Apparently, this is a late Contax IIa, identifiable by its
colour dial. It has a colour dial with a yellow 50 and red
numbers for the faster speeds on the exposure speed dial.
It also has an electronic sync (i.e., PC sync terminal)
rather than the mechanical plunger sync of the early, black
dial bodies.
It has the two small screws to the left and right of the
rangefinder lookout window that are indicative of late
versions of the Contax IIa.
The screws that hold the front plate to the body are rounded
and not countersunk, unlike those of the black dials that
are smaller, flat and countersunk.
However, the serial number that is engraved into the
accessory shoe and also the camera body, when I take off the
back, is T28612. According to Hans-J¨¹rgen Kuc's
authoritative work "Auf den Spuren der Contax, Band II" and
numerous other sources (which in fact might all be traced
back to Kuc's book and then would then not be independent
sources), such as
"http://forum.mflenses.com/contax-iia-iiia-serial-numbers-t16023.html"
rel="noreferrer nofollow">here state that
T28001 through T35000 were manufactured from August 1951
through December 1951 and are definitely early, mechanical
sync black dial versions.
So in short, the serial number indicates an early model
Contax IIa, while the camera clearly is a late model. Can
anyone help me out on this?
