Chris's camera pages
Zeiss Ikon Contina IIa (type 527/24)
Manufactured from 1956 to 1958, this well-made 35mm viewfinder camera was fitted with either Novicar Anastigmat or Novar Anastigmat lenses in a Prontor SVS shutter.
The camera has an uncoupled exposure meter. Early examples have a twin range meter like this one.
You can identify it as a twin-range meter because the cover flap over the meter cell has a slot machined through it. It is normally closed for bright conditions, so it lets through less light, and you read the meter on the high scale.
In lower light conditions, you open the flap to let more light act on the selenium cell, and you make your readings on the low-light scale.
Later examples like this one below, have a single range meter. The meter flap looks much the same, but is actually a cover, and blocks all the light. The meter flap must be opened to take a reading.
Contina IIa instruction manual on Mike Butkus' excellent website.