

This complex shutter became the characteristic of the Contax camera and its Super-Nettel derivative.

Using a die-cast alloy body it housed a vertically travelling metal focal-plane shutter reminiscent of the one used in Contessa-Nettel cameras, made out of interlocking blackened brass slats somewhat like a roll-up garage door. Made between 19, the original Contax, known as Contax I after later models were introduced, was markedly different from the corresponding Leica. Heinz Küppenbender was its chief designer. The name Contax was chosen after a poll among Zeiss employees. While the firm of Ernst Leitz of Wetzlar established the 24 mm × 36 mm negative format on perforated 35 mm movie film as a viable photographic system, Zeiss Ikon of Dresden decided to produce a competitor designed to be superior in every way. 6.3 Lenses for Yashica/Kyocera-built SLR models.6.2 Lenses for the Dresden-built SLR models.6.1 Lenses for the original rangefinder models.
