Contax T

R

Rich Silfver

Guest
You can get these for about 3-350 dollars in great condition.

Has anyone owned one? It seems NICE !!
 
kinda pretty, but dangerous ( a bit like my last wife) in that repairs are iffy if there are few parts available.

i have to admit to getting fed up with this planned obsolesence stuff. i bought a second mamiya 6 body in case the first ever broke down. as much as leicas are overpriced they can be repaired forever.

wow, sorry for the mini rant, don't know where that came from...

joe
 
These have been my pocket, go evertwhere, cameras for about 10 years. I am literally never without my T. I've got 2 at the moment but have had a total of 5 over the years. Everytime I sell one it takes a week before I curse my stupidity and start looking for another. They are very, very nice. Think of the size of a Rollei 35 but with a coupled rangefinder, aperture preferred AE with a 1.5 stop backlight compensation, a convenient but low power auto flash and a very good 38mm 2.8 lens. The only problems are that the focus and aperture rings on the lens barrel require kind of a split 2 index finger grip to use and the most serious is that the film transport is a weak spot. I am about to send one of mine to Essex camera repair for a rebuild that they quoted $110.00 for. The last time one needed a rebuild I decided to try first a T2 and then a T3. Within a few weeks I sold them both, had Contax service my T and decided to stay with T's as long as I can get them serviced.

Gerry
 
Yes, I looked at the T2 and T3 as well but looks like completely different beasts. The T looks just..very, very nice.... :)

Backalley, you're probably right - but I believe they "only" guarantee 30 years of service for the Leicas :)
 
Dante is enthusiastic in his article, and yet contrarian that I am, I'm left wondering if it's really "better" over-all than the Oly 35RC... Which, by the way, I've had for well over 30 years!
 
"kinda pretty, but dangerous ( a bit like my last wife) in that repairs are iffy if there are few parts available."

If you are going to worry about repairs you shouldn't be into old, classic cameras, but in my experience there is always someone who can repair a camera. And if there isn't, (my Minolta CLE possibly) I just think of all the pleasure it's given me up to the point of breakage. Nothing lasts forever. In the specific case of the Contax T, both Essex and Contax still service them.

"Dante is enthusiastic in his article, and yet contrarian that I am, I'm left wondering if it's really "better" over-all than the Oly 35RC."

I don't know if better is a good word, but I don't know of any other compact rangefinder that's smaller than a pack of 100mm cigarettes and lets you carry its automatic flash in a pocket and the camera in another, and the lens is a Zeiss. It may not have some of the Olympus' features but I don't know of another truly pocket with a coupled rangefinder that delivers such results. The proper comparison would be to the Olympus XA but the XA lens is not as good.

Gerry
 
Contax T

What was an approximate selling price for a new Contax T? I'm curious as I just bought one in very good but user condition for $135.00. It is a fun camera!
 
Fantastic lens on the T, and quite pocketable- more so than the T2 by a good bit. I settled on the T3 as my tiny compact, but not without reservations- I did love the T. IN the end it was the focusing that made me choose the T3- my fingers were just too big and clumsy for the T. Lens cannot be beat tho...
 
I hate the barn door lens cover. Just makes the whole thing awkward to use for me. I ended up selling mine quickly. Much prefer the lower quality but much more sensible design of the XA. You can slide that open in your pocket and be ready to shoot by the time it's out. Makes quick grab shots (which is why I use a camera like this) much easier (despite the ugly lens flare):

2006-32-31-kid.jpg
 
nightfly said:
I hate the barn door lens cover. Just makes the whole thing awkward to use for me.
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Yeah but you can make it become a great lens hood for those sunny days! That barn door is only a negative if you want to see that way. Also, the Contax T and Olympus XA are not comparable. One is convenient, small, great to use and takes decent pics. The other is convenient, small, great to use and takes outstanding pics. I have both.

Paul
 
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muf said:
Yeah but you can make it become a great lens hood for those sunny days!
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Sure if the sun is coming from the ground! :D

I really wanted a Contax T for a while. I still do. But, it doesn't seem worth it to me. I prefer rangefinder focus to autofocus, but the T2 looks much much easier to load, has better controls, and has a built in flash, which is actually kind of important to me. I ended up getting a Olympus Stylus Epic though, which was $40 and in great condition and is my favorite pocket camera yet (following the XA2 and Yashica T4D, which I no longer own)
 
I am a secret admirer of the T3 (though I have never had one in my hand). I would love to hear how does the T3 compares to the T in terms of handling and lens performance.
 
Contax T and T3 are quite different cameras. The original T has optical rangefinding and no motors, while the T3 has motorized film transport and AF. T flash is detachable, but the body is still larger and heavier than the T3 (which is perfectly comfortable in a shirt pocket). The T3 Sonnar 35 has blistering sharpness, contrast and color saturation, while the T Sonnar 38 is moderate. The T shutter response is instantaneous (best of all my cameras), while the T3 hesitates momentarily even in prefocus mode. T3 film loading is no-fuss automated, while the T requires that you dismantle the camera (almost not kidding). T3 consumes batteries like any modern film P&S, while the T coin batteries can go for years. Top shutter speed favors the T3 (1/1200 vs 1/500). There's a good reason to carry both, perhaps keeping daylight film in the T and dedicating the T3 for fast film and flash situations. The T3 has a shutter-dragging flash mode which is highly effective.

Cheers!
 
micromoogman said:
turn it 180 degrees and it will make a good hood...
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Exactly. Just turn it upside down!


Rico said:
Contax T and T3 are quite different cameras. The original T has optical rangefinding and no motors, while the T3 has motorized film transport and AF. T flash is detachable, but the body is still larger and heavier than the T3 (which is perfectly comfortable in a shirt pocket). The T3 Sonnar 35 has blistering sharpness, contrast and color saturation, while the T Sonnar 38 is moderate. The T shutter response is instantaneous (best of all my cameras), while the T3 hesitates momentarily even in prefocus mode. T3 film loading is no-fuss automated, while the T requires that you dismantle the camera (almost not kidding). T3 consumes batteries like any modern film P&S, while the T coin batteries can go for years. Top shutter speed favors the T3 (1/1200 vs 1/500). There's a good reason to carry both, perhaps keeping daylight film in the T and dedicating the T3 for fast film and flash situations. The T3 has a shutter-dragging flash mode which is highly effective.

Cheers!
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Agree with pretty much all of that except the lens sharpness. The lens on the T is outstanding. I didn't rate the lens on the T3 is high as some people do. I thought it was on a par with my GR1v and TC-1, but not better. The ergonomics of the T3 is what pushed me to sell it after only a few months. Too many useful controls snucked away in it's clumsy menu. Thought it was a bit girly too. Ideal for ladies, but not a blokes camera.

Paul
 
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