The Zeiss Ikon Contaflex was introduced in 1953 and was a groundbreaking 35mm SLR designed to bridge the gap between compact rangefinders and bulkier focal-plane SLRs. It features a fixed 45 mm f/2.8 Tessar lens built around a Synchro-Compur leaf shutter. Like many leaf shutters, the shutter speed range goes from 1 second to 1/500th of a second. Like most Zeiss cameras, this camera is sturdy and well built, however, it’s quite mechanically complex. Its reflex viewing system uses a fixed mirror with no rapid return. When you take a photo, several things happen in rapid succession. First, the leaf shutter closes, then just after the focal plane cover opens, the leaf shutter opens for the selected exposure time, then closes, leaving the viewfinder dark. The viewfinder doesn’t come back until you advance the film. Advancing the film cocks and opens the leaf shutter and moves a focal plane cover into place to block the film from light. You might be wondering why in the world Zeiss went through so much trouble for a leaf shutter SLR design, so I’ll highlight a few advantages leaf shutters have over focal plane shutters. First, they can sync with a flash at any shutter speed. This is because they expose the entire frame at once (something my film friends can think of as a global shutter instead of a rolling shutter). With a focal plane shutter, there are two curtains that form a slit that moves across the film plane. This means you’re never actually exposing the entire frame at the same instant. Now, focal plane shutters improved immensely over the years and basically killed leaf shutters, but that’s a story for another video. Lastly, leaf shutters, being tried and true clockwork mechanisms, were more reliable and accurate than cloth focal plane shutters of the day. So that’s the Zeiss Ikon Contaflex, a beautiful yet complicated little SLR.
This is the Voigtländer Prominent, a German rangefinder from the 1950s. It was designed to compete with cameras from Leica and Contax, but it never really rose to prominence. It’s one of the more unique cameras I’ve ever come across, and most photographers either love it or hate it. At the heart of this camera is a synchro-compur leaf shutter that ranges from Bulb to 1/500th of a second. One of this camera’s quirks that I happen to enjoy is that the shutter cocking mechanism is exposed. You can see it wind up as you turn the film advance knob. One of the more polarizing features of this camera is that there’s no focus ring on this lens. And that’s because focusing on this camera is done with a knob opposite the film advance. As you turn the knob, you can see the entire lens board move back and forth. On most lenses the elements move internally, but I kind of enjoy seeing the mechanics at work. This camera uses a proprietary bayonet mount that was limited to a range of 6 lenses, which I think is certainly one of the main reasons it never took off with professionals. That said, the 50mm f/1.5 Nokton is a legendary lens that was made for this camera. In fact, a lot of people have adapted it for use on Leica M-mount cameras in modern times. Once you’ve finished your roll of film, you will experience yet another interesting design of this camera. There’s a little button atop the focus knob that you have to slide to pop up the winding knob to rewind the film. Overall, this camera is built like a tank and engineered to impressive tolerances, but I think it’s safe to say that its admirable attempts to push boundaries and be innovative overcomplicated this camera and made the shooting experience cumbersome.
The Zeiss Ikon Nettar 517/16 is a 6x6 medium format folder from the early 1950s. Zeiss made a lot of fantastic folders in this era, most notably the higher end Ikonta line of cameras. The Nettar line was more budget friendly and featured simpler, slower lenses. This model has a very basic 75mm f/6.3 Novar Anistigmat triplet design lens and Vario shutter, but you’ll find a range of shutter and lens combos on this same chassis. This is not a super sharp Zeiss lens, you use this camera because you want a vintage look. Shooting with this camera is a completely manual experience. You select your desired aperture and shutter speed, cock the shutter, then press the shutter release. There’s no frame counter, so you have to rely on the little red window on the back of the camera to keep track of your remaining exposures. It’s very easy to forget to advance and double expose, so I recommend always advancing to the next frame immediately after taking a photo. The viewfinder is small, but large enough to be useful. There’s no rangefinder, so all focusing is done by estimating distance. Though keep in mind, with this slow of a lens, you’ll often be shooting at such a small aperture that your focus will be fine as long as you’re in the ballpark. If you pick up one of these cameras, be sure to check the bellows for light leaks, it’s one of the major failure points on old folding cameras. Overall I am a big fan of medium format folders. They give you a negative over 4x the size of 35mm in a form factor that can easily fit in your coat pocket.
