Hi Mike,
we made this timeline document 2-3 years ago in the Contax forum in the general section. but I think it is not updated yet. I did that in October last year for our German Contax Forum. I copy this here and will update the general section in this forum once I have more time
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1975 - RTS I. RTS = Real Time System. Extremely fast light meter and shutter. Design from F.A. Porsche. Electromagnetic release, 1/2000 s., Av, focal plane shutter mirror lock, 92% viewfinder.
1979 - Contax 139 Quartz. One of the bestsellers. Quartz controlled electronic for higher precision. 1/100 flash sync.
1980 - Contax 137 MD with internal winder. TTL flash metering
1982 - Contax 137 MA. (improved MD)
1982 - Contax RTS II. electronically operated horizontal-travel titanium shutter, TTL-flash metering, 1/2000 to 16 sec., mechanical shutter time of 1/50, HP (97%).
1984 - Contax 159 MM. MM = Multi Mode. First Contax camera with Av and program-mode. Because of the program mode-capability, all Zeiss lenses now produced with MM contacts (smallest aperture in green colour).
1984 - Contax T. Compact camera/point and shoot with 2.8/38 Carl Zeiss lens, Av, front panel, external flash.
1986 - Contax 167 MT. 1/4000 s., automatic bracketing (ABC-Bracketing), internal Motor, spot metering and centre weighted average metering, DX. Exposure counter etc. on the top in the viewfinder.
1990 - Contax RTS III. Current top of the line model for professionals. With RTV (real time vacuum mechanism), 1/8000 s., 1/250 flash sync., pre-flash-metering, second curtain, 5p/s., 100% HP, mirror lock, bracketing, self timer 2s. and 10s., etc.
1990 - Contax T2. Compact camera with 2.8/38 Carl Zeiss lens
1992 - Contax ST. Between 167 MT and RTS III. 1/6000 to 16 s., 1/200 s. flash sync.
1992 - Contax S2 (60years). purely mechanical, either with spot or cw-metering, mirror lock up with self timer.
1993 - Contax TVS I. Compact camera with Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 28-56 Zoom. Filters can be attached.
1994 - Contax RX. Similar to the ST, better handling, very quiet.
1995 - Contax G1. First Rangefinder with zooming viewfinder, auto focus, internal winder, bracketing etc., new Zeiss lenses for the G-line.
1996 - Contax AX. First Contax SLR with auto focus (automatic back focusing system) . 100% compatibility to all MF-MM lenses.
1997 - Contax Tix. APS camera with Zeiss lens.
1998 - Contax G2. Improved G1, faster winder etc.
1998 - Contax Aria, bestseller. small as a Leica M6, 480g, internal winder matrix, spot and cw-metering, bracketing etc.
1999 - Contax TVS II. Almost the same like TVS I (same lens), just a better (lighter) viewfinder, on/off switch different.
2000 - Contax 645 AF. Medium Format with auto focus. New Zeiss lenses for this system, which can also be used with the N-system via an adapter.
2000 - Contax N1. First Contax with “normal†auto focus (USM). New (bigger) N-mount for future full-size chips, new lens line just for the N-system (no compatibility with C/Y system), mirror lock up over selftimer, great matrix metering, great lenses. N-Lenses optimized with the newest know-how of the movie industry especially for reducing lens-flare and optimizing colour reproduction.
2000 - Contax TVS III. Compact Camera. Newly designed zoom 30mm-60mm.
2001 - Contax T3. Compact Camera. Newly designed 2,8/35 Zeiss lens.
2001 - Contax NX. Entry-level model for the N-system, smaller & lighter and less functions then the N1.
2002 – Contax N Digital. First full-size chip in 35mm, 6 million pixel, N- mount. Excellent handling, high battery consumption, Raw files with new Adobe Photoshop CS now easy to use.
2003 - Contax TVS Digital. 5MP P&S
2003 - Contax RX II (not in all countries available). Modified RX. No focus assist, 20% brighter viewfinder, different shutter (of the Aria?), therefore louder than the RX.
2004 - Contax SL 300R. 3.2 MP P&S. Zeiss zoom 5.8-17.4 (38.115mm in 35mm). Rtune Processor. Highest continuos fps in the digital P&S market.
2004 - Contax U4r. 4 MP P&S, Zeiss Zoom 5.8-17.4 (38.115mm in 35mm). Rtune Processor of the second generation. Highest continuous fps in the digital P&S market
2004 - Contax i4R 4MP P&S, with fixed Zeiss lens 6.5/2.8 (39mm in 35mm)
(last update: Oct. 2004)