Zeiss Historica Spring 2004 I love prototypes! I’ve written about Kodak prototypes of the 1930s and others by Voigtländer, but one I’ve never heard of was the Prototype 132, a cleanly designed, but revolutionary camera that was designed in the late 1950s. Had the camera been produced, it would have…
Zeiss Historica Spring 2003 There’s lots of wartime talk in this issue, with Werner Widdlers tales of what it was like to work in USSR occupied Jena, stereo devices, the quality of prewar Zeiss lenses, and an uncommon 21st century Japanese made camera with a Contax lens mount. Pg 2. A…
Zeiss Historica Fall 2004 More prototypes! Did you know the Ikoflex III was almost called the Veraflex? Also more prototype goodness about a Contax III with a dual range exposure meter, and more supporting evidence that a Contax IV was in the works. Pg 2. Rifle telescope sights from Zeiss. Pg…
Zeiss Historica Fall 2003 The cover image shows workers from 1952 in the shutter assembly room at the Gauthier plant in Calmbach. The Fall 2003 issue remembers Arthur Gauthier. Pg 2. Zeiss produced “Feldstechers” or “field piercers” from 1894 through 1908, a period that saw continued and detailed evolution of their…
Zeiss Historica Fall 2002 The Fall 2002 issue of Zeiss Historica could be my favorite issue as it has detailed info about two prototypes of two of the best Zeiss-Ikon cameras, the Contarex and Contax IV. It puts a few more pieces together of the confusing events of post war…
Zeiss Historica Fall 2001 A large amount of this issue is devoted to the Contax, from early Contax I rangefinders, the Contax S SLR, a prototype 3cm Contax viewfinder, and the Kiev, which was the Soviet version of the Contax. Pg 2. The early SLR Contax of 1949. From late 1945,…
Zeiss Historica Fall 2000 The Fall 2000 issue has everything from 1980s SLRs to notes found in the estate of the ZHS’s founder about a meeting in 1937 celebrating Zeiss-Ikon’s 75th anniversary. Pg 2. A voice from 1937. The following text was found in the materials forwarded to ZHS from the…
Zeiss Historica Spring 2002 The Spring 2002 issue examines the metal focal plane shutter used in many early Zeiss 35mm cameras like the Contax. We also see some early prototypes of the Contax S, and in Zeiss Historica’s 2001 Annual meeting, there were some pretty good special guests! Pg 2. The…
Zeiss Historica Spring 2001 Prototype lenses for three different Zeiss cameras, a look back at Carl Paul Goerz and his contributions to early Zeiss-Ikon and more of the story of how Zeiss-Ikon moved from Dresden to Kiev, Ukraine. Pg 2. Prototype Lenses for the Contax, Contaflex, and Contarex. It should come…
Zeiss Historica Spring 2000 The Spring 2000 issue brings us several unusual Zeiss cameras, pre-Zeiss cameras, and an in depth look as to why wide angle lenses were so difficult for the Contax. Pg 2. Pre-Zeiss Ikon Camera Design. Zeiss Ikon was founded in 1926 after merging 4 Dresden area optical…
Zeiss Historica Spring 2013 The Spring 2013 issue has Ottos, Ghisettis, Cavinas, and Benjamins along with detailed write-ups about the Werra, Aseros, and the Zeiss Planar. That’s a lot of Zeiss! Pg 2. While the Tessar might be Zeiss’s most popular lens design, the Planar is not only older, but…
Earlier this week, I posted my take on the Zeiss-Ikon Contarex “Bullseye”. Feedback to that article has been very good with most people who’ve handled it before, agreed with my assessment that while it was a pretty camera with an amazing Rube-Goldberg-like complexity, it wasn’t a very good user. Sometimes,…
