Jena Contax

Totally OT but do they fly them? I hate to see dead things in museums. My favourites do what they are supposed to do. Nothing like a steam engine working hard or an elderly aeroplane flying (wing warping and all)...

Regards, David
 
I have a Jena Contax on the way from Europe, should arrive next week. Seller claimed that the shutter was working, and I hope it does, because I intend to shoot some film with it. If it doesn't doesn't work, I will likely send it out for an overhaul. I sent my rare Contax II marked "For Manchoukuo" to Ken Ruth to be overhauled, and took the camera to New Zealand in 2009 and shot about 6 rolls. I don't intend to sell the cameras, so might as well get them in working order.
 
David Hughes said:
Totally OT but do they fly them? I hate to see dead things in museums. My favourites do what they are supposed to do. Nothing like a steam engine working hard or an elderly aeroplane flying (wing warping and all)...

Regards, David
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They flew the FW-190 after restoring it, and before putting it on display.

Some of them they crank up, some they fly. I do not think the Ar-234 was flown- but is fully restored.
 
I congratualte for the exceptional find: this Jena (Saalfeld) Contax looks exteremely fine and complete.

The aluminium back corresponds to the type of these cameras. I've seen one with matching brass back, but possibly it was put together, using a spare part still surviving at the factory plant.

I hope -one day- to add a similar piece to my little Contax/Kiev collection.

Best wishes,

Elmar Lang

Ps.: Uh-oh!... I see now that the Jena Contax was purchased years ago...
 
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Brian Sweeney said:
They flew the FW-190 after restoring it, and before putting it on display.

Some of them they crank up, some they fly. I do not think the Ar-234 was flown- but is fully restored.
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Thanks Brian,

There's nothing quite like seeing an aircraft that's over 100 years old flying.

Regards, David

PS You want photo's? I can easily post one and hi-jack the thread...
 
Start a Vintage Aircraft W/NW thread- but my in-the-air shots will be with an F2 with 300 and 500.

But I do have some with the Contax and Sonnars of planes on the ground.
 
ray*j*gun said:
I second that......the wait is long but he insanely good.

Ray
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+ one for Henry Sherer! I was a very early adopter (2003) so I didn't have to wait, but eight years later, the camera is still working perfectly after hundreds of rolls of film! Congratulations on your find!
 
How about Jena Contax III

How about Jena Contax III

And going back to this thread's main subject -- can you enlight me if Jena Contaxes were produced as II models only or IIIs as well?

I stepped upon Contax III with Jena engraving on the acc. shoe and no. 14420. But this serial no. is nowhere to be found apart from the shoe (no number on the back, no number inside the camera). The lens seems to be from mid 30s (1 753 xxx).

Any thoughts? Is this a real deal? Thanks.
 
The serial number on the accessory shoe is within the known range. My Jena Contax also has the serial number engraved on the bottom of the shutter crate. The book called "On the Trail of the Contax" states that some Contax III cameras were produced in Jena. I would snap up that Contax III given the chance.
 
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Jena Contax III

Jena Contax III

MaZo said:
And going back to this thread's main subject -- can you enlight me if Jena Contaxes were produced as II models only or IIIs as well?

I stepped upon Contax III with Jena engraving on the acc. shoe and no. 14420. But this serial no. is nowhere to be found apart from the shoe (no number on the back, no number inside the camera). The lens seems to be from mid 30s (1 753 xxx).

Any thoughts? Is this a real deal? Thanks.
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Very, very few Jena Contax III were made. The 14420 serial number doesn't sound well. I don't know if there were Jena Contaxes produced between the 1948 batch (s.n. 11751-11950) and the 1948-1949 one (s.n. 14551-14700). I hope that your Contax III be a real Jena one. Sorry for the poorness of my English. Best wishes from Budapest.
 
Highway 61 said:
Actually the "Jena Contax" cameras were made in Saalfeld near Jena, not in the very city of Jena.
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Strictly speaking, that never meant the location, but the maker - Carl Zeiss Jena. The Jena in the name is only a historical reference to the place they started at, and does not mean that all their sites were in town. Carl Zeiss Jena was the lens maker within the Zeiss conglomerate, but it had to fill the gap hosting the pre-Kiev Contax production line, as the production sites of its sister company Zeiss Ikon (the camera maker) within the Soviet zone had been rendered unusable in the 1945 bombings.
 
Highway 61 said:
Actually the "Jena Contax" cameras were made in Saalfeld near Jena, not in the very city of Jena.
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That is in Hans Jurgen Kuc's book, too. :D The book states that only 3 Jena Contax IIIs were produced (in Saalfeld)
 
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Thanks for all inputs. Maybe a couple of pictures can help you evaluate the camera. That's all there is at the moment as I have yet to see it in person, perhaps tomorrow.



1z1wrj7.jpg
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2wp4jew.jpg
2vc9j6x.jpg
 
sevo said:
Strictly speaking, that never meant the location, but the maker - Carl Zeiss Jena. The Jena in the name is only a historical reference to the place they started at, and does not mean that all their sites were in town. Carl Zeiss Jena was the lens maker within the Zeiss conglomerate, but it had to fill the gap hosting the pre-Kiev Contax production line, as the production sites of its sister company Zeiss Ikon (the camera maker) within the Soviet zone had been rendered unusable in the 1945 bombings.
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Of course, and within the 1945 bombings this is the destruction of Dresden in February 1945 which also destroyed the Zeiss Ikon plant where the Contax bodies had been made until 1943.

But - since many people think that the 1946-1947 "Jena Contax" cameras were made in Jena, this is always good to tell where they were made actually. Despite what one RFF member might think, the historical truth isn't less fun than the myth. :cool:

Some years ago I received an email from Peter Hennig in which he had attached some photos of the Contax IIa prototype made in Dresden in 1941-1942 by Hubert Nerwin's team. This is interesting because it seems that the blueprints of the IIa and IIIa cameras were destroyed altogether with the Zeiss Ikon factory plant (it's told than the firestorm caused by the bombing over Dresden got into the 7th underground of the Zeiss Ikon building).

Seems plausible if you think that the IIa was eventually released in 1950 only - the guys working on it at Stuttgart hadn't the blueprints of the prototype any longer.

Actually the IIa was initially planned to be marketed in 1944 or so, which explains that it was old-fashioned in 1950 already with its squinty viewfinder without framelines.
 
MaZo said:
Thanks for all inputs. Maybe a couple of pictures can help you evaluate the camera. That's all there is at the moment as I have yet to see it in person, perhaps tomorrow.



1z1wrj7.jpg
o8sbjk.jpg
2wp4jew.jpg
2vc9j6x.jpg
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IMO it's an early Kiev III with a prewar Contax frontplate (second version, with a more rounded logo) and a fake engraved accessory shoe.

The lens looks like a genuine prewar Sonnar.
 
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Deception

Deception

Thank you for the pictures. I have a problem with the bezel around self-timer which is not black in this case. On the pictures I don't see well enough the focussing ring but it seems to be a simple, not a double one. I am afraid that your camera is a Kiev originated fake. IMO you are right. I am so sorry.
Is the film speed marker calibrated in DIN? Is it in GOST?
 
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I also had many doubts and can only thank you all for your expert opinions. No, the camera is not mine and I know it from the pictures and seller description only. Seems I won't be buying it anyways.
 
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