Why did you choose Contax?

[albitheberto]

Hi everyone, my name is Alberto Candido and I am an Italian student. I am doing a research on Contax brand for a university project. My research focuses on the relationship between the brand and the user and why people chose Contax instead of other brands.
So I would like to ask you to share your experience with this brand. Why did you choose Contax? How would you describe the brand? Why choose Contax rather than other brands (besides the techincal features of its cameras)?
Thank you so much
Alberto

 

[DominikDUK]

Zeiss Ikon Contax or Kyocera/Yashica/Contax both made RF Contax and they couldn't be more different. If the former is the one you're interested in the answer in my case is family and also pricing. My paternal Grandfather was a photographer and he used amongst other things a Contax which he and many other pros in his time considered the professionals choice as opposed to the rich amateurs choice (Leica).Weirdly enough Contax' were more expensive than Leicas 🙂. He also used to wax poetics about the Contax and its image quality, before the war Leica lenses were not up to par with good Zeiss lenses. So using a Contax reminds me of my Grandfather and makes me feel close to him. The second reason was the price difference a used Contax was and is usually cheaper than its Leica counterpart.

 

[Mudman]

Zeiss Ikon Contax; I love the ergonomics and the feel of the camera. I have a M3, M6TTL, M8, etc. So I'm not lacking in the leica offerings. I just enjoy the handling of the Zeiss, it's small but more user friendly than Leica's screwmount options, and it's fun to use. It's the camera that got me shooting film again after a couple year's hiatus.

 

[albitheberto]

Thank you guys!
what do you think were the most important concepts in this brand?
For the information that I've found, I think that the brand had a big sense of quality and solidity. Do you think there were also other concepts or qualities? which words come to your mind when you think about Contax?
Thank you!

 

[View Range]

Do you know these cameras were designed in the 1930s? There was no Quality Function Deployment or user surveys / discussion groups. Zeiss Ikon didn't worry about "the brand". The designers and engineers at Zeiss Ikon in Dresden wanted to make the ideal 35mm camera as if they were making it for themselves. These cameras cost as much as cars at that time.

 

[DominikDUK]

Classic German overengineering, strong, heavy, solid, great glass, noiseless. (the Contax shutter is quieter than Leicas.)

The Zeiss Ikon concept was to get market shares from Leica and create the best possible camera in the process.

 

[Vics]

See these sources:
http://www.zeisscamera.com/articles.shtml
https://www.cameraquest.com/lrfcrf.htm

 

[albitheberto]

Thank you so much guys!

 

[View Range]

Zeiss Ikon's Contax competed with Leica, but I doubt Zeiss worried too much about sales of Contax vs Leica. Zeiss was a huge company in the 1930's - optical glass, lenses, cameras of all formats, shutters, microscopes, military optics, medical optics, etc.

 

[farlymac]

I bought my Contax IIa because it wasn't a Leica. The good working body with a 2/50 Sonnar was less expensive than a Leica II or III (any model) without a lens. The combined viewer/rangefinder with a wider base for more precise focusing, easier to load film (also, you don't have to trim the leader), and a shutter that you can't burn a hole in.

There are many Soviet made lenses of decent quality available, and the more expensive (but worth it) Nikkors too, if you can't find the Zeiss lens of your choice.

PF

 

[johank]

Contax was from the beginning a system camera, lenses, finders etc.
An excerlent source are the Books by Hans Jurgen Kuc, Auf den Spuren der Contax 1 & 2, ISBN 388984118x, 3930359340.

My photograpic teacher and mentor was my grandmother who started with 3x4 plates. Durig my childhood she bought a IIa and a IIIa with some lenses. I inhered them and they work like a charm. How many 60 years old Tools does that?

 

[p.giannakis]

My only Contax experience is owning the 137MD. I liked the fact that it was very well made and gave access to the Carl Zeiss line of lenses. Eventually, i couldn't afford the Zeiss lenses and shooting with Yashica lenses wasn't anything special so eventually I ended up selling the camera.

So, in a nutshell, for me Contax were:

(+)Build quality, Zeiss lenses, reliability
(-) Expensive, noisy (the 137MD), not many independent 3rd party lens manufacturers would produce lenses in the C/Y mount.

