Zeiss Ikon Contessa LBE

[Melany]

Anybody know anything about this camera?

I bought one at an estate sale today. I thought I got a really good deal at the time. Now, I suspect I've paid a fair, common eBay price.
The price tag was $150.00 and I saw Ziess and thought I had a cool find!

Today was "last day bargains" and everything was 60% off. I asked the lady if she could do better than $60.00 and she offered to go down to $40.00. I jumped on it, and then realized I only had $38.00 in my wallet, and she took it.
I was feeling a little guilty coming home, feeling like I screwed someone out of a great camera and lots of $$$.
But Google didn't give me much info on this one. I found one similar on eBay for pretty much around $40.00.

It appears that this lady was the one getting over on me. She told me that she knew it was an expensive camera because she looked it up on eBay. I suspect she may have just looked up Zeiss, and not this particular model.

I found a manual for a Contessa LK, similar enough to figure out how to use it (I hope).

[Tom]

Zeiss Contessa

[groovyone]

Daaaamn. I need to start hitting more estate sales.

[Melany]

Originally Posted by Tom

Zeiss Contessa

Nope, that ain't it. It's closer to this one

Originally Posted by groovyone

Daaaamn. I need to start hitting more estate sales.

I'd never been until recently. I was hooked after the first one.
It sounds bad, but it's really fun to go into other people's houses and go through their stuff. Buy what I like for decent prices. I've found some great stuff!

[Melany]

Here it is!

All the sites I've found with the right Contessa, is a non-American site.
I guess I'll just have to take this thing out and give it a spin.

[groovyone]

Still very cool.

[Melany]

I went up to Caprock Canyon today and gave it a spin. I'm sure I screwed up the roll of film. I'm sure I loaded it wrong.
I couldn't figure out where the photo counter thingie was, and had no clue how many photos I took, how many were left, or even if the film was advancing (FML!)
I came back home, and read an instruction manual for a similar camera, and found the counter -- a teeny tiny dot that circles some numbers around the "clicker". CRAP! Now I have to wear my bifocals when I shoot :-(

I found a guy on Flickr who has some nice photos of this camera

See the tiny dot by the number 5 (actually it shows 7 shots left)? That is my counter ;-(

This is a tough thing to figure out. I loaded another roll, and loaded it the right way this time.... I'll try again!