Contarex Special

Zeiss Ikon · Contarex mount · 24×36mm on 35mm film (Zeiss Ikon instruction booklet) · 1960

our own finding

Also known as: Contarex Special · Contarex Spezial · Contarex Spécial · Zeiss Ikon Contarex Special · コンタレックススペシャル

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
Contarex Special (10.2500)	Contarex	1960–1966	U24001–U27000, one batch (Pacific Rim Camera)	3,000 between September 1960 and November 1966 on Pacific Rim Camera's figures, all in the one U batch. Mike Eckman gives "an estimated 1600". Neither cites a factory record, and German Wikipedia ends production in 1963

Leitz Photographica Auction results, all hammer prices including buyer's premium: U24479 of 1960 with Planar 2/50, Distagon 4/35, both finders, magazine back and outfit case, €1,080 (Auction 28, lot 327, estimate €1,800–2,000); U25701 of 1960 with Planar 2/50 and both finders, €1,440 (Auction 33, lot 378); U26241 of 1960 with Tessar 2.8/50, both finders and the bellows, €780 against a €1,200–1,400 estimate (Auction 36, lot 289); U25989 of about 1962 with Tessar and both finders, €913 (Auction 6, lot 557). Three of the four lots call it a 'rare body'; the fourth calls it a 'nice camera'. Lot 378 at Auction 33 was sold under full taxation, with VAT due on hammer price and premium for buyers in the EU; the other three were margin-scheme lots.
Kamerastore's product page shows €499 as its 'average certified condition' price, with one camera listed and marked sold out; what that camera came with is not stated. It is a shop price, not an auction result.
Flashback Camera has offered the waist-level finder on its own as 'Contarex Special Waist Level Finder', with its pop-up magnifier and leather case; finders and screens turn up apart from bodies, so check what a listing actually includes.
Leitz Photographica Auction 48, lot 375 offered 'Zeiss Ikon Contarex Space Camera – Gemini IV mission', a camera engraved V-102 on the chassis and described as 'VK-102 (NASA)', dated about 1961, with Planar 2/50 no. 3180496, a reflective covering against heat and oversized back-release levers for gloved hands. The catalogue says NASA first bought a Contarex and lenses from a Houston photographic store and had them adapted. It went unsold against a €50,000–60,000 estimate. Leitz calls it one of a very small number of surviving engineering models made for NASA: not a version a buyer will meet.
The English instruction booklet's lens list includes a 'PLANAR f/1.4, 58 mm', marked 'available in summer 1961', beside the Biogon 21, Distagon 35, Tessar 50, Planar 50, Sonnar 85, 135 and 250. The 1 May 1961 US list has no f/1.4 at all. Whether this is the lens later sold as the Planar 55mm f/1.4 is not stated in either source.

How to tell them apart (expand)

No meter window above the lens and no meter needle in the finder: the clean front is the quickest way to tell it from a Bullseye in a photograph
A removable finder, prism or folding hood, on a first-generation body with the script 'Contarex' above the lens mount and the aperture wheel on the body front, under the right forefinger
Serials with the prefix U, between U24001 and U27000 on Pacific Rim Camera's batch

Contarex Special (10.2500):

No round meter window above the lens mount: the plate above the lens mount carries only the script 'Contarex', where the Bullseye has its selenium cell and aperture window (Pacific Rim Camera; Wikimedia Commons photograph)
The finder lifts off backwards after pressing a catch at the rear; a Special may be seen with the tall pentaprism unit or the low folding hood, and with the finder off the focusing screen is exposed from the top (instruction booklet; Pacific Rim Camera)
A film-type and film-speed reminder dial by the rewind, with no meter behind it: the booklet says it has no effect on the camera, and camera-wiki calls the indicators memory aids (instruction booklet; camera-wiki)
Serial a letter and a number, U on every recorded example, engraved on the narrow side of the back and inside the body; the two should agree (instruction booklet)
Chrome with black covering; no other finish is recorded (Kamerastore: 'available in silver')

Contarex Special (10.2500): One version only. The Special is the first Contarex with its selenium meter taken out and the fixed prism replaced by a choice of finder units, sold for scientific, copy and micro work as well as to amateurs who preferred it. Body without finder components was catalogue 10.2500 at $288; 10.2599 came with the Tessar f/2.8 50mm, the light hood and a ground-glass insert at $394, and 10.2598 with the Planar f/2 50mm at $475 (Carl Zeiss, Inc. list prices, 1 May 1961). The interchangeable film magazines came after the Special's launch and fit it (camera-wiki).

