04 December, 2015

Contax FB vs. Contaflex Super B

Contax FB vs. Contaflex Super B
Today a little bit about the cold war of Zeiss (Ikon) East and Zeiss (Ikon) West. The whole history is quiet complicated and long to tell, therefore here the short version from wikipedia:
"At the end of the war Jena was occupied by the US Army. When Jena [Carl Zeiss] and Dresden [Zeiss Ikon] were incorporated into the Soviet occupation zone, later East Germany, some parts of Zeiss Jena were relocated by the US army to the Contessa manufacturing facility in Stuttgart, West Germany, while the remainder of Zeiss Jena was reestablished by the (Eastern) German Democratic Republic as Kombinat VEB Zeiss Jena. [...] The western business was restarted in Oberkochen (in southwestern Germany) as Opton Optische Werke Oberkochen GmbH in 1946, which became Zeiss-Opton Optische Werke Oberkochen GmbH in 1947, but was soon renamed to Carl Zeiss. West German Zeiss products were labelled Opton for sale in the Eastern bloc, while East German Zeiss products were labelled 'Zeiss Jena' for sale in Western countries." (source)
Later Zeiss West prohibited Zeiss East to call itself and their lenses Carl Zeiss and the cameras Zeiss Ikon resp. Contax: "The Contax S was the first SLR with built-in Pentaprism. The Contax/Pentacon models were developed during a period which was dominated by the lawsuit between VEB Zeiss Ikon Dresden and Zeiss Ikon AG Stuttgart. As a result the name 'Pentacon' was created from Pentaprism Contax." (source)

Of course, I've always wanted a wonderful Eastern Contax S, but also a Western Contaflex.
Some weeks ago I've found at ebay a wonderful Pentacon FB, the export version of the Contax FB, for little money and bought it. It was just the body and the original leather case. I attached a Schacht Edixa-Travenar-A 2.8/50mm to it. Okay, it is a West German lens and originally made for a Edixa SLR, but the Pentacon and Praktica export versions often gained lenses from West German manufacturers like Isco, Steinheil, Enna and Schacht. Therefore it is almost historically correct.
picture from the ebay seller

Two weeks later I also found at ebay a Contaflex Super B with the original leather case and original lens hood for little money, too.
picture from the ebay seller

Both cameras are single lens reflex cameras, but there is a big difference. The Contax/Pentacon has like allmost all 35mm SLRs and DSLRs a focal-plane shutter.
Another focal-plane shutter SLR, the Voigtländer VSL 1 TM

But the Contaflex has like many (view)finder cameras and the Medium Format SLRs a leaf shutter. A leaf shutter in a 35mm SLR was very complicated to make and only a few manufacturers like Agfa, Kodak Germany, Voigtländer, Aires, Kowa, Mamiya and of course Zeiss Ikon made them, but also Pentacon.
Another leaf shutter SLR, the Voigtländer Bessamatic de Luxe (from my girlfriend)

01 December, 2015

Promote it...

If you want to sell something, it is always better to use pictures to show how good the product is. Everybody knows this fact and, of course, the Portuguese photography store Sitío do Cano Amarelo knows this, too. Therefore the store uses pictures from flickr, which were taken with the cameras the store sells. Actually a good idea, but they give no credits. At least there is the link to the flickr page of the pictures.
At this moment they are selling a Leica R4 with an Elmarit 2.8/35mm. The same setup which I also used. And there they are using my picture "on the floor" which I took some years ago in Blumenau, Brazil.
If you want to buy their Leica, here is the link.



The PRAKTIsche CAmera present.

I like a lot Praktica cameras! At this moment I have got seven of them from three different series:
Praktica F.X3 blue
Porst FX4 (Praktica PL nova I series)
Praktica super TL (Praktica PL nova I series)
Porst CX4 (Praktica L series - 1st generation)
Praktica LTL3 black speed (Praktica L series - 2nd generation)
Revue ML (Praktica L series - 4th generation)
My Praktica super TL + Praktica nova 1B of my girlfriend

Now I got my eighth Praktica, a Praktica BMS, which came with a vintage AKO camera bag as a present from my girlfriend! :)
picture from the dawanda seller

The BMS is from the Praktica B line with manual speed shutter control, "the camera for conservative individualists which never deliver her experience to a machine" (source). Well, I'm not a conservative person, but an individualist one, therefore it's the right camera for me!
picture from the ebay seller

Here the BMS is coming in a typical LOCOstgraphy setup:

_Praktica BMS - 23,80 € (incl. 3,90 postage) - Analog Lounge (Ebay)
_Beroflex MC Auto 4-5.6/70-210mm + lens caps - 5,- € -
Kruschtlmarkt Durlach
_Nikon HS-4 lens hood - 0,50 € - Déjà-vu Karlsruhe
_Tokina Sky filter - 0,50 € (convolute) - Kruschtlmarkt Durlach
_Camera metal strap - 1,- € (convolute) - Kashka Karlsruhe
_Metz 30B3 flash - 4,50 € (convolute) - Kruschtlmarkt Durlach
_Metz flash filter blue - 0,50 € (convolute) - Mimapi Altertümchen Cologne
_AKO vintage camera bag - 15,90 € (incl. 5,90 postage) - giba Vintage (Dawanda)
 

Sum Total: 51,70 €

films:
_Fujicolor C200 (expired 02/2015) double pack - 3,99 Zeitreise Oldenburg (Ebay)
_Agfacolor XRG200 (expired 09/2006) double pack -  4,80 € - Ebay
_DM Paradies 200 triple pack - 9,- € - Foto Dinter Durlach


I'll use the setup for the second part of Colorize your flash. After I used the red and green filter, I'll use now the blue one.