aleceiffel

These are two from the summer that I had to wait to scan and work on (until I could afford to buy a new scanner for 120). The pier is on an Ensign Selfix 820 (Rollei RPX 25 Film). The field is on a Bessa I with Color-Skopar (Rollei Retro 80S Film), - developed in Rodinal 1 + 200 semi-stand and split-toned in lightroom.

Hi Rick, I think from what Henry was saying to me that only very small numbers were made in this way, and are rare in the extreme. In such cases it's possible that because of this rarity a lot of people aren't aware that these versions exist at all, because very few people have seen them. I also imagine that a fair few of the handful made have been discarded or lost since the 1950's. I've contacted Westlicht Auctions to try and gauge their thoughts.

For anyone who is interested I think the questions about these cameras have been solved by Henry W. Scherer of zeisscamera.com, it is a rare camera made from left over pre-war parts, chromed and modified with a flash sync by the manufacturer post-war, this is what he wrote: “Thank you for writing. I believe a small number of Contax 1 Chrome face cameras were manufactured out of spare parts after the end of WWII. The special paint Zeiss used on the black Contax 1 face plates was made for Zeiss in Russia. The lack of this black paint was pointed out by Zeiss in the end of its 1955 Zeiss Dealer Bulletin. This bulletin is posted on my Website. Germany had a post war famine that killed 3 million Germans. The Zeiss factories had been smashed by the war. Many cameras were made by Zeiss out of spare parts to sell to occupation servicemen so that they could obtain dollars to use to buy food. The Postwar Contax II is the most common postwar assembled camera I've seen but I have also overhauled one chrome face Contax 1 sent to me years ago from Dennmark. The man who owned this camera told me his father had purchased it new after the war. I also have two Chrome face Contax 1's here in my collection.” I'd like to sincerely thank Henry for his time and knowledge. If anyone has auction results for one of these cameras or a guide price for insurance, I’d be very interested to know.

I found this page, the chrome plating looks original and genuine on mine - I believe it may be one of these rare chrome face models. Mine appears to be in better cosmetic condition, but showing enough vintage wear to persuade me that this is not counterfeit: The Contax I Chrome Face Body

Hi Greg, I agree that we always have to be dubious about the authenticity of such things. The reason I'm currently suspending my disbelief is that it looks like a high quality job, and like the chroming of the II and IIa's I've seen, and shows the kind of wear that tells me it certainly wasn't a recent job. I would have thought that if it had been sent back to the factory to have this done it would have had an extra letter added to the serial number, just like when they were factory repaired. I also think that it would have been an expensive customisation after the fact. I'm leaning towards the theory that this was done as a factory mod at the expense and request of the original owner.

Thanks very much for your help Rick. Any info is much appreciated.

Hi everyone, I need to pick the brains of some vintage rangefinder/contax experts if you would be so kind. I have in my possession a Contax I with matching serial numbers of V32351 (dating it around 1933/34) and an f2 5cm Sonnar + original case. The thing that is puzzling me is that the Contax I was supposedly only finished in black, whereas mine has a metal/chrome front plate. I’m wondering if this camera is somehow in a rare finish or whether at some point someone has stripped the paint from the front plate – this would seem to be a lot of effort to go to, as it would include removing the white paint in the recessed Contax lettering and I can see no sign of any paint remnants on this part of the camera (and also the metal finish shows signs of wear commensurate with the age of the camera). I’m 99.9% sure the camera is otherwise in original condition, and I’m wondering whether I have something rare here. I’d really appreciate your thoughts, and I’ll post some photos shortly.

Sorry, having problems with the file uploads.

Thanks for the info, that's an interesting read. I wonder if mine is a different or later version though? That version looks very similar to the Topcor 50mm f2 and has a minimum aperture of f22 whereas mine has a different ridged barrel and a minimum aperture of f16. Take a look, I'll post some pics.

Hi, newbie here (my name’s Andrew not Alec as my profile would suggest). I recently decided to play another round of Russian Roulette with some of my hard earned on the big auction site and bought a Leotax Leonon-S 50mm f2 LTM for my Canon VL2, it’s in very good condition and it’s definitely a keeper. It seems like a bit of a rare beast, and I wondered whether anyone knows anything about it? as there seems to be precious little info on it. If you look at my public photos you can see some shots I took with it last week, if anybody is interested.