Contarex Super Electronic (SE)
Zeiss Ikon · Contarex mount · 24×36mm on 35mm film · 1968
Also known as: Contarex SE · Contarex Electronic · Contarex Super Electronic · Contarex Super-electronic · Contarex S electronic · CONTAREX SE SUPER · Contarex Super SE · Contarex Elektronik · Contarex Super Elektronik · Contarex SE Schwarz · コンタレックス エレクトロニック · コンタレックス SE
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First style, one power source (1968–70) | Contarex | 1968–1970 | G36001–G37500 | Serials G36001–G37500, September 1968 to March 1970 (Pacific Rim Camera); how many of the 1,500 numbers were used is not recorded |
| Improved, two power sources (from 1970) | Contarex | 1970 | R55001–R57000 | Serials R55001–R57000 (Pacific Rim Camera); numbers used not recorded |
| Black finish (10.2800BL) | Contarex | — | — | — |
| Late 'ZEISS' logo | Contarex | — | — | Pacific Rim Camera: a final batch with the Carl Zeiss logo, 500 projected and 'reportedly only 100' built, serials given as 'R64501 through R6500', a range that cannot be right as printed. Both examples Leitz has sold, R56360 and R56814, fall inside the ordinary R55001–R57000 block instead. |
- Leitz results are hammer prices including buyer's premium, as the house labels them (24% under the EU margin scheme, 20% for export): black R56954 with Planar 2/50, €2,400 (Auction 19); chrome R56814 with five lenses, motor, 17 m magazine, grip, timer, Tele-Sensor, speed indicator and AC unit in the aluminium system case 20.7890, €5,040 (Auction 7); chrome late-logo R56360 with three lenses, unsold at €3,200–3,600 (Auction 7), then €2,160 (Auction 9).
- Yahoo! Auctions Japan, 2026: a body with Tessar 50/2.8, described as working with changing shutter speeds and a working meter, closed on 28 October showing its ¥99,800 buy-it-now price after 2 bids (no consumption tax charged); a body sold as-is made ¥41,800 including tax after 7 bids on 18 September.
- Christie's catalogues the system's bulk back in its SE outfits as a '250-exposure' back or magazine; the factory list gives only the 55-foot magazine 20.0310 for 450 exposures.
- The Contarex collection Christie's sold as one lot in 1997 (sale 7752, lot 288) includes a Zeiss Ikon Reparaturanleitung for the Contarex Electronic dated September 1969.
- The Biogon 21mm f/4.5 does not fit the Super Electronic, so it is not among the lenses linked from this page: the English instructions (p.21) say 'The BIOGON 4.5/21 mm supplied for previous CONTAREX models cannot be used with the CONTAREX S electronic', as the Super's instructions (p.17) say of the Super.
How to tell them apart
- 'electronic' in red lower-case on the front plate beside the mount, and the word Contarex in block letters on a black panel on the prism (Pacific Rim Camera; Wikimedia Commons photographs)
- Hot shoe on the prism (October 1971 list; Wikimedia Commons photographs)
- Battery-check button with a control lamp, and a socket for the electronic accessories (instructions, controls 2 and 4)
- Opening in the base for the motor drive's winding coupling (instructions, control 36)
- Serial number on the bottom of the body (instructions)
First style, one power source (1968–70):
- Serial in the G36001–G37500 block, on the bottom of the body (Pacific Rim Camera; the instructions place the number on the base)
- One battery compartment only: no second compartment under the mirror (Pacific Rim Camera)
- The G prefix is shared with Contarex Super bodies (Christie's lists Supers G34518, G35881 and G37812), so the red 'electronic' on the front, not the prefix, identifies the camera
Improved, two power sources (from 1970):
- Serial in the R55001–R57000 block (Pacific Rim Camera); Christie's R55464, R55620, R55980 and R56451, Burchard R55583 and Leitz R56814 are all chrome examples
- A second battery compartment under the mirror (Pacific Rim Camera)
- Coated mirror on bodies after R55900 (Pacific Rim Camera)
- Still marked only 'electronic' on the front, with no new model name: the change was made without a change of designation (Pacific Rim Camera)
Black finish (10.2800BL):
- Black paint finish with the Zeiss Ikon badge (Leitz, R56954); Christie's also lists black bodies R56944 and R55842
- Every black example on record has an R serial, inside the two-battery block
Late 'ZEISS' logo:
- Square 'ZEISS WEST GERMANY' badge in place of the Zeiss Ikon badge on the front (Leitz, R56360)
- Leitz also describes R56814 as a 'late Contarex SE chrome ZEISS'
- First style, one power source (1968–70): Pacific Rim Camera calls the original design's flaw that the meter and the shutter drew on the same battery. The English instructions for the 'Contarex S electronic' match that arrangement: they specify one pair of 1.5V cells, Pertrix 245 or Mallory MN 9100, behind a cover opened with a coin, good for about 25,000 exposures at 20°C, name no separate meter cell, and say that without them the shutter works only at 1/1000. The same booklet still lists the 17 m magazine as 'in preparation', which suggests an early edition. Christie's catalogued G36125, chrome, in its 1997 Contarex collection lot.
