Pekka Buttler, August 2024
Introduction
This article is about the lens mount of the Zeiss Ikon Contarex camera.
The Zeiss Ikon (West) Contarex was a flagship professional SLR camera designed 1954–1958 and manufactured 1959–1972. The Contarex was Zeiss Ikon’s no-hold-barred tour de force and is in some quixotic ways unsurpassed even today.
Note please: The ContaRex mount should not be mistaken for Zeiss Ikon’s largely simultaneous ContaFLex mount (which was technically not a lens mount but a set lens…).
Specifications and identification
Mount type: three-opening female bayonet (lens release on camera-end of mount)
Flange focal distance: 46,0 mm
Film format: 36mm x 24mm (‘Full frame’)
Mount communication: One inner ring to allow the camera to set the lens’ aperture.
Key characteristics of the mount of the Contarex mount:
[1] Female bayonet for three bayonet prongs. The shape is rather eccentric.
[2] Locking groove at about 09:30 (release on camera-end)
[3] Aperture control ring (rotates around the optical axle and operates the aperture mechanism directly)
Historical context of the Contarex
From the early 50s, it was clear to management at Carl Zeiss/Zeiss Ikon (west) that the future of ambitious photography was going to be SLR cameras. Moreover, this was a field where both the East German competition as well as the nascent Japanese camera powerhouse had a clear head-start.
In this atmosphere, Zeiss (west) management decided on a two-prong strategy: One line of SLR cameras that would cater to the affluent enthusiast and another line would be centered around a system camera that would satisfy the needs of the most demanding photographers – whether they were shooting heads of state (pun intended) or in outer space. The first line became the Contaflex line of cameras (1953–1970), while the second line of attack was the Contarex system camera.
Even though it was clear that Zeiss Ikon needed to bring its flagship to market and had no time to waste, it seems they did exactly that. From the start of planning Zeiss’ team needed four years until the Contarex was introduced at Photokina 1958. Then it took more than a year before the Contarex’s started hitting shelves in 1960.
I do not want to belittle the challenges that the Zeiss team was facing, but while the Contarex’ feature set would have been truly trailblazing in 1956, by the time Contarex serial manufacture had started, also the competition had advanced. However, the main reason for why the Contarex was destined to become more of an anecdotal oddity instead of a camera that forever reshaped the industry was in its sheer complexity and resulting cost.
We’ve all heard jokes about stereotypical German engineers. Well, imagine a stereotypical German engineer who is given a long leach and the mission to create the greatest camera of all times. You’d end up with something like the Contarex: A hideously complicated, over-engineered contraption that was neither modern-looking, ergonomic, nor reliable. Moreover, instead of using proven concepts or standard parts, the team at Zeiss Ikon blithely and repeatedly did things differently, and did so using unique parts. The internet abounds1 with anecdotes of how most camera repair shops summarily reject trying to repair Contarexes and how those that specialise in servicing Contarex cameras routinely charge above 1000 € for a regular overhaul.
Contarex cameras
Neither did Zeiss Ikon stick to a industry standard or ‘normal’ progression towards each model being a more advanced. The original Contarex I ‘bullseye’2 had managed to shock the public, especially due to its price (being almost twice as expensive3 as the most advanced competition). Even so, Zeiss managed to sell every copy that their managed to produce. Still, the Bullseye received a junior sidekick in 1960 in the form of the Contarex Special. What made the Special special was the lack of the light meter.
In 1966 these both were discontinued in favour of the Contarex Professional. If you think that a flagship camera that carries the name ‘professional’ would be the bells-and-whistles variant, Zeiss thought different as this camera also lacked the light meter and was more a re-styled ‘Special’.
1967 saw the discontinuation of the ‘Professional’ and the introduction of the Contarex Super, which was the first Contarex to feature TTL metering. 1968 the ‘Super Electronic’ was launched, that introduced an electronically controlled timer.
In 1972 – after having haemorrhaged money for decades – Zeiss Ikon (west) ended the production of cameras. By that time a bit over 50 000 copies of all variants of the Contarex had been made between 1959 and 19724.
Contarex lenses
Throughout the ≈15 years lifespan of the Contarex system, Carl Zeiss (west) designed and manufactured a lineup of ambitious lenses for their flagship system.
That lineup contained:
• 19 rectilinear primes covering a focal length range from 18 mm to 400 mm
• 1 fisheye lens
• 2 zoom lenses (40–120/2.8 and 85–250/4)
• 2 mirror lenses (500/4.5 and 1000/5.65)
• 1 macro lens for use with a bellows and
• 1 shift lens.
While one can honestly say that every single one of these lenses is a masterpiece, there are those Contarex lenses that have a special role in camera history lore, most prominently among them the 55 mm f/1.4 Planar – the first European standard SLR lens to reach f/1.4,
Adapting Contarex lenses
If you’re lucky enough to have a functional Contarex camera body I recommend you put some film into it to get the experience of using the lenses in their original intended environment. Even so, given the deserved reputation of Contarex cameras to be difficult to maintain in working order, you’re more likely to have some working Contarex lenses (the lenses were well-designed and rugged) than a working Contarex body.
Should you want to use Contarex lenses adapted to another system, one key requirement toward such an adapter would be that it allows the adapter to manipulate the inner aperture control ring (see image above) of the Contarex lens.
It is precisely the requirement to allow the manipulation of the lens’ aperture which makes it almost impossible to manufacture an adapter that would allow using Contarex lenses on dSLRs. Even though the flange focal distance of the Contarex mount is 46 mm, the 2 mm difference between Canon EF and Contarex is insufficient for manufacturing an adapter that would allow using Contarex lenses (with aperture adjustment) on Canon EF cameras. But I did say ‘almost’ because the (original) Four Thirds lens mount did give adapter builders enough leeway to construct a fully functional adapter (many just today tend to forget the Four Thirds mount).
On the other hand, should you intend to adapt Contarex lenses to mirrorless cameras, the only requirement is finding an adapter that allows manipulation of the Contarex’ (rather unusual) aperture setting system. As of this writing, such adapters exist for basically all mainstream mirrorless mounts.
Footnotes:
- One example of such descriptions can be found here: https://mikeeckman.com/2019/11/zeiss-ikon-contarex-bullseye-1960/ ↩︎
- Named so because of its light meter mounted centrally above the lens. In some languages also known as cyclops. ↩︎
- This is the late50s/early60s, so there were no ‘global prices’. Instead prices on various markets were strongly influenced by customs duties. Even so, the Contarex was clearly the most expensive camera to be had on the German market (where the prices of foreign cameras would have been increased due to customs duties). ↩︎
- To put this into perspective, The Nikon F camera (which launched the highly successful Nikon F mount) was introduced in 1959 and remained in production until being replaced by the Nikon F2 in 1972. During that time, Nikon manufactured more than 860 000 copies of the Nikon F camera. ↩︎
- Less than two dozen copies were made. ↩︎