After Canon and Minolta released autofocus mounts and Nikon/Pentax modified their mounts to incorporate AF, the pressure was on Contax to do the same. Despite Zeiss designers’ resistance to autofocus lenses, the failure of the in-body focus system of the Contax AX prompted the production of a totally new autofocus lens mount: Contax N.

Unfortunately, Contax was too late to the game to capture any of the professional market. The N1 was released in 2000, nearly 15 years after Canon unveiled the EF mount, so sales numbers were low. A year later, Contax released the N Digital, which was the first full frame digital SLR on the market. Even this major technological achievement could not save the brand, though, and Contax ceased camera operations in 2005.