Hologon

[ernesto]

Perhaps one of you know about this special camera: the hologon camera. Was that a contax? The only thing I am sure it was not a rangefinder nor a reflex camera...

E

[mabelsound]

Yeah, the Zeiss/Ikon Hologon Ultrawide. It had a fixed lens...crazy rare and expensive.

[Bob Michaels]

KEH had a photo of the Zeiss Hologon 35mm camera in several recent issues of their monthly sales flyer magazine. I seem to remember it being around US$4K or so.

No need for a rangefinder since it is fixed focus and f8 as I remember.

[Al Kaplan]

It was based on a Contax SLR body without the mirror box, and had a 16mm f/8 Hologon and a built in optical finder. It didn't exactly set the world on fire. A couple of years later Zeiss produced a 15mm f/8 Hologon in Leica M mount that came with a seperate viewfinder. Rather than being marketed by Zeiss it was listed in the Leica catalog. I never did read an expanation of why it went from 16mm to 15mm.

[ZeissFan]

The camera is known as the Zeiss Ikon Contarex Hologon Ultrawide.

It was based on the Zeiss Ikon Contarex and shares some of the accessories, such as the film spool and interchangeable backs. It also uses the same cloth focal-plane shutter and when released has the trademark Contarex sound. You change the shutter speed to adjust for correct exposure.

The Carl Zeiss Hologon is a fixed-aperture, nonfocusing f/8.0 15mm lens. Depth of field is from 0.5 meters to infinity, and the angle of view is 110 degrees.

There is a small bubble level that is visible from the top of the camera and from within the viewfinder. The viewfinder, I believe, has seven glass elements (more complex than some lenses).

When Zeiss Ikon folded in the early 1970s, Carl Zeiss completed assembly of some of the cameras. Those cameras (marked as Carl Zeiss, rather than Zeiss Ikon) are quite rare. Truly rare and not eBay "rare."

Later, Carl Zeiss refitted some of the lens elements to the M mount.

It was always a 15mm lens. The Hologon available for the Contax G system is 16mm.

The complete kit includes the grip and cable release, a center-spot filter and a handsome case.

I've shot this camera several times, and the grip is a big help to avoid photographing your knuckles. My writeup.

A recent photo. Taken with Kodak Gold 100:

[Al Kaplan]

I have a 50 page soft cover book "All About Camera Lenses" by Leitz Leica from 1973. It has all the M and R lenses from the M mount Hologon to the 800mm F/6.3 Telyt-S, plus Photar macro lenses from 12.5mm to 120mm. It also includes the Angenieux-R 45-90mm zoom, the 36mm PA-Curtagon-R, and the Visoflex III system. It has cross section drawings of each lens showing the optical construction. It doesn't show the 1973 prices. Every collector needs this book! I'll swap it for a decent user M2 body or make an offer.

[ZeissFan]

The great thing about the Hologon is that barrel distortion is very low. If you look at the photo, you can see that there is very little curvature on the edges of the frame. That's quite a feat for a 15mm lens with a 110-degree angle of view.

The front and rear elements are hemispheric. The optical construction is unique and one that I've not seen mimicked by other lens makers.

Because it's a fixed f/8.0 and nonfocusing, the camera enters into that "specialist" category. I've often called it the most expensive point-and-shoot ever made. Because after setting the shutter speed, that's about all that's left to do -- just point and shoot.

I should have added in my first post that it uses an optical viewfinder. The lens sits much too close to the film plane to allow it for a mirror.

[ernesto]

Thank You All for such complete info!
Searching in the web, I found this interesting image:
A Leica Camera with an Hologon M lens and Voightlander Viewer.

[joachim]

Originally Posted by ernesto

Thank You All for such complete info!
Searching in the web, I found this interesting image:
A Leica Camera with an Hologon M lens and Voightlander Viewer.

This is not an M Hologon. This is the 16mm Hologon for Contax G, which got converted to Leica M later, buy a third party (neither Leica nor Zeiss). Zoekendorfer in Munich/Germany used to offer this service (still does?).

[Lukino]

I've red this just yesterday:
http://cameraquest.com/z_hologon.htm

[ErnestoJL]

AFAIK, the 1968 (or so) Zeiss Hologon lens was a three lens elements in one group.
The f8 aperture was determined by the lens construction which had a central element with a stretch in the center making an f8 iris.
Hopefully if I find the magazines where the Contarex Hologon was introduced, I will post a copy of the relevant info.

Ernesto (JL)

[ZeissFan]

That sounds about right. The front and rear elements are hemispherical. I have the owner's guide, but for the cost of the camera, the owner's guide is very disappointing. I think it's just four pages.

But in truth, there isn't much to the camera. Set the shutter speed, tension the shutter, point and shoot.

[Debusti Paolo]

Originally Posted by joachim

This is not an M Hologon. This is the 16mm Hologon for Contax G, which got converted to Leica M later, buy a third party (neither Leica nor Zeiss). Zoekendorfer in Munich/Germany used to offer this service (still does?).

I think that zoerk doesn't do it anymore..(wwwzoerk.de) I have bought from zoerk a modified heliar 15mm for my contax g2 that is a gem I have seen same modified 16mm hologon from ebay sellers of HONG kong. They were 1600 / 2000 EURO PRICE .