The Contaflex series is a family of 35mm Single-lens reflex cameras (SLR) equipped with a leaf shutter, produced by Zeiss Ikon in the 1950s and 1960s.

The Mecaflex was presented at photokina 1951 and launched two years later as one of the first SLRs, fitted with a leaf shutter behind the removable lens and a waist-level viewfinder with a reflex mirror that swings out of the way during the film exposure.

For the models I and II, having a fixed lens, only three add-on converters were offered using a slide-on adapter, but from models III and IV onwards interchangeable lenses from 35mm to 115mm focal length were provided; at the time regarded as quite sufficient, as most would only be used with the standard lens anyway.

The Contaflex I, launched in 1953, was equipped with a fixed Zeiss Tessar 45 mm f/2.8 lens with front-cell focusing.

[3]: 17 The Contaflex II, introduced the following year, was the same camera with an uncoupled selenium meter added to one side of the front plate.

[7] The Contaflex Super, launched the following year, was based on the Rapid and had a coupled selenium exposure meter on the front side of the prism.

[8] The major innovation for the Rapid/Super over the III/IV was the introduction of interchangeable film magazines, which permitted the photographer to swap emulsions mid-roll.

[7] The new body of the Rapid and Super allowed them to take magazine backs, interchangeable with a partly exposed film inside.

[8] The Contaflex Prima, launched in 1959 and sold until 1965, was based on the body of the Rapid, retaining the new film magazine and lever wind, but with costs reduced by fitting the Pantar triplet lens and the Prontor shutter like the Alpha and Beta.

The information about which came first is a bit contradictory in some reference books, but it seems the Super (new) was launched in 1962, introducing the new body design and a new selenium exposure meter in a prominent rectangle marked Zeiss Ikon in front of the prism.

[11] The Super B can be distinguished by the presence of an "A"utomatic setting for the shutter speed ring and an EV scale in the viewfinder.

[12] The Contaflex S was the last variant, introduced in 1968, and was simply a renamed Super BC, sold until Zeiss Ikon ceased production in 1972.

They can only be used on the Contaflex 126 body, which can only accept the obsolete 126 film cartridge, so the value of these lenses is not very high, despite their famous names.

Carl Zeiss advertised a range of lenses for the Weber SL75, all with the T* multicoating:[14] An eBay seller seems to have uncovered a small stock of the Planar lens, and has recently sold a couple of them.

No SL75 body seems to have surfaced so far, and the only picture found on the web is here and from an Italian photo magazine as a preview in their Nov. 1974 issue, as seen to the right.

[22] It appears that the mount was very slightly modified, and it seems physically impossible to mismatch the elements as the journal diameter above the bayonet mount had been reduced by approximately .006" There were also stereo attachments: (Normally interchangeable with the older Tessar line of Steritar B camera lenses) A complete line of these Contaflex Steritar lenses can be seen at (https://www.flickr.com/photos/12670411@N02/) Zeiss Proxar for Contaflex: 1M,0.5M,0.3M,0.2M and 0.1M This article was originally based on "Contaflex (SLR)" in Camerapedia, retrieved at an unknown date under the GNU Free Documentation License.