[rollei_list] Re: Zeiss SLRs
- From: Jerry Lehrer <jerryleh@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 26 May 2005 19:57:35 -0700
Richard,
The Contarex and Nikon F both came out in 1959.
Jerry
Richard Knoppow wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Peter K." <peterk727@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2005 6:21 PM
> Subject: [rollei_list] Re: Zeiss SLRs
>
> > Well, the AE1 was aimed at the consumer market too.
> > However, it sold well.
> > I am not familiar with the Zeiss SLRs, so please excuse me
> > if I appear
> > ignorant here. WHat I remember years back was seeing some
> > Z-I SLRwith
> > leaf shutter lenses that were interchangeable and had
> > 1/500 secs top
> > speed. They were all slow like 50mm 2.8, 135mm F4 os
> > something like
> > that.
> > All I remember is they were Zeiss and out of business. I
> > canno
> > remember the Contarex. Perhaps that was a good camera, but
> > I bet it
> > was not inexpensive.
> >
> > Peter K
> >
> The Contaflex was a medium priced SLR using a leaf
> shutter with a fixed rear cell and interchangable front
> cells. Kingslake shows the lens. The rear is a Tessar rear
> component. The front lenses vary. The 50mm, f/2.8 is a
> Tessar, the wide angle (35mm, f/4) and telephoto (85mm, f/4)
> are more complex. I don't know if this camera was meant to
> compete with the Kodak Retina but it was made at about the
> same time as the Retina Reflex and had similar features.
> Kingslake also shows the lenses for the Retina Reflex, or at
> least one version. The fixed rear cell is a half Biotar (or
> Planar if you prefer) and all the attachments were faster,
> the normal lens being f/2. It was probably a better camera.
> The Contarex was a very high quality SLR with a set of
> lenses which are reputed to be outstanding in quality. The
> standard lens was a 50mm, f/2 Planar. There was a wide range
> of lenses available for it. These still command good prices
> as user cameras.
> The Contarex had some shortcomings. One was the use of a
> condenser in the finder with only a small circle of ground
> glass at the center for focusing. The finder image is
> exceedingly bright but is something like a "brilliant"
> finder, not a real ground glass image. Also, the exposure
> meter was not a TTL type but a front mounted reflection
> meter.
> The Contarex was just a little earlier than the Nikon F.
> The Nikon F was a very well though out "system" camera with
> good features and decent lenses. I think the Zeiss lenses
> for the Contarex probably blow away most of the Nikon F
> lenses. However, while I have and use a Nikon F I have never
> used a Contarex to don't know personally.
> I don't know why the Germans, or the US for that matter,
> fell down so badly about SLR cameras, both 35mm and MF.
> After all the first 35mm SLR is the venerable Exakta. Its
> just that the Japanese were the only ones to see the
> potential market of a really well designed SLR camera. Nikon
> blew everyone else out of the water and then had trouble
> themselves when the Canon SLR was introduced.
> Kodak probably had the technology (and very certainly the
> optics) but Kodak's "better" cameras always seemed to me to
> be of surprizingly poor mechanical and ergonomic design.
>
> ---
> Richard Knoppow
> Los Angeles, CA, USA
> dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> ---
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