Zeiss Ikon Contaflex Super B Film Camera Review

Zeiss Ikon Contaflex Super B is an unusual but well-built camera that features a sharp, expressive lens.

The Contaflex does not have an instant-return mirror, and its lens mount design is reminiscent of early foldable rangefinders with interchangeable element groups, like the Retina IIIC.

Super B’s are heavy, slow to shoot, and their viewfinder experience makes focusing feel like a novel task — even if you’ve shot many SLRs before.

Yet the supreme quality of the images Zeiss Ikon Contaflex Super B produces alone is worth the extra weight, and the price ($25~$100) suggests that this camera is still an undiscovered gem.

But there’s more: Zeiss Ikon Contaflexes are among the few 35mm film cameras that support interchangeable film backs!

In this review: Technical specifications. Build quality. The unusual design and ergonomics of Zeiss Ikon Contaflex Super B. Carl Zeiss Tessar 50mm 𝒇2.8 image quality. Where to find your Zeiss Ikon Contaflex Super B. Support this blog & get premium features with GOLD memberships!

Technical specifications.

Released in 1963, this 35mm manual focus SLR is the second-to-last camera in the series, featuring a selenium meter-powered (no batteries needed) shutter-priority mode as well as a fully manual mode with uncoupled meter assist. The selenium meter has “ZEISS IKON” lettering on top of the cell window — an unusual but neat design.

The kit lens on this camera is Carl Zeiss 50mm 𝒇2.8 Tessar (4 elements, 3 groups). Everything in this article, except the product photos, is photographed with this lens.

The camera uses a lens mount with a built-in 1s - 1/500s leaf shutter and focusing mechanism (it also has its own optical glass elements) that accepts several lenses: Pro-Tessar 35 mm 𝒇3.2, Pro-Tessar 85 mm 𝒇4, Pro-Tessar 85 mm 𝒇3.2, Pro-Tessar 115 mm 𝒇4, Monocular 8×30B (400mm telephoto), Pro-Tessar M 1:1 50 mm 𝒇5.6 (for macro photography), and various versions of Steritar (for stereo photography!).

This Contaflex also supports interchangeable film backs for 35mm film (which is extremely rare for this format). I haven’t got one to try for this review, but I will update it once I do.

The camera weighs 712g/25oz with the 50mm 𝒇2.8 Tessar lens and measures 134mm × 88mm × 76mm (5.3” × 3.5” × 3”).

Build quality.

This camera is bulky; it will not fit in a pocket. Most of the components are metal; it feels extremely solid. Some parts of it look pointy, which is a reflection of the metal shaping technology and the style of the time.

You could tell it was an expensive camera. There’s an impeccable attention to detail across the entire surface: from the light meter indicator on the top plate to the in-finder light meter and shutter speed scale. All the dials, plates, and connections fall into place and line up perfectly.

The only piece that looks out of place on this camera is the lens barrel/mount with all the controls. Although a standard design for the time (and well-made), it uses a different finish and looks a little awkward, especially when compared to the Nikon F1, a forward-looking SLR that closely resembles modern designs.

The unusual design and ergonomics of Zeiss Ikon Contaflex Super B.

Of course, the lens mount that doubles as a shutter, focus, and aperture housing isn’t the only thing that makes this camera unusual.

Focusing with this SLR is unlike any other I’ve tried. The entire viewfinder is always in focus (as it would be on a rangefinder), with just part of the center ring remaining blurry on off-focus parts of the scene. This is exactly the opposite of what you’d find on most SLRs: the entire view becomes blurry when the focus is off, while the middle circle may focus the scene as a focusing aid.

Using this viewfinder felt very strange at first, but it was easy to get used to.

On the other hand, getting used to the lack of automatic mirror return took some time. Being one of the first SLRs on the market, the intricate mechanics of this camera were not yet developed to send the reflex mirror up immediately after the shot is taken. The result is a completely blacked-out finder immediately after the photo is taken. To unblock the viewfinder, you have to advance to the next frame.

The nice thing about the leaf shutter on this camera is that it’s uncharacteristically quiet for an SLR, and it sends virtually no vibration to the body. This is less distracting to those around and less likely to add motion blur at slow shutter speeds. If you have a steady hand, you can go as low as 1/30s or 1/15s and still get sharp images.

The film advance winder is stubby and it can show some resistance, depending on how well the internal lubrication held up on your camera. Mine felt stiff for the first roll (the shutter was also slow), but as I used the camera more, the gear freed up, including the shutter, which is now accurate at all speeds.