Serial-range notes

U24001–U27000: The one batch Pacific Rim Camera gives, 3,000 numbers, September 1960 to November 1966. Every Special seen at Leitz Photographica falls inside it (U24479, U25701, U25989 and U26241), and so do the three in the Contarex collection Christie's sold in 1997 (sale 7752, lot 288): U24647 with the waist-level finder and a Tessar f/2.8 50mm, U24980 with an interchangeable back, both finders and a Planar f/1.4 55mm, and U25869 with the prism finder and a Planar f/2 50mm.
U24479, U25701, U25989, U26241: Leitz dates U24479, U25701 and U26241 to 1960 and U25989 to about 1962, so its dating does not follow the serial order. If 3,000 bodies were spread over six years, a 1960 date for U26241, three-quarters of the way through the batch, is unlikely; the auction dates are best read as estimates.

Specifications

Format: 24×36mm on 35mm film (Zeiss Ikon instruction booklet) · 20 or 36 from commercial cartridges, set by hand on the frame counter, which then counts down; also takes Contax reloadable cassettes and bulk film (instruction booklet) exposures
Finder (eye-level): Pentaprism unit 20.1560, interchangeable; upright, laterally correct image
Finder (waist-level): Collapsible focusing hood 20.1561 with a pop-up magnifier
Shutter: cloth focal plane · 1s – 1/1000 and B on one click-stopped ring (instruction booklet) · flash sync Speeds colour-coded by contact: black 1–1/30s and B for class M bulbs or electronic flash, yellow 1/60s for electronic flash only, red 1/125–1/1000s for FP bulbs (instruction booklet) · self-timer
Film advance: single-stroke rapid-wind lever; it advances the film, tensions the shutter and reopens the diaphragm, which stays closed at the taking aperture after each exposure until then (instruction booklet; camera-wiki)
Back: removable, unlocked by two folding keys in the base; interchangeable Contarex magazine backs fit (instruction booklet; camera-wiki)
Meter: none; the 1961 US list recommends the separate Ikophot Rapid
Dimensions: 153 × 102 × 53, as Kamerastore lists it, with no finder stated mm
Country: West Germany
Original price: $288 for the body without finder components, catalogue 10.2500, in the US list prices of Carl Zeiss, Inc., New York, effective 1 May 1961; $394 with the Tessar f/2.8 50mm, hood and ground-glass insert (10.2599) and $475 with the Planar f/2 50mm (10.2598). They are list prices printed in a confidential dealer list, with dealer discounts and net prices in a separate schedule; the list does not say whether excise tax is included. (today $3,020)
Accessories: Pentaprism unit 20.1560 and collapsible focusing hood 20.1561, each with a leather case (20.7858) · Full ground-glass insert 20.1563; split-image rangefinder inserts 20.1564 for 35–135mm lenses and 20.1565 for the Sonnar 250mm (case 20.7857) · Wide-angle finder 20.1500 for the Biogon 21mm, in the accessory shoe · Bellows focusing unit 20.1617, table reproduction stand and micro adapter 20.1628 (instruction booklet; 1961 list) · Ever-ready case 20.7520, $27.50 in 1961 · Interchangeable film magazine backs, from after the Special's launch (camera-wiki)

$36 in the 1 May 1961 US list. Takes a vision-correction lens, 20.0504, made to prescription. The right-angle finder 20.1634 fits the eyepiece and cannot be used with the waist-level hood (1961 list).

$26 in 1961. The image is upright and laterally reversed (instruction booklet). The 1961 list recommends the hood with the full ground-glass screen for photomicrography and copy work.

Figures we worked out rather than found: 40 ounces with the Tessar is about 1,130g; the 1961 list's figure probably includes a finder, but it does not say which. Kamerastore lists 848g, without saying what is fitted · In the same 1961 list a Special body with the prism ($36) and split-image screen ($20) came to $344, against $346 for the metered Contarex body: dropping the meter saved almost nothing once a buyer chose the eye-level finder · Body, hood, ground-glass insert and Tessar bought separately came to $398.50, against $394 for the 10.2599 kit; with the Planar, $480.50 against $475 for 10.2598. The list says the kits leave out the leather cases 20.7857 and 20.7858 ($2.75 each) that the separately sold hood and insert come in, so allowing for the $5.50 of cases the Planar kit cost the same as its parts and the Tessar kit $1 more

Where sources disagree

Production

3,000, September 1960 to November 1966, one batch U24001–U27000 (Pacific Rim Camera)
an estimated 1,600 (Mike Eckman)

Neither figure cites a factory record. The 3,000 is simply the size of the serial batch; whether every number was used is not known.

Last

1966 (Pacific Rim Camera, November 1966; English Wikipedia)
1963 (German Wikipedia)

Better supported: 1966

English Wikipedia and Pacific Rim Camera both call the Professional the Special's replacement, and Pacific Rim runs Professional production from June 1966, which fits a 1966 end.

