Jörg Krüger
Contax 139 Quartz
Contax 139 Quartz with 139 Winder II and Yashica ML 1.7/50.
Meanwhile you can even find Contax SLRs made in Japan on the flea market for little money. Mostly a little gear in a camera bag. Unfortunately always someone has discovered the bag before you and fished out all the Zeiss and Yashica prime lenses. So here, I bought this 139 Quartz with a simple 2.8/28 ("Super-Danubia") and the Yashica ML 80-200 (by Tokina). Unfortunately on the market one week before I had the chance to buy a Yashica SLR "in pieces", but with a proper ML 1.7/50 for just 10 €, but I didn't do it because I didn't know that I wanted this lens one week later. So I visited a photography fair to find a standard lens: I found lots of f/1.9 and f/2 and DSB lenses, one 1.4/50 for 45 €, a 1.7/50 like new for 40 €, but finally I went for the lens above, very dusty, but only 15 €.
The 139 Quartz was introduced in 1979, it was the second Contax by Yashica, 6 years after the prestigious Contax RTS. And as far I know, it is the first SLR camera with quartz controlled shutter speeds. It's a classical SLR with two peculiarities: the shutter speed dial is around the rewind crank and the exposure meter is not activated by the shutter button, but by an extra button on the front, intended to be pressed with your middle finger. Most of the admiring comments on the internet are true, the advance lever is super smooth, the shutter sounds like music and looking through the viewer just makes you smile. Compared with contemporaries with about the same price tag, Nikon FE and Minolta XD7, the Contax is probably the most modern camera, but the other two are providing a much more solid feeling.
My copy has trouble to determine the set f-stop correctly. The f-stop number is displayed in the viewer by a mechanically device, it is not a "Judas window". When I turn the aperture ring in direction of smaller numbers, the f-stops are shown correctly. When I turn the ring in the other direction, the device jams and and shows the black space between two numbers. So over-exposuring for a half step will be the result. The camera shows this behaviour for all three lenses I have.
UPDATE after one roll of film: really a fantastic camera. Unfortunately I didn't notice a light leak at the hinge of the back, so most pictures show red, vertically stripes or fantastic colors. But I really enjoyed to use this camera, and if you like small SLRs with aperture priority AE like the Pentax ME super or Minolta X-300, you perhaps try this one.
In the manual I found two features of the camera, you probably won't discover by just using it. Firstly, the unlock of the exposure correction doubles as multi-exposure switch. Secondly, the AE-lock lever clicks into place when the film advance lever is in "stand-by" position. Sounds simple, but it is brilliant and I cheerfully praise the designer who had that idea. When the advance lever is moved again - pushed back to the body or the film is advanced after your shot - the AE-lock lever jumps back. I think this feature is intended to use in combination with a winder, but I used it without one, and very often.
The 1.7/50 ML lens: I haven't a final opinion about it yet. Sometimes it is superb, sometimes the blurred parts of the pictures behaves somewhat strangely.
Pictures: sharp-unsharp,
one with Super-Danubia 2.8/28 lens.
Contax 139 Quartz
Contax 139 Quartz with 139 Winder II and Yashica ML 1.7/50.
Meanwhile you can even find Contax SLRs made in Japan on the flea market for little money. Mostly a little gear in a camera bag. Unfortunately always someone has discovered the bag before you and fished out all the Zeiss and Yashica prime lenses. So here, I bought this 139 Quartz with a simple 2.8/28 ("Super-Danubia") and the Yashica ML 80-200 (by Tokina). Unfortunately on the market one week before I had the chance to buy a Yashica SLR "in pieces", but with a proper ML 1.7/50 for just 10 €, but I didn't do it because I didn't know that I wanted this lens one week later. So I visited a photography fair to find a standard lens: I found lots of f/1.9 and f/2 and DSB lenses, one 1.4/50 for 45 €, a 1.7/50 like new for 40 €, but finally I went for the lens above, very dusty, but only 15 €.
The 139 Quartz was introduced in 1979, it was the second Contax by Yashica, 6 years after the prestigious Contax RTS. And as far I know, it is the first SLR camera with quartz controlled shutter speeds. It's a classical SLR with two peculiarities: the shutter speed dial is around the rewind crank and the exposure meter is not activated by the shutter button, but by an extra button on the front, intended to be pressed with your middle finger. Most of the admiring comments on the internet are true, the advance lever is super smooth, the shutter sounds like music and looking through the viewer just makes you smile. Compared with contemporaries with about the same price tag, Nikon FE and Minolta XD7, the Contax is probably the most modern camera, but the other two are providing a much more solid feeling.
My copy has trouble to determine the set f-stop correctly. The f-stop number is displayed in the viewer by a mechanically device, it is not a "Judas window". When I turn the aperture ring in direction of smaller numbers, the f-stops are shown correctly. When I turn the ring in the other direction, the device jams and and shows the black space between two numbers. So over-exposuring for a half step will be the result. The camera shows this behaviour for all three lenses I have.
UPDATE after one roll of film: really a fantastic camera. Unfortunately I didn't notice a light leak at the hinge of the back, so most pictures show red, vertically stripes or fantastic colors. But I really enjoyed to use this camera, and if you like small SLRs with aperture priority AE like the Pentax ME super or Minolta X-300, you perhaps try this one.
In the manual I found two features of the camera, you probably won't discover by just using it. Firstly, the unlock of the exposure correction doubles as multi-exposure switch. Secondly, the AE-lock lever clicks into place when the film advance lever is in "stand-by" position. Sounds simple, but it is brilliant and I cheerfully praise the designer who had that idea. When the advance lever is moved again - pushed back to the body or the film is advanced after your shot - the AE-lock lever jumps back. I think this feature is intended to use in combination with a winder, but I used it without one, and very often.
The 1.7/50 ML lens: I haven't a final opinion about it yet. Sometimes it is superb, sometimes the blurred parts of the pictures behaves somewhat strangely.
Pictures: sharp-unsharp,
one with Super-Danubia 2.8/28 lens.