Contarex Professional

Zeiss Ikon · Contarex mount · 24×36mm on 35mm film · 1966

our own finding

Also known as: Contarex Professional · Contarex Proffessional · Contarex Pro · Contarex P · Zeiss Ikon Contarex Professional · コンタレックスプロフェッショナル

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
Contarex Professional (10.2700)	Contarex	1966–1967	K45001–K46500, one batch (Pacific Rim Camera; collection-appareils)	1,500 on Pacific Rim Camera's figure, one continuous serial batch K45001–K46500, built from June 1966 to March 1967. collection-appareils gives the same batch and dates with "1500 would have been manufactured", and Flashback Camera also gives about 1,500. None cites a factory record, and the batch size is not a count of numbers used. Leitz Photographica Auction has sold a body it describes as unnumbered.

Leitz Photographica Auction results, hammer prices including buyer's premium (24% under the EU margin scheme, 20% for export): K45301 of 1966 in a Contarex-System attaché case with ever-ready case, black Distagon 2.8/25mm, black Planar 2/50mm, chrome Sonnar 2/85mm, black Sonnar 2.8/135mm, Tessar 3.5/115mm with bellows, a black magazine back, angle finder, filters, the complete set of screens and data strips, €2,880 against a €2,800–3,000 estimate (Auction 28, lot 328); an unnumbered chrome body of c.1966 with black 'Flash' Planar 2/50mm no. 4946079, scratches on the rear element, €780 against €800–1,000 (Auction 38, lot 319).
Yahoo! Auctions Japan: a body titled 'rare, excellent, serviced, working' ended on 5 August 2026 at ¥119,000 on a single bid, its starting price, against a ¥150,000 buy-now, with no consumption tax charged. The seller's general terms say everything is sold as found and that the buyer should plan on maintenance, which is not what the title says.
Blue Moon Camera (Portland) has listed a Professional kit, stock number DXC1023/K45246, with a Planar f/2 50mm no. 2377552, original case and strap, graded good cosmetically and fully functional, at $600, a shop price; the listing is marked out of stock.
Flashback Camera has listed two bodies (items 024556 and 026216), rating the model three stars, 'not easy to find, once 1–2 months'. Its note on 026216 says the previous owner had it fully serviced in Tokyo in 2024, including shutter repair.
Bodies turn up with both chrome Planars and black B-Planars ('Blitz' or 'Flash'); the 1968 US list offered kits with the B-Planar f/2 50mm, the Planar f/1.4 55mm or the Tessar f/2.8 50mm. A Planar number far below the body's date, such as Blue Moon's 2377552 or the 2614505 in the Commons photograph, is an earlier lens and says nothing about how the camera was supplied.
The English booklet (GA/10.2712, author W. Kaiser, printed in Germany, code '1 0666/16-1') lists the lenses as Biogon 21, Distagon 25, 35/2 and flash 35/4, flash Planar 50, Tessar 50, S-Planar 50, Planar 55, Sonnar 85, Tessar 115, Sonnar 135/4, Olympia Sonnar 135/2.8 and 250/4 and the Mirotars 500 and 1000. The Distagon 18mm, Olympia Sonnar 180mm and the Vario-Sonnars of the 1968 list are not yet in it. It gives the flash Planar and flash Distagon as 11.2401 and 11.2403, where the 1968 list numbers the B-Planar 11.2412 and the B-Distagon 11.2413. Its accessories page still carries a line reading '(Translator's note: Please check this!)' under the tripod socket bush.

How to tell them apart (expand)

The second-generation body, with 'Contarex' in block letters on a black panel on the prism, and 'professional' in black lower case on a light strip across the top of the black front plate
No meter window, no meter switch and no battery: the quickest way to tell it from a Super, which wears the same prism panel
A fixed prism, where the Special's finder lifts off
Chrome, with a K serial between K45001 and K46500

Contarex Professional (10.2700):

