Contax 159mm problem

Tony-S · Jun 29, 2012

I just picked up a Contax 159mm with 50mm f/1.7 MM and 135mm f/2.8 MM T* lenses. Reading the instruction manual, it appears that aperture and autoexposure information should be at the bottom of the viewfinder when I press the shutter half way, but there is nothing illuminating at the bottom. This occurs with both lenses. Is there a way of discriminating MM from non-MM lenses? I see no conspicuous marks on either lens. I don't know if the problem is the camera or the lenses.

TIA.

brucemuir · Jun 29, 2012

MM lenses have the smallest aperture painted green on the aperture ring.
There should be an aperture readout in LED on the bottom of the finder as you mentioned.
I hate to say it but anecdotal evidence seems to point toward electronics being a week point for Contax.
I have a 159 and the TTL flash only works intermittently so I forgo that feature

Tony-S · Jun 29, 2012

Yes, the both have the green minimum aperture numeral. So, my 159 MM is defective. That's a bummer.

Thanks for the info.

brucemuir · Jun 29, 2012

Does the shutter speed change appropriately when you change aperture in "A" mode?

It may be something as simple as the LED burned out and I could live with that myself.

Andrew Moxom · Jun 29, 2012

MM lenses have the small black lug that sticks out of the rear of the lens that turns a lever on the newer bodies. This can be fudged by placing a small piece of plastic in the camera body of newer bodies to get program mode with older lenses.

Tony-S · Jun 30, 2012

brucemuir said:
Does the shutter speed change appropriately when you change aperture in "A" mode? It may be something as simple as the LED burned out and I could live with that myself.

Yes, it works in aperture-priority mode and I think in all three program modes. I just took five shots in the different modes and here's what was set for each:

M - 1/500 f/2 (meter reading)
A - 1/500:1/250 illuminated (presumably 1/375 or so?), aperture set f/2
LP - 1/60 illuminated with lens aperture set to f/16 (green numeral) - don't know what the aperture was set to, though!
P - 1/60:1/125 illuminated (presumably 1/90 or so?)with lens aperture set to f/16 - don't know what the aperture was set to, though!
HP - 1/1000 illuminated with lens aperture set to f/16 - don't know what the aperture was set to, though!

When I finish this roll I'll develop the film and see if the exposures are all similar.

Tony-S · Jun 30, 2012

Just finished processing the roll of Acros and it looks like all three program modes are working based upon negative densities. For a brief moment, I saw f/2.8 appear in the bottom of the viewfinder while taking a shot, so it looks like there's something that's shorted.

Tony-S · Jul 2, 2012

Hmm. Now the bottom of the viewfinder seems to be working. I ran a roll of Neopan 400 through it and the info was displayed in the viewfinder. Maybe it only likes Neopan?

Contax 159mm problem

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