Contax TVS

N

Nik Cannon

Active Member
I've just won one of these in a moment of weakness ( £70+shipping ) infact I've been very weak this week, having won a Yashica T3 for £22.50 as well, seeing as both have Zeiss T* lenses, which should I keep and which should I sell? My wife won't be too happy if she sees any more cameras, so I'm going to be moving one of these ( I'd prefer to keep the Contax as its a damn sight more good looking than the T3 which is an ugly brute) as well as a couple of Yashica Electro 35's once they've had new seals and general clean.
I'm moving more into street shooting, and a camera which isn't heavy and bulky, is appealing more and more, so the electro 35's and maybe even my Canon DSLR may have to move on, as much as I love the convenience of digital, somebody made a point somewhere, to shoot film, and leave something behind for the kids to discover struck a note with me! Plus I'd like to get the new Ricoh GR digital to replace my DSLR and update my Panny Lx3 in one swoop.
 
Unfortunatly you will now spend the rest of your days collecting cameras, you won't ever be able to sell them as 'you might need it'

Here is most of what I have so far lol :D not that I have any more coming :rolleyes:

DSC_0675_zps4be6334c.jpg



Check out my sig...
 
Nice collection! I'd like to do this with some of mine, half the reason I buy cameras is the fact that they look good as well as have good lenses! But I've learned to get rid of possessions lately, I had a massive purge of musical equipment 3 keyboards, mixer digi recorder, and haven't missed them that much, I'll slim down my collection to a usable amount, some I might give away once repaired to fellow creatives who have an interest in photography. Quite excited about the Contax TVS, looks a real beauty, and wouldn't have even contemplated winning one of these if my son hadn't woke me up at 5am, and I saw the price was only at £42 with the 6am finish approaching, and at 5.55am it was about £60 without that much movement, so I thought I'd give it a go! Ironically, there was a Fuji Silvi finishing at the same time which in hindsight I should've gone for, as that sold for £43 and had a 24-50 2.8 lens, but what the hell, the Contax looks a stunner. But feeling a bit guilty of hitting the Ebay trail to hard this week, so I'm going to spend the day repairing light seals on a few cameras I'm going to sell!
 
Put the money in lenses not bodies, bit late for me though lol but my previous hobby was drag racing so I had a full garage of engine parts/turbos etc, whereas cameras as much smaller :) I am currently having fun fitting older lenses onto the NEX with various adaptors :)

Look out for some folding cameras like the Bessa, medium format but compact, the majority of cameras you see on the shelf were £30 or less, although some like the Nikon FM2n and the Speed graphics were a bit more lol
 
Yes, I use my old OM lenses on my canon DSLR as well as Nikon, and mamiya, £65 is the most I've paid for a manual lens, and camera, £69 for the Oly 35 SP, sorry, the Contax TVS was £70! I did have a Yashica D TLR, but sold it a few years ago, but looking to pick up another in the future, and maybe a folding camera too, they keep catching my eye!
I tend to recycle stuff that doesn't chime with me, and put the money into new things, but photography has always been a constant, suppose its called fitting it in with your"workflow" or something these days! I was out at 6am trying to capture some early light with the camera,,partially successful, but I took the camera out with me on a run, killing too birds with one stone!
 
I for one will be very interested to hear how you get on with the TVS ! I've hovered over a few lately my self! £70 seems like a good buy! If you decide to sell it, you must give me first refusal :D
Else if you want to keep it, you might just did me hounding you for a loan! I am also after a T2 ... JCH has about 4 of the things for sale, but I just can't justify on at the moment!

