Zeiss and Cosina's viewfinder-less wide-angle M body — the Zeiss Ikon SW, electronic shutter, 2006.
The Zeiss Ikon SW is a 35mm body introduced in 2006, developed by Zeiss and manufactured by Cosina as a viewfinder-less wide-angle version of the Zeiss Ikon. SW stands for its wide-angle purpose; it was built for use with very wide lenses and external accessory finders rather than a built-in rangefinder view.
It is a 35mm M-mount body using the Leica M bayonet, but without a built-in rangefinder or viewfinder; framing is done with an accessory finder and focusing by scale or by the depth of field of wide lenses. It uses an electronically controlled shutter with aperture-priority and manual exposure and a TTL meter, and depends on a battery to fire.
By omitting the rangefinder the SW is optimised for ultra-wide lenses where scale focusing is practical, suiting landscape, architecture and documentary photographers who work at wide focal lengths and use dedicated accessory finders. It keeps the metering and body quality of the Zeiss Ikon line in a wide-angle-focused package.
Since there is no built-in rangefinder, the usual patch-alignment check does not apply; instead verify the accessory finder if supplied and inspect the top-plate and body for damage. Because the shutter is electronic, confirm the camera fires and aperture-priority exposure works with a fresh battery, and test the TTL meter and battery contacts; it will not operate without power.