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Contax Recommendations

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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
I had terrible luck with late contax bodies

Oddly enough, the ancient fx-d I learned to take photos on is still chugging along
 
Alan Gales said:
I shot a Contax 139 for many years. I owned 5 Zeiss lenses. I loved that camera and the lenses were superb.
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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
 

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.
 
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Maris said:
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.
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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.
 
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

 
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.
 
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.
 
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)
 
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.
 
naaldvoerder said:
That is an expected drawback of using those lenses. With C/Y you will not have that problem.
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Ok cheers looks like I'll be selling them to fund a new lens.
 
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.
 
Justyjust said:
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.
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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.
 
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.
 
Get ready to deal with very dark screens and reliability on the old contax dresden cameras
 
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 !
 
The Aria has a closed frame to hold the mirror. By the time of its introduction Contax was aware of the problem.
 
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