On the note of camera collecting, David seems to be enjoying it, as do you... For now... Just try to have some direction with it, and make sure to shoot at least one film with every camera. And document what you like about them. I topped out at about 80 of the things! They became a burden, I'm not saying it will happen to you... But if you ever get to a stage that you don't remember buying a camera, or that you are coming up with increasingly devious ways to get it past your other half ... That's addiction ;)
I have sold many of mine now, I just keep the stuff I actually shoot with.
The collecting has just turned to compact cameras that are cheap, are for the blog/here for writing about etc and can be easily let go of... (He says :))
 
I wasn't really looking for one to be honest, after picking up the Yashica T3 cheap, the Contax came on my radar after seeing the G1 for £70 ( body) had a look for lenses to see if there were any mounts to adapt any cheaper options, but realised that avenue was a dead end, after reading said article at JCH, and seeing the prices, that the Tvs was so low and on a 6am finish, I thought I'd watch it just in case ! And low and behold, it was still cheap with 10mins to go, so I was hooked, i thought this was my chance to get my hands on a fine camera, if I didn't like it I could always sell it on and not lose money in it!
It has become obsessive of late, but it's more like a binge, I'll move on those collecting dust that I don't use, my first electro 35 is a little stiff, and had a cloudy viewfinder, so I'll give it a CLA, same for the next one, a GSN, which is almost mint but needs light seals replacing, that should cover the TVS outlay.
I've been more obsessed about getting a Ricoh GR1 to be honest, but as they have been going for £100+ it was just out of my range every time I was bidding, now the GRD Apsc is out, I can wait! But the TVS looks a real classic, so it might be tough letting that one go!
 
The GR1 is a great camera! I sold mine to buy the fuji klasse which is a brilliant camera, but not as good for lower light work... So I've just bought another GR1s (off a member here) with some minor issues ... Can't wait to play with one again.
Have a Ricoh FF90 on the go at the moment ... Monter it is, but it's a keen fave so far!
 
Never seen the FF90 before, looks almost as ugly as the Yashica T3 I've just bought!
Hoping to put the T3 thru its paces next week, a trip down Southbank and my last roll of Ektar 100, then the Contax TVS will get a run out, then i'll decide which one to keep.
I need to get a mountain of rolls processed now as well! I even found an old roll of 120 I hadn't processed in my drawer, god knows what's on that, it's been about 5 years since I shot it.
That GR1 is a sexy little lack number, I'm going to have to ban myself from Ebay for a few months and get out shooting!
 
Contax TVS.jpg

Well, this little beauty arrived just now! bought saturday, arrived tuesday from JAPAN!!! (apologies for the crappy shot, it's with my iphone, and it's gone really gloomy)
Holding the Contax TVS in your hands, you immediately feel the quality, solid, sleek, chunk of titanium... droool! going to put my last roll of Ektar 100 in and get out shooting later, but 1st I need to put new light seals on an Electro 35 GS, just finished unsticking the aperture/shutters on a Konica S2, the other one I had isn't budging, the ring that holds the lightmeter onto the front of the lens is jammed, among other things, so I think thats beyond repair, and might be for experimental tinkering.
Anyway, back to the TVS!, I'm fearful of scratching/dropping it, so was looking for a half case, the only place I found was somewhere in Japan where an old leather craftsman makes them by hand, at £100, thats more than I paid for the camera!
If anyone knows of anywhere, or another half case that fits it, or even recommends a conventional, modern case I'd appreciate it....
 
Sorry!
Seems there's no manual on the web, e-mailed Contax/Kyocera to see if they can e-mail me one.
Need to get a case for it now, all that brushed titanium will attract scratches!!!
managed to get my hands on a Japanese manual, so it had a few pictures to follow for loading film etc.. shouldn't be too hard to work out
 
Much appreciated Chris, although this is for the TVSii on closer inspection, it looks like it shares a lot of similarities with the TVS, if not all! I managed to load the film without much hassle, and should be giving it an outing today!
 
im not even going to click on that... I dont click on them when they click pop up in my watch list either ... I want, cant afford...
 
Nik Cannon said:
Much appreciated Chris, although this is for the TVSii on closer inspection, it looks like it shares a lot of similarities with the TVS, if not all! I managed to load the film without much hassle, and should be giving it an outing today!
Click to expand...

thought it looked like a close match - that website is my go-to for manuals
 
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