Book Reviews and Favorites: The CONTAREX book - by Pierpaolo Ghisetti + Marco Cavina

[Dr Klaus Schmitt]

I got informed by my friend Marco Cavina that he and Pierpaolo Ghisetti will present their new CONTAREX book on Milano, June 27 at Galleria OPENMIND, Via Rovello, 5, 20121 Milano at 19:30 hours.



The book is about the Contarex system, manufactured by Zeiss Ikon Stuttgart from 1959 to 1972, with optics by Carl Zeiss in Oberkochen. It is loaded with 215 pages in A4 format (210 × 297mm, 8.27 × 11.69") with 220 images in full color, 115 drawings of optics, many of them also with all the information of the glass types used and 50 original MTF test charts from Carl Zeiss from that time. It also comes with a fully loaded CD.

Authors are Pierpaolo Ghisetti, a famous camera collector and Marco Cavina, active photographer and technical expert on optics. Publisher and editor is the well known Milano camera dealer Ryuichi Watanabe.

From that day onwards the book will be available for sale also, price is set to be EUR80 as far as a I know.

http://blog.analogica.it/analogica-i...ibro-contarex/

Here the official invitation:

[Dr Klaus Schmitt]

I have to add a correction, the book does not come with a CD.

[Asher Kelman]

Klaus,

I wish I could be there for this opening. It's a very special occasion and for owners of Contarex and folk interested in the best of professional 35mm camera systems, this is part of history that needed to be recorded well.

For an in-depth, perhaps biased view of this, read this introduction to folk wishing to repair their newly won Contarex. Essentially, it's suggested that one buys with care and not be fooled by the outside of the camera.

According to this report, there are few cameras that have contributed so much to exchange of gold for materials that are much more easily recovered from European soils. Simply put, sand, iron, aluminum, a tad of copper, and some electricity and then some cowhide were crafted into the finest professional picture taking systems one could buy. However, the cameras, in spite of being pristine on the outside even after hard professional use, were often falling to pieces on the inside and then consigned to the enthusiast market. The lure of the Zeiss lenses is so great, that potential and certain disasters locked into the manufacture of lens screw mounts, has been all but ignored as these systems still demand high prices.

Still, if the camera is serviced and the lens barrels lubricated to prevent seizure, then one has a film system with lenses that are hard if not impossible to beat.

Asher

[Dr Klaus Schmitt]

Thanks a lot for this Asher!

And here the two authors going through some pre-prints of book pages, also showing the Italian/English text in two columns (left(right) as well as the high quality color scans and graphics.


(c) Marco Cavina, used with permission

[Asher Kelman]

Klaus,

Have you been seduced by the Contarex magic? It would be great to have a camera that was lightly used and well serviced. How do the lenses compare with modern ones? Does Zeiss put the same lens art into modern lenses they sell for Canon and other cameras or is this older classic glass still finer and able to resolve more detail at greater contrast?

Asher

[Asher Kelman]

Originally Posted by Dr Klaus Schmitt

Thanks a lot for this Asher!

And here the two authors going through some pre-prints of book pages, also showing the Italian/English text in two columns (left(right) as well as the high quality color scans and graphics.

(c) Marco Cavina, used with permission

This is a fabulous picture and means a lot to me as I have spent hours with Nicolas Claris and his master printer in bordeaux, as they checked the pages fresh of the Heidlelberg press under 5,000 degree light and then under tungsten and finally in sunlight. There's a great sense of satisfaction to look over the galleys and, at last, see the results of one's years of labors in a pristine illustrated print.

I can see that here and it's a great moment!

Asher

[Dr Klaus Schmitt]

Thanks a lot Asher! I will have my signed personal copy shortly and I'm exited to have it soon!

Here is the ISBN code if someone is interested in that book...