Contax 167MT – an outstanding, but overlooked tool

The design of the Contax 167MT is different from any other analog camera, other Contax cameras included. I purchased my Contax 167MT in 1992 and I have been using it since then. The majority of my films have been exposed in the Contax 167MT and it still works fine after 32 years of use.

The major design change was the removal of the typical knobs for the selection of program modes, ISO values and exposure times.

The Contax 167MT has a LCD panel on the left shoulder of the camera and slide control, which works in two directions, on the right shoulder. The LCD shows the exposure time, the selected program mode, the aperture and the film number. Pressing the MODE button will show the exposure modes, which are selected with the slide control on the right shoulder. In case the film canister does not have an ISO code, the ISO value can be selected with the slide control while pressing the ISO button.
The camera settings are also shown on an LCD panel in the view finder. Therefore, the prism needs this white panel to backlit this LCD panel. If it is too dark, there will be a light as well.

Besides aperture and exposure priority modes, the Contax 167MT has three program modes. A regular one, one which prioritizes fast shutter speeds and open apertures and one which prioritizes closed apertures and slow shutter speeds.

In the manual exposure mode, the exposure time will be selected with the slide control. The slide control works in two directions, so one can go stepwise up or down. This works perfectly while looking through the viewfinder. It is much better than selecting the exposure time with a classical knob. It is a pleasure to use this slide control.

I consider the viewfinders in Contax bodies simply the best. Besides the 167MT, I also use a Contax S2 (fully mechanical), a Contax AX (autofocus with all Contax lenses), a Contax 159 and a RTS-II. The viewfinders of all of them are just brilliant. I started photography as a student with Yashica cameras and lenses. Once I started earning some money, I wanted to upgrade to better lenses. The Zeiss Contax lenses have the same bajonett as the Yashica lenses, because Contax bodies were produced by Yashica. So, the question was whether to stay in the Contax/Yashica system or to switch to another system. I was thinking about a Nikon FM, because I have a fable for mechanics. However, the FM2 viewfinder was too dim for me and my glasses. One half of the split focussing screen was dark, when a 85 mm lens was attached. So, I stayed in the Contax/Yashica eco system and got myself a Contax Planar 50 mm 1.4. I never regretted this decision. I was hooked to Contax lenses after the first roll of slide film. I still remember the very first photo I took with this lens. I purchased Contax 28 mm 2.8 and 135 mm 2.8 lenses, before I earned enough money to also get myself a Contax body, finally, namely the 167MT.

Back to the Contax 167MT. Underneath this incredibly useful slide control is a button and slider to initiate the rewinding of the film.
There is only one small knob on the right shoulder for the selection of exposure compensation for a film or for the automatic consecutive exposure of three images in either aperture or exposure priority modes: over, regular and under exposed. The 167MT was the first camera with this feature. I tested this automatic exposure of three consecutive frames only a few times, but found the exposure measurements so precise, especially the spot metering, that I did not use this feature afterwards any more.

It is time to mention that it is a motorized camera. There is a small knob on the left shoulder of the camera for the selection of single and continuous exposure (keeping the exposure button pressed) as well as the self-timer.

The only downside of this camera is the loud film transport compared to cameras of later generations. However, it is not so disturbing as long as one does not work for a secret service. The camera takes 4 x AAA batteries and these last forever. They are also not as cold sensitive as the smaller batteries.

Loading a film never made any problems, but one should never touch the wheels of this mechanism! If one has pulled out the film too far, so that the mechanism won’t grap the film, the LCD panel will flicker. Just pull the film back into its canister and pull it out until it is aligned with the red mark.

There is also a small, round window with a white bar on the back of the camera. This bar will rotate to demonstrate proper film transport.

How is it to use this camera? The body in hand just feels right. I already mentioned the incredibly useful slide control. The exposure button gives a precise feed back. The time between pressing the button and the exposure is incredibly short. This short lag period is a highlight of Contax bodies. The acronym RTS of the high end Contax bodies stands for ‚real time system’ to highlight this feature.

The exposure button is surrounded by a round switch. Moving it to the first position will switch the camera on and the rectangle at this position indicates that the camera is in the field exposure metering mode. Moving the switch to the next position, indicated by a circle, will change the metering to spot metering. Moving the switch one step further to AEL will store the value of the spot metering. Now one can reframe the image. Importantly, one can still change the aperture and thus the depth of field and the camera will automatically adjust the exposure time accordingly. One can also change the exposure time and the camera will automatically adjust the aperture. Naturally, this depends on the selected program mode.

The spot metering was always perfect and therefore I did not feel the need to use the cameras three frames automatic exposure mode. This combination of spot metering and AEL in a single switch is just perfect. It can’t be more convenient. I think that these ‚joy-sticks‘ on digital cameras are a misnomer.

I mentioned at the beginning that I use my Contax 167MT since 32 years now and I have no reasons to doubt that I can not use this camera for many more years. This camera was introduced in 1986 and I got the impression from camera reviews, that the layouts of the electronics of cameras from this era were more robust than of later models. I would not hesitate to get one nowadays, especially since they can be had for little money.

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