'professional' in black lower-case letters on a light strip across the top of the black front plate, below the prism, and 'Contarex' in block letters on a black panel on the prism front, with the Zeiss Ikon badge on the front of the top plate at the wind side (instruction booklet photograph; Wikimedia Commons photograph)
No meter of any kind: no window above the lens, no battery cover and no meter needle in the finder; the front plate opposite the aperture wheel carries nothing like the early Super's meter switch (1968 US list, 'no built-in exposure meter'; instruction booklet; Pacific Rim Camera on the Super)
A fixed pentaprism that does not lift off, unlike the Special's interchangeable finder (Pacific Rim Camera; English Wikipedia)
A lightning symbol and 'matic' on top of the prism in front of the accessory shoe, which has a cord-free flash contact (instruction booklet photograph; collection-appareils)
A film-speed reminder disc in DIN and ASA around the rewind crank, and a film-type disc seen through a window in the frame counter: both are memory aids only (instruction booklet; English Wikipedia)
A sliding button for raising the mirror on the top plate, between the prism and the shutter-speed dial (instruction booklet, item 17)
The shutter-speed ring must be lifted before it will turn (instruction booklet)
Chrome only; serial a letter and a number in the housing, K on every example recorded (Pacific Rim Camera; instruction booklet; Leitz; Christie's)

Contarex Professional (10.2700): One version. The 1 March 1968 US list describes it as having the "Same features as Contarex Super, but no built-in exposure meter". In practice that is the second-generation body with its blocky 'Contarex' panel, a fixed prism and interchangeable screens, but no CdS cell and no battery. Catalogue 10.2700, $315 for the body with the split-image screen and ground-glass ring, lens and case extra; $554 with the Planar f/1.4 55mm, $504 with the B-Planar f/2 50mm and $404 with the Tessar f/2.8 50mm. The Super was $445 in the same list. Pacific Rim Camera calls it the replacement for the Special and the last Contarex SLR without a built-in meter.

Serial-range notes

K45001–K46500: The one batch Pacific Rim Camera gives, June 1966 to March 1967, 1,500 numbers; collection-appareils repeats it. Every numbered Professional on record falls inside it.
K45246, K45301, K45834, K45895: K45301 is Leitz's, dated 1966, in an outfit; K45834 and K45895 are in the Contarex collection Christie's sold as one lot in 1997 (sale 7752, lot 288), each with a 'blitz' Planar f/2 50mm (nos. 4802844 and 4803848). K45246 is carried in the stock number of a kit Blue Moon Camera listed with a Planar f/2 50mm no. 2377552. Leitz Auction 38 also sold a chrome body it calls 'unnumbered', dated c.1966.

Specifications

Format: 24×36mm on 35mm film · as loaded: commercial cartridges, or a Contax cassette loaded with daylight-loading, darkroom-loading or bulk film; the frame counter is set by hand and counts down (instruction booklet) exposures
Finder: Fixed pentaprism, with interchangeable focusing screens changed through the lens mount
Shutter: focal plane · 1s – 1/1000 and B on one ring, lifted to turn; no intermediate settings (instruction booklet) · flash sync Speeds colour-coded: white 1–1/30s and B for class M bulbs and electronic flash, yellow 1/60s for electronic flash, orange 1/125–1/1000s for FP bulbs. PC socket with a locking device for special plugs, and a cord-free contact in the shoe (instruction booklet) · self-timer
Film advance: single-stroke rapid-wind lever; the mirror returns at once after the exposure but the lens stays closed at the taking aperture until the lever is worked again, as a reminder to wind (instruction booklet)
Back: removable, released by two bolts in the base, one of which is turned to R for rewinding; takes the interchangeable magazine back 20.0304, $69 in 1968, and has a slit for data strips that print a 4mm note along the edge of the frame (instruction booklet; 1968 US list)
Meter: none; the instruction booklet recommends the separate Zeiss Ikon Ikophot CD
Weight: 800 g
Country: West Germany
Original price: $315 for the body with split-image screen and ground-glass ring, catalogue 10.2700, in the Contarex system pages issued under the Zeiss Ikon Voigtländer name and dated 1 March 1968; $554 with the Planar f/1.4 55mm, $504 with the B-Planar f/2 50mm, $404 with the Tessar f/2.8 50mm, ever-ready case 23.0008 $29 extra. These are the printed US prices; the pages do not say whether they are retail list prices or whether tax is included. No launch-year or German price is recorded here. (today $2,840)
Accessories: Focusing screens 20.1310 (standard, split image and fine-grain ring), 20.1311 (250mm and longer), 20.1312 (ground glass), 20.1313 (clear, cross lines, photomicrography) and 20.1314 (ground glass with split image), $7.50–13.50 each in 1968, and container 20.7074 with tweezers and brush · Interchangeable magazine back 20.0304 ($69 in 1968), with cases 23.7856 and 23.0200 · Data strips 20.0202, 100 in a bag, for writing notes onto the film through the back · Eye-piece correction lenses 20.0504 and right-angle finder 20.1634 · Bellows 20.1617 ($99 in 1968) with the Tessar 115mm, Reprophot copy stand 20.1853, table reproduction stand and micro attachment 20.1628 with 20.1616 · Ever-ready case: 23.0008 'for Contarex P' at $29 in the 1968 list, 23.7526 in the booklet · Monocular 8x30 B 20.1629 as a 400mm tele attachment, with adapter ring 20.1639

