Contax rangefinder
The Contax I was a high end 35mm rangefinder camera made by Zeiss Ikon to compete with Leica models. It was released in 1932. The rangefinder had a very large base to enable precise focusing. The Contax I had many small variations during its production. It had a special lens mount to put interchangeable lenses (see Contax rangefinder lenses).
Its successor the Contax II was released in 1936. It was the first camera with a rangefinder and viewfinder combined in a single window.
The Contax III, also released in 1936, was the same model with an exposure meter. It was one of the first cameras with a built-in exposure meter.
After the war, the Soviet Union captured the tooling and drawings of the Contax as war booty, and transfered them to the city of Kiev, where they began the production of the Kiev rangefinder camera, as such a continuation of the Contax.
At the same time, the Western part of the Zeiss Ikon company, based in Stuttgart, completely redesigned the Contax and launched the Contax IIa in 1950 and Contax IIIa in 1951.
