Contax 139 Quartz – a little gem
When Russell mentioned a Contax I had a vision of an early, black Zeiss Contax I – after all, I’d just tested a 1934 Rolleicord, and what could be more appropriate than a rangefinder of like age? Not so lucky, instead it was certainly black, but a 139 Quartz, which apart from having a Zeiss lens, in this case a 50mm Planar f1.7, couldn’t have been more different. Black, small, with buttons and dials in unexpected places, it just looked so very 80s.
Externally designed by Porsche, like so many others in the line up, it has a beautiful bright and uncluttered rangefinder. It offers manual and aperture priority modes, with centre weighted metering and the usual range of shutter speeds up to 1/1000.
The 50mm f1.7 has a reputation for exceptional sharpness, and while the reports are of plastic in the construction, it feels and looks well built. So off to Devonport for a test roll. First to the old Town Hall, from the glory days of the town, and the superb column.
The 139Q was the little sibling of the RTS, Real time system – so named as the shutter linkage, like the Quartz timing, remember those Seiko Quartz watches?, is electronic. A tiny depress of the shutter and it’s fired. So how do you check pre-shot exposures? Why, with a similar button on the front of the camera. It is very different ergonomic solution to standard cameras of this era, and quite frustrating to start with. This is a drawback to trying new things, the need to revisit shooting styles, and I’m not sure I like it at first. The test roll turns up three images of obvious nonsense!
Next door to the Town Hall is the fascinating Egyptian House by the same architect, with plenty of details to test the bokeh of the Planar – rather lovely really.
The 139Q is light, almost pocketable, with a bright viewfinder providing all the useful information easily. It’s not overloaded with features, the 1/1000 is limiting with wide aperture lenses, but it feels well made, is pretty and neat.
Finally off to the impressive, if neglected, Raglan Gate, which used to be the ceremonial entrance to the massive Raglan barracks, long gone like most of the army presence in the town. It was designed by Captain Fowke RE, who went on to design the Royal Albert Hall.
But back to the Contax – a lovely little thing, the lens is cracking, not the glass, and a real joy to use together. If after a light and compact camera it is a combination that is worthy of real respect.
The film used is Ilford HP5+ shot at 250 and developed in PMK Pyro 1+2+100. I’m charlesdamorgan on Instagram, not that I post much there any more!
