Contax 645AF NOT Dead

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One small piece of good news on the 645.

 

It sure would be nice if Kyocera could cut a deal with Canon to provide the innards for a DSLR in the Contax N mount. But given Kyocera's poor marketing, I suppose this is a pipe dream. Or maybe the entire Contax brand and line should go over to Cosina. Then it would be in the hands of a company that really does care about photography!

 

Robert

<I>It sure would be nice if Kyocera could cut a deal with Canon to provide the innards for

a DSLR in the Contax N mount.</I><P>Not gonna happen. Not that it isn't a good idea

but Canon is resolute about ignoring other companies, even Adobe.

Hmmm...

 

PhaseOne is/was giving away a Contax with purchase of a digital back. Wonder if Kyocera will produce the Contax for PhaseOne. Hasselblad has Imacon. Mamiya's attempting to produce their own digital baby as well as their association with Leaf. Sinar's rumored to be coming up with MF lense system presumably for their do it all with one body. They also just recently purchased Jenoptiks backs (so I heard). So maybe PhaseOne will be picking up the tab for Contax?

 

Never can tell...

One has to understand how the camera companies work.

 

They do not produce just 30 cameras a month to meet demand. They forecast the demand

for what ever period they choose. For the most part it is for a 6 to 12 month period. So it

is possible that the Contax 645 has ceased production, but there is enough product in the

channels to handle demand over the next 6 to 12 months.

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In the end the truth may lie in the middle.

FOA, I think the demise of the 35mm film & digital ( are there any at all ) is really no news at all. Anyone who still cried for a Digital C/Y mount is just ignoring the fact that the system had just about run dry with its features to keep up with the rest of the world.

 

I am less pleased with the situation on the N & G series though. They are good system and deserve better, but then Kyocera had just been sitting all along, too long, and try to stay with the old C/Y mount, and in the process kill their prospectively marketable, and workable range.

 

As for the 645, I too agree that the reality probably had more to the story been told. On one hande, without some foregoing development, new lens or digital synergy product. Its not going abywhere. However, the system is still a viable ones should kyocera be able to come up with even incremental improvement, and partnership with Digtal Back Mfr. I do not think its the end of the story yet, but then if Kyocera is not proactive enough, it might be very close to it.

Franka,

 

Proactive? Heck, they're barely active.

I spoke with a toCAD representative, who use to work for Contax, and he confirmed that Kyocera was continuing to produce and service Contax (other than the ones recently announced as being discontinued). Kyocera complete end of production was limited to Kyocera branded cameras and not Contax.

Not sure on where other answers were leading on this but have been told this week by two main dealers in UK after big photo show here that Contax will cease to exist as a brand after the end of this year.. All products in process of ceasing production.

Very sad..