Contax Iii Serial Numbers

Zeiss Contax IIa IIIa - CameraQuest
Contax Iii Serial Numbers Diagram
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Contax Iia Serial Number
Leica Contax: Carl Zeiss Jena Lens Serial Numbers

The company Zeiss Ikon AG in Dresden was the result of a series of acquisitions and mergers between many other companies involved in the production of cameras, lenses and other optical instruments in Germany. Among the most important were Ica and Ernemann, both of Dresden, Goerz of Berlin and Contessa-Nettel of Stuttgart. In 1926 this phase of consolidation gave way to the golden period that lasted until the end of the 1950s. From there the uninterrupted accumulation of losses led the giant to shut down camera production in 1972. The most obvious problem was the portfolio extremely long, which aimed to offer solutions for all types of photographers in all fields of photography. Only that, at a time when specialization and rationalization were becoming vital, it would already be too difficult a burden to bear, regardless the success of the brand.

The table below lists the specifications of virtually all Carl Zeiss lenses for the C/Y mount.In addition, Zeiss produced some lenses, about which little is known: some extremely rare optics (a night-vision 210mm f/5.6 N-Mirotar; a Tele-Apotessar 600mm f/4), some macro lenses for use on bellows (S-Planar 60mm f/2.8 and S-Planar 100mm f/4), and some lens prototypes (Tele-Apotessar 500mm f/5.6. I’m no expert but my research led me to believe that this is a real Contax III. The tell-tale signs that it was a modified Kiev were not there, and the typical signs that make it a Contax were. Having said that I don’t believe it is 100% original as the serial numbers for the body and the back don’t match. I can confirm his findings, since there are two K-series Contax III in my collection with numbers starting with 58XXX and 59XXX which have exactly the same professional flash sync installed. Interestingly, they are both factory stamped with the letter 'E' in the left side of the casing, where the film chamber is. As well a being more expensive than the Leica the Contax was much bigger, heavier and far less easy to use. At 78.5.0 with the f1.5 Sonnar it was an extremely expensive camera. The 324 filters with this example are for the f1.5 Sonnar and f2.8 Biogon, they differ from other 42 mm push-on filters in having a much thinner mount.

It is important to note that Carl Zeiss from Jena, a lens manufacturer, founded in 1846 and still existing today, is another company, independent of Zeiss Ikon, which was formed in 1926 focused on manufacturing of cameras and accessories. Carl Zeiss was from the beginning a reference in the development of the optical industry and provided for many years lenses for Zeiss Ikon to equip their cameras. Zeiss Ikon was also a reference in its field and many technologies and concepts created in its laboratories would become history and set new standards in camera market.

Source: Knipse Aber Richtig, von Wolf H.Döring DWB

One of those jewels was Contax. It was announced in 1932 and had the challenge of competing with Leica, designed in 1914 and commercially available since 1925. Some features, such as the focal plane shutter, range finder and interchangeable lenses were mandatory to compete with the one which was already an absolute market leader. But simply copying Ernst Leitz solutions, originally a microscope maker, to someone with the weighty ancestors who formed the Zeiss Ikon, didn’t seem a viable alternative to their engineers.

Contax was the adaptation of several technologies available among companies that formed Zeiss Ikon. The Contax name came, probably from Contessa, along with one of the main features of the new camera: its focal plane shutter that runs vertically. Such concept was already present in Contessa-Nettel’s Deckrullo camera and also in Goerz shutters. Another important point was the rapid coupling of the lens with a bayonet instead of the thread used by the Leica.

Still unlike Leica, the Contax back cover comes out completely. This was an argument used in its favor as to the swiftness and ease in film loading. It was also argued, not without reason, that the greater distance between the viewfinder and the rangefinder window provided greater precision in the camera’s focus. In addition, a telemeter coupled to the display (launched with the Contax II in 1936) was a clear advantage that Leitz would take almost 20 years to incorporate into its Leica M series in 1954.

Contax can be focused by rotating the lens or by activating the toothed disc at the top of the camera. The idea is that the index finger rests on the shutter release while with the middle finger the photographer fine-tunes focus. As in Leica, the lens locks in the infinite position, there is a click, and you have to release it to focus. This is a condition inherited perhaps from medium and large format cameras and was later abandoned in 35 mm.

