The Contax brand is one of the most famous names in photography. The Cold War split the company in two. In postwar West Germany, Zeiss Ikon (Stuttgart) was responsible for making cameras with this name. In good competitive fashion, state companies in East Germany used the same brand for a while, changing the brand on their export models sold in the Western markets. But then, Japanese camera makers conquered market shares. West German cameras were over-engineered and too expensive.
The Emperor’s Seat: Rock formation and vinyard designation in the Ahrtal (Agfa APX 100)
With the demise of the Zeiss Ikon company in the late 1960s, the lensmaker Carl Zeiss was looking for a partner company and found it in Yashica. In 1972, an agreement was signed. From now on, the legendary Carl Zeiss lenses would be made for a Japanese body (and the lenses soon were also manufactured in East Asia).
Tradition and modernity: Street in Rech in the Ahrtal (Agfa APX 100)
This Contax/Yashica 137 MD is one of the underrated “sleeper” cameras to discover and enjoy. Appearances can deceive but the classic design (some call it “puristic”) is elegant and functional. It echoes the pioneer of the series, the Contax RTS designed by Porsche. This camera handles very well, just like its predecessor, the 139. But the 137, introduced in 1980, has an integrated motor drive which advances the film automatically (rewind is manual, though). In terms of controls, aperture-priority makes the most sense to me, so that’s a benefit here. One big plus is the ability to use Carl Zeiss Oberkochen glass, in my case the CZ Planar 50mm f1.7 T* and the 28mm Distagon.
Another great lens upfront: The Carl Zeiss 28mm Distagon f2.8.Bright but cloudy: The parish church in Kronenburg/Eifel (Fuji 200)
I got into the Contax orbit by virtue of Heidifoto in Munich. When I started exploring vintage cameras, I encountered a range of websites discussing gear and glass. Heidifoto explained how the Contax-Zeiss collaboration combined the best of Japanese and German engineering. I really enjoyed their way of talking about the benefit of using the system, and actively sought out a few Contax bodies with the most inexpensive lenses. My learning curve was steep, but it helps when you see the results of Zeiss craftsmanship. The relationship between cost and performance was unbeatable.
Underneath the Autobahn (Ilford FP4)
On a vacation, my steps somehow led me to Heidifoto headquarters where they offer a spectacular selection of vintage camera gear. Of course, to honor their commitment to analog photography, I had to purchase something, right? Eventually, a clean and beautiful Carl Zeiss 28mm Distagon ended up in my bag.
Time to reflect: Cologne Central Station (Agfa APX 100)
Now, time always has an effect on products from the 1980s. In some cases, the soft leatherette disintegrates, and you can reskin the body with an easily available set in your favorite color. There is a similar issue with Nikons from the era, but it is easier to use alcohol to get the surface cleaned up and reveal the bare plastic. Mechanically, there is little to fault the engineers. Straightforward instructions, AE lock, under- or overexposure buttons. Nothing fancy or complicated. Since I am using many different cameras in a short time, these features seem to suit me best. It can be quite frustrating to set aside a camera to check the manual again for some inexplicable combination of buttons (I am thinking rewind functions of the Nikon F90!)
The bridge over the Ahr at Rech (Agfa APX 100)
SLRs in the 1980s were expensive, the latest electronics made prices jump. Everything from watches to cameras had to have the term “quartz” in them to make a splash. At the same time, competition was fierce, and manufacturers had to offer a good price to succeed. When brand new, you had to shell out 900 DM (approximately 450 Euro) for the Contax 137MD.
Quiet times in the vinyard on the Ahr (Agfa APX 100)
My selection of favorite cameras of course reflects my mode of operation: With analog cameras, I rarely use flash or self-timer. Most of my shots are done in daylight. Where the makers in the 1970s and 1980s racked their brains about making their machines capture every last bit of light, I am less impressed with these kinds of applications. There are some moments where digital is less challenging. In other areas, the challenge might be interesting.
Storage. The Ahr Valley (Agfa APX 100)
The Contax has the familiar LED lights in the viewfinder. Battery-powered, but running on 4 standard AA batteries! Although you would think the batteries make it too heavy, that is really not the case, as the ergonomics are very good and the body weighs in at under a pound. The shutter is electronic and very buttery. The Contax is a technological wonder for the time. About 50,000 copies of this particular model sold.
Well defended: The Castle above Kronenburg/Eifel (Fuji 200)
Today, the Contax 137 MD is pleasant to use for an outing. You can focus on composition, knowing that the machine will capture the subject in all its glory. It delivers great images, has great functionality. It does not get in the way with strange button combinations. And it is not expensive to purchase, even the fabulous lenses are a fraction of what other (more storied) products cost. As in the 1980s, using the C/Y system allows you to try out the Carl Zeiss optics at a very good price. You might start a collection of their lenses for the money you saved on this fantastic body!
Eifel window, Kronenburg Castle (Fuji 200)
Another fun experiment is using a red filter and shooting a roll of Ilford SFX 400. I had the opportunity to visit Bandelier National Park near Los Alamos in New Mexico for a pleasant hike.
