Zeiss Ikon Contessa1948

History

The Contessa name has a long history in German camera manufacturing. The original Contessa-Nettel company was one of the five manufacturers merged by Carl Zeiss and AGFA in 1926 to form Zeiss Ikon AG. After the war, Zeiss Ikon resumed production in West Germany (Stuttgart), and the Contessa designation was applied to a new line of postwar folding 35mm cameras beginning in 1948.

The 1948 Contessa -- sometimes distinguished by the absence of a suffix letter, or referred to by collectors as the Contessa 35 -- was followed by revised variants in subsequent years. The Contessa LK and Contessa LKE are later variants with detail differences; the suffix letters refer to shutter and synchronisation specifications under German DIN conventions of the period.

The postwar period saw intense competition among West German manufacturers for the international camera market, particularly in North America. The Zeiss Ikon brand carried significant prestige, and the Contessa sold well in export markets on the strength of that reputation combined with the Tessar lens.

Production of the original Contessa line was eventually superseded as Zeiss Ikon rationalised its camera range. The Contessa name continued in other camera lines but the folding 35mm with selenium meter represents a specific and historically bounded product.

Why It Matters

The Contessa is significant as an early example of a production camera designed from the outset with an integrated exposure meter -- at a time when most photographers still relied on separate handheld meters or experience-based exposure judgment. The selenium meter is passive (no battery), making it reliable for shooters today who appreciate a functional meter without battery dependency, provided the selenium cell has not degraded.

The Tessar 45/2.8 on the Contessa is a respected lens: sharp from f/4, with the characteristic Tessar contrast and rendering that Zeiss Ikon glass achieved consistently across its postwar folder range. The 45mm focal length on 35mm film is marginally wider than the standard 50mm, giving a slight wide-angle perspective useful for documentary and travel photography.

The camera represents the aesthetic and engineering approach of the immediate postwar West German camera industry: maximum precision within a compact, economical folding body. It is distinct from the SLR and rangefinder cameras that would dominate the subsequent decade.

Sample Photographers / Notable Use

• The Contessa and comparable German folding 35mm cameras of the late 1940s and 1950s were the standard equipment of European amateur and semi-professional photographers who required a pocketable, high-quality camera before the widespread adoption of the SLR.

References

• Camera-Wiki: Zeiss Ikon Contessa