As West German brands, one after the other, had to give in in the battle against the Japanese wave, some looked to the east for production. The former giant Zeiss Ikon produced their last PP SLR camera in 1972. But they didn't quite give up. They admitted
that if you cannot beat them, join them.
So, Zeiss went eastwards, all the way to Japan to cooperate. They chose Yashica as partner.
From 1975, a new Contax was born, the RTS produced by Yashica. Lenses wore the name of Zeiss, Yashinon or
Yashica, depending on the price tag.
Yashica also made other Contaxes than the RTS, the flagship.
In 1983, Yashica was taken over by Kyocera. That was just before autofocus SLRs entered the scene, and Contax/Yashica did not manage to stand
out among the few SLR camera producers still alive. But good quality cameras were still produced, including RTS II and III, diiferent versions of 137, 139, 159 and 167-models. Then ST, S2, S2b, RX with focus assistance, AX (1996, AF, but not successful), Aria
and lastly the RX II in 2002. Contax never made it into the digital era, and Kyocera stopped camera production in 2005.