I was digging through boxes of cameras trying to find 2 cameras I was missing and found my Zeiss Ikon Contaflex Super from 1959. I didn’t own it then, I’ve only owned it maybe 4 years. As I was playing with it and the wierd yet interesting method it uses to keep exposure in sync, looking through the VF, etc, I was reminded that this camera has survived wars, seen everything the world has offered good and bad, and has had many peoples eye’s peering through the eyepiece over the ages. I am just one of possibly dozens or more owners. This is how to make stuff. 1959 camera not only still works perfectly including the light meter, but the only real issues are just paint coming off and the leather of the case having issues at high use spots. Besides that it’s a beauty. Zeiss made this line of rangefinder styled SLR’s with the mirror system and used the existing popular open back design seen in many rangefinders including Leicas. Then lots of other cameras using the same tech started appearing and suddenly it’s 2017 and time has passed by and caught back up. Little did they know back then that cameras would get crazy popular, instant would take over for a while, 35mm and 126 would be all the craze (there’s a 126 Contaflex actually) and then digital would reign... but it’s day would come as 2014-2015 rolled around and film started coming back. We now have a strong film base to pick from to shoot our fun old vintage gear. That to me is pretty damn cool.