Rugged geological formations in New Mexico, capture with the Contax 137 MD and Ilford SFX 400 (adding a red filter).Sparse vegetation among the stones in Bandelier National Park, New Mexico.Using the wide angle 28mm Distagon to capture the light at the end of the tunnelSunset over Nebraska lake (Kearney, NE) Portra 400Vintage color scheme on an old Chevy (Portra 400)Front matter: San Francisco de Asis in Taos, New Mexico (Portra 400)
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An olive gem from behind the Iron CurtainNot the Werra but the Rhine river. A shot that would have pleased the East German government during the Cold War – a paved tank crossing. (Fuji 200)
The Werra, named after a small river in Central Germany, has gone from an ugly duckling to a cult camera. It has several unique features: It was made by a company renowned for lenses, but not for camera bodies. The Werra originated behind the Iron Curtain, where the Communist government considered consumer products a bourgeois luxury. The design and ergonomics remained largely untouched by modern tendencies to entice a customer to purchase the product. Time, however, has made the “made in GDR” product a classic. Today, the Museum of Modern Art has a Werra in their collection. ( I am deeply indebted to Yves Strobelt and Marco Kroeger and their fabulous website www.zeissikonveb.de)
The East side: Towers of the Remagen railroad bridge. (Fuji 200)
The Werra would not garner much attention in a 1960 or 1970s photography shop. It is small, distinctly NOT shiny, and offers few spectacular specs. If you place it next to, say, the Kodak Retina range, the Werra would place a distant second. Even the most affordable Retinette model offered more capabilities. But customers rarely saw these cameras side by side in the showcase. The Kodak Retina was created and designed in West Germany, the Werra was the brainchild of engineers in East Germany. During the Cold War, few copies of these cameras made the journey to the other side. Most likely, there were more Werras in the West than Kodaks in Communism.
The peaceful Ahr river. In July 2021, a massive rainstorm created havoc in this valley.
Carl Zeiss Jena ( the “Jena” is pronounced YEH-nah) is a storied company, surviving mergers, wars, dictatorships and overseas competition. Optical glass was and still is where Carl Zeiss rules supreme. At the height of the East-West divide, diplomats negotiated trademark violations as the company had been split in half by the division of Germany. It remains a distinction that for a period of time, the company just put the name of the town on their lenses as a makeshift trademark. “Aus Jena” (“from Jena”) was enough to convince the prospective buyer that the cut glass inside the lens was of the highest quality. Soviet kosmonauts relied on the optical glass from the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
Vinyards along the Ahr river. (Fuji 200)
The Werra originated as a quirk of camera production in East Germany. With the establishment of VEB Zeiss Ikon (1955) and later VEB Pentacon (1964), East Germany had created a mammoth conglomerate to supply much of the Eastern world with photographic equipment. Dresden and its environs, with its long tradition of fine mechanical engineering, now produced a range of products from medical-scientific cameras to space observation telescopes. Most Westerners got to see a by-product, the Praktica range of cameras. The export models were sold abroad to gain valuable hard currency. They emulated the Soviet Zenits, unremarkable but solid, sturdy, unkaputtbar.
The Werra coolly displaying its reversible hood systemCologne in Covid times. (Fuji 200)
By contrast, the Werra was designed by VEB Carl Zeiss Jena. The lensmaker started from scratch: what would they want in a consumer camera? It is ironic that their expertise resulted in a camera which literally revolved around the lens: Famously, the Werra film advance is not by lever on the top plate, but by a twist of the lens which advances the film and tensions the shutter. It also advances the film counter. Play a trick on your friends and let them take a picture with the Werra and have them look for the film advance lever.
Bridge at Remagen: Now a museum of peace and understanding (Fuji 200)
Bare bones it is. No electronics, no battery. No self-timer. The color scheme: olive, like a military uniform. Then the next iteration: black, as trendy then as now. Of course, the lens is the magical component: Zeiss Tessar 50mm f.2.8. Sharp as a whistle. Beware of the aperture ring which can move very easily during handling. My example, on the other hand, has a very tight focus ring. Your fingers will get plenty of muscle exercise. Once you get the film advance move right (it’s the “Werra twist”), you can fire away.
Classic Vista: The Rhine river at Remagen. Notice the basalt lava rocks of the Erpeler Lay. (Fuji 200)
Holding the Werra means holding a piece of history. The small consumer camera originated as a result of the death of a dictator. Stalin had always preferred tanks to butter. People did not need any fancy luxuries if the Soviet camp needed weapons to defend itself against capitalism. His death in March 1953 sparked unease and revolt across the Soviet orbit. In June 1953, Soviet tanks crushed the demand for more freedoms in East Germany. Subsequently, the Soviet leaders would pay more attention to the needs and wants of the population. Private consumption would alleviate widespread dissatisfaction. The “Little Brother” GDR soon followed suit with the declaration of the “New Course”.