The Voigtländer Vito Automatic R is a fixed lens 35mm rangefinder from the early 1960s. It features a 50mm f/2.8 Lanthar lens and Prontor leaf shutter. This camera has a huge bright line viewfinder with a nice rangefinder patch, though the base is fairly short so it might not be the most accurate. Being an automatic, this camera was meant to use a selenium light meter to set exposure. I usually avoid selenium cell meters, because they’re often dead, and this copy is no exception; however, this camera was just too cool to resist. The good news is that you can select the aperture manually, the bad news is that the shutter defaults to 1/30th of a second when the meter isn’t operational. That said, if you set the aperture ring to auto, the camera defaults to a shutter priority mode based on the film speed setting. For instance, at 400 ASA, the shutter appears to fire at around 1/500th, and at 25 ASA we’re back around 1/30th. However, with no input from the light meter, the aperture stays wide open at f/2.8 in this mode. One thing that trips people up is the film rewind knob which you have to pop up using a little switch on the back. Overall, these cameras just feel special. They are beautifully designed and well built, I’ve yet to come across a Vito with a stuck shutter, which is impressive for 60 year old consumer level cameras.
The Leica Minilux Zoom is a luxury compact camera that debuted in the late 90s. It has a heavy titanium body, so it’s not as pocketable as other premium point and shoots from this era. The lens is a sharp 35-70mm f/3.5-6.5 vario Elmar. This focal length range is great, but you’re gonna want to steer clear of low light situations given that aperture range. One of the stranger things about this camera is that it has a manual focus dial on top, rather than any aperture or shutter speed controls. Most photographers would prefer exposure controls over manual focus on a point and shoot, so I find this feature baffling. That said, it does have exposure compensation, so you have some very basic exposure control at least. Lastly, the viewfinder on this thing is not good, like Kodak 35 level bad. It’s tiny and the coverage is a paltry 83%. Overall, the build quality is great, and the lens is impressive, but the lack of professional features and the borderline useless viewfinder means this camera spends a lot of time sitting on my shelf.
The Yashica Electro 35 GT is NOT a compact camera. It’s significantly larger than a Leica, weighing in at about 1.6 lbs. The electro line of rangefinders debuted in the 1970s and were some of the first cameras to feature an electronic aperture priority system. This means that you select the aperture you want, and the camera calculates the appropriate shutter speed. Pretty cool. The bad news is that these cameras were designed around a mercury battery that no longer exists. This means that you need an adapter to use a modern battery, which is kind of a pain. The good news is that this camera’s copal leaf shutter will fire at 1/500th of a second without a battery. The Electro’s claim to fame is its sharp 45mm f/1.7 lens that’s full of vintage character. However, some models used thoriated glass and are slightly radioactive, so just be aware. Overall, this is a solid rangefinder with a great lens and large viewfinder that can be had for next to nothing on second hand sites.
This is the Reflex Korelle Model II, one of the earliest single lens reflex (SLR) cameras ever made. This model was made in Dresden, Germany, somewhere between 1936 and 39. It's a medium format 6x6 camera with a nice waist level finder that includes a flip down loupe to help with critical focusing. The film advance lever on these cameras takes some getting used to. It has a really long travel, and if you don't wind it all the way, you will overlap your frames. It does have a frame counter, but if you lose track of what frame you're on, you can open the little red safety window on the back to see the number on the back of your film. This is a solid metal camera, and it is quite sturdy, but also heavy. This makes handholding it a little tricky, so I recommend using a tripod when possible. Inside, you can see this camera has a huge horizontally traveling cloth focal plane shutter. Anytime you're dealing with a cloth shutter on this old of a camera, be sure to check it for pin holes. I lucked out on this particular model. This camera might seem simple by today's standards, but in the 1930s, this was quite a feat. Something to keep in mind if you pick up one of these cameras is that the earlier iterations used a screw mount lens, whereas later models use a bayonet mount lens, like the beautiful Zeiss Tessar 80mm f/2.8. Around on the side, you can see the shutter release as well as a timer mechanism. Unfortunately, super old SLRs are notorious for having their mirrors degrade and de-silver, and this model is no exception. What this means is that the mirror surface has just degraded over time. Keep in mind, this has absolutely no impact on the photos you'll make with this camera, but it means it's a little harder to see through the viewfinder and focus. You can technically re-silver or replace a mirror, but it's tedious and expensive, and I don't recommend it. So, that's the Reflex Korelle. A bit of photographic history.