Icarex 35: the marriage of Zeiss-Ikon and Voigtlander

By the end of the sixties the final battle of the German cameras began. The competition with Japan was killing World’s leading camera manufacturer. Too complicated camera’s, too expensive, far too less innovative. And all that the Japanese cameras offered, producing high tech and cheaper cameras in many brands and designs. Zeiss Ikon and Voigtlander tried one last approach: to combine their strengths with the famous Icares series, the ultimate SLR for 135 film.

Invented by Voigtlander, but as a marriage gift presented to Zeiss-Ikon after the merger in 1966. That is the Icarex 35, a heavily overengineered SLR to compete with the Japanese market. But one of the most beautiful also, but despite its shining appealing appearance, it was doomed to fail. A little too much a little too late. Nikon, Canon and Minolta were already throwing their best machines on the market with lower prices and similar and even better quality. The golden days of the German Camera were over. For once and for all. And it is pity that the fantastic Icarex became the symbol for that, despite its almost flawless design and high quality.

In the picture is the Icarex 35 CS camera from 1968, problably the most special one from the whole Icarex series, since it had a metered pentaprism on top. The 35mm SLR made by Voigtlander and together with Zeiss Ikon presented in 1966. The Icarex 35, or Icarex 35 has a focal plane shutter to 1/1000, an own (hated) bayonet mount, an interchangeable finder, and a waist-level finder, or a (metered) pentaprism or a metered pentaprism. The exposure meter in the pentaprism was TTL, but the exposure can only be read with the diaphragm closed (with the big lever down next to the lens). The Icarex 35 also had interchangeable finder screens. From the Icarex 35S onwards the pentaprism was fixed and became a true TTL metered SLR.

Just a few lenses were available to the special Icarex mount and it became one of the pitfalls of the Icarex sales, although the Tessar lenses were of high quality. To name a few:
50/1.8 Ultron, 50/2.8 Tessar, 90/3.4 Dynarex, 135/4 Super-Dynarex, 200/4 Super-Dynarex
and even a 400/5 Telomar. In the later 35 models the mount was changed to accept the huge range of 42mm screw lenses. A special TM badge was used to distinguish them from the bayonet versions, that remained also in production with a BM badge. To emphasize the high quality on the last, unchanged models the name ‘profesional’ was added. The cameras had it al, including a wide range of shutter times, a self timer, cold flash shoe, PC sync connections for M and Auto, an easy film loading system and a distinguished shutter sound.

814 grams weighs the big camera. A very sturdy design with big knobs, a solid focal plane (cloth) shutter, a single stroke lever, green indication for readiness, a very bright viewfinder with a transparent readout of the aperture and light needle. All very harmonic and ergonomically well placed. It is hard to believe that this gem could not save this great company. It is one of the few SLR’s that really stands out, due to it’s unique design with black and red dials, the simple, elegant design of the high quality lenses.

Who collects Voigtlander or Zeiss Ikon cameras, cannot escape the Icarex. Who owns the first camera of these brands, needs also the last one. Was it the last one, well, Voigtlander and Zeiss Ikon in a way also went their own ways again, Voigtlander presented the successor of the Icarex with the VSL series (together in the new merger with Rollei) and Zeiss Ikon sadly left the stage in 1972. But nevertheless, they did go down with a fantastic final product, a camera you will fall in love with, a last glimpse of German ingenuity in a well designed, reliable and shining camera, the Icarex, now and forever. But yes, Icares reminds of Icarus, the Greek mythology of the man who could fly, but went too high in the sky before falling to death.

Oh yes, the many failures of the Icarex 35CS light metering prism! The fact is that it is not always the meter that is defect or the battery. The battery is still available, know as the Weincell MRB625 that gives the right voltage you need (and for for many meters). The lightmeters often are still good, but the problems can also be found in the electric wiring in the lens mount area. Just remove the lens, unscrew the four screws holding the mounting ring, remove the inner plate just by lifting it up and look for yourself. The wiring and contacts can be damaged easily. See picture. In my case i used some liquid rubber to easily fix the worn cable and the meter immediately was working as new…and exactly.