The SL706 was the last camera designed and launched by Zeiss Ikon. It was a 35mm SLR based on the Icarex body, with a slightly different design and an open aperture TTL exposure reading. It accepted 42mm screw lenses, and the open aperture reading only worked with those lenses specifically designed for the Icarex, SL706 and later Voigtländer VSL.
It was introduced in 1971 and the company had already announced it would stop camera production. The name SL706 was the internal code name of the project. If it had been launched at a more normal moment, it would hopefully have received a more appealing commercial name.
The next year, the design and toolings were transfered to the Rollei company, together with the Voigtländer brand name. Rollei already had a 35mm SLR that they had designed themselves, the SL35, but they nonetheless continued the production of the SL706 under the name Voigtländer VSL 1. They also made the Ifbaflex M102, a name variant for a French distributor. Later Rollei would replace their own SL35 with the SL35M, a VSL 1 under another name and with another bayonet mount, that is another derivative of the SL706.
Bibliography[]
- Barringer, C. and Small, M. Zeiss Compendium East and West — 1940–1972. Small Dole, UK: Hove Books, 1999 (2nd edition). ISBN 1-874707-24-3.
Links[]
In German:
- Icarex 35 — die tragische Gestalt der Zeiss-Ikon-Werke, an article in Frank Mechelhoff's camera website, including the SL706
In Japanese:
Zeiss Ikon Classic Cameras |
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Contax | Contaflex (TLR) | Super Nettel | Nettax | Tenax II | Tenax I | Ikoflex | Super Ikonta
Contax S | Contaflex (SLR) | Contarex | Icarex | SL706 |