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About ten years ago, when
I visited the British Museum in London, I noticed in a showcase (Figure 1) a
strange looking Contax I that strongly resembled one I had acquired some twenty
years ago. While I had originally thought that my camera was the result of the
work of a camera enthusiast who wished to have visual access to the mechanics
of a Contax I, the occurrence of another one just like it in the British Museum
made me believe that the resemblance was probably more than a coincidence. It
appeared that these special cameras were produced in the Zeiss factory.
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A showcase in the British museum (photo taken in 1990) reveals a demonstration Contax with its back side cut open. Note below the photo of Oscar Barnack, designer of the Leica. I do not know whether this camera is still in the showcase, as it can be assumed that the museum changes items exhibits from time to time. (Figure 1)
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What makes my camera (Figure
2) different from a normal Contax I? First of all it should be noted that it
is functional, with shutter and rangefinder working perfectly. The shutter speeds
are from 1/1000 to 1/25 second and Z ("Zeit" or "Time"),
and taking other features into account it appears to correspond to model 3.
The body number, V32713, presumably places the production year somewhere to
1933; as we shall see, the lens cannot be assigned to a particular year.
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The front view of this interesting Contax I. Four holes have been drilled into the front part showing the interplay of the rangefinder gearing. The lens is a modified 5 cm, f/2 Sonnar
(Figure 2) |
A number of holes of various sizes have been cut out from various parts of the body to demonstrate the mechanics of the camera. The back of the camera has four rectangular holes, leaving most of the back open for inspection of the shutter and the film-transport system (Figure 3).
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Back View. Two rectangular areas of the back and on the sides have been milled out to reveal the mechanics of the shutter and the film transport system. The middle section of the removable back was left to give some structural integrity to this special model. (Figure 3) |
The camera number, normally embossed into the left side of the camera back, has here been embossed into the small metal rim that separates the two bigger holes, most likely because there was no other location available (Figure 4).
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The camera serial number Embossed into the area of the metal that remains (Figure 4) |
Finally the sprockets that move the film forward, usually very sharp, were filed down (Figure 5), thus preventing that any person would get hurt.
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Details of the gearing of the film transport mechanism. Note that the sharp sprocket teeth are filed down (Figure 5)
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The camera seen in the British
Museum showed a number engraved on the back, "1935-488," a feature
not seen on my camera. It is not clear to me whether this number is for internal
use, or whether it corresponds to an official Zeiss number. The number appears
to be engraved by hand, which points more to the former possibility; for example
it could mean the year of acquisition and item number.
The top part is also cut open (Figure 6), allowing us to inspect the upper part
of the shutter and parts of the rangefinder system. Notably, all the knobs are
present, that is, the one for rewinding the film, the shutter release and the
exposure counter.
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Different portions of the top plate have been milled out to give a good view of the shutter area and of the rangefinder mechanism. Notice how precisely the removal of the metal around the shutter release was done. (Figure 6) |
The front part contains
four holes of 4 to 5 mm diameter, each located at positions where the teeth
of the gears belonging to the focussing-distance adjustment system mesh together.
Thus, the observer can figure out how the rangefinder movement on the top of
the camera triggers the different wheels in between, and how it ultimately moves
the focussing ring and the lens.
The lens (Figure 7) appears to be a 50mm, f/2 Sonnar from the first series (cf.
Kuc, auf den Spuren der Contax, page 174). However, this one differs substantially
from the one shown in the book. First, its apparent aperture range is extended
to f/32, compared to the f/22 of the normal lens. Second, the lens contains
no diaphragm at all, and the diaphragm setting is blocked at f/8. Third, the
numbering is 0000000, which at least now might explain why this lens is an uncommon
one.
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The
Lens: From another perspective, notice the diaphragm listed on the barrel of the lens - it states 22 and then 32. I have not found any such opening on any available black F/2 Sonnar lens for the Contax. Some later but not all chrome lenses closed to 22. (Figure 7) |
What was this camera used
for?
It appears logical that such a camera has all the features to demonstrate the
technical abilities of the Contax I. The question is only which clientele should
become convinced. Was this camera used to persuade clients in a camera shop
to buy a Contax instead of a Leica? If this was the case, then I expect that
there should be still a handful of these cameras existing in the world, as Zeiss
would not have produced only a few of them for this purpose. Or was it a camera
used for demonstration purposes for the photo dealers and journalists that Zeiss
invited to Dresden, because Zeiss did not participate at the important Leipzig
fair in March 1932 (cf. Kuc, loc.cit. page 33)? Or was it just for internal
use and teaching purposes?
As I have not heard of the existence of similar cameras other than the two presented
here, nor do I have a clue as to their purpose, I would be grateful if information
could be provided to me and the community to shed some light on this camera.
Our site is located on the following pages. Click on the name of each area to go to that page:
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An overview of historical Zeiss Companies and a list of their collectibles
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Our Zeiss Historica Publications
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A sample article - The Contax camera's migration to Kiev, Ukraine
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A second sample article - An unusual Contax I
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