New Contax IIa

ray*j*gun said:
They are very pretty cameras....However, I have a Leica IIIa that has chrome every bit as pretty as anything I have seen new or old and it was made in 1936.

Ray
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Ray, I guess yours is a III from 1936 or a IIIa from the 1950's. But indeed, my 70-year old III still has equally nice chrome as my twenty years younger IIa.
 
Yes, sorry i am a lousy typist for sure the # is 2337xx. per Stephen's site it would be a III 1936/1937. However, there are IIIa's from that same period....see Gandy's site.

Thanks for the correction.

Ray

HuubL said:
Ray, I guess yours is a III from 1936 or a IIIa from the 1950's. But indeed, my 70-year old III still has equally nice chrome as my twenty years younger IIa.
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Congrats on the "new" rig! Those are beautiful cameras and yours looks great. A while back I bought an early-1953 IIIa from an RFF member and had it CLA'd by Steve Serota, with a new meter cell... now a lovely camera in both looks and operation. Enjoy!
 
HuubL said:
Ray, I guess yours is a III from 1936 or a IIIa from the 1950's. But indeed, my 70-year old III still has equally nice chrome as my twenty years younger IIa.
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Ray, this old thread surfaced again to show me that I misread your remark above about the IIIa from 1936. Apparently I understood you meant a Contax (which would be from the 50's) but now I see it was a Leica IIIa (from the 30's indeed). And, sure, I agree on the quality of the chrome of these prewar Leicas. My Leica IIIa is equally beautiful!
 
Lovely cameras !
A more fair comparison with prewar Contax to Kiev would be a Kiev II or III , maybe an early Kiev IIa or IIIa - in the early years , up to around 1955/6 they were genuinely of Contax quality . Contemporary with a Contax IIa - and a reasonable budget option , though K II / IIa prices are rising .
 
Niiiice. That Tessar should be a very sweet lens, but then I have my biases. Put it on, load some Ektar 100 & go to town 🙂

William
 
How is Contax II for a user camera? I can get one pretty cheap , with sonnar 1,5.
I'm a bit short for a leica 🙂 .
 
reiki_ said:
How is Contax II for a user camera? I can get one pretty cheap , with sonnar 1,5.
I'm a bit short for a leica 🙂 .
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I say go for it. I haven't used a II, only my IIa (which is very similar but actually a complete postwar redesign) but the II is very highly regarded, as well. Many still use it, as well as its clones from Kiev. The Sonnar 1.5 is the classic lens to have.

The II also accepts the inexpensive J-12 wide, something the IIa/IIIa sadly can't.
 
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