The standard screen is the Fresnel 20.1310 with a split-image wedge rangefinder and a fine-grain focusing ring, for 25 to 135mm. The booklet also lists 20.1311 for 250mm and longer, the ground glass 20.1312, the clear photomicrography screen with cross lines 20.1313 and the ground glass with split image 20.1314. To change one, the lens is removed, a retaining spring at the front edge is pushed forward so the screen frame hinges down, and the screen is lifted out with the tweezers from container 20.7074 (instruction booklet; camera-wiki also says the screens change through the lens throat). Screens 20.1310, 20.1311 and 20.1314 are marked with the area the data strip covers. The eyepiece takes correction lenses 20.0504 (booklet; the 1968 list gives ±0.5 to ±5 dioptres in half-dioptre steps, to special order with a prescription), and the right-angle finder 20.1634, $36 in 1968, fits it.

Figures we worked out rather than found: Kits in the 1 March 1968 list cost exactly the body plus the lens: $315 + $239 for the Planar 55mm = $554, $315 + $189 for the B-Planar = $504, $315 + $89 for the Tessar = $404, so there was no kit saving · In the same list the Super body was $445, $130 more than the Professional; the built-in meter is the one difference the list names · The 800g is Flashback Camera's weighing of one body without lens, not a factory figure

Where sources disagree

Years

Production June 1966 to March 1967; introduced 1967 and discontinued 1968 (Pacific Rim Camera, on the same page)
1966–67 (English and German Wikipedia; collection-appareils, June 1966 to March 1967)
Introduced 1967, made only until 1968 (Flashback Camera)
K45301 dated 1966 and an unnumbered body c.1966 (Leitz Photographica Auction)

Better supported: built 1966–67, sold into 1968; years.last records the end of manufacture, as on the other Contarex bodies

The dates need not conflict: a batch built from mid-1966 to early 1967 could be on sale into 1968, and the body is in the US list of 1 March 1968. Pacific Rim's Super page says Photokina 1966 was the target and that the Professional was introduced while the Super existed only as prototypes.

5

Designed for use with the Bullseye and Special only (Pacific Rim Camera's Biogon page)
The Professional's own English instruction booklet explains how to fit the Biogon, with the shutter tensioned and the mirror raised by the sliding button on the top plate, and lists it and its finder 20.1500 among the accessories

The booklet is the primary source, and the button it describes is shown in its photograph of the Professional's top plate. The instructions for the Super (p.17) and the Super Electronic (p.21), the two metered second-generation bodies, each say the Biogon cannot be used on that camera; neither says anything about the Professional. The Biogon is not priced among the lenses in the US list of 1 March 1968, though three case descriptions there still mention it, and Pacific Rim gives its production as 1958–62, so it may no longer have been sold new by then; see the Contarex Biogon 21mm f/4.5 page.

What reviewers say

No reviews aggregated yet — this family is still in the research queue. Written one? We'd love to index it.

