Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/10/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Thanks, Erwin, for a most thought-provoking analysis of Leica R and Contarex/Contax. However, I am not certain it is quite fair to directly compare and contrast the 1998 Leica R8 and its current lens line with the Zeiss Ikon line as it existed in 1960, almost four decades back. The Contax is remarkably easy to use; while many commentators, especially Jason Schneider, dislike the focusing wheel, the design is otherwise a bit simpler in use than is a contemporary Leica -- for instance, all full-speed-range Leica cameras to the M3 had separate fast and slow speed dials, while the Contax adopted a single speed dial some two decades earlier. The combined RF/VF on the Contax is much easier in use than is the Leica TM camera's separate optical windows, while the Contax long-base rangefinder is inherently more accurate in use. While the Leica Mirror Reflex Housing was equally clumsy with the Flektoskop/Flektometer, though the Leica long lenses were certainly no matcher for the longer Zeiss lenses until the 2.5/12.5cm Hektor and 4/200 Telyt were introduced in the 1950's. (The Viso II is, of course, light-years ahead of the Flektometer, but it wasn't introduced until 1959, long after the Flektometer had left production.) Some of these criticisms would be radically different had each company been able to pursue design cameras which never reached production. The "Leica IV" was an honest answer to the Contax II and III, but was delayed for fifteen years by the Second World War, and, by the time it eventually reached production as the M3, the SLR was making its appearance. Similarly, the "Contax IV" of 1955 would have brought the Contax to a parity with the M3/M2 designs, but it was condemned to never see a production line both due to the lack of money at Zeiss Ikon and to Zeiss Ikon's decision to concentrate on SLR designs (the modern SLR, after all, IS a Zeiss Ikon development!) I believe Zeiss Ikon's decision to "terminate with extreme prejudice" the Contax RF design predated Nikon's similar decision by 18 months or so, and both preceded Canon's decision by several years. Leitz, of course, did not even begin the design of an SLR until the Contarex and Nikon F were both in the market. Even KMZ reacted more quickly, with that noteworth example of Proletarian craftsmanship, the Zenit. As to the Contarex/Leicaflex comparison, I do not see the Contarex as having view-camera or medium-format features. The original Contarex certainly was not the simplest SLR ever made, but, then, neither was the original Nikon F or Canon R series, or, for that matter, the somewhat later original Leicaflex. A more honest comparison might be made between the Contarex Super of 1966 and the Leicaflex SL of 1968 -- they are of similar weight, similar accuracy, similar construction, similar ease of use, and even similar cost, the bare Leicaflex SL costing $465 against the bare Super's $445. Yes, modern Leica lenses are certainly better performers than even the best Zeiss lenses of 1960 (well, "on par or better", might be a bit of a fairer assessment!), but, then, Erwin, you are the one who has forced me to completely re-assess my earlier view that older lenses are better than newer designs. Thus, we would expect modern Leica lenses -- designed to the highest standards, constructed with meticulous care -- to perform on the level traditionally reserved for Zeiss optics. I like the Contarex, but don't use any of mine on a regular basis, while an M6 is my standard miniature-format camera. I concede that the Contarex had drawbacks but its principal shortcoming was its cost: to market it at the same price-point as the Nikon F, Zeiss Ikon was forced to sell it on too narrow a profit-margin, and this, ultimately, forced the company out of the camera business. A like fate almost struck Leitz due to the same factor affecting the sale of the Leicaflex, SL, and SL2, though, unlike Zeiss Ikon, Leitz had no other major product area to which they could retreat, and so they soldiered on and survive. (Leica recently, and quite ironically, purchased the final shred of Zeiss Ikon when they bought the Zett slide-projector line.) I am a bit abashed to admit that I rattled off all of the Leica dates and details from memory, but had to look up some of the Zeiss Ikon bits in that most worthy of references, Barringer and <ah-HEM> Small, THE ZEISS COMPENDIUM -- please buy yours today, as it is close to being out-of-print, and a second edition can't be produced until the first is history! Thanks again, Erwin, for your forcing me to think these things through, and, as always, for the thorough and comprehensive analyses which cast hard fact onto the table for our delectation! Marc msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!