Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Contax III

Zeiss Ikon · Contax RF mount · 24×36mm on 35mm film, removable back · 1936

Also known as: Zeiss Ikon Contax III · Contax 3 · コンタックスIII

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Contax III Contax RF 1936–1942 Z, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, J, K, L, M and N prefixes — the Zeiss Ikon letter blocks running 1935/36 to 1943, shared with the Contax II
C 10001–15000 (1936) and C 87001–90000 (1937) — the two dated segments published within the C block
F 41001–46000 (1937) and F 72401–77400 (1938) — the two dated segments published within the F block 		No figure published
  1. Sources disagree over the wartime letters. Camera-wiki gives M = 1940/42, N = 1941/43, O = 1943 and Q = 1943/44; Petrakla gives M = 1940/42 and N = 1942/3 and treats O as unlisted; a third list gives M = 1940/41 and ends the Contax II at O 65500 in 1943. Z through L is identical in all of them.
  2. No total production figure for the Contax III was found in any source consulted, and no published list separates III production from II production within the shared letter blocks.
  3. Corroboration searched for and found. This entry previously rested on camera-wiki alone for its description of the camera. Two independent accounts now carry the same substance: Pacific Rim Camera's Contax II and III page and Early Photography's catalogue entry for a Contax III, written from the camera in hand and referenced to the British Journal Almanac for 1937, 1938 and 1939 and to British patents 419915/1934 and 459821/1935. All three agree on the uncoupled selenium meter, the shared body with the Contax II, the 1/1250 top speed and the single combined finder window.
  4. Both corroborating sources contradict the claim that the meter housing is the only external difference from a Contax II. Pacific Rim Camera notes that the meter would obstruct rewinding, so the III's rewind knob is taller than the II's and holds an exposure calculator; Early Photography describes the III as "essentially a II with the addition of an uncoupled exposure meter and extended re-wind knob which caries the meter controls". Two sources arrived at independently, so the id_markers above have been corrected: there are two external differences, not one.
  5. The claim that the Contax III was among the first cameras anywhere with a built-in meter needs a qualifier that no source in the original citation supplied. Early Photography states that the III "was preceded by the Contaflex in being fitted with a photoelectric exposure meter" — the 1935 Zeiss Ikon Contaflex twin-lens reflex, from the same company. The III is an early metered camera and the first metered Contax; it is not the first metered camera, and it was not even first within Zeiss Ikon.
  6. A dated example that sits awkwardly against the letter table. Early Photography's Contax III is body E9797, which the entry dates "c. 1936" while camera-wiki, Petrakla and the Leica-Contax list all give E = 1937. The camera carries a 5cm f/1.5 Sonnar numbered 2036765, which the Carl Zeiss lens table dates to 1937. One circa is not enough to move a block boundary, but a reader matching an E-block body to a year should know the two published dates differ by one.
  7. Searched without result: no serial list, production figure or dating table specific to the Contax III was found on Pacific Rim Camera, Early Photography, USSRPhoto or the Kievaholic Klub. Camera-wiki was unreachable when this check was run (connection refused, 2026-09-04), so its pages could not be re-read; the three Zeiss Ikon letter lists already compared above remain the only dating evidence.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • The selenium meter housing on the top plate — the difference that catches the eye first
  • A taller rewind knob than the Contax II's, carrying the meter's calculator dial: the second external difference, and the one that identifies a III whose meter window is closed
  • A hinged metal door over the meter cell, closed when the meter is not in use (Pacific Rim Camera)
  • Otherwise identical: one window, 90mm base, 1/1250

Contax III:

  • A bulky selenium meter housing on the top plate, raising the camera's profile
  • The meter is uncoupled: it reads, and the photographer transfers the reading by hand

