Kyocera/Contax, the expected divorce!

[André E.C.]

It´s official, Kyocera stop shipping Contax products in September!

http://global.kyocera.com/news/2005/0402.html

Cheers

André

 

[Mongo]

Any guess on who'll be the next supplier of Contax-branded cameras? My money's on Cosina. I wonder if they'll manage to keep any of the old mounts alive.

 

[Flotsam]

Yeah, I want to know who gets custody of the Contax/Yashica lens mount

 

[fingel]

I agree, Cosina is the logical choice. Who knows maybe they will name their new ZI rangefinder the Contax IV in honor of the old classic line of Contax rangefinder cameras, and being that Cosina is involved, it also wouldn't surprise me to see a special "classic" Contax mount ZI camera with matching Zeiss lenses like they did with the Bessa R2c and R2n

 

[Mongo]

Yeah, I want to know who gets custody of the Contax/Yashica lens mount

My guess is that Zeiss will find someone to produce C/Y and C645 lenses. I think the G mount is probably dead..I'd be very surprised to see anything new being produced for the G systems. (Given that I have all of the G lenses I want, this doesn't disturb me as much as it probably should.) I wonder if we'll see a glut of used equipment on the market, or if the used equipment will dry up. (KEH sold out every used G-series lens they had in stock when the original Kyocera-Europe release happened a few months ago...it'll be fun to check their site over the next few days to see if that happens again.)

I'm thinking that within a year of the end of the Kyocera deal, we'll see a Contax-branded camera with the old Contax mount. Probably exactly the same lenses as they're making for the new M-mount camera. Cosina seems the logical choice, as they're about the only camera company that's doing anything interesting with film cameras these days.

Of course, if you're Zeiss and you find yourself without the restrictions placed on you by the old Kyocera deal, would you be considering producing lenses for other lens mounts rather than bringing out another camera with the Contax name? Who wouldn't consider a Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 in a Nikon or Canon mount? (OK...I'm just dreaming now...)

(And if I was really dreaming, I'd be dreaming of LF Zeiss lenses. Now wouldn't that be fun? )

 

[dcriner]

Here's an excerpt from the Kyocera press release:

"Kyocera will continue to provide after-sales services to its customers for their CONTAX-branded cameras, and the exclusive lenses and accessories over the maximum period of ten years within the specified time of each model."

What does "within the specified time of each model" mean? Specified where and by whom?

 

[dcriner]

And here's another quote from the Kyocera press release:

"Kyocera has decided to terminate such business due to difficulties in catching up with the recent rapid market changes."

What does that mean? I think what we have here is a failure to communicate, or maybe a failure to translate?

If I were Contax or Zeis, and had to contend with this mushy double-speak, I would tell Kyocera to take a hike, too!

Perhaps Kyocera wants to concentrate on photocopiers, etc.

 

[Biogon Bill]

DC, Contax cameras are now being serviced by ToCad in USA. I went to their New Jersey offices, where the service is done. I asked the same question you have: "What does "the specified time of each model" mean? They told me that it's meaningless. All cameras regardless of the year it was manufactured &/or purchased will be serviced for the guaranteed period of 10 years stating with the date of the end of production. they thought that some were still being built & that the date for the start of the 10-year period may not be until June of this year. But the point is that all Contax G2 cameras share the same parts, so the date of purchase or manufacture is irrelevant. Since this is obviously not a warranty issue, the date of purchase is irrelevant. The only issue is the period for which they will maintain parts availability.

Bill

 

[WarEaglemtn]

The G series is already hard to unload at a decent price. Pixelrecording devices have really hit this part of the market hard. Add to that no fast lenses and you have used prices falling just like so many other 35mm camera systems.