OT: SLR engineered by committee (SLR version of Prominent)

[amateriat]

This Cyclops dates from sometime prior to 1964 and the Icarex from roughly 1970 or so. The two cameras are utterly different.
Julian

From what I recall, the Contarex was introduced in 1958, just before the Nikon F. I also recall how Leitz was criticized for being the proverbial day-late-and-dollar-short when it introduced its Leicaflex in 1964. My take was that Wetzlar got to work on their own SLR at the same time or after Z-I did, stopped in their tracks when the F came out, took a good look at both designs, then went back to the drawing board. Having tried a Contaflex - once - I have to say that the thing is a true piece of work from an engineering standpoint (and an aesthetic one, if only in an oddball way), but that Leica was shrewd to wait till they got their design mostly right...and you can still buy a new SLR from them.

- Barrett (deftly moving the punch-bowl back into common reach...)

 

[wyk_penguin]

Julian, if you are looking at the diaphragm with the lens set to infinity, you will see
the blades, however, you are still getting f/4. On their close-focusing lenses Zeiss
had a compensation system which kept the aperture consistent throughout the range of focus. Try this--put the lens at infinity, then move toward minimum focus
as you watch the blades; you should see a perfect circle with the lens at minimum
focus.

The 'Rex is an item everyone should experience. My only complaints--the wheezy ratcheting sound of the advance lever, and the ten pound shutter release. It does
benefit from one of the Abramsson (sp?) soft releases.

Fred

Another Zeiss detail. Why does Zeiss always produce things that are so mechanically complex? :bang: Does that little change in aperture matter that much?