Serial-range notes

one letter and five digits
THE RULE. Zeiss Ikon numbered cameras with a letter followed by a five-digit number, moving to the next letter each time 99,999 was reached; having reached Z in 1936 it began again at A. The letter dates the camera: Z = 1935/36, A = 1936, B = 1936, C = 1936/37, D = 1937, E = 1937, F = 1937/38, G = 1938, H = 1938, J = 1938/39, K = 1939, L = 1939, M = 1940/42, N = 1941/43, O = 1943, Q = 1943/44. The scheme covered the whole Zeiss Ikon catalogue rather than the Contax alone, and not every number in a block was issued, so the blocks are no guide to how many cameras were built.
the same sequence as the Contax II
There is no separate series for the metered camera. The Contax II and Contax III were numbered together, so a serial identifies the year and nothing else — the meter housing is the only way to tell the two models apart. Published lists carry the two under one heading for this reason.
C 10001–15000, C 87001–90000, F 41001–46000, F 72401–77400
Four segments dated more finely than the letters allow: C 10001–15000 to 1936 and C 87001–90000 to 1937; F 41001–46000 to 1937 and F 72401–77400 to 1938. C and F are the two blocks the table splits across two years, and these segments say which half a body sits in.
an extra letter
A second letter, before or after the block letter, marks a camera returned to the factory for repair or modification. It is not a date, and on a Contax III — a camera whose meter and shutter both invited service — it is worth expecting.
the number on the lens
A separate sequence. Carl Zeiss numbered lenses in one continuous run across every type, read against the company-wide lens table: 1936 = 1674882–1942806, 1937 = 1930150–2219775, 1938 = 2267991–2527984, 1939 = 2527999–2651211. The body number and the lens number are unconnected, and a Contax III wearing a later lens is the ordinary case, not a warning sign.

Specifications

Format
24×36mm on 35mm film, removable back
Finder
Combined viewfinder and coupled rangefinder
Base length
90 mm
Shutter
vertical-travel metal slat · 1s – 1/1250 and B, T
Meter
Uncoupled selenium cell in the top plate, behind a hinged door, calibrated 17–35 Scheiner; the calculator dial sits on the enlarged rewind knob. An early metered 35mm camera, though Zeiss Ikon's own Contaflex carried a photoelectric meter first.
Designed by
Hubert Nerwin — chief designer
Country
Germany
Original price
£78 5s 0d in Britain, with the 5cm f/1.5 Sonnar (Early Photography)

Where sources disagree

Announced
  • 1936, released alongside the Contax II — camera-wiki and Pacific Rim Camera, which treat the pair as one 1936 announcement
  • slightly later than the Contax II, and absent from Zeiss Ikon's 1936 General Catalogue — Early Photography

Better supported: Early Photography, which argues from the catalogue itself rather than from the model year

Both put the camera in 1936. The disagreement is whether the III shipped with the II or a few months behind it, and Early Photography's evidence is negative and checkable: the III does not appear in the 1936 General Catalogue, while the II does.

Speeds
  • 1s – 1/1250, B, T — camera-wiki
  • 1/2 – 1/1250, B, with one second obtainable by releasing the delayed action with the shutter set to B — Early Photography, from cameras in hand

Early Photography's reading is mechanical rather than nominal: the slowest marked speed on the dial is 1/2, and the full second is a by-product of the self-timer running the shutter open on B. Neither of Early Photography's Contax II and Contax III entries records a T setting. The same wording appears on both, so this is one source describing two cameras, not two sources agreeing.

What reviewers say

History

The Contax III is a Contax II with a selenium meter on top, and in 1936 that was still close to novel. Selenium generates a current when light falls on it, needing no battery, and Zeiss Ikon put a cell and a galvanometer into the top plate at a time when most photographers were still guessing exposure or carrying a separate meter. The company had done it once before, on the Contaflex twin-lens reflex, so the III is an early metered camera rather than the first.

It is uncoupled, which means it tells you what it reads and nothing more: you look at the needle, work out the combination, and set the camera by hand. Coupling a meter to the shutter and aperture took another twenty years, and metering that adjusts the exposure itself took longer still.

The cost is the top plate. The meter housing is bulky and raises the camera’s profile, and it takes the rewind knob with it: with a meter in the way, rewinding needed a taller knob, so Zeiss Ikon made the knob taller still and put the exposure calculator on it. Pacific Rim Camera and Early Photography both single that knob out, and it is the more reliable of the two tells — the meter cell hides behind a closed door, the knob does not.

Selenium cells also die: a Contax III bought today will very often have a meter that reads low or not at all, and there is no replacement cell to fit. The scale was marked in Scheiner degrees, 17 to 35, which is one more reason a working meter is of more interest to a collector than to a photographer.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Photographs

Contax III
Contax III, 1938, with the meter housing on the top plate — Luis Cozeto from Portugal, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Contax III
Contax III — Rama, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0 fr)

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $380 across 25 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $200–$530). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 5 days: up 9% from $350.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$380$200–$53025
2026-09-10$370$200–$51026
2026-09-09$370$200–$51026
2026-09-08$370$180–$51027
2026-09-06$350$170–$51028

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

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Listings updated 2026-09-11. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Contax II · Contax IIIa · Kiev 4 · Kiev III

Lenses for this body: Biotar 7.5cm f/1.5

Sources (7)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this camera, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.