The model
Contax T
Kyocera · From 1984. Ken Rockwell gives the production run as 1984–87; we have not found a second source for the end date
The original Contax T, sometimes listed as the T1, though its manual calls it simply the Contax T: a Porsche Design, titanium-clad pocket rangefinder with a Zeiss Sonnar and no autofocus at all.
- Format
- 35mm film
- Made by
- Kyocera
What it was
The name first: the instruction manual calls this camera the Contax T. T1 is a later label that only makes sense once the T2 existed; it is not the name in the manual.
It arrived in 1984, made by Kyocera under the Contax name. The manual credits its development to Yashica, Carl Zeiss and the Porsche design group. The lens folds away behind a drawbridge cover; there is no flash inside it at all; focus is by a coincident-image rangefinder you turn by hand; exposure is aperture priority and nothing else, with a single fixed backlight button worth one and a half stops. There is no DX: the film speed is set by hand, by pressing a release button and turning a dial on the top plate that, as Ken Rockwell says, looks like a rewind crank.
Ken Rockwell gives the 1984 price as 560 dollars list and 319 on the street. We have not found a second source to confirm it.
It has not followed the T2's price. Ken Rockwell put a used one at about 500 dollars in 2022, and Edward Chang calls it a relative bargain next to a T2. If what you wanted from a Contax compact was the Zeiss lens and control rather than convenience, this is the cheaper way to it.
What it is good for
Anyone who wanted the Zeiss glass and did not want the autofocus. A 38mm Sonnar, a real rangefinder, a manual aperture ring and a manual film speed — it is a small mechanical camera with an electronic shutter, not a point and shoot with a good lens.
Carrying. 98 by 66.5 by 32.5 millimetres, 270 grams, and the lens folds away behind its own cover.
Working deliberately. There is no motor, no autofocus and no programme, so the camera does nothing until you have decided something. Some people find that restful and some find it slow.
Zone focusing. The green 8 on the aperture ring paired with the green mark on the focus ring gives you about 1.7 metres to infinity in one setting, which is the fastest this camera ever is.
Where it falls short: no exposure compensation beyond a fixed backlight button, no manual mode, no built-in flash and no hot shoe, a rangefinder patch that is hard work in dim light, and a winding mechanism that owners report can overlap frames. And no DX, which is a feature until the day you forget.
Troubleshooting
Every exposure on the roll is wrong
Check the film speed dial before anything else. This camera has no DX. The speed is set by hand on a top-plate dial that looks like a rewind crank, and it stays where the last person left it. A wrong setting is not a fault.
The meter is dead, or reads wildly
The light cell sits on the front of the lens, not behind it, so a finger or a case over it will skew the reading. And the front cover must be fully open: the manual says a partly closed cover cuts the power. Check that before you condemn the meter.
Then the batteries. The manual specifies two button cells, either SR44 silver-oxide or LR44 alkaline, and says to replace both together. Take the cells out of a T that will sit unused, because a leaking cell can damage the contacts. And this is a fully electronic shutter: the manual says that with weak batteries the camera will not function at all, which reads as a seized mechanism and is not.
The shutter will not fire
Check the batteries and the front cover first, as above. There is no mechanical speed on this camera and no way to shoot it without power.
The flash does not work
The T has no built-in flash of any kind. The T14 Auto that screws to the side runs on its own two AA cells, so flat AAs in the flash are not a camera fault. And there is no hot shoe, so a standard flash has nowhere to go.
The rangefinder patch is faint or I cannot find it
Accounts differ. 35mmc describes a diamond-shaped patch; Edward Chang notes it has no distinct outline and in difficult light can look like a mirage, while Ken Rockwell found it bright and contrasty. Chang finds sharp focus wide open hard and recommends stopping down to f/4.
The finder does not show an exact shutter speed
It never did. There are four LEDs: three show a range of speeds and the fourth warns of overexposure. By design.
I cannot dial in exposure compensation
There is none. Only the fixed backlight button, worth one and a half stops, in one direction.
The frames overlap or the sprocket holes tore
Edward Chang calls the winding mechanism the camera's main mechanical weakness, and his own T occasionally overlapped frames and damaged sprocket holes. Loading is fiddly: the body cover slides off and a folding pressure plate has to be folded back over the film. If overlaps continue with careful loading, it is a job for a technician.
