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March 4, 2005 – The British Journal of Photography reported that the Kyocera Corporation has stopped production of Contax film cameras - and the digital camera production will halt at the end of the year. Kyocera is dropping its Contax cameras and is focusing on the mobile phone business instead. The company leaves behind a longer history in imaging than most camera manufacturers.
The first Contax camera was produced in 1932 by Zeiss Ikon, the same company formed by lens extraordinaire Carl Zeiss. The company established another milestone when it released the Contax S, the first 35mm SLR film camera at the Leipzig Spring Fair in 1949. In the Sixties, the company partnered with Yashica, a Japanese electronics company. In 1996, Kyocera acquired Yashica and along with it, the Contax history. On Feb. 1, Kyocera named ToCAD America Inc. the distributor of the remaining products.