Zeiss Ikon Contessa - Found My Everyday Rangefinder

I have to take the door and push it down. It then locks in place by the two metal sides.

Are you sure that the bed is locked down all the way?

To fold it back up, you have to press in on the metal sides.
 
Colorado CJ - An interesting little bit that a lot of the Contessas are missing is a flat disk that screws into the thread mount on the front cover. I seem to have the only one I have ever seen. Question - I am sure you have noticed the thread around the viewfinder. Do you know what screws into that? I have not seen any eye relief device for that and it tends to scratch my glasses which causes me to not use the camera as much as I would like.
 
Peter, open the back and you will see the notched ring that attaches the shutter to the camera. Waggle the lens around and if you can see movement here then it just needs tightening. It can be a bit fiddly though, and be careful of the bellows as there isn't much space.
 
Thanks. I got it sorted out. The shutter/lens assembly was screwed down nice and tight, so that wasn't the problem. The two locking points to the right and left of the rf window were not grabbing the lens board tightly enough. A little gentle pressure with a small screwdriver on the outer edges of the two flanges that catch the lens board were enough to secure it. As I'd never handled a Contessa before, I wasn't sure what exactly the problem was. Now that it's fixed, it seems obvious.
 
I have been looking at these cameras for a long time, I have most of the non-folding ones, and decided to finally take the plunge when a memeber of Photrio put one out for sale in good condition.


Contessa 35

It is a great camera, very nicely made and well taken care of.
This is the 1st version (1952sh) and has Compur Rapid shutter, and a Opton T* lens.
The lightmeter works fine and it even has the tripod bushing protector in place.
The case has been restitched and the leather strap replaced by a new one.
I shoot 2 rolls already and pictures came sharp and nicely exposed.

Filters were my quest, but years ago I got a box of misc filter and holders for series V and the 28.5 push-on fit perfectly
Also I found by chance that the ZeissIkon S27 filters but on the other side (female) work fine

Contessa 35 v1 (1952) Closed
 
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^^ Nice!

I purchased a Contessa a few years back and some are still priced reasonably. Looks like yours has the little serrated "tripod bushing protection screw" intact. At least that's what the manual calls it. Most are missing. I've been looking for one for awhile to no avail.

I also have the Retina IIa. Makes a nice companion to the Contessa but build quality is nicer on the Contessa.

Enjoy your camera!

Zeiss-Ikon Contessa (Kodak Ektar 100)


Fruit Stand #1 by rdc154, on Flickr
 
Yeah, the previous owner really took good care of the camera.
I tried taking the screw out but is very hard.
I wonder if a 1/4x20 set screw either brass plate or nylon could be used/machined instead
 
Zeiss-Ikon Contessa and Kodak Ektar 100 - shot this through my windshield (cropped).

 
I have a mint one, however the shutter release is not something I like. The throw is too long (difficult to know where it will trip), and it requires very good technique to trip the shutter without inducing camera shake.

Other than that, it's such a dream to behold and feel in the hand...
 
It's tiny in width and height, but thick-ish... about the size of a chunky sandwich, so not really pocketable (except maybe a parka pocket.) I've got one but hardly ever use it because it's only slightly more portable but considerably less capable than, say, the Canon P I usually reach for when I want to take along a grab-and-go camera.

One thing I'll say for it vs. the Retina is that I suspect the Contessa's rangefinder (featuring Zeiss's trademark contra-rotating prism wedges) is much less likely to be knocked out of whack by the routine jarring of being carried around in a pocket or backpack. Of course few actually did get carried that way back in the day... I'm guessing most spent their early lives tucked away in their very protective brown leather drop-front cases, hung around the necks or slung across the shoulders of original purchasers as they traveled on holiday jaunts carefully snapping Kodachrome slides. Slow operation didn't put them off because, well, Kodachrome was expensive and these were prosperous but thrifty folks... they were perfectly happy to take their time, carefully consider the readings from the Contessa's little Gossen meter, and make ONE good picture of the Eiffel Tower or Old Faithful or whatever, rather than banging off three or four frames like those Retina spendthrifts with their rapid-advance levers and auto shutter cocking. One thing I'll say for the Contessa's manually cocked shutter system is that the double- and blank-exposure prevention system is bug-free and foolproof, so the only penalty you pay is a little extra wear on your shutter-cocking finger...

PS -- Yes, mine still has the serrated screw that serves no purpose except to fill up the tripod socket. I'm guessing that on every Contessa that ever got mounted on a tripod, the owner misplaced that little screw almost immediately. I also have a Contina II (same body shape and film advance mechanism, simpler lens and shutter, viewfinder with separate non-coupled rangefinder) and that one lacks the serrated screw. I don't know whether it would have gotten lost years ago by the original purchaser or if the screw was reserved for the top-of-range Contessa model... although the Contina's original purchaser was my dad, who bought it in 1954 to take pictures of my then-soon-to-be-born older sister, and my dad was pretty good at not losing stuff, so I suspect the screw was a Contessa exclusive!
 
johnnyrod said:
I think the case from the Ikonta 35/folding Contina also fit if you don't have one, but not 100% sure.
Click to expand...

The case for the folding Contina II is different from the Contessa case; the Contina's folding bed doesn't come all the way up to the top as it does on the Contessa, since there's no rangefinder "tower" to cover, so the case front is shaped differently (flatter.)
 
The Contessa looks very nice!

My personal favorite in this general class of 35mm RF compact is the Kodak Retina IIc. It similarly has great build quality, excellent lens(es), compact size, etc. I prefer the meterless IIc vs the IIIc with a built in meter.. less complicated and I'm a good estimator. ;)

G
 
Just FYI

Zeiss Contessa Serial Numbers and production Dates


serials.png

Source: Zeiss Historica Magazine, Autumn 2010

I'm happy to see i have a last-production Contessa (code B)!!
 
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