An interesting detail on Contax/Pentacon cameras: There were two serial numbers, one on the outside lower back, and another on the inside, seen vertically when opening the back door. The first one says 44 626. As I compared this sample to others, placing it into the early series production, I had a hard time understanding this relatively high.
If I could see at least one other Contax with a close enough serial I would feel much more comfortable. Among Sala’s references there is a 583XXX Compur stated to be 1935 and a 593XXX to be 1936.

Hey Danny, there are a few good sites with Contax serial numbers. If you come to a dead end, e-mail me the serial number. I have also a relic of a Contax III, dating to approx. 1941-42, from a German military ship (Kriegsmarine). Now, upon decomissioning that ship, everything that had a serial n.

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CONTAX C/Y LENSES THAT FIT CANON DSLR’S

THE FF, 5D, 1.3x AND 1.6x COLUMN HEADINGS

The Contax C/Y / Canon database is a quick reference to see which Contax RTS lenses can be mounted on Canon dSLRs via third party adapters. Most lenses work without issue; however, some lenses extend too far into the chamber and the Canon mirror will not clear the rear element or some other portion of the lens assembly. Most people will only need the FF, 5D, 1.3x and 1.6 columns. Scrolling to the right provides more information about the lenses.

FF refers to Canon’s professional full-frame dSLRs such as the Canon 1Ds, 1Ds Mark II, 1Ds Mark III and 1Dx.
5D refers to the Canon 5D, Mark II, Mark III and Canon 6D. The Canon 5D / 6D series have their own column because the 5D’s mirror clearance is different than the Canon 1-Series.
1.3x refers to the Canon APS-H bodies with a 1.25x or 1.3x crop factor. This includes the Canon 1D family which consists of the 1D, 1D Mark II, 1D Mark IIn, 1D Mark III and 1D Mark VI.
1.6x refers to the APS-C bodies, including the EF mount dSLRs (D30, D60 and 10D) and EF-S bodies (20D, 20Da, 30D, 40D, 50D, 70D, 7D, 300D, 350D / XT, 400D / XTi, 450D / XSi, 500D / T1i and 550D / T2i).

WHAT DO “M”, “S” AND “I” MEAN?

Y means “YES”. “Yes” means the Contax lens will work on the respective Canon dSLR and most people have not experienced any issues.
N means “NO”. In some case the lens or camera can be modified to accommodate some of the marginal lenses. For lens-camera combinations marked “N”, there is not a realistic solution.
I means “Iffy”. A lens earns an “Iffy” rating if some people say a given lens and Canon combination work while other people say the combination did not work. Since there is no clear consensus, “Iffy” was added.
? means no data available.
Dashes (“-”) mean the data is unavailable.

Zeiss-Ikon Contax III (1939) - mike eckman dot com

WHY IS THE CANON 5D LISTED IN ITS OWN COLUMN?

Canon 5D and 5D Mark II owners have reported various adapter and lens combinations catching on the mirror. If a lens mounts and performs correctly on the Canon 1-Series family, unfortunately that does not guarantee the lens-adapter combination will operate correctly on the Canon 5D family. Complicating matters, there are variances amongst Canon 5D’s. For Contax lenses the Canon 5D’s variances in the mirror box have proven troublesome. Unfortunately, this is an issue for Contax lenses more so than Leica R lenses. Probably because the flange thickness on a Canon / Leica R is about 3mm versus ~1.425mm for Canon / Contax adapter.

WHAT ABOUT EF-S MOUNT CAMERAS SUCH AS THE CANON 7D AND 70D?

Canon dSLRs with the EF-S mount such as the Canon Digital Rebels, 20D, 20Da, 30D, 40D, 50D, 60D and 7D work fine. The EF-s cameras have smaller mirrors, so just about any lens will work them.

WHAT ABOUT THE CANON 1 SERIES FAMILY?

