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Zeiss Ikon Contessa


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I just picked up one of these off of eBay for about $25. The meter even works, although I have not yet tested it for accuracy. It seems like a fine camera for my kids to fiddle around with. It seems fine for me to play around with, too. As for the discussion about lens quality - I expect it will be better than most other $25 cameras!
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  • 2 weeks later...

I have a Contessa LK which took two nice sharp rolls of film before the wind failed. Purchased earlier was a Contina (exactly the same body - its case fitted the Contessa) which also had a failure - this time with shutter actuation.

 

I also have a Kodak Retinette with a Schneider (three element) Reomar 45mm f2.8 which had seen a fair bit of use before I came to it, and nothing seems to stop it. Amazingly, it's quite as sharp at the Tessar, and as good as most of my four-element lenses. Best at f8/f11, of course.

 

My local camera repairer said the 60s Contessa/Contina cameras had too many plastic parts and were rather flimsy - built down to a price. Plastic's not a real problem - I have a Minolta XGM which is as tough as anything (survived a 3 metre fall onto thinly carpeted concrete), but I can agree about the Contessa/Contina flimsiness. You have to be fairly careful with them. Bit of a pity, as they are rather well designed.

 

One point - with the fancy little rewind crank on the bottom, you don't know if the film's actually going through. Oh, well, they're "display" models now!

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