Near Mint! 1954 Zeiss Ikon Contessa 533/24. CLA'd, Freshly serviced!

Cleaned, Lubricated & Adjusted. Ready for immediate use

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 is wonderful.

This 35mm coupled rangefinder camera was produced by Zeiss-Ikon between 1950-1955. It was an 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 35mm 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. 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.)     

This 68 year old camera is in excellent condition, it uses easy to find 35mm film and will give you many years of pleasure. It’s been completely serviced inside and out. Everything’s been cleaned, lubricated and adjusted. The manual adjustments such as focus aperture and shutter speed work smoothly. The rangefinder image is easy to see and works smoothly and accurately. This of course makes focusing quick and easy.

It comes complete with a lovely Zeiss-Ikon brown leather case

This Contessa is the top of the line version and it features the desirable Compur-Synchro shutter. 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 equal the performance of the Tessar and Elmar lenses used on the Contax and the Leica. The lens in superb condition. There are no scratches, just a few light cleaning wisps (but you’ll need a magnifier to see it) 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 and use.