Zeiss Ikon Contina
by Karen Nakamura
Overview and Personal Comments
The Zeiss Ikon Contina is a simplified point-and-shoot made by the Zeiss Ikon corporation around 1956 (none of that complex rangefinder nonsense) as well as match-needle metering. Although this camera just says "Contina" it's more properly the Contina IIa (527/24). Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.
It featured a coupled-meter. You turn the shutter and aperture dials until the two needles align. It's a simple and effective system. The lens on the camera is a Nova-Anastigmat 45mm f/3.5.
Despite
being a glorified point and shoot, the camera is incredibly well built, perhaps
overbuilt. The
inside the of camera is very solid. You could hit a mugger with this without
leaving a dent in the solid chromework.
There's no rangefinder, you have to scale or zone focus.
Technical Details
|
Camera
Name |
Contina IIa (527/24) |
|---|---|
|
Manufacturer |
Zeiss Ikon |
|
Place
of Manufacture |
West Germany |
|
Date
of Manufacture |
1956 |
|
Focusing
System |
Scale focusing Lens use helical focusing |
|
Fixed
Lens |
45mm, f/23.5, Novar-Anastigmat Minimum focusing distance = xx feet Right focusing (infinity on right side) |
|
Shutter |
Prontor SVS Shutter Flash sync at all speeds |
|
Metering
System |
Selenium
cell mounted on top right of camera body |
|
Apertures |
f/3.5 -
f/22 |
|
Flash |
Cold accessory
shoe mount on camera top |
|
Film
type / speeds |
Type 135
film (35mm standard) |
|
Battery
type |
hah! |
|
Dimensions
and weight |
|
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About
Zeiss Ikon
Zeiss Ikon was formed in 1926 out of the merger of five companies: Carl Zeiss/Jena A.G., ICA A.G., Erneman A.G., Goerz A.G, and Contessa-Nettel A.G.
Zeiss-Ikon was a huge corporation with offices in five cities in Germany and it offered a huge variety of cameras. Unfortunately, that was also its downfall. Various divisions competed against each other horribly and there was much, much reduplication of effort. It never really took advantage of its size.
Carl Zeiss, the main company, can actually trace its roots to 1846, to the very dawn of photography and is renowned for such designs as the Tessar and T* coating. Even now, Carl Zeiss lenses grace the very best cameras from Contax to Hasselblad.
In 1972, Zeiss formed into a partnership with Yashica Corporation of Japan. Zeiss now only does lens design and makes a small amount of photographic lenses. Yashica manufactures the Contax series of Zeiss cameras.
On the Net
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