Contax

My film camera buying spree appears to be continuing unabated, especially with my growing interest in midcentury rangefinders and other 135 cameras. One of my recent attempts to expand my collection was a particularly beautiful Zeiss Ikon “color dial” Contax IIIa, a truly iconic camera that many consider to be one of the finest cameras made in its era, if not one of the finest of any era. Unfortunately, the story didn’t end as well as I’d hoped. And while I don’t normally review cameras after just one roll of film shot and thus little operational experience, this review will, of necessity, be an exception for reasons that will become clear.

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