[rollei_list] Re: Leica and Contax
- From: Jerry Lehrer <jerryleh@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 03 Apr 2005 18:01:03 -0700
Richard,
Prestige item? The boat anchor called Contarex was
Zeiss's attempt at a prestige item.
Jerry
Richard Knoppow wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <TrueBadger@xxxxxxx>
> To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Sunday, April 03, 2005 1:12 PM
> Subject: [rollei_list] Re: Leica and Contax
>
> >I find it curious that in this lengthy discussion of
> >rangefinder cameras that
> > there was no commentary on the fact that the first Nikons
> > were copies of the
> > contax, and that the first Canons were copies of the Leica
> > III series. I
> > suppose this is too well known to merit comment.
> > I was stationed in Korea in 1954-55, and thousands of both
> > nilons and canons
> > were sold to GI's thru the PX system, somewhat before
> > either was that well
> > established with distribution in the US proper.
> >
> > I bought a Contax IIIa in the post exchange ($187.50 as I
> > recall, with case
> > and a 50 mm sonnar.) It was a great camera, but accessory
> > lenses never showed
> > up in the Px, so I wound up selling it and coming back
> > with two Canon IVs2's
> > with normal lenses and a wide angle and a 90mm. The PX
> > price on the Canon with
> > a normal lens and case was $105.00.
> >
> > I never got a lot of use out of the canons, because I sold
> > them about two
> > years later so I could afford to get married. It was a
> > case where my youthful
> > photographic aspirations had overshot my equally youthful
> > financial reserves,
> > which were basically zero. After that I did not have a
> > camera for about three
> > years, when someone sold me a pristine M3 double-stroke
> > for $150.00, a camera I
> > still have.
> >
> > I don't think Leica ever showed up in PX's, although there
> > may have been a
> > few that got snapped up before I ever saw them.
> >
> >
> > G, King
> >
> Early Nikons were _styled_ like the Contax but did not
> copy the internal mechanism. Nikon used the Contax type
> bayonet lens mount but the back focus is different so Contax
> and Nikon lenses are not interchangible, they don't focus
> right. The shutter was the Leica type. Canon copied the
> _style_ of the Leica, but again, was not a clone of the
> Leica. I am less familier with the early Canon than the
> early Nikon. There were Leica clones. In the US one was made
> by Reid and there was another made in England, the name
> escapes me at the moment. Supposedly, at least one of these
> cameras was supposed to be superior to the Leica. I think
> Kodak made lenses for the US made copy. All these dried up
> when Leitz got control of their patents back. AFAIK, the
> Contax shutter was never attempted by anyone else.
> I rather wonder if Zeiss made any money off the Contax. I
> think it may have been a prestige item made to demonstrate
> the company's prowess in precision manufacturing more than
> anything else.
>
> ---
> Richard Knoppow
> Los Angeles, CA, USA
> dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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