- Improved, two power sources (from 1970): The running change that split the power: the October 1971 US price list gives the meter one PX-13 cell and the electronic shutter two 1.5V cells (Eveready E-90 or Mallory MN-9100), with a built-in battery cut-off and tester. Catalogue number 10.2800 for the chrome body, $810 body only in that list.
- Black finish (10.2800BL): Pacific Rim Camera says the Electronic was made in chrome and black. The October 1971 US list prices the black body, 10.2800BL, at $840 against $810 for chrome. Leitz sold R56954, 'rare Super Electronic in black paint, Zeiss Ikon logo', with a black Planar 2/50 no. 3812315, for €2,400 including buyer's premium; Leitz dates it c.1975. Whether any first-style G-serial body was finished in black is not recorded.
- Late 'ZEISS' logo: English Wikipedia says Zeiss Ikon stopped camera production in 1972 and that a few cameras were assembled later with the Carl Zeiss brand instead of Zeiss Ikon. Leitz dates R56814 c.1973 and R56360 1975. R56360, chrome with chrome Planar 1.4/55, chrome Sonnar 2/85 and black Distagon 4/35, went unsold at Leitz Auction 7 against €3,200–3,600 and made €2,160 including premium at Auction 9.
Serial-range notes
- G36001–G37500
- First style, September 1968 to March 1970, one power source (Pacific Rim Camera). Christie's G36125.
- R55001–R57000
- Improved two-battery version (Pacific Rim Camera). Coated mirror after R55900. Examples in the sources run from R55464 to R56954.
- R64501 onward
- Pacific Rim Camera's final Carl Zeiss-logo batch, printed as 'R64501 through R6500'; no body from this block is on record.
Specifications
- Format
- 24×36mm on 35mm film
- Finder
- fixed eye-level pentaprism with interchangeable focusing screens; split-image with fine-focusing ring in the instructions' illustrations
- Shutter
- focal plane, electronically timed: a capacitor charged through a resistor chosen by the speed dial releases a holding magnet (instructions) · 1s–1/1000 and B on the dial (no intermediate settings); 8s–1/1000 stepless with the Tele-Sensor; 8s–1/1000 plus T with the remote shutter speed selector; fires only at 1/1000 without batteries or with the wind lever in its rest position · flash sync Colour-coded speeds: 1/60 for electronic flash, 1s–1/30 for M bulbs, 1/125–1/1000 for FP bulbs; hot shoe and locking PC outlet (October 1971 US list) · no self-timer
- Film advance
- rapid-wind lever; swinging it out to the working position switches on the main switch for meter and shutter, and the lever returns to rest only with the main switch pressed (instructions)
- Back
- removable; interchangeable magazine backs allow film to be changed mid-roll, and a 17 m (55 ft) magazine takes 450 exposures (October 1971 US list; German Wikipedia)
- Meter
- TTL CdS, selective: reads about 7% of the frame, 7° with a 50mm lens; match-needle; ASA 6–1600 and f/1.4–f/22 (October 1971 US list, which calls it spot metering; 'selective metering' and the needle-and-pointer method from the instructions; English Wikipedia for CdS)
- Motor drive
- Motor for Contarex SE 20.0204 — Up to two frames per second, fitted to the base and powered by the remote control/power pack in a grip (six C cells) or by the AC unit (October 1971 US list; German Wikipedia). Pacific Rim Camera calls it the only motor Zeiss Ikon offered on any production camera.
