After W.W.II West German Zeiss introduced the modernized Contax IIa and IIIa in 1950. While Leica remained relatively intact after the war, Zeiss postwar recovery was made infinitely harder by being split into two separate competing West and East German companies. Many considered the pre-war Contax the 'professional' 35mm camera, while the Leica was for amateurs. The Zeiss Contax was arguably the best 35mm rangefinder made before WWII, with a larger range of faster and sharper lenses than Leica. Though purists will prefer matching numbers, keep in mind that all Contax II and III cameras are roughly the same age due to the short production span from 1936-1942/43. If anything it reveals the turbulent history the Contax passed through and the often intense usage these excellent cameras received. Interestingly, they are both factory stamped with the letter 'E' in the left side of the casing, where the film chamber is. Whoever did the swap put the Contax focus wheel on the Kiev shutter (there's a slot down the middle on the milled edge).Īll the seller's current items, and all the completed listings I can see, are photographic, so he ought to know what he is selling, but many quite big sellers seem surprisingly ignorant, and presumably don't have time to research everything online.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. Every Contax that I have seen has an aluminium-coloured sprocket spindle. The sprocket spindle appears to be black. There is no evidence of the Kiev 4 flash connection on the inside, so it would have to be Contax, Kiev II or Kiev III. The top covering looks Kiev-like, not Contax leather.īack: definitely genuine, for too many reasons to list.īody: almost certainly genuine. Top-casting: almost certainly Kiev - probably necessary with the Kiev meter. Anyone capable of doing such a good job of taking off the Kiev logo, engraving Contax, and re-plating, would have made a MUCH better job of faking the rest! As darkosaric suggests, someone had a Contax III with a faulty meter and faulty shutter, and decided to make it into a usable camera with the help of a Kiev 4.įront plate: genuine.
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