The Contax shutter is original not only by running upright, it’s all metal instead of the then usual rubbery fabric. Its construction follows a principle used in woodworking in which several slats of wood form a curtain that can be rolled up (visible in the photo above). One advantage of running on the frame’s shortest distance is that from the outset the Contax offered the speed 1/1000 while Leica made half of it reaching 1/500. In the first models the shutter dial was in front of the camera and offered 1/25 to 1/1000. However, because 35mm photography lenses were brighter, they made photography possible in darker situations, and so the low speeds, up to 1 second, were also incorporated. Contax is excellent in terms of stability when using low speeds without a tripod. Its body is not a box with mechanisms inside. Instead, the camera is a machined aluminum block with mechanisms around it. This gives it a very solid strength, which in use translates to stability.

Zeiss Contax IIa IIIa - CameraQuest

The amount of accessories that were created for Contax is something really amazing. In addition to regular filters and lens-shades, also adapters for microscopes, macro photography, stereo photography, mono reflex adapters, tubes and bellows, flash sync, rechargeable film cartridges and, of course, a rich set of lenses and corresponding viewfinders. The lists below present what was offered before and after the Second World War.

Source: Zeiss Ikon Cameras 1926-1939 – D. B. Tubbs

Contax Iii Serial Numbers Diagram

Source: Zeiss Compendium East and West – 1940-1972 – Charles M. Barringer e Marc James Small

Today it seems really strange that a viewfinder camera had so many lenses available. For each focal length it was necessary to adapt a specific viewfinder. There were also adjustable viewfinders for various focal lengths. But even that, it seems awkward for such camera concept.

This camera specifically has a Sonnar 50mm f / 1.5, and Sonnar is a story apart. It was a development from the Cooke Triplet, an original creation by H. Dennis Taylor (1862-1943), who in 1893 proposed a simple lens, with three elements in three groups, luminous and well corrected, destined to portraits due to its small angle of view. From this first idea came many modifications and revisions.

In 1919 Ludwig Bertele (1900-1985), self-taught optician at Ernemann, studied this type of construction and decided to use composite lenses instead of simple lenses while maintaining the initial idea of the triplet. He developed the Ernostar f / 2 that equipped Ermanox, a camera forever linked to Erich Salomon’s candid pictures, which, thanks to the large diaphragm and improved film’s speed, managed to get good images indoors. He registered without drawing attention and using only ambient light, law courts, parties, dinners and diplomatic gatherings.

When Zeiss Ikon acquired Ernemann in 1926, Bertele continued to work, now for the new composition, and took his lens further. In 1931 he patented Sonnar f / 2 and the following year Sonnar f / 1.5 that would equip the Contax (Kingslake). A robust 7-element lens in 3 groups that has been produced at various focal lengths and formats.

Do livro A History of the Photographic Lens – Rudolf Kingslake

The descriptions below address the most distinctive features. There are examples that combine some details of one model with details of another and Zeiss Ikon itself offered transformation and upgrade services between models.

Contax I – Manufactured from launch in 1932 until 1938. It is all black camera appearing in advertisement announcing its launch in 1932 (reproduced above). It has the speed dial on the front of the camera, next to the lens, and the rangefinder is of the rotating type (as in the Super Ikonta) with independent window from the viewfinder.

Contax II – Launched in 1936 with major modifications. The speed dial shifted to the top of the camera and the finish changed to satin metallic. Very important was the new type of telemeter (swing wedge) that was incorporated into the camera’s own viewfinder. Slow speeds were also incorporated.

Contax III – This is like the II, but with the addition of a photometer at the top of the camera.

Below, two pages of the general catalog of Zeiss Ikon, 1939, featuring the two Contax I sucessors:

Due to the war, the destroyed factories, the division of Germany, the shortage of the post-war years and all the conditions of the international, fast and highly competitive business of photographic cameras, the simple division between models I, II and III does not account for all the particularities that are found in the copies that were actually produced. Without wishing to go into too much detail, the suffix ‘a’ as in Contax IIa or IIIa, means the addition of flash sync. There is also the issue of black or color dial. This refers, among other things that came along with, to speed inscriptions. When all are marked in black, we have a black dial. When 1/50 is in yellow, the faster ones in red and the slower ones in black, we have the color dial. This is interesting because it means an indication of date of production, the black dial was manufactured until 1954 and the color dial from that year onwards until 1962 .