- Country
- West Germany
- Original price
- US list $810 body only in chrome and $840 in black, from the Zeiss Ikon-Voigtländer price list of 1 October 1971, three years after launch. German Wikipedia gives 3060 DM in 1969 with the Planar 1.4/55 and cites no source for it. (today $6,270)
- Accessories
- Tele-Sensor 20.0219, a CdS cell with its own finder that gives aperture-priority automation and stepless 8s–1/1000, $90 (October 1971 US list) · Shutter speed indicator 20.0218, plugged into the Tele-Sensor or the timer, $54 · Motor 20.0204, up to 2 fps, $420; AC unit 20.0231, $289; remote control/power pack in a grip 20.0206, six C cells, $85 · Remote/timer control 20.0221: self-timer and intervals from 1s to 30 minutes, input amplifier for triggering by radio, sonar, photocell or microphone, $375 · Remote shutter speed selector 20.0232, 8s–1/1000 plus T, $78 · 55-foot magazine 20.0310, 450 exposures, $520, with spare cassette 20.0311 and bulk loader 20.0313 · SE outfit case 20.7890, $174; connecting cords 20.0224–20.0237; Reprophot 2 copy stand with control box no. 2 for the motorised SE
The October 1971 list describes a command panel in the finder showing shutter speed and an f-stop scale with red warning areas; aperture and speed are repeated on top of the camera for waist-level setting. Instant-return mirror.
Figures we worked out rather than found: The serial blocks Pacific Rim Camera gives allot 3,500 numbers (1,500 G plus 2,000 R) before the late R64501 block, against its own 3,100 made; Pacific Rim notes the mismatch itself
Where sources disagree
- Last
- 1972, when Zeiss Ikon stopped camera production, with a few bodies assembled later under the Carl Zeiss name — English Wikipedia
- 1975, when Pacific Rim Camera says Zeiss Ikon ceased camera manufacture; Leitz dates R56814 c.1973, R56954 c.1975 and R56360 1975
Leitz's dates are the house's own estimates and may record late assembly or sale. The end year is left empty.
- Power supply
- One pair of Pertrix 245 or Mallory MN 9100 1.5V cells and no separate meter cell; without them the shutter runs only at 1/1000 — the English instructions for the 'Contarex S electronic'
- One PX-13 for the meter and two 1.5V Eveready E-90 or Mallory MN-9100 for the shutter — October 1971 US list
Better supported: Both, for different bodies
Pacific Rim Camera explains the difference: the first style ran meter and shutter from one source, and later cameras have a second compartment under the mirror.
- Production
- 3,100 — Pacific Rim Camera
- About 3,000 — a Yahoo! Auctions Japan seller's title, 2026
Better supported: 3,100
No factory figure is published; the seller's number is a round approximation.
- Serial ranges
- R64501 onward, 500 planned and about 100 built — Pacific Rim Camera, printed as 'R64501 through R6500'
- Inside R55001–R57000: R56360 and R56814 — Leitz
The two known 'ZEISS' bodies contradict Pacific Rim's block; the late badge may have been fitted to bodies from the ordinary run.
What reviewers say
- Erwin Puts (blog) — In an essay on the Contarex lenses, Puts calls the SE the most advanced electronic camera of its day and proof that the German industry could innovate, but built for engineering excellence rather than for the user.
- Jason S. Ganz, Film Photography Project (blog) — A review of the Contarex Super whose buying advice is to avoid the Super Electronic: the most modern SLR Zeiss made, but with no mechanical shutter and everything depending on solder joints and batteries.
