Contax Recommendations

[Arthurwg]

Contax made great cameras and lenses. But can you get them fixed? I had a Contax TVS that I loved, but it won't work anymore and can't be repaired. I've owned my Nikon F100 from new and never had a problem.

 

[Alan Gales]

I shot a Contax 139 for many years. I owned 5 Zeiss lenses. I loved that camera and the lenses were superb.

If I were to buy one today I would look for an S2 or S2b because they are mechanical cameras. When electronic cameras get old their electronics fail. With a mechanical camera only the meter will fail and you can always use a separate light meter.

Nikon would be a better choice today in my opinion. Either get one of the older mechanical cameras or a later Nikon F100. Nikkor lenses were also high quality and there are a ton of them out there.

Contax, Nikon, Leica, Canon, Minolta, Pentax, Olympus and others all had good glass. If you really want something sharper then move up a format.

 

[Maris]

Why does nobody suggest the Contax AX. Wow, autofocus with any manual focus lens, even with a "no focus" magnifying glass, provided you can graft it onto the front of the camera at roughly the right distance spacing.

 

[GarageBoy]

I had terrible luck with late contax bodies

Oddly enough, the ancient fx-d I learned to take photos on is still chugging along

 

[JensH]

I shot a Contax 139 for many years. I owned 5 Zeiss lenses. I loved that camera and the lenses were superb.

Hi Alan,

+1 to that.
In 1987 I bought a new Canon EOS 650 with some lenses, photos were good, but the whole experience (AF, plastic) was not satisfiing.
Sold the stufff in 1988 and got me a Contax 139 with 2.8/28 and 1.4/50 (later a 1.4/85 and 4/18 came).
This little camera served and enjoyed me for 25 years, until the film transport mechanics failed...
Got me a RTSII, but it is much heavier and the mirror now starts hitting the 18mm Distagon. Will be fixed.

Greetings
Jens

 

[Alan Gales]

Hi Alan,

+1 to that.
In 1987 I bought a new Canon EOS 650 with some lenses, photos were good, but the whole experience (AF, plastic) was not satisfiing.
Sold the stufff in 1988 and got me a Contax 139 with 2.8/28 and 1.4/50 (later a 1.4/85 and 4/18 came).
This little camera served and enjoyed me for 25 years, until the film transport mechanics failed...
Got me a RTSII, but it is much heavier and the mirror now starts hitting the 18mm Distagon. Will be fixed.

Greetings
Jens[/QUOTE

Hello Jens,

I owned the 25mm f/2.8, 35mm f/2.8, 50mm f/1.7, 100mm f/3.5 and 180mm f/2.8. I bought them all in the 1980's. Your 18mm was my dream lens but I couldn't afford it back then. The only reason I was able to buy the 180mm was a new lens came out with an electrical contact for program mode. One of the salesmen at the local camera store told me they were putting the older display lens on clearance. I was able to buy it at their cost. Sometimes it's good to be friends with camera salesmen.

The same thing happened with my 139. I had bought the camera brand new but wore the thing out from using it so much!

Alan

P.S. My first camera was a Canon too. An AV-1 I had bought at work. It was a display model my boss had clearanced it out. I worked in the Camera and Sporting goods section of a department store when I was young. We sold 35mm SLR's but only Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Minolta, and Pentax and then mostly the entry level models.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Why does nobody suggest the Contax AX. Wow, autofocus with any manual focus lens, even with a "no focus" magnifying glass, provided you can graft it onto the front of the camera at roughly the right distance spacing.

The ergonomics of the AX are, well, shall we say less than optimal. It's far from terrible, but compared to the rest of the lineup, it's a brick in the hand. And that autofocus mechanism has me worried about long-term reliability.

 

[Justyjust]

Thanks everyone for their help I decided to go with the Contax 159MM I contacted a local repairers and he said this was a good choice.

I found it on eBay in Germany for £70 body only great condition, mirror had slipped but I used the air dryer and slid it back up.

