Contax 137 MD

[pancake]

Hi all,

Just want to share my latest finding. I got a fully working and quite clean Contax 137 MD from a nice fellow here locally for less than $50 along with a zoom lens (not a Zeiss) and a genuine Contax flash (I forget the model, I'm not a flash person ;D )

... except... the bad leatherette is even tattier than most I've seen on ebay.

The seller told me that a couple of people already came by and were interested to get the camera, but all of them are turned off by the flaky, horrible-looking leatherette. My luck

So today I've ordered the Contax Black leatherette replacement from the usual camera leather supplier.

When it came, I'll take a picture of the camera with the leatherette replaced.

Over all, I feel very happy because that camera handles very nicely. The motor drive is not as loud as I expect it to be, and the viewfinder is excellent (very clean); it even has the shutter counter inside which is very nice.

[PeterW]

Hi, pancake,

I got a fully working and quite clean Contax 137 MD from a nice fellow here locally for less than $50 along with a zoom lens (not a Zeiss) and a genuine Contax flash.

I don't know the Contax 137 MD (MD for Motor Drive?). If it's what I think it is it was made by Yashica in the 1980s and earned an excellent reputation as a compact and reliable motor-driven SLR. I seem to remember, without a lot of checking, that it had quartz-controlled electronic shutter timing and an aperture-priorty auto exposure system that decided the shutter speed without giving you the chance to change it. Even so, I'm sure you'll enjoy using it, and it sounds a bargain, even with tatty leather. I look forward to seeing a picture of it and to hearing your experiences with it. I seem to think it ran on ordinary AA batteries, which is handy. I hope I'm thinking of the right camera.

PeterW

[pancake]

Peter, you're right on the money. You're describing exactly the camera I got. I am planning to shoot the rest of the testroll today, and I'm switching the lens from the Soligor that it came with, to the Contax's soul-mate, the Zeiss Planar 50mm/1.7

With luck I'll have some pictures from it tomorrow.

[nikonbob]

Great way to enter the wonderful world of Zeiss glass.

Bob

[PeterW]

Hi pancake, (can't keep calling you pancake, what's your first name?)

You said:

Peter, you're right on the money. You're describing exactly the camera I got.

Ah! A coconut at first throw. I'm stupidly pleased about that because I was writing from memory, and cameras made in Japan aren't my strong point. I was a mite worried after I posted it in case I mislead you.

I'm on firmer ground however with the Planar which I'm certain you will love. It's got a long and very honourable pedigree going back to the 1880s and has been described as the ancestor of all six and seven glass Gauss type lenses. Almost all the illustrious names among Zeiss designers have had a hand in developing it over the years using several different types of glass and in numerous focal lengths. It was even made as an f/0.7 50mm lens, originally for NASA but also for 35mm cine use. I believe Kubrick used one in a candle-lit scene in one of his films, but I haven't hear of it being used on a still camera.

In one of his lectures to a university Ludwig Bertele said that the Planar was chosen in preference to the Sonnar to develop a wide aperture lens for cine cameras and for a compact SLR because it was easier than the Sonnar to design with a short back focus and short rear protrusion to give clearance for the mirror.

This, I gather, was the version which was licensed to Kyocera/Yashica where the early production was overseen by Zeiss technicians. I believe the other two lenses to go with the f/1.7 50mm were also Planars, f/2.8 25mm and f/2.8 85mm. I have a note, though I can't remember where it came from, that production in Japan of the f/1.7 50mm Planar started at around 6,25x,xxx.

If I remember rightly the f/1.7 50mm was described in the British Photographic Journal, a journal not noted for over-praising, as a very fine lens indeed having critical definition without being aggressive.

PeterW

[pancake]

Heere comes the pictures from the camera...






And now the camera is covered in a brand new leatherette, got rid of the yucky flaking original ones. Alas, I haven't taken the picture of it yet.

Peter, I'm Will, (virtual shake hand).

You wrote *all* that from memory, yikes!! you're GOOD

[PeterW]

Hi Will,

Oh yes. I like the way that Planar performs, and the auto exposure seems to be working a treat.
You wrote:

You wrote *all* that from memory, yikes!! you're GOOD

Thanks, Will. But I wrote only the first bit about the camera from memory. When it comes to German cameras and lenses, particularly Zeiss-Ikon cameras and Carl Zeiss lenses, I'm in my favourite area of photographic history. I've got masses of notes and cuttings about them, and can remember a lot, but I did refer to them before writing the bit about the Planar.

PeterW