 

[Kevcaster]

Hi Albite berth, here is my take on it:
To understand the brand and the way in which Zeiss managed their various businesses you will need to read about the origins of the company and the extraordinary ambition of Carl Zeiss. At no point will you discover any expediency or sacrifice of quality for profit.
The second major factor in the specific development of the Contax was the patent of the horizontal focal plane shutter by Ernst Leitz. This was the 35mm camera equivalent of a football team being awarded a patent for goalkeepers, every other manufacturer had to find a way around this. Most used leaf shutter options but Zeiss had the resources and innovation to build a vertical travel shutter whose concept later emerged in the 1970s as the Copal square shutter - also a brilliant design. This freed Zeiss to apply enormous effort, brilliance and engineering resources to make the very best lenses.
The third factor arrived in the form of WW2, Zeiss suffered more than other competing companies in the race to the top of the 35mm tree. The Leitz facilities were relatively undamaged by bombing and they were able to retain many of their engineers while Zeiss suffered the levelling of their factories and the deportation of their staff to the Soviet Union.
Finally optical coating, invented or at least developed fully by Zeiss reduced the advantage that the Sonnars had over all other lenses while the designs of Leitz benefitted enormously.

Despite all this the Contax lla and llla emerged after the war and enjoyed again the coveted top spot until the Leica M3 trounced the whole field. I have a Contax ll lla and llla. All of them take fine pictures and are likely to outlast me and even the next generation if kept serviced. They are fun to use and connect us with the early years of 35mm photography. If the house was burning down I would save my Leica M6.
Good work with your project.

 

[sevo]

The second major factor in the specific development of the Contax was the patent of the horizontal focal plane shutter by Ernst Leitz. This was the 35mm camera equivalent of a football team being awarded a patent for goalkeepers, every other manufacturer had to find a way around this.

Leitz hardly had a exclusive patent to horizontal cloth focal plane shutters - there had been lots of prior art in larger formats. Contessa-Nettel in particular had been a major player in high end professional press cameras with horizontally running cloth focal plane shutters ("strut folders") for two decades before Leitz made their first camera prototype. By the early thirties they had merged into Zeiss Ikon and were the group that made the CONTax. If any, Zeiss would have been the ones that held patents that could have been employed to force Leitz to use another shutter rather than vice versa (but back then, patent trolling had not been as common as it is today). It probably was the perceived unreliability of cloth shutters they had experienced on their large and medium format cameras that had Contessa/Zeiss Ikon go for a metal shutter - and while their switch may have been premature, the idea behind it obviously was valid. In retrospect almost all the industry had moved to the metal shutters camp by the 1980's.

 

[Dralowid]

I think the OP's project is particularly focused on the brand rather than the technical development. Surely it is the classic tale of one of the most respected manufacturers losing control of or selling a brand they no longer knew how to exploit...or which no longer fitted their corporate hymn sheet.

Something along those lines?

 

[someonenameddavid]

The Contax RF is generally less well known by the "fashion conscious" (= hipster) photographer of today: they have pushed Rolleiflex prices way up. So an equivalent Leica IIIf RDST will be 1000+ US $ with an F2 Summicron, a Contax IIIa will be $300 with an F 1.5 Sonnar.

 

[Peter_S]

I have used a Contax in my serious photography since day 1. First the TVS III, than the G2, now a T3 and T.
They are/were all on-par in build quality with the Leicas I had, and have all proven to be very reliable (much better track record than my Ms). None needed major repair/service and the T3 has seen more use and abuse (and published images) than any other camera I own.
In addition, the lenses are amazing - the T3s lens and the 21mm G Biogon remain umatched for me in 35mm. Would I still shoot mostly 35mm film, I would go back to the G2. Today, the T3 is still my nr. 1 mountain camera and back-up for my M8 or Bessa III.
When I used only Contax, I did not even know what a back-up is for.

 

[oftheherd]

Personally, my first use of Contax was a Contax 139Q with a 50mm T* f/1.4 lens. A very easy camera to use and an incredible lens. The otf flash was astounding. When the 139Q died after a fire, I went back to C/Y Yashica cameras and was happy as I found them quite compatible. Even later I acquired a Contax 167mt. I don't prefer a motor winder, but can live with it. Oddly I never purchased other Contax lenses other than the 50mm T* because of cost, and having other lenses that satisfied my needs.

One of the things that interested me in that line was it was put out by Kyocera, which was basically Yashica, with which I had had two previous experiences and liked the cameras. A bit of brand loyalty.

After I joined RFF, I suffered a barrage of Leica and Contax comparisons. Due to my experience with the later Contax lenses, my belief that Leica was not worth the extra money, I finally went for a Kiev (sorry, fit that into your survey. 😛 ). I have since acquired a Contax that I will repair when I get more time. I have intentionally gotten folders from 6x6 to 9x12 with Zeiss lenses. I think they are very good, even those from the 30s and 40s.