Japanese Garden in Bonn (Kodak 200)
Top-down: The East German Ministerrat (Council of Ministers) suggested the dedication of resources to a range of consumer items, even private automobiles. Carl Zeiss was ordered to produce a simple camera for the masses. Ideally, the camera could also be exported and earn hard Deutschmarks across the barbed wire in West Germany. The later Werra I (1955) was offered for 128 DM in West Germany, about 300 Euro in 2021. Photographic items such as ORWO paper and film, and cameras were among the few products “made in GDR” which could find customers in the West.
Covid times around the Cathedral. (Fuji 200)
The first models proudly sported the “Tessar” lens design name. But the officials quickly realized that in order to compete on the Western markets, you had to abide by the rules, and that included copyright law. The West German Zeiss company owned the “Tessar” brand name for lenses. To avoid costly lawsuits, VEB CZ Jena replaced the “Tessar” designation with a simple “T” on their lens ring. Advertisements in West-Berlin praised the “Ernst -Abbe Jena” origin to indicate the long tradition. Of course, the design had its origin in the prewar “Tessar”, before the company split. East German legal worries also explain that you will not find any mention of the manufacturer “VEB Carl Zeiss” anywhere on the Werra’s outside.
Ready for the picknick. (Fuji 200)
In typical Socialist style, the order to build the camera came from (East) Berlin. A completely new factory was established in Eisfeld in Thuringia, on the Werra river. VEB Carl Zeiss Jena had never produced a camera. They had to start from scratch. Eisfeld itself had no significant photography tradition, and no engineering university nearby.
Living underneath the towers. (Fuji 200)
This allowed a fresh look at all parts and resulted in a few novel solutions. No wonder the marketing campaign (yes, there was a marketing campaign in the GDR) praised the “camera with a new face”. However, as the VEB Carl Zeiss had to answer to ministries, not the market, the Werra suffered from bureaucratic intervention and the overall disadvantaged position of East Germany in global trade. Because of scarce resources, the GDR was unwilling to purchase parts abroad, for example by paying licensing fees to West German or Japanese companies. Everything had to be developed in-house, so to speak.
Springtime among the wealthy. (Kodak 200)
Unfortunately, a clever undercover maneuver from prewar times now came to haunt the East German engineers. In the 1920s and 1930s, Carl Zeiss secretly bought up companies like Alfred Gauthier and Friedrich Deckel, securing a controlling interest in the manufacturing of camera shutters. But the Iron Curtain had severed the ties between Jena and these manufacturers located in West Germany. Now the GDR had to produce its own shutter which became a long and complicated struggle. The Werra therefore came with a new but instantly outdated shutter, the VEBUR. The lack of sophisticated features made sales in the West nearly impossible, and Carl Zeiss had to request additional funds to purchase the Synchro-Compur shutter in Munich for later models.
Protestant church (Kodak 200)
A vicious cycle had started: the product, intended to gain Western currency, was a flop. Any upgrades involved purchasing parts from the West, further reducing the original intention as a money-maker. No wonder the East Berlin bureaucrats started to become fiscally conservative.
Summertime along the linden trees (Fuji 200)
When the Werra hit the market, photographers had started using color slide film and demanded sophisticated light meters. The Werra I had none, of course.
The Rheinaue park in Bonn (Kodak 200)
As the photographic industry hit major milestones of innovation in the 1960s, the Werra designers haplessly carried on, with several models incorporating light meters and flash synchronization which were also outdated by the time they hit the shelves. Frustrated designers tried to re-invent complicated mechanisms already incorporated into Japanese models. Fortunately, the main customer base inside the German Democratic Republic remained unable to purchase “capitalist” cameras. A captive audience indeed which also hampered the innovative spirit of the (very capable) engineers. They hit the wall. Money was allocated by the central government, and the officials did not want to hear costly proposals for improvements.
A swan finds his way along the riverbank. (Fuji 200)
While the Werra seems to have been exported to the United Kingdom, the United States remained “Werra”-free. Maybe there is an explanation for today’s interest in the model. Certainly, the East German government eventually understood the limited appeal of the outdated specs: shutter, light meter, handling: Japanese makers were winning the battle in the marketplace against the West German camera industry, and East Germany could not compete. In 1965 the company decided not to continue the Werra beyond the year 1968 “due to the unfavorable returns in hard currency”.
The Werra captures capitalism: Stately home (Fuji 200 expired)
The vulcanized appearance with the trademark green color apparently originated with the preferred color of Zeiss binoculars, and managers also referred to the green of the Thuringian forest as an inspiration. The Werra invites categorization as one of the few admired GDR products. Some call the overall design “spartan”. other compare it to “Bauhaus-style”.
Mission Impossible: The Werra captures the Villa Hammerschmidt, the residence of the Federal President in Bonn (Kodak 200)
Another unique design feature is the lenscap – it is shaped like an upside down shot glass. If you unscrew it, you can re-attach it the other way round to have it serve as a lens shade. It provides the Werra with a very futuristic appearance. Taking pictures with the Werra, regardless of the model, gives you a fascinating insight into the Cold War, industrial history, marketing, the flaws of Socialist production, and the remarkable achievements of designers, engineers, craftsmen, and assembly line workers behind the Iron Curtain. It is therefore a great example of a camera with a history. About 500,000 copies were made during the production period. As Mike Elek has concluded, there are few cameras like it!
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