As far as I’ve researched it seems there is no reliable source of correlation between serial numbers and year of manufacturing for the Zeiss Ikon cameras.

The camera that appears in this article is an Contax IIIa color dial. It is equipped with a Sonnar 50mm f / 1,5. It is therefore a kind of top of the line and was produced in the last years of Contax’s history.

The photometer still works. It is protected by a shade that must be lifted for usage. This is an interesting feature as the selenium meters get worn out by light exposure over time. It is interesting that in the catalog shown above this is a feature that Zeiss Ikon most linked to color photography, stating that in it photometry would be more critical. This, perhaps, betrays the mistrust that photographers would find wasteful to pay 35% more just to have a photometer. In fact, we may have been a bit lazy with the automatic cameras or with coupled photometers. It is not so difficult to guess time and aperture, under most of light conditions, and still obtain acceptable results.

To adjust the photometer, one must set film speed, aim the camera to the subject, and then rotate the larger ring until center the meter’s needle. In this position, the aperture / speed pairs for this light condition can be read.

From this viewpoint, on the top of the camera, to the left, are the film advance and the speed dial. On the right are the rewinder and photometer control. The needle window is the photometer.

To open the camera and change the film you need to turn around each of the concealed knobs and the back comes loose from the camera body. The small button on the left side releases film for rewinding.

Some pictures taken with this Contax IIIa

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CONTAX C/Y LENSES THAT FIT CANON DSLR’S

THE FF, 5D, 1.3x AND 1.6x COLUMN HEADINGS

The Contax C/Y / Canon database is a quick reference to see which Contax RTS lenses can be mounted on Canon dSLRs via third party adapters. Most lenses work without issue; however, some lenses extend too far into the chamber and the Canon mirror will not clear the rear element or some other portion of the lens assembly. Most people will only need the FF, 5D, 1.3x and 1.6 columns. Scrolling to the right provides more information about the lenses.

FF refers to Canon’s professional full-frame dSLRs such as the Canon 1Ds, 1Ds Mark II, 1Ds Mark III and 1Dx.
5D refers to the Canon 5D, Mark II, Mark III and Canon 6D. The Canon 5D / 6D series have their own column because the 5D’s mirror clearance is different than the Canon 1-Series.
1.3x refers to the Canon APS-H bodies with a 1.25x or 1.3x crop factor. This includes the Canon 1D family which consists of the 1D, 1D Mark II, 1D Mark IIn, 1D Mark III and 1D Mark VI.
1.6x refers to the APS-C bodies, including the EF mount dSLRs (D30, D60 and 10D) and EF-S bodies (20D, 20Da, 30D, 40D, 50D, 70D, 7D, 300D, 350D / XT, 400D / XTi, 450D / XSi, 500D / T1i and 550D / T2i).

WHAT DO “M”, “S” AND “I” MEAN?

Y means “YES”. “Yes” means the Contax lens will work on the respective Canon dSLR and most people have not experienced any issues.
N means “NO”. In some case the lens or camera can be modified to accommodate some of the marginal lenses. For lens-camera combinations marked “N”, there is not a realistic solution.
I means “Iffy”. A lens earns an “Iffy” rating if some people say a given lens and Canon combination work while other people say the combination did not work. Since there is no clear consensus, “Iffy” was added.
? means no data available.
Dashes (“-”) mean the data is unavailable.

WHY IS THE CANON 5D LISTED IN ITS OWN COLUMN?

Canon 5D and 5D Mark II owners have reported various adapter and lens combinations catching on the mirror. If a lens mounts and performs correctly on the Canon 1-Series family, unfortunately that does not guarantee the lens-adapter combination will operate correctly on the Canon 5D family. Complicating matters, there are variances amongst Canon 5D’s. For Contax lenses the Canon 5D’s variances in the mirror box have proven troublesome. Unfortunately, this is an issue for Contax lenses more so than Leica R lenses. Probably because the flange thickness on a Canon / Leica R is about 3mm versus ~1.425mm for Canon / Contax adapter.

WHAT ABOUT EF-S MOUNT CAMERAS SUCH AS THE CANON 7D AND 70D?

Canon dSLRs with the EF-S mount such as the Canon Digital Rebels, 20D, 20Da, 30D, 40D, 50D, 60D and 7D work fine. The EF-s cameras have smaller mirrors, so just about any lens will work them.

WHAT ABOUT THE CANON 1 SERIES FAMILY?

