Finally broke down, Contax T on the way!

Houston.... We have a Problem

Houston.... We have a Problem

Well I ran down to Walgreens and snagged some LR44 batteries for this new little machine. Popped them in, lowered the drawbridge and...

The meter seems stuck with the LED indicator on 1/30th (or in that range). I went ahead and changed the ISO to f8, opened it all the way up and pointed it to the sky.

1/30th.

So.... I'm going to try cleaning the battery contacts. Any good ideas from the assembled group of camera fanatics??

Kent

PS- Robert... the Rollei 35s are terrific, I look forward to seeing yours.
 
Update- Battery terminals cleaned, no change. It's not conceivable that this bugger actually needs film in it to meter properly is it? If so, that's a first for me.

Kent
 
FrozenInTime said:
Manual here : http://www.butkus.org/chinon/contax/contax_t/contax_t.htm

No mention of needing a film .

Have you tried wiggling the ISO dial to clean it's contacts ?
Click to expand...

Donald,

I've given the ISO dial a few turns around it's range of speed, no effect yet. The thing that disturbs me a bit is that the speeds are not changing even when placed in front of a halogen light, in fact the shutter stays open until I start to wind on to the next frame! Built in "bulb" feature??? ;-)

I'm wondering, the manual says either LR44 or SR44 batteries. I went for the LR44s, maybe I should try some SR44s for fun? It couldn't hurt I suppose.

Very frustrating.

Kent
 
Sounds like the casual electronics failure that concerns almost any item of the Contax T production now.

The Contax T has everything you want inside but reliable electronics (and metal casting : it's a very disappointing plastic construction surrounded by a terrible white molded metal housing, only sprayed with titanium flakes so that the camera could be marketed as a high-end compact).

Given that it's not reliable, that almost all of them now suffer from that darn major and unfixable CPU failure, the conclusion is easy to find oneself. The batteries aren't the culprit. LR44 or SR44 are both fine with any camera accepting them (the only advantage of the SR44 over the LR44 is that the 1,55V tension remain steady for a longer period).

The Rollei 35 has no rangefinder, OK, but its build quality and reliability are still here and intact, many decades after it was launched onto the high-end compacts market segment.

And the Sonnar of the Rollei 35S is every bit as terrific as the one of the Contax T.

I have owned two Contax T. Both ended-up their livings as working cameras with the same CPU failure, and yours seems to have the very same problem.

Rather sending it back to the seller asap.

It's a beautiful camera, it has a terrific lens, it has a coupled rangefinder etc but it's not reliable, it's not as well built as the marketing campaign told, and it does not age well at all.

Kyocera had more success with the T2 and the T3.
 
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