Gemini IV camera

A custom modified Contarex Special (English Wikipedia)
A modified Contarex, model not named (German Wikipedia; Mike Eckman; the National Air and Space Museum's own page)
The first camera intended for the mission was a specially adapted Contarex Spezial bought from a Houston store, and the first of the test cameras is at NASM (Leitz Photographica Auction 48, lot 375)

Better supported: a modified Special

The camera photographed at NASM and captioned on Wikimedia Commons as the one Ed White carried has no meter window and a low folding finder, which points to a Special. Eckman says the viewfinder was removed for the flight, the advance and release were enlarged, and the camera was set at 1/500 and f/11; the displayed camera has its folding finder fitted. NASM says its camera was attached to White's maneuvering unit during the spacewalk, while Leitz calls the museum's camera the first of the test cameras; the two accounts are not reconciled in either source.

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History

The Contarex Special is the first Contarex with the meter taken out. Zeiss Ikon Stuttgart’s first Contarex, the camera collectors call the Bullseye, carries a selenium cell behind a round window above the lens and a fixed pentaprism. Carl Zeiss, Inc.’s 1961 US list explains the Special as a reply to “photographers, serving the professional and scientific fields” who wanted other features, and calls the two bodies “similar in basic design”. The Special keeps the die-cast body, the cloth focal-plane shutter running from 1 second to 1/1000, the aperture set from a small wheel on the body front under the right forefinger, the removable back and the bayonet. What changes is the top. The cell is gone, and the finder is a separate unit that lifts off backwards. It can be the pentaprism, for eye-level work, or a collapsible focusing hood with a pop-up magnifier, over either a plain ground glass or a split-image screen with a microprism ring. The 1961 list recommends the hood and plain glass for photomicrography and copy work, because the full ground glass shows the fine structure of a specimen better than the split image.

Because the aperture is set on the body, the diaphragm behaves as camera-wiki describes it on the Bullseye, and camera-wiki calls it semi-automatic. The lenses from 35mm to 135mm close to the taking aperture when the shutter fires and stay closed until the lever is wound, which reopens them. The Biogon 21mm and the Sonnar 250mm of the first lens range have their apertures set on the lens. The Biogon reaches so far back that it can only be fitted with the mirror raised, using a small lug beneath it, and is used with a separate 21mm finder in the shoe. Pacific Rim Camera says that restricts it to the Bullseye and the Special. The instructions for the later Super and Super Electronic agree that it cannot be used on those bodies, but the Professional’s own booklet explains how to fit it (see the Contarex Biogon 21mm f/4.5 page). The interchangeable film magazines arrived after the Special but fit it. Leaving out the meter saved a buyer little. In May 1961 the body alone was $288 against $346 for the metered body, but $288 bought no finder at all, and with the prism and a split-image screen it came to $344.

How many were made depends on whom you read. Pacific Rim Camera gives 3,000, one serial batch from U24001 to U27000, built from September 1960 to November 1966. Mike Eckman gives “an estimated 1600”, and German Wikipedia ends production in 1963. Every body seen at Leitz and in Christie’s 1997 Contarex collection has a U serial inside Pacific Rim’s batch, but the batch size is not a production count. English Wikipedia and Pacific Rim Camera both say the Professional replaced it, a body with a fixed prism and still no meter, whose production Pacific Rim starts in June 1966.

The Special also has a claim on the first American spacewalk. The National Air and Space Museum describes its camera and lens as attached to the top of Ed White’s maneuvering unit during the Gemini IV spacewalk of 3 June 1965, without naming the model. English Wikipedia calls it a custom modified Special, and German Wikipedia only “a modified Contarex”. Eckman says the viewfinder was removed, the advance and release were enlarged, and the camera was set at 1/500 and f/11. Leitz’s catalogue for an unsold engineering camera engraved V-102 says the first camera intended for the mission was a specially adapted Contarex Spezial, bought with its lenses from a Houston photographic store, and that the first of the test cameras is the one at the museum. The camera photographed at the museum has no meter window, which points to a Special, and is shown with a low folding finder fitted.

When buying, check what is on top. The prism, hood, ground glass and split-image screens all had their own catalogue numbers and were sold separately, so a body may come with one finder, both or none, and the finders turn up on their own. Lift the finder to see which screen is fitted. The serial should match on the narrow side of the back and inside the body, since the back comes off completely. At Leitz, bodies with a 50mm lens and finders have made €780 to €1,440 including premium. Mechanically it is close to the Bullseye, which English Wikipedia describes as nearly 1,100 parts with 43 to dismantle before the top plate comes off; camera-wiki, citing Zeiss Historica, puts it at more than 1,200 parts. Either way, repairs are work for a specialist. The Bullseye, Professional and the later Super are covered on their own pages.

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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 Contarex Special with its folding finder fitted and a Carl Zeiss lens displayed beside it, photographed in Washington, D.C.; the photographer captions it as the camera Ed White carried on the Gemini 4 spacewalk — Glynne Hather, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

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