All so a relative gave me some M42 Zeiss lenses so I brought an adaptor, 50mm 2.8 and 35mm 2.4.

What contax lenses would you recommend??? I read the 35-70 3.4f is meant to be great

 

[naaldvoerder]

Congratulations! Great camera. As for lenses, one of the 50s is nice. !.7 or 1.4 they are both good. The 85mm/2.8 is a little gem.

 

[Justyjust]

Can anyone help I'm really struggling to focus on my contax 159mm when I'm stopping down, the split focus goes dark on one side so it's difficult to focus without opening the apature up again to refocus.

I cannot remember this being a issue years ago in my Olympus, I'm currently using M42 lenses so the apature is always what I set it.

 

[naaldvoerder]

Can anyone help I'm really struggling to focus on my contax 159mm when I'm stopping down, the split focus goes dark on one side so it's difficult to focus without opening the apature up again to refocus.

I cannot remember this being a issue years ago in my Olympus, I'm currently using M42 lenses so the apature is always what I set it.

That is an expected drawback of using those lenses. With C/Y you will not have that problem.

 

[ruilourosa]

Zeiss is good, you can use it on Nikon, as i do...

kyocera never managed to build a simple, efective camera as nikkormats, nikon fm or fm2 or f3 or the best... f2 (AS being a must)

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

As to your earlier question, if someone put a gun to my head and told me "you can have only one Contax lens - which is it", I'd say the 35-70. It has its limitations, and is not the very best at lots of things, but it is damn good at everything it does do, and you won't be disappointed.

 

[Justyjust]

That is an expected drawback of using those lenses. With C/Y you will not have that problem.

Ok cheers looks like I'll be selling them to fund a new lens.

 

[Justyjust]

As to your earlier question, if someone put a gun to my head and told me "you can have only one Contax lens - which is it", I'd say the 35-70. It has its limitations, and is not the very best at lots of things, but it is damn good at everything it does do, and you won't be disappointed.

I've heard it's good currently watching one online, also considering a 50mm 1.4 or 1.7 but I've read the 1.7 is sharper also I wouldn't mind a 35mm but I not seen many.

 

[markjwyatt]

Contax iia is my favorite. Have a few lenses for it too.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I've heard it's good currently watching one online, also considering a 50mm 1.4 or 1.7 but I've read the 1.7 is sharper also I wouldn't mind a 35mm but I not seen many.

Sharpness is sometimes overrated. I have had both the 1.7 and the 1.4 and there's just something about the look of images from the 1.4 that I prefer.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

Don't forget the Yashica ML lenses.... Bang for buck they are generally excellent.

 

[AgX]

To turn this thread in a complete other direction:

Why not get a Contax S?
You hardly can get more basic concerning a SLR, as that was the camera that started what we now typically consider a SLR.

 

[GarageBoy]

Get ready to deal with very dark screens and reliability on the old contax dresden cameras

 

[popel75]

The RTSIII, Aria, RX and ST all provide both spot metering and centre weighted average metering. I never had any of the cameras I own fail me, except for user induced damage (putting a film leader through the titanium shutter blades). The 139Q and the 159MM I got non-working, free or nearly free. Both suffered from dirty shutter release magnets, an easy fix I did myself. A common occurrence with camera's with electronic shutters that have not been used for a long time. Another common problem in Contaxes, except for the Aria, is mirror slip. Very easily fixable too. That said I do not value reliability and battery independance over handling and feature set. If any of them break down, beyond my repair abilities, I will just replace it. If I visit places I will not likely return to, I bring 2 bodies and spare batteries. But I would do that too, if I was shooting with Nikons or Canons.

Hi I know this is a super old thread, would be interested to know why Aria's have not the mirror slip problem vs the other C/Y Contax bodies. Thanks !

 

[naaldvoerder]

The Aria has a closed frame to hold the mirror. By the time of its introduction Contax was aware of the problem.

 

[popel75]

The Aria has a closed frame to hold the mirror. By the time of its introduction Contax was aware of the problem.

thanks a lot for your reply.