Is it a strange contax on ebay

[AsterixEtObelix]

Hi,

i just found an ad for a contax which is advertised as CONTAX IIIa

but that s pretty strange because the speed knob just show a speed from 1250 till 2 and then B. I thought that the contax IIIa have a 1 second speed.

There is no flash synchro at all.

does it is a real Contax IIIa or a mixture of a contax III and contax IIIa ?

the ad is there:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Contax-Zeis...336?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43de569a20

thanks for the answers

 

[Crazy Fedya]

Thats Contax III, not IIIa.

 

[AsterixEtObelix]

OK thanks a lot for this answer.

does the pictures looks OK for a Contax III or is there anything which can be suspicious ?

 

[Jean]

Yes Contax III but a rare export version with "sch" meter instead of 'DIN'.

 

[sevo]

It seems to be a early (pre war) III. Very unlikely to be fake - that Scheiner scale is a odd detail that I have never heard of on a imitation. It might be export (but where was Scheiner still standard in Contax II times?), or maybe made on request for a conservative customer - the Scheiner scale was fading into irrelevance after the mid thirties, but it had been common recently enough that some people are bound to have lingered on.

 

[Bill Jones]

Contax III pictures

Contax III pictures

By the serial number on the back it is a 1936 Contax III. The SCH was the standard guide number system for all Contaxes sold to English speaking countries. Also the focus scale is marked in feet not meters and this would agree with the SCH marking. The back on the take up spool side has been bent significantly and this may effect light leaks and closing the back. The lens serial number is in the correct range to be the original lens. I believe it is way overpriced considering the stated condition of the lens and the possibility of concealed damage to a camera whose back is so damaged along with the damaged back.

Bill

 

[Bill Jones]

Film speeds

Film speeds

Sevo,

Sch and other guide numbers were used in the English speaking countries after DIN was introduced in Germany.

In fact ASA numbers were first proposed in 1943 and for all practical purposes did not become a standard in the US until the 1950's. There were 2 SCH systems used. One was US and another European and they differed by 3 degrees. So you had to refer to the Zeiss magazine in the US to get the correct film speed for US films with Zeiss cameras.

Agfa Ansco (Agfa USA} used US SCH while Kodak had their own different systems at different times. All manufacturers recommended testing and getting your own system speeds since shutters were not as accurate as today and internal light losses in lenses before coating also affected the results. It took more work to get a system started. Speed numbers could be different for different lenses so you may have to change the light meter setting when changing lenses. People then tended to standardize on a film and not change lenses as frequently as now.

Bill

 

[sevo]

Sevo,

Sch and other guide numbers were used in the English speaking countries after DIN was introduced in Germany.

Was it? I always supposed the US to have predominantly used Weston prior to the switch to ASA. Years ago there was another Contax III here with a non DIN-scale, and that had a WEST scale - I always assumed that to be the US version. Britain is not likely either, while they used what numerically was the Scheiner scale, they had standardized it (with the testing methods later borrowed by DIN) as B.S.I.

Continental Europe, perhaps? Or Latin America?

 

[Bill Jones]

SCH scale

SCH scale

Was it? I always supposed the US to have predominantly used Weston prior to the switch to ASA. Years ago there was another Contax III here with a non DIN-scale, and that had a WEST scale - I always assumed that to be the US version. Britain is not likely either, while they used what numerically was the Scheiner scale, they had standardized it (with the testing methods later borrowed by DIN) as B.S.I.

Continental Europe, perhaps? Or Latin America?

Sevo,

The focusing scale is in feet not meters. See the last picture where he shows it. You need to click the right arrow to get it. The 100 is a feet marking where meters would show 30. That alone says it was made for use in English speaking countries.

Weson was only used by people who used Weston light meters (popular but by no means the majority). There was also a GE scale for GE light meters as well as US SCH, Kodak and DIN in use in the US in the 30's. DIN was common on grey market cameras and there were many of those here then with European refugees as well as cameras bartered to Argentina etc for beef and food by the Germans.

The BSI scale was introduced at the same time as the ASA scale. Both after WW2 and much later than the 1936 date of this camera.

My US Contax Zeiss magazines from the late 30's state that all US zoned Contaxes came with SCH scaled light meters and feet calibrated range finders. Also ref Kuc.

This is a classic British-US zoned Contax III. As it is for sale in the mid-western part of the US with a period lens, I would guess it is an original pair that was first bought in the US or Canada 79 years ago.

Bill

 

[AsterixEtObelix]

Many thanks all for this info and also for this interesting piece of history 🙂

that's pleasant to learn something more about the Contax