Initial reports indicate it is best to consider the 1D family (Mark I, II, III and IV) as having the same clearance as the 1Ds family. According to marketing literature the Canon 1D Mark III sports a new, larger viewfinder. User feedback indicates it is best to consider the 1D Mark III as having the same clearance as a 1Ds and 1Ds Mark II. As of December 2010 the Canon 1D Mark III has proven to be pretty much trouble free. If a lens is marked as “YES” in the 1.25x and FF columns, then it will probably work on the Canon 1D Mark III.

THE DATABASE SHOWS “YES”, BUT I KNOW THE LENS DOESN’T FIT!!!

Deciding whether a lens deserves a “YES” can be tricky because one reader may report “Yes” and another person says it will not work. Most likely the problem is not the lens or the camera body, but the adapter. To address these conflicting reports the “I” category was added, meaning “iffy” - as in the lens may or may not work. Detailed comments are provided below (scroll down).

CONTAX AE MOUNT VS MM MOUNT

The original Contax mounts were called “AE” mounts, later Contax updated the mount to “MM”. The new MM mount offered more exposure / metering options than the original AE. The mechanical differences between AE and MM are moot since the Canon dSLRs do not activate the aperture mechanism. In terms of resale value, whether a lens is AE or MM may make a difference in its price. In some cases the German made AE versions are worth more than the later made MM Japan versions. And there are some German made MM’s which are quite rare, so those lenses tend to fetch a premium. Generally the original AE’s were made in West Germany and the later MM’s were made in Japan. This is not true 100% of the time, but it is a relatively safe generalization.

On MM lenses the smallest aperture number on the aperture ring is marked green instead of white. Supposedly there are some exceptions, but I have not seen any such lenses. A common internet myth is MM lenses have silver mount and original AE’s had a black mount. This is not always true. Some MM’s have a tab on the outer diameter. This tab is not a constant from lens to lens, so it is not the best distinguishing characteristic. Some MM lenses have a small pin along the outer edge of the mount.

Some AE lenses were updated (minor redesigns) when Contax changed from the AE to the MM mount. As an example, the rear mount on the 18mm Distagon changed. Almost all the PDF guides on the Zeiss site are MM, not the AE’s. Alot of web sites mix the AE and MM data, so there tend to be discrepancies in weight. Fortunately the Zeiss pdf’s set the record straight for the MM versions, but the AE versions still hold some mysteries due to conflicting data published on the internet.

In some cases the MM and AE variants are split out in the database. This is intentional because there were some deltas in the lens weight of the AE version compared to the MM version. We have no way of knowing what else changed because the number of elements and groups remained constant. However, Zeiss (Contax) could have changed the design of an element, the composition of an element, lens coatings, sub-assemblies, etc.

SPECIFIC COMMENTS FOR VARIOUS CONTAX LENSES

Before delving into some of these more troublesome lenses, here is some historical data to consider. From 2005-2009 these the Leica R and Contax C/Y pages had equal amounts of traffic; the Contax pages had a slight lead. Then Zeiss started releasing the ZE / ZF lenses around 2010. As of 2016, the Leica pages get 3X more traffic and the Contax page traffic has plummeted. The Zeiss ZE and ZF lenses have effectively killed Contax interest. Just take a look at the Facebook likes - the score is ~200 for Leica vs ~70 for Contax. It is not exactly difficult to figure out why. The new Zeiss ZE's and ZF's offer full EXIF, full auto exposure, generally full support for lens corrections in all major raw file editors (i.e. Lightroom, et al), no fussing with adapters, there's the Zeiss warranty, and you can buy the lenses at B&H, give them a try and return them if you don't like them. And now Zeiss has gone and done one better - updating the ZE's and ZF's to Milvus'. Food for thought.

Canon 5D dSLR and Canon 5D Mark II

The following applies to just about every Contax C/Y lens 50mm and wider

It is very common to read about one Canon user enjoying success with a given lens and adapter combination, and then reading another stating the opposite. There is speculation about Canon’s quality control and the placement of the mirror box. Photographers with multiple Canon 5D’s have cited occurrences where a Contax lens and adapter works fine with one of their 5D’s, but not the other. Finding the right adapter thickness is often the key. For those planning to use Contax lenses as their primary lenses, you may want to consider purchasing a Canon 1Ds, Mark II or Mark III.

Contax 15mm F3.5 Distagon