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Contax was a camera brand noted for its unique, and sometimes odd, technical innovation and a wide range of Zeiss lenses, noted for their high optical quality. Its latest incarnation was a line of 35 mm, Medium Format and digital cameras engineered and manufactured by Kyocera, featuring modern optics engineered by the Carl Zeiss corporation, which has an outstanding reputation for high quality photographic equipment. On April 12 2005, Kyocera announced that they will no longer produce Contax cameras.
History The Contax brand finds its origin in a series of pre-World War II Zeiss-Ikon rangefinder cameras that were the main competitor to the Leica. In all three models were produced: the original Contax, an improved Contax II and the Contax III (the Contax II with a selenium light meter added). After the Second World War, the German Zeiss-Ikon company was split between East and West Germany. Most of the manufacturing plants were in East Germany, which became Carl Zeiss Jena VEB, but the West German Zeiss corporation managed to resume production of cameras and lenses. Among the post-war cameras produced by the West German Zeiss Ikon were variants of the Contax II and III; known as the Contax IIa (without integrated light meter) and the IIIa (with meter). The post war cameras are distinguised from the pre-war variants by a shorter rangefinder, and different locking mechanism. Another camera branded Contax was introduced in East Germany, the Contax S. Unlike its pre-war rangefinder forebears, the Contax S was a single-lens reflex camera that introduced the eye-level pentaprism, a feature that would be copied by most SLRs in the future. The Contax S evolved to Contax D and was renamed Pentacon after a trademark dispute with the West German Zeiss company. Facing increased competition from Japanese cameramakers, the West German Zeiss company was again split into two companies: a camera manufacturer, Zeiss-Ikon AG, and a lens and optical glass manufacturer, Carl Zeiss AG. With the Zeiss lenses' reputation for high quality, Carl Zeiss AG managed to sustain profitability by selling them to Zeiss-Ikon and other camera manufacturers and by diversifiyng into producing various optical products. On the other side, Zeiss-Ikon AG failed to introduce a mass-produced SLR to rival the new Japanese models, and went bankrupt in 1971. After the bankruptcy of Zeiss-Ikon AG, Carl Zeiss AG found itself in need of a company with electronic camera expertise. A collaborative licensing and production agreement was reached in 1973 with Yashica to build a series of 35mm cameras and high-quality T Zeiss lenses Technically, they are branded Carl Zeiss, but often shortened to Zeiss for brevity. Zeiss lenses for Contax cameras are referred to by their optical design as well as focal length and maximum aperture: Most Zeiss lenses have a designation T The optical glass elements are all manufactured and multicoated in Germany by Schott Glass, so almost all Zeiss optics for Contax are T Zeiss lenses may be assembled in Germany or in Japan... some lens models were produced in both. While it is rumored there are differences in build quality, this is unproven: the only way to tell a Japanese-made lens from a German-made one is to look at the country of origin label. Nevertheless, German-manufactured lenses are considered more collectible and therefore sell for more on the used market. Zeiss optics are held in very high regard by many photographers, noted for their sharpness, excellent contrast, smooth bokeh, brilliant color rendition and the "3D Effect", which makes some images seem almost three dimensional. Contax 645 The Contax 645 is an autofocus medium format SLR system, featuring an array of Zeiss lenses and interchangeable film and digital backs. One of its unique features is a film back equipped with the vacuum system originally developed for the 35 mm RTSIII SLR. Contax claims this increases sharpness by keeping the film perfectly flat in the plane of focus. Lenses currently available for the Contax 645: Also, with the use of MAM-1 adaptor, all the Hasselblad lenses including C, CF, CFE, CFI, F and FE can be used as well. In addition to 120 and 220 medium format backs with film inserts for quick loading, including the previously mentioned vacuum back, many manufacturers offer a variety of interchangeable digital backs for the Contax 645 system: Contax N Series The Contax N Series is an autofocus 35 mm SLR system. There are three models of camera, the N1, the NX and the N Digital, an ill-fated and now discontinued early Digital SLR. They use the new N-Mount lenses, and this means the system is not compatible with the older manual focus SLR system. Contax does sell an adapter that allows lenses from their 645 medium format system to be used on N bodies. Lenses currently available for the N Series: Contax SLR This is the original Contax camera line by Kyocera and Zeiss, beginning with the RTS in 1975. It's an SLR system designed for manual focus lenses. The line was discontinued in 2005. The last three camera models in this system produced by Kyocera were the RTS III, the RX 2, and the Aria. The RTSIII is notable because of its vacuum backplate, a feature the manufacturer claims improves sharpness by keeping the film perfectly flat in the image plane. It also introduced a flash exposure measurement system that was particularly useful to studio photographers. Other notable, but discontinued Contax SLRs include: These cameras take "Y/C" mount lenses, short for "Yashica/Contax"... Yashica being the low-end consumer brand SLR system made by Kyocera that shared its lensmount design with Contax SLRs. Zeiss lenses in the Y/C mount came in either AE or MM varieties. MM lenses are more recent, and have a setting that allows the camera to select the aperture as part of its autoexposure system, while the older AE lenses do not. There is often no difference between an older AE and a newer MM lens apart from this feature. Sometimes, the older AE lens will be worth more on the used market because it will be a German-made example, while the newer lens is Japanese-made, despite an identical optical formula and build quality. Many of these lenses have unique features or exemplary qualities not found in more recently designed competitors. MM Lenses currently available: Other lenses of note that are no longer in production include the Tele-Apotessar 600 mm f/4 AE, of which only a handfull were made to order, the Mirotar 1000 mm f/5.6 AE, and the Vario Sonnar 70-210 mm f/3.5 AE, which is reputed to be the lens to most clearly exhibit the Zeiss "3D effect", and fetches large sums on the used market because of this. G Series The G Series is a unique 35 mm autofocus rangefinder system with interchangeable lenses. Rather than displaying a typical rangefinder focussing patch and brightlines, the first G1 had a zooming viewfinder with a focus confirmation light activated by the autofocus system if manual focus was required. The actual AF system, unlike AF for SLR cameras, does indeed use a twin-window rangefinder, but the alignment determination is electronic. The G2 is the second camera body in the series, and can display manual focus distance directly on a viewfinder LCD. The G2 is generally considered more rugged and controllable than the earlier G1. Another improvement over the G1 is the G2's full parallax correction viewfinder. A limited edition run of black G2 bodies and lenses were produced, differing from the standard titanium finish found on the original G1 and G2. The lenses use optical formulae not often used by Zeiss, which had specialized in SLR photographic lenses for many decades prior to the G Series. (These formulae appear to be repeated in the later Zeiss Ikon Leica-mount rangerfinder.) The G series also boasted the only true zoom available for a rangefinder system, made possible by the electronic coupling of the camera's viewfinder and the lens. Available G Series lenses are: Electronic flash units All of Contax's flash units are cross-compatible with all Contax camera systems, and Metz makes a Contax-compatible control unit for its strobes as well. Flash units currently available: Metz SCA adapters: See also Official sites Other links Fansites and forums | ||||||||
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