In my opinion (and this is only my opinion, nothing else), we'll see the Contax brand name again in time. Right now Zeiss has put their time and money behind the Zeiss Ikon rangefinder and M-mount lenses, and I'm sure that they won't do anything to distract what little attention film cameras are getting these days from that effort. (I'm sure that, had Kyocera made their decision to cease making cameras a little sooner, the new camera from Zeiss/Cosina would be badged with the Contax name. It is, after all, only a brand name that was last used by Zeiss/Kyocera to market various lines of equipment.)
I would not be surprised to see a C/Y mount camera appear in a few years under the Contax badge. Making a reasonable C/Y mount body should not be technically difficult, but I'm sure that Zeiss would rather wait to release such a camera until they could both assure a quality product (rather than dilute the Contax brand) and until such a release would not distract from the Zeiss Ikon launch. Given the Zeiss have trusted Cosina to deliver their new rangefinder, it wouldn't surprise me if a new manual focus C/Y mount camera with the Contax name came out of a partnership between Zeiss and Cosina. Lens production could be moved to such a partnership as well.
As to whether Zeiss will resurrect the medium format Contax line, I really have no idea but I do have some thoughts. The cameras were always very popular with the people who owned them, but I never saw many of them around. I don't know if it would be worth Zeiss' time and effort to resurrect the line, given that it was more of a banner carrier than a highly successful brand for sales. (Please don't take this as any criticism of the actual equipment that was delivered in medium format under the Contax badge from Kyocera. It was all first rate stuff, but the prices seem to have held sales down to a lower state than would justify the investment to resurrect the line. When Zeiss and Kyocera developed the Contax MF equipment, the world was a very different place.) It is possible that Zeiss might resurrect the brand with an eye toward digital (much as Hasselblad with the H series), but I wouldn't count on bodies that were designed for film only. In fact, I think that a body with an integral digital back is the likeliest path that Zeiss might take with the involvement of a manufacturing company, in an attempt to lure those who have an investment in the glass for the old Contax bodies. Something along the lines of what Mamiya is doing, developed by one of the larger players in the digital camer world (Sony, perhaps?).
I believe the G series is dead. The investment to deliver a digital G-series body would most likely be very high, and I doubt that it will occur. As an owner of G-series equipment I'd love to see further work on G series film bodies, but I don't believe such work is likely to happen. If anything were to occur, like the MF Contax brand I believe it would be the delivery of a digital body that would take the lenses that were developed for the G series cameras. Not much use to me, but there might be a market for such a body.
The problem that I see with both the MF and G series Contax cameras is that I don't believe Zeiss will invest in either line for a future that's tied to film, and I also don't believe Zeiss currently has the proper business partnerships in place to deliver digital equipment that will take the current lenses in the two lines. It will take time to build such partnerships, and time to develop products once such partnerships have been sealed. Zeiss does work with Sony (the Sony cameras carry Zeiss-branded lenses), but I haven't heard any rumors about Sony creating cameras for the older Zeiss lenses.
Everything that I've written here is pure conjecture. I have absolutely no facts to back any of this up. My experience around the world of camera equipment for the past 30 years is virtually useless, as the rules have changed dramatically since digital has entered the scene. But combining what I know of business with the little bit of information that's available about what Zeiss is up to these days, I wouldn't count on anything badged with the Contax name in the near future (unless they deliver a version of the Zeiss Ikon camera with the Contax name), and I think a C/Y mount manual focus camera is about the only thing that makes economic sense right away. A partnership with a digital company could lead to cameras that take any of the old lenses (C/Y, N-mount, medium format, or G-series) on digital bodies, but the development of those cameras would likely take some time.
Consider all of this to be nothing but my opinion, and feel free to tell me if you disagree. I'd love to hear what others have to say about this. (And, having an investment in G-series equipment, I'd love to know that it's not a dead product, but I won't believe anything until I see it, and I fear that the only thing I'm likely to see is a digital body anyway.)
Be well.
Dave
