Well actually this is the first of two tales that start in the former East Germany, DDR or GDR -Call it what you will! After World War II, Germany was split into two countries. In West Germany a new Carl Zeiss was set up together with a new Carl Zeiss lens makers and half the Zeiss Ikon factories while in East Germany the original Carl Zeiss Stiftung carried on with the original Carl Zeiss lens maker and the other half of the Zeiss Ikon factories.
There came a time when in East Germany, Carl Zeiss lenses decided to start making cameras in competition with East German Zeiss Ikon. The East German Carl Zeiss became known as Carl Zeiss Jena to distinguish it from West German Carl Zeiss Oberkochen following a series of legal disputes.
I must confess here and now to buying this camera on something of a whim! For reasons best known to Deutsch Post – DHL, it took 52 days to get here from Germany!
This particular model camera was made by the East German Carl Zeiss Jena. and was one of the later models of this futuristic designed cameras. At around £27, it wasn’t cheap when originally produced.
The specification of the camera is as follows:
lens: Tessar
focal length: 50 mm
aperture: ƒ/2.8 to ƒ/22
focus range: 0.8 m to infinity
lens fitting: fixed
shutter: Prestor RVS
speeds: 1 second to 1/750 seconds
flash: PC connector
film size: 35mm
My model is the Werra mat E, made between 1961 and 1966, and has a rounder top compared to earlier models, striped decoration, striped skin, and an accessory shoe. The E classification is not on the cameras themselves.
The first thing that you notice is that it comes with a lens cap which when the end cap is unscrewed can cover the lens, shutter and aperture controls.
The top plate is devoid of controls, apart from the shutter release. Above the lens is the viewfinder/rangefinder.
The really idiosyncratic feature of this camera is the shutter cocking/film advance. A unique selling point, was the rapid film advance ring. I must point out that there are a split in views on this! This ring, which is the large ring near the body, cocks the shutter, and advances the film and the frame counter all in one twist. It seems very smooth and I can see why there were these claims.
The bottom of the camera is somewhat cluttered to compensate for the otherwise smooth lines. There is a 3/8 inch UNC threaded tripod socket, a rewind knob at one end and an exposure counter at the other. Next to the tripod mount is a release button which when rotated releases the back for access to the film compartment.
This has been a very short introduction to this camera which I have yet to shoot with. The question is, “Will I ever?” 
So many cameras to choose from. So little time!
Did any of you ever own a Werra camera? I would be interested to hear of you experiences.
