Photographica Pages

An online guide to collectable cameras and related stuff

Zeiss Ikon Flektoskop reflex housing for Contax

The first reflex housing Zeiss introduced was the Flektoskop. Apparently offered first as a solution to focusing the 180/2.8 Olympia Sonnar, it was later used with the 300/4 Sonnar and 500/8 Fernobjektiv. The lens threaded off of the front, but it has a very fine thread requiring lots of rotations which make it impractical to change lenses in the field. It was designed to be left on the lens, unlike the reflex housings from Leitz and others. As a result it is rarely found without a lens attached to it (or a Flektoskop lens without the housing), although the combination isn't very common either.

The collar with the tripod mount rotates, the release being on top. The image in the prewar version is upside down and reversed. In 1949 the image was corrected to be right side up, but was still reversed. The product code is 543/78.

The Zeiss Ikon Flektoskop.

Inside the Flektoskop.

The Flektoskop thread mount on the lens, in this case a 180/2.8 Olympia Sonnar.