u/socarrat

My 139Q is being repaired for the third time now (1 DIY hot shoe rebuild, 1 professional lightmeter recalibration, and now it’s with the technician for a battery drain issue and Auto no longer works, despite proper metering. Estimated lead time, 1 month).

So I’ve decided to finally get a second Contax SLR body to tide me over until then. Came across this RX in beautiful condition. And it pairs handsomely with the 85mm f1.8 Planar. Because of the balance, it feels lighter than the nearly 1.5kg of kit it is.

It does look quite silly with the champagne 45mm f2.8 Tessar, what with the lens being less than 10% of the body weight. But with Av and Program modes working as well as they do, it’s a satisfactory stand-in for the 139Q + 45mm as a casual snapper.

The shutter sound is gorgeous. The grip feels better than most, despite it being shallow and squared off. And it pairs well with the TLA 30, which made the 139Q feel terribly top-heavy.

It’s nice to finally have a second body, given the… finicky nature of Contax cameras. I think this will stave off any lust for the S2 and Aria anniversary edition for a while.