History

The Contarex Professional is the meterless body of the second Contarex generation, catalogue 10.2700. Zeiss Ikon Stuttgart’s first Contarexes, the Bullseye with its selenium cell above the lens and the Special with its interchangeable finders and no meter, had been on sale since 1959 and 1960. Pacific Rim Camera says both replacements, a metered Super and a meterless Professional, were aimed at Photokina 1966. Late in the design a cadmium-sulphide cell small and sensitive enough to meter through the lens became available, and fitting it meant a battery compartment and a new metering circuit. The Professional, which needed neither, came out first while the Super was still a prototype. The US list of 1 March 1968 sums it up as “Same features as Contarex Super, but no built-in exposure meter”, at $315 for the body against $445 for the Super.

It is the Super’s body without the meter. The new top has ‘Contarex’ in block letters on a black panel on the prism, and ‘professional’ runs in black lower case on a light strip across the top of the black front plate. The film-speed reminder has moved to the rewind crank, where it is only a reminder. Unlike the Special it has a fixed prism, but its focusing screens can be changed through the lens mount. With the lens off, a spring at the front edge lets the screen frame drop, and the screen comes out with the tweezers supplied. The booklet lists five: the standard split-image Fresnel, one for 250mm and longer, a plain ground glass, a ground glass with split image, and a clear screen with cross lines for the microscope. Much else works as on the first Contarexes. The aperture is set on a wheel at the top of the front plate, a lever winds film and shutter, and the diaphragm stays at the taking aperture after the exposure until the next wind. The shutter runs from 1 second to 1/1000 on one ring, which must be lifted to turn. The back comes off on two bolts and can be swapped for a magazine back. A slit in the back takes a written data strip that prints along the edge of the frame.

The Professional’s own English booklet also explains how to fit the Biogon 21mm f/4.5, the deep-seated wide-angle that can go on only with the mirror raised. It shows the sliding button for raising the mirror on the Professional’s top plate. Pacific Rim Camera says that Biogon was designed for the Bullseye and Special only. The instructions for the Super and the Super Electronic, by contrast, each say the Biogon cannot be used on that camera. The booklet is the primary source for the Professional, but the Biogon is not priced among the lenses in the 1968 US list (three case descriptions there still mention it), and Pacific Rim gives its production as 1958–62, so it may no longer have been sold new by then (see the Contarex Biogon 21mm f/4.5 page).

There was one version, in chrome. Pacific Rim Camera gives 1,500 made in a single serial batch, K45001 to K46500, between June 1966 and March 1967. collection-appareils repeats the figures and Flashback Camera also says about 1,500, but none of them cites a factory record. The dates are reported differently: Wikipedia has 1966–67, Flashback 1967–68, and Pacific Rim both 1967–68 and production from 1966 to 1967 on the same page. A batch built through early 1967 and still listed in March 1968 fits all of them. The bodies seen in sales have K serials inside the batch: K45246, K45301, which Leitz dates to 1966, and K45834 and K45895 in the Contarex collection Christie’s sold in 1997. Leitz also sold a body it described as unnumbered.

When buying, check that the camera has no meter window or meter switch and that the front plate says professional; a Super has the same prism panel. Read the serial, and check which screen is fitted, since the five screens were sold separately, at $7.50 to $13.50 each in 1968. Flashback weighed one body at 800g and calls it the lightest Contarex. Henry Scherer, who serviced Contarexes, on his archived service page priced a full overhaul of a Super or Professional at $1,850 against $1,250 for a Bullseye. He wrote that nearly every Contarex he received had a serious fault and that the outside says nothing about the inside. One Japanese auction in 2026 titled a Professional serviced and working while its terms sold everything as found, with maintenance left to the buyer. At Leitz, an unnumbered body with a ‘Flash’ Planar made €780 and a full outfit around K45301 €2,880, both including premium. The Bullseye, Special, Super and Super Electronic have their own pages.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Photographs

A chrome Contarex Professional with a chrome Planar f/2 50mm, no. 2614505 — kevin t murray, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

More sample photos elsewhere

These photographers keep all rights to their work — enjoy it at the source.

Live listings

The listings collector hasn't run for this family yet — check back soon, or search the marketplaces directly meanwhile.