C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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rangefinder-35mm
The Contax IIa (1950–1961) is the postwar successor to the Zeiss Ikon Contax II, designed at the newly reconstituted Zeiss Ikon facility in Stuttgart, West Germany. With the original Jena factory dismantled and its tooling shipped to the Soviet Union (which used it to build the Kiev 2), Zeiss Ikon's Stuttgart engineers produced a refined redesign rather than a simple re-run of the prewar model.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the 35mm format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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Ilford HP5 Plus is a flexible ISO 400 black-and-white film with classic grain and strong push-processing tolerance.
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Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
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About this camera
The West German resurrection of the prewar Contax II. Built in Stuttgart by Zeiss Ikon from 1950, the IIa brought the legendary vertical-metal-shutter rangefinder into the postwar era while Soviet engineers were building near-identical cameras in Kiev.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm |
| Mount | Contax RF bayonet |
| Years | 1950–1961 |
| Shutter | 1s – 1/1250s + B, mechanical vertical metal curtain |
| Flash sync | X/M at 1/50s |
| Meter | None |
| Modes | Manual |
| Weight | ~640 g |
| Battery | None |
Zeiss Ikon Stuttgart began shipping the Contax IIa in 1950, roughly concurrent with the first Kiev 2 bodies appearing in the USSR. The two cameras are siblings — one the legitimate successor, one built from captured tooling — and their parallel existence defines the early Cold War camera market.
The IIa (and its metered sibling the IIIa) sold strongly in West Germany, the USA, and Japan through the 1950s. By the time the line was discontinued in 1961, Japanese competition from Nikon and Leica dominance at the high end had eroded Contax's market share. Zeiss Ikon Stuttgart closed its camera division in 1972. The Contax brand was subsequently licensed to Yashica (and later to Kyocera) for the completely different Contax RTS SLR system launched in 1975.
The Contax IIa represents the apex of the prewar German engineering tradition in a postwar body. The vertical metal shutter was technically superior to Leica's horizontal cloth — less susceptible to temperature extremes, capable of 1/1250s sync — yet it arrived too late to challenge Leica's dominance. The system's optical legacy is extraordinary: Zeiss Sonnar 50/1.5, Biogon 35/2.8, and Sonnar 85/2 are still regarded as benchmark designs.
For collectors, the IIa has a clear advantage over the Soviet Kiev clones in finish quality and reliability. For shooters, the Contax bayonet is a drawback — far fewer modern adapters and accessories exist than for Leica M or LTM mounts.
Contax RF bayonet mount. Key lenses: Carl Zeiss Jena / Stuttgart Sonnar 50mm f/1.5, Sonnar 50mm f/2, Planar 50mm f/1.4, Biogon 35mm f/2.8, Sonnar 85mm f/2, Sonnar 135mm f/4. Soviet Jupiter lenses (Contax/Kiev mount) are also compatible and significantly cheaper. A Contax-RF–to–Leica-M adapter exists but is uncommon.
C41
Kodak Portra 160 is a professional C-41 color negative film with fine grain, soft contrast, and natural color.
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Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
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