The definitive equipment listing for Prakticas on the internet
	Main  |  Camera Bodies  |  Lenses  |  Accessories  |  Photo index  |  Contact Cameras -> Contax/Pentacon: Contax S Contax D / Pentacon Contax E / Pentacon E Contax F / Pentacon F Contax FB / Pentacon FB Pentacon FM Pentacon FBM The 1949 Contax S reflex camera is a true landmark which established the foundation of the 35mm single-lens-reflex as the definitive camera type of today. While the 1936 Kine-Exakta demonstrated the mechanical possibility of combining 35mm and reflex, the Contax S took away the major objection against the reflex principle by the incorporation of a pentaprism, thus offering eye-level viewing without lateral reversion. It was only a few years after the introduction of the Contax rangefinder camera that it became apparent that the reflex principle was the way to go, so design chief Hubert Nerwin started the experiment to convert the Contax into a reflex camera. The problem was that the Contax vertical shutter had shutter blind rollers above and below the film gate, which required the focussing screen to be tilted forward, so the shortest lens which could be fitted while retaining infinity focus was 85mm. This design exercise continued during the war years in secret when Nerwin's team worked on the camera during lunch breaks. After the war, Zeiss Ikon Dresden continued to produce the Contax rangefinder for a little while, and at the same time the futility of a reflex based on the rangefinder chassis was so obvious that designer Wilhelm Winzenberg started with a clean sheet of paper, and based the design around a new horizontal shutter. A new lens mount of 42mm diameter, 1mm pitch, and DIN thread profile (M42 x 1 for short) was introduced in this camera, later to be incorporated into Prakticas and adopted by many other camera manufacturers. Based on the same chassis, a number of subsequent models were developed. As the new Zeiss Ikon company, established at the former Contessa-Nettel factory in Stuttgart registered the Contax brand in many countries, since 1952 there was a parallel production of cameras bearing the alternative name of Pentacon for exporting to those markets. Cameras sold by other importers in the US either demanded their own labels, or applied their own, thus resulting in cameras bearing names such as Consol, Hexacon, Ritacon, Astraflex, super D, etc. In 1958, VEB Zeiss Ikon Dresden was renamed VEB Kinowerke Dresden; the next year merged with KW, Altissa, Welta, and Aspecta to form VEB Kamera-und Kinowerke Dresden. With KW being the chief corporate component, the Contax/Pentacon line of cameras was phased out. Back | Index