Does Zeiss Ikon IIa or IIIa a good Rangefinder camera?

I like to heard your opinion about the camera. and, it was said that
the camera only has a scale meter, i don't know what that means. is
the scale meter easy to use?
-
woody

Steven Woody

Re: does Zeiss Ikon IIa or IIIa a good Rangefinder camera?

Yes, and a good one too.
Yes, same principle. IIRC, only the IIIa has a meter.
My pleasure...
Also, the Contax IIa & IIIa won't mount all the lenses made for the
Contax - notably the Biogon 35mm f/2.8, commonly found as its Soviet
clone, the Jupiter 12. If you like 35mm lenses, you'll have to find one
of the rare 35mm Planars.

Chris Loffredo

Re: does Zeiss Ikon IIa or IIIa a good Rangefinder camera?

Yes, that is exactly what he meant.
These two guys are discussing the Contax IIa and IIIa. They were
discontinued sometime in the early 1960s.
One other less than ideal situation is that the shutter is quite fragile and
hard (nearly impossible) to repair.
Jim

Jim

Re: does Zeiss Ikon IIa or IIIa a good Rangefinder camera?

did you mean the carmera get real rangefinder not distance scale ?
ok, i understand that kind of meter, just like what on old rolleiflex
TLR.
thanks for your knowledge.
-
woody

Steven Woody

Re: does Zeiss Ikon IIa or IIIa a good Rangefinder camera?

On the good side:
- Nice, wide rangefinder base (accurate focussing).
- Good lenses.
On the bad side:
- Zeiss-Ikon ergonomics; love them or hate them - most hate them (which
is why Leica was so successful.
- Viewfinder covers 50mm only, you need other external viewfinders if
you use other lenses.
- Changing lenses is a PITA (I suppose with *lots* of practice it gets
better). These last two shortcomings aren't important if you are planing
to use it only with the 50mm.
The lightmeter (I assume that's what you mean by "scale meter"): It is
uncoupled, meaning you have to center the needle, read & choose a
speed/f-stop combination from a dial and apply them respectively to the
shutter speed dial and the f-stop dial. Easy to use? Yes. Fast? No!
Also the selenium meter cell may (or may not - Contax cells seem to
survive better than most) be inaccurate because of time & exposure to light.
Executive summary (IMHO):
A basically nice camera with great lenses (much better than contemporary
Leica lenses), but a pain to use, especially if you change lenses often.