Leica,
you won't buy us any wine, and you're a shameless shill for Contax! Fie!
Fie! Fie!