However, there was one thing I could not get used to: setting the frame count before shooting. You need to twist the black plastic ring counter-clockwise until the white dot aligns with your total roll frame count (i.e., 36). As you advance your film, it will tick down to zero. This design is not uncommon for cameras of this age; the problem for me is that I forget to set the counter almost always.

Loading film into this film camera (made to accept interchangeable film backs) is not particularly unusual. The kit comes with a regular back that simply covers the film compartment as a typical film door would. The only difference is that the film rewind unlock lever, which on this camera is built into one of the locking lugs that latch to the film back. To rewind the film, you’ll need to open and twist the one with the “R” and keep it that way as you crank the foldable lever on the top plate (next to the light meter window). Opening and twisting the second bottom-plate lug unlocks the film back, exposing the roll. An interchangeable film back will keep the roll protected from light, but to mount it onto this camera, you’ll need to detach the film take-up spool and a spacer inside the film canister chamber.

My camera’s light meter is no longer accurate, so I didn’t bother testing the shutter priority mode (which can be set by turning the aperture dial to “A”). The unpleasant part of shooting this Contaflex in manual mode is that you have to press the small silver pin next to the “A” to unlock the aperture ring (and hold it while rotating the ring).

Though I didn’t use it to take photos, I still played with the ASA/ISO selector dial (it rotates when you squeeze the small pin underneath the ring). It has an interesting feature: pushing the pin on the dial will rotate the ring so that a small cloud with “2” points to the small mark at the back of the camera. This is an exposure compensation switch, which springs back to “normal” mode once you let it go.

The match needle on the top plate is one of the visually nicest things about this camera for me. Too bad the meter doesn’t work.

One last point of complaint about this camera is the focus tabs on the lens, which I felt are in an odd position that requires searching if you are not looking at them directly.

Carl Zeiss Tessar 50mm 𝒇2.8 image quality.

The lens is my favourite thing about this camera.

I’ve used and reviewed more than a hundred film cameras. They’re all a little or a lot different, and I’ve seen some really nice ones. But only a select few of those cameras have lenses that render light as beautifully as I thought this Zeiss Tessar did.

It’s very sharp in the center, even when shot wide-open, which is excellent for portraits:

The lens renders medium-high contrast when stopped down, which adds even more to the overall appearance of sharpness:

Of course, this Carl Zeiss Tessar is not perfect. You’ll notice visible chromatic aberration and comatic aberration (lens coma) in some cases.

Chromatic aberration appears as thin purple fringes around thin dark lines against a nearly white background (i.e., barren tree branches against a bright sky). It’s very common to various degrees, even with modern lenses. This lens renders more chromatic aberration than a modern high-quality glass equivalent, but not to the extent that it causes a distraction in most images.

Comatic aberration is the tendency of the glass to render a comet-like tail that points away from the image center next to bright points of light. My review of the 50mm Nikon Series E lens demonstrates lens coma well.

But those (and other) technical drawbacks still appear to work in the len’s favour. The comatic aberration, for example, isn’t usually noticeable (unlike that on the Series E lens), but in some cases, it can add a neat glow to very bright objects on a dark background:

Whether it’s a good or a bad thing will depend on your tastes. But I bet that most readers will like something about this lens. If not the coma glow, it may be the airy bokeh that can make some photos appear as if they’re made of clouds:

Whereas some lenses and formats may work best with a specific type of film, I’ve got great results with this Tessar on premium colour (Kodak Vision 3 50D/Cinema Shorts) and black-and-white (Fujifilm Neopan Acros II), but also with re-spooled black-and-white film that expired in 1992:

The only other lens I’ve tried so far that renders bokeh as expressive and pleasing as this one is mounted on my favourite rangefinder, the Voigtländer Vitessa A.

Both lenses share some of the character (like softness and definition in the right places), but they aren’t identical. Which is why I intend to keep both!

Where to find your Zeiss Ikon Contaflex Super B.

These cameras are not particularly rare, although most would likely be found on marketplaces like eBay, rather than in local shops. If this is your first time shopping for a vintage camera or you’d like to get some more tips on how to get a better deal (and a working camera), see this guide.

❤ By the way: Please consider making your Zeiss Ikon Contaflex Super B camera purchase using this link so that this website may get a small percentage of that sale — at no extra charge for you — thanks!