The back latch or the front cover button broke
Both are on record. One owner's body cover release knob broke, and the fixes suggested were a screw taken from a cheap tripod, driven into the tripod socket to hold the cover, or the locking part from a donor camera. Edward Chang's front cover button stopped working and he opens the cover with a fingernail.
What goes wrong, and what fixes it
Battery compartment corrosion
Button cells left in a stored camera can leak. Look at the battery compartment and contacts before buying, and take the cells out of a T that will sit unused.
It will not power on, or the shutter will not fire
A technician working through one found four things at once: oxidised contacts at the lens-to-body connection, dirty shutter solenoids, a small gap under the shutter cocking lever that stopped it engaging fully, and gearbox gears misaligned because a brass hook that helps hold the gearbox had fallen out. He shimmed, cleaned, and replaced the hook with a screw. All of it is specialist work, and none of it is a parts swap.
Frame overlap and torn sprocket holes
Edward Chang names the winding mechanism as the camera's main mechanical weakness. Load carefully first; if overlaps continue, it is a technician.
Broken body cover release and front cover button
Both reported by owners. The fixes on record are improvised, or use a part from a donor camera.
Sporadic overexposure and erratic metering
Rule out the film speed dial and an obstructed front cell first. Beyond those, it is electronic work for a specialist.
A structural weakness worth knowing before anyone opens it
A technician documented two design problems that matter for any camera that has been serviced before: fine-thread metal screws used directly into plastic body parts strip their holes, and the gearbox is retained by a single badly placed screw. Every time those screws come out and go back, the plastic threads are at risk, so a T that has been opened several times is not the same proposition as one that has not.
Sticky foam and light leaks
The T has foam light seals, and owners report that they turn to goo; one owner on Rangefinderforum traced a leak to the seal at the edge of the top plate. Where every piece sits is another matter. We have not found a published teardown that maps it, or a pre-cut kit for the T, so expect any reseal to be cut by hand. Be sceptical of anyone who describes the exact layout without having had one open.
Getting one repaired
When Kyocera left the camera business in 2005 it promised after-sales service for at most ten years, so that has long gone. The work falls to independent technicians, and owners report using donor cameras for parts.
Every one of these we list has been through the checks on this page first, and what we found is written on the listing.
Written once and kept up to date. It applies to every example of this model, not only to the one in the photograph. The facts were last checked on 23 September 2026, against the maker’s own published figures where they exist; where sources disagree, the page says so.
More like this: 35mm film cameras, or every model we have written up.
Specification
Lens — Carl Zeiss T* Sonnar 38mm f/2.8, 5 elements in 4 groups, collapsible behind a fold-down cover. No filter thread
Shutter — between the lens, electromagnetically controlled, stepless, 8 s to 1/500
Aperture — f/2.8 to f/16, manual click-stopped ring
Exposure — aperture priority only. SPD cell on the front of the lens. Metering range EV 0–17. Backlight compensation button, fixed at plus 1.5 EV. No variable compensation and no manual mode
Film speed — manual only, ISO 25–1000 in third stops, set by pressing a release button and turning a top-plate dial that looks like a rewind crank. No DX
Focus — manual, coincident-image rangefinder, 1 m to infinity. A zone-focus aid pairs a green 8 on the aperture ring with a green mark on the focus ring for about 1.7 m to infinity, per the manual
Viewfinder — combined viewfinder and rangefinder with a brightline frame. Four LEDs: three shutter-speed ranges and an overexposure warning. No parallax correction. Ken Rockwell gives 0.60x magnification and 87 per cent coverage; a Contax T, T2 and T3 data sheet gives about 0.75x
Flash — none built in. The dedicated Contax T14 Auto screws to the side; there is no hot shoe. The manual gives guide number 14 at ISO 100 in metres; Ken Rockwell gives 9. Syncs at 1/125 and slower, recycle about 7 s. The flash runs on two AA cells of its own
Self-timer — electronic, 10 s
Transport — manual wind lever and manual rewind. The body cover slides off for loading, with a folding pressure plate
Weather sealing — none claimed
Power — two SR44 silver-oxide or LR44 alkaline button cells. Not a CR123A
Weight — 270 g without batteries
Dimensions — 98 x 66.5 x 32.5 mm
Finishes — silver and black
Here now
None here at the moment. They come through a few times a year, and this page stays up so you can find it when one does.