Initial reports indicate it is best to consider the 1D family (Mark I, II, III and IV) as having the same clearance as the 1Ds family. According to marketing literature the Canon 1D Mark III sports a new, larger viewfinder. User feedback indicates it is best to consider the 1D Mark III as having the same clearance as a 1Ds and 1Ds Mark II. As of December 2010 the Canon 1D Mark III has proven to be pretty much trouble free. If a lens is marked as “YES” in the 1.25x and FF columns, then it will probably work on the Canon 1D Mark III.

Leica Contax: Carl Zeiss Jena lens serial numbers

Zeiss Contax IIa IIIa - CameraQuest

THE DATABASE SHOWS “YES”, BUT I KNOW THE LENS DOESN’T FIT!!!

Deciding whether a lens deserves a “YES” can be tricky because one reader may report “Yes” and another person says it will not work. Most likely the problem is not the lens or the camera body, but the adapter. To address these conflicting reports the “I” category was added, meaning “iffy” - as in the lens may or may not work. Detailed comments are provided below (scroll down).

CONTAX AE MOUNT VS MM MOUNT

The original Contax mounts were called “AE” mounts, later Contax updated the mount to “MM”. The new MM mount offered more exposure / metering options than the original AE. The mechanical differences between AE and MM are moot since the Canon dSLRs do not activate the aperture mechanism. In terms of resale value, whether a lens is AE or MM may make a difference in its price. In some cases the German made AE versions are worth more than the later made MM Japan versions. And there are some German made MM’s which are quite rare, so those lenses tend to fetch a premium. Generally the original AE’s were made in West Germany and the later MM’s were made in Japan. This is not true 100% of the time, but it is a relatively safe generalization.

On MM lenses the smallest aperture number on the aperture ring is marked green instead of white. Supposedly there are some exceptions, but I have not seen any such lenses. A common internet myth is MM lenses have silver mount and original AE’s had a black mount. This is not always true. Some MM’s have a tab on the outer diameter. This tab is not a constant from lens to lens, so it is not the best distinguishing characteristic. Some MM lenses have a small pin along the outer edge of the mount.

Some AE lenses were updated (minor redesigns) when Contax changed from the AE to the MM mount. As an example, the rear mount on the 18mm Distagon changed. Almost all the PDF guides on the Zeiss site are MM, not the AE’s. Alot of web sites mix the AE and MM data, so there tend to be discrepancies in weight. Fortunately the Zeiss pdf’s set the record straight for the MM versions, but the AE versions still hold some mysteries due to conflicting data published on the internet.

In some cases the MM and AE variants are split out in the database. This is intentional because there were some deltas in the lens weight of the AE version compared to the MM version. We have no way of knowing what else changed because the number of elements and groups remained constant. However, Zeiss (Contax) could have changed the design of an element, the composition of an element, lens coatings, sub-assemblies, etc.

SPECIFIC COMMENTS FOR VARIOUS CONTAX LENSES

Before delving into some of these more troublesome lenses, here is some historical data to consider. From 2005-2009 these the Leica R and Contax C/Y pages had equal amounts of traffic; the Contax pages had a slight lead. Then Zeiss started releasing the ZE / ZF lenses around 2010. As of 2016, the Leica pages get 3X more traffic and the Contax page traffic has plummeted. The Zeiss ZE and ZF lenses have effectively killed Contax interest. Just take a look at the Facebook likes - the score is ~200 for Leica vs ~70 for Contax. It is not exactly difficult to figure out why. The new Zeiss ZE's and ZF's offer full EXIF, full auto exposure, generally full support for lens corrections in all major raw file editors (i.e. Lightroom, et al), no fussing with adapters, there's the Zeiss warranty, and you can buy the lenses at B&H, give them a try and return them if you don't like them. And now Zeiss has gone and done one better - updating the ZE's and ZF's to Milvus'. Food for thought.

Canon 5D dSLR and Canon 5D Mark II

The following applies to just about every Contax C/Y lens 50mm and wider

It is very common to read about one Canon user enjoying success with a given lens and adapter combinati

Contax Iii Serial Numbers