History
The Contarex Super Electronic is the Contarex Super’s body with the shutter timing taken away from clockwork and handed to a circuit. Zeiss Ikon Stuttgart introduced it in 1968; the front plate says only “electronic”, in red, and the English instructions are titled Contarex super electronic and call it the Contarex S electronic in the text. Its October 1971 US price list billed it as the world’s first 35mm SLR with a fully electronic system, and German Wikipedia calls it the first SLR whose shutter speeds were formed electronically rather than mechanically. Pacific Rim Camera, the source for nearly every production figure on this page, says the Super and the Electronic were begun together and the Super was rushed out first while the Electronic was still being designed. It takes the Contarex lenses, from the 16mm F-Distagon to the 1000mm Mirotar, with the aperture of the ordinary lenses set from the body as on every Contarex; the exception is the Biogon 21mm f/4.5 of the first bodies, which the instructions say cannot be used on it, as the Super’s say of the Super. It is the only body with the wiring for the electronic accessories.
The shutter works as the instructions draw it: the speed dial picks a resistor, pressing the release opens the shutter and starts a capacitor charging, and when the capacitor reaches its trigger voltage a holding magnet lets the second blind go. The dial gives 1 second to 1/1000 and B, with no intermediate settings. Fit the Tele-Sensor, a separate CdS cell with its own finder, in place of the fixed resistors and the camera becomes an aperture-priority automatic running steplessly from 8 seconds to 1/1000. With no batteries, or with the wind lever swung back to its rest position, where it presses the main switch off, the shutter fires only at 1/1000. That single speed is the whole of the fallback; the Film Photography Project’s Contarex reviewer goes further and says the camera has no mechanical shutter at all. The meter is a through-the-lens CdS cell, as on the Super, reading about 7% of the frame. Flash synchronises at 1/60 from a hot shoe or a locking PC socket. The self-timer and interval timer are in the separate remote/timer control. The motor, two frames a second from six C cells in a grip, was on Pacific Rim’s account the only motor Zeiss Ikon ever offered on a production camera. The 17 m magazine holds 450 exposures, and Zeiss Ikon recommended its Reprophot 2 copy stand for automated copying with the motorised SE and that magazine.
There are two working versions and two finishes. The first style, serials G36001 to G37500 from September 1968 to March 1970, ran the meter and the shutter from one pair of 1.5V cells. The English instructions specify just that pair and no separate meter cell, the arrangement Pacific Rim calls the design’s flaw. The improved version, serials R55001 to R57000, added a second battery compartment under the mirror; by October 1971 the US list gave a PX-13 for the meter and two E-90 or MN-9100 cells for the shutter. Bodies after R55900 have a coated mirror. The model name did not change. The camera came in chrome (10.2800, $810 body only in 1971) and black (10.2800BL, $840), and every black example in the auction records cited here has an R serial. Late bodies carry a square ZEISS WEST GERMANY badge in place of Zeiss Ikon. English Wikipedia says these were assembled after Zeiss Ikon stopped making cameras in 1972. Pacific Rim puts production to 1975 and prints a final Carl Zeiss-logo batch from R64501 that it says reached only about 100 bodies. Yet the two late-badge bodies Leitz has sold, R56360 and R56814, sit inside the ordinary R block.
Pacific Rim gives 3,100 made, and its serial blocks allot more numbers than that; it notes the gap itself. None of the sources gives a factory figure. At Leitz, including premium, a black body with a black Planar 50/2 made €2,400, a late-badge body with three lenses €2,160 at its second try, and R56814 with five lenses and the complete electronic system in its aluminium case €5,040. On Yahoo! Auctions Japan in autumn 2026 a body sold as-is made ¥41,800 and one described as working, with a Tessar 50/2.8, closed at its ¥99,800 buy-it-now price.
Buying one means accepting that it may not be repairable. Henry Scherer, whose Contarex service page is archived on Mike Eckman’s site, overhauled the Bullseye, Special, Super and Professional but did not service the Electronic, though he noted that in all his years only two people had sent him Contarexes that worked perfectly, and both were Super Electronic owners. Mike Butkus’s manual page warns of solder joints and wires that crack. Check that the speeds change audibly across the dial with fresh cells and the wind lever swung out; a camera that fires at one speed whatever the setting is either unpowered or faulty. Look in both battery compartments on an R body for corrosion. Test the battery lamp and the meter needle. The Tele-Sensor, motor and timer work on nothing but this body, so an outfit is worth having only if the camera itself works.
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
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