Contax T: The Quintessential Compact 35mm Rangefinder
Compact, discrete, reliable, precise, quiet, control. These are but a few of the words I have come to associate with the coveted Contax T. From its Porsche design to its Carl Zeiss lens, this camera is pure joy to both look at and to use.
By far, the Contax T is my favorite street photography camera. Rarely do I look through the view finder. Neither do I bother too much with focus. I set the aperture to f8 and the hyper-focal distance to midpoint. Most everything I aim the camera at is well within the focusing zone, and I use the word “aim’ quite loosely.
I like to shoot from below the hip with this camera in the vertical or portrait orientation. It fits perfectly in the palm of my hand, with the strap securely around my wrist, and my index finger comfortably on the shutter release button. It’s so small and quiet that most people never notice it in my hand. And because it’s a manual focus camera, there’s no shutter delay when I take the photograph. The only delay I experience with this camera is that between by brain and my finger.
I also like to hold this camera over my head and shoot above the crowd. I also get interesting results when I shoot while moving with, and against, the flow, especially when the light begins to fade and shutter speed approaches 1/30th of a second and below.
I use nothing but 400 speed black and white film in this camera, most likely Ilford Delta 400 Professional, Ilford HP5, Kodak T-Max 400, or Kodak Tri-X. (But I’m thinking of running some color film through it here soon. Rick – 24 May 2014)
The Contax T is easy to load, but you must first fold the lens out to avoid stripping the film advance gears. I learned this the hard way.
In addition to manual focus and film speed settings, the Contax T allows you to tweek exposure via an exposure compensation button with a set +1.5 stop, but rarely do I need to take this measure as I find its meter to be quite accurate in most lighting situations. When I do take a backlit photograph I’m usually pleasantly surprised by the results and have never seen any lens flare, although I would most likely consider any such lens flare an extra bonus.
