Near Mint! 1952 Zeiss Ikon Contessa 533/24 with case CLA'd, Freshly serviced!

Cleaned, Lubricated & Adjusted. Ready for immediate use

Nikon NOT included

This is a Zeiss-Ikon Contessa, model 533/24, with the desirable Zeiss-Opton Tessar coated lens. These cameras are absolute jewels and rank among some of the finest cameras ever built. The fit, finish and performance rank high among the best cameras ever produced in Germany.

This 35mm coupled rangefinder camera was produced by Zeiss-Ikon between 1950-1955. It was originally a very expensive camera with a price tag that was considerably higher than the 6x9 Zeiss Super Ikonta C and even the Voigtlander Bessa II with a Heliar. Within the Zeiss-Ikon line the Contessa was only topped by the Contax IIa. And just like the Contax and the Leica, the Contessa has a coupled rangefinder never leaves you guessing about focus or distance. It’s bright, accurate and smooth and a real pleasure to use. Additionally the Contessa featured a simple light-meter. It was uncoupled, which of course meant you had to manually set the shutter speeds and aperture to the desired values.

This 70 year old camera is in near mint condition. I think it would be very difficult to find one in finer condition. The rich Moroccan leather is in lovely condition and the chrome is beautiful.  

This Contessa works well. It’s been cleaned, lubricated and adjusted and everything works well and the manual adjustments such as focus aperture and shutter speed work smoothly. The rangefinder image is easy to see and works smoothly and accurately. As is usual with these cameras, the selenium light meter doesn’t work, so you’ll want to use your favorite light-meter or a smartphone with one of the many popular light-meter apps.     

It comes complete with an original brown leather case.

This Contessa is the top of the line version and it has the desirable Compur-Synchro shutter. The shutter works well. All speeds (B & 1 sec – 1/500th) fire smoothly and all shutter speeds are appropriate. The slow speeds buzz along nicely and the fast ones are clean and snappy. The shutter has a flash connector that’s been tested and adjusted. This of course means you can use a normal electronic flash with this camera. The flash will fire correctly at any selected shutter speed. (This is of course very convenient for flash fill.) 

The lens is a “T” coated 2.8/45mm Zeiss-Opton Tessar. This top of the line lens and was designed to compete with those used on the Contax and the Leica. The lens in excellent condition. There are no scratches, just some usual  cleaning marks and it’s capable of producing beautiful photos with modern color and B&W films.

All in all, an unusually fine and very collectable Zeiss camera that’s a joy to own.