For those of you who frequent our rumor site are probably familiar with the Zeiss brandname Contax. About half of a century ago, Zeiss granted the exclusive use of its Contax brandname to Kyocera. It was an unfortunate fact that Kyocera decided to discontinue its camera development in 2005, which resulted in no more Contax cameras and no more Zeiss lenses made for Contax cameras. Certainly, Kyocera decision negatively affected Zeiss, and there was nothing Zeiss could do, at least before the brandname lease expires.

The good news today is that the Contax brand is released from Kyocera this year (see the last part of Contarex section here). The brandname is now back to Zeiss again. In theory, Zeiss can produce Contax cameras now or grant the Contax name to another camera manufacturer. Or, of course let the Contax brandname sit in the closet forever as if it has never existed.

Don't get too discouraged if you are not seeing a Zeiss camera at Photokina this year, it is entirely possible that Zeiss will be back in the game with the Contax brand in the near future.