Contax - end of an era
The manufacture of Contax and Kyocera branded 35mm film cameras has ceased, and digital products are to follow by the end of the year, marking the end of an era.
A spokesman for Kyocera in the UK confirmed to BJP that the Japanese manufacturer has already stopped production of both its own and Contax-branded 35mm film cameras. These include the Contax TVS-III, which is a high-end zoom compact; and the electronic rangefinder, the Contax G2.
The production of digital cameras under both the Kyocera and Contax brand name is also to stop by the end of the year. Operations in the US have already closed and the distribution of products has been transferred to American distributor, Tocad.
Frazer Allen of Kyocera UK told BJP that the company has made the decision because of market-led problems as opposed to financial reasons. Allen says that Kyocera is planning to concentrate on the mobile phone business, although it will continue to manufacture other electronic products as well.
Despite this announcement, rumours are still circulating of two new launches for Contax' medium format ranges. A Mark II 645 camera and a digital rangefinder to join the G series have been predicted, but Allen could not confirm whether these products are still on the design board.
The History of Contax, Kyocera and Carl Zeiss
Carl Zeiss started making high quality magnifying glasses in 1846 but by 1925, his company had moved on to manufacturing cameras. A year later, it bought four small camera manufacturing firms: Ica, Contessa-Nettel, Ernemann and Goertz to form Zeiss Ikon AG - a company with designs to compete with those manufactured by Leica.
In 1932, Zeiss Ikon produced the Contax camera, which represented the top of the company's range. The Mark I model was in production from 1932 to 1938 and the Mark II was produced until 1945.
After the war, the company was split in two across the East-West German divide. It was Carl Zeiss Dresden in the East, though, that introduced the world's first 35mm SLR camera body at the Leipzig Spring Fair in 1949.
This was the Contax S. The first SLR produced by the Western branch of the company came in 1953 - this was the Contaflex and was a leaf shutter model.
By the late 1960s, however, competition from Japan and economic conditions in Germany determined that Carl Zeiss could no longer produce cameras in its native land. A partnership was formed with Japanese electronic giant Yashica.
The first product of this union was the Contax RTS, which was launched at Photokina in 1974.
Kyocera bought Yashica in 1996 and the Contax-brand name was included in this deal.
