The Contax name, like other things Zeiss-Ikon, has a complicated history. The Contax I introduced the Contax RF bayonet mount (actually two bayonets, one used only for 50mm lenses and the other for teles and wide angles) in 1932. This bayonet system remained unchanged throughout the Contax rangefinder series - I, II, III, IIa and IIIa - and it was also adopted, with a small modification, by Nikon for their I, M, S, S2, S3 and SP rangefinder cameras. Like other rangefinder lens mounts, it cannot be used on an SLR because the lens flange is too close to the film to allow room for the mirror in an SLR. After WWII, there were suddenly two Zeiss-Ikon companies, one in East and the other in West Germany. The West German branch, in Stuttgart, developed an all-new line of rangefinder cameras using the Contax bayonet lens mount, and launched the Contax IIa in 1950. Meanwhile, the East German group completed work on an all-new SLR camera that had been in development since the beginning of the War. This camera was introduced at the 1948 Leipzig Fair as the Contax S. The Contax S was the originator of the M42 lens mount, which was immediately adopted by KW as they reintroduced the prewar Praktiflex as the Praktica with the new mount. In addition to introducing the M42 mount, the Contax S also gave us the first eye-level pentaprism viewfinder, and it was also the first optical viewfinder system to provide (with the standard 58/2.0 lens attached) a 1:1 magnification in the finder. " Contaxt Bayonet Mount"First developed in late 1920 during initial design works on Contax 1 under rising star Dr. Hienz Kuppenbender. It is a simple yet rugged mechanism design which uses a double connexion and internal mount for short and long focus lenses. Unlike the Leica cammed mechanism (until today with the M; Contax mount used relatively massive cylinder incorporated into the camera body, its turning coupled internally with the camera rangefinder. Contax 1, 1932 first used this mechanism which allows interchangeability with that of the first Leica equipped with M39 threaded mount where plenty of controversy arose which were the better ones. The ease of the Contax system in use was to cause the bayonet fitment to replace the threaded mount as market standard by 1960. It ended up Leica/Leitz, whose M system cameras use their own proprietary bayonet mount, to abandon their 39mm threaded mount design. ...." - extracted from MIR's Rangefinder camera Message board - A later version of the Contax S, the Contax F, introduced the first auto-diaphragm M42 lens, with the pin-actuated diaphragm system that became the standard for Pentax and other later M42 cameras. In fact, even the Pentax name came from Zeiss-Ikon Dresden: when legal disputes with Z-I Stuttgart forced them to give up the Contax name in the 1950s, Z-I Dresden copyrighted two new names based on the "Pentaprism Contax" camera series: one of these was "Pentacon", which became the new name for the German SLRs, and the other was "Pentax", which they released to Asahi Optical Company of Japan to use as the new name for their Asahiflex camera line when they added a pentaprism viewfinder around 1957. -Rick Oleson - <rick_oleson@yahoo.com>

NOTE:- Basic visual references only for some of the popular series, other combinations/variations may exist. For other issues, you may use the relevant | Message Board | lenses | Message Board | cameras Getting older Zeiss Ikon / Carl Zeiss JENA logos via the Network can be diffficult at times and most are not desirable in terms of quality. The above 4-logos are transparent Gif files. You can freely use these logos (123k Jpeg file) for your site, content briefing and/or for your personal site construction. Just CLICK on respective emblem and select your choice (BIGGER Jpeg views, you can scale them from there). No credit is required. Enjoy.

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