Carl Zeiss

Carl Zeiss T*


The Foundation

1846-1890 | 1891-1945 | 1946-1960 | 1961-1975 | 1976-1995

An extracted related contributing article from Contax Gallery, Malaysia

My favourite
Contax RTS, Contax RTS II and Contax RTS III

Motor Drive | Power Winder | Focusing screens | Flash photography | Macrophotography | Remote Photography | Databack options | Accessories

In 1966 the Contarex Professional was introduced, again without a light meter. It wasn't until 1967 that Carl Zeiss brought out the Contarex Super with behind the lens light metering. The last SLR from Zeiss Ikon was the Contarex SE. The SE denoted Super Electronic. The SE had a horizontal cloth shutter which was timed by a solenoid. A motor drive was developed that could be bolted to the bottom of the camera. Another interesting feature of the SE was the Tele Sensor which converted the SE into an aperture preferred automatic SLR, probably the first in the world.

The German Contax cameras represented the finest craftsmanship and design innovation. It can be said that Contax, unerringly, paved the way for the modern SLR's of today.

It was obvious that Carl Zeiss could not continue to produce cameras in Germany. Retail pricing soared against the tide of lower priced products from Japan. A solution was found in a partnership with Yashica. Carl Zeiss would continue to design and produce superb optics for camera bodies constructed in Japan. A novel solution that other German camera manufacturers would use later.

 Yashica was an electronic camera manufacturing giant with tremendous production capability. Yashica was already producing an aperture preferred automatic camera of the rangefinder type in the 35 GSN when the agreement was inked. It was this electronic camera manufacturing experience and the huge production capacity that drew Carl Zeiss to Yashica. After only one meeting of the Board Of Directors at Yashica, the decision was made to initiate "Top Secret Project 130"

A third partner joined the design team to produce this hybrid camera; the F. Alexander Porsche Group. Their expertise was in the field of ergonomics, or human engineering, a concept foreign to most consumer products of that time. The result appeared at the 1974 Photokina and was called Contax RTS for Real Time System. It was a handsome camera to behold and the input and participation of the Porsche Group was immediately clear when the RTS was used. The RTS was traditional in construction yet the features were on the cutting edge of 35mm photography. It was a wholly electronic camera with aperture preferred and manual exposure modes, bolt on optional five frame per second motor drive with intervolometer or two frame per second winder. For the first time a stepless electronic shutter was incorporated with up to 1/2000 second shutter speed available. The new RTS also incorporated exposure compensation for the first time on any camera.


1846-1890 | 1891-1945 | 1946-1960 | 1961-1975 | 1976-1995

My favourite Contax Series: Contax RTS, Contax RTS II and Contax RTS III

Motor Drive | Power Winder | Focusing screens | Flash photography | Macrophotography | Remote Photography | Databack options | Accessories

Credit: A related contributing article from Contax Gallery, Malaysia; the source of the original content was not specified (could be downloaded from Carl Zeiss website. Some sections has been modified.

For information on other camera models: CLICK HERE

Back to Photography in Malaysia Main Index Page

| Message Board | for your favorite Contax RTS Series SLR Models
| Message Board | for your Contax optics in a shared environment
| Message Board | Specifically for Dispose or Looking for Contax Photographic equipment