I have mix feelings about this camera. I wasn’t in the market for a Contax SLR, nor did I seek it out when I bought it a few months ago. It was included in a lot of cameras I bought from a seller via Facebook Marketplace. I generally prefer my 35mm cameras to be rangefinders and this one is an SLR.

This camera was the first to have a pentaprism design for the viewfinder. It is also equipped with a cloth focal plane shutter. This model was the result of gradual changes made over the years from its original Contax S parent. It was manufactured by the German company Zeiss Ikon in the 50’s. It uses the 42mm screw lens mount. This opens up a wide range of lenses which are still widely available today. This is the first camera added to my collection that uses this lens mount.

Like most cameras of this era, there is no on-board light meter. No worries. I’ve gotten pretty good at using Sunny 16, an external light meter or just guesstimating.

The camera is solidly built. The lens I chose does feel toy-like, though.

When I bought this camera, the seller was nice enough to throw in a lens with the body. It is a big zoom lens, though. This lens doesn’t vibe with my normal style of shooting. So I ordered in a 50mm pancake lens. I prefer prime lenses, and the pancake style makes it appear less intrusive. I bought the USSR-made Industar 50-2 for about $40 off of eBay.

There are some quirks to this camera, which isn’t necessarily a complaint. But one complaint I do have is the fact that when the lens is stopped down to f/16 or a similar aperature, it reduces the amount of light visible in the viewfinder. This makes composing and focusing the shot difficult. The workaround is to open it up to its max f/3.5 which allows plenty of light. Compose, focus and then stop down to your smaller aperature before taking the shot.

The camera is solidly built. The lens I chose does feel toy-like, though. But the proof is in the pudding and the lens produced some decent shots.

I loaded up a roll of Ilford HP5+ and shot it at box speed of 400. I developed it in Diafine. I got some shots from this camera/lens/film/developer combo that I really like. Going forward, I will seek out additional M42 lenses to add to the system. A wide angle would be a nice addition.