I don't think that it says that Contax is gone, only the manual focus cameras
and lenses listed, including the high-end P&S cameras. It does mean another
Japanese maker pulling back from the film market, as Contax/Kyocera screwed up
badly with the N1 Digital, and thus missed the DSLR boat.
That means these are gone. I think that these are the MF bodies, which leaves
only the AF N1 and NX and the AF lenses. I didn't see the RTSIII, so perhaps
that one bastion of MF history still remains? Here in the US, there is no RX,
or RX2, or Aria-D. The RX was a very nice camera, with in-body focus
confirmation that could be used with MF lenses, pretty neat. On the Japanese
site, they show the MF body lineup as RTSIII, RX2, RX, and Aria.
Look at the MSRP prices though: $1,300 for a MF body? $4,800 for a 16/2.8
fisheye? There's no way they could stay in business with the DSLR onslaught.
This is why Leica is pulling all their rabbits out of their hats to try and
introduce the digital back for the R8/9 before they're gone too. And Leica
doesn't even have an AF line, so they're really doomed, IMO.
RX2 body 138,600 Yen
Aria body 93,450 Yen
Aria-D body 138,600 Yen
CONTAX T3 113,400 Yen
CONTAX TVS3 168,000 Yen
35mm F2.8MM 48,300 Yen
35mm F1.4 (J) MM 176,400 Yen
25mm F2.8 (J) MM 89,250 Yen
60mm F2.8 (C) MM 113,400 Yen
16mm F2.8AE 498,750 Yen
Skip
----- Original Message ---------------
Subject: [OM] Sad Demise of an Historic Camera Line
From: Winsor Crosby <wincros@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2005 18:43:47 -0800
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
>
>It looks as though Contax is no more except in medium format and small
>digicams. In Japanese. Babelfish.com works.
>
>http://www.kyocera.co.jp/prdct/optical/news/discontinue0501.html
>
>
>
>
>
>Winsor
>Long Beach, California, USA
>
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