Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Contax 139 Quartz

Contax (Yashica) · Contax/Yashica mount · 24×36mm on 35mm film · 1979

Also known as: Contax 139 Quartz · Contax 139Q · Contax 139 Q · Contax 139 · CONTAX139 · Contax 139 Quarz · Kyocera Contax 139 · Yashica Contax 139 · コンタックス 139 · コンタックス139 · コンタックス 139 クォーツ · コンタックス139クォーツ

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
139 Quartz (1979–) Contax/Yashica 1979 — About 200,000 made (Kosmo Foto); no maker's figure is known to have been published
  1. The production figure of about 200,000 is Kosmo Foto's alone. No launch price in yen or dollars was found in the sources read; Japanese Wikipedia lists none for the body.
  2. The end of production is not dated by any source read. The 159 MM of February 1985 is the body that took its place in the line, so the 139 is unlikely to have run much beyond that.
  3. Dimensions are Casual Photophile's only; neither review gives a weight beyond Casual Photophile's remark that it is ten grams lighter than an Olympus OM-1. The battery type is not stated by any source read and is left out.
  4. Kosmo Foto and Casual Photophile agree on the vertical-travel quartz-timed shutter and 1/100 sync. The 137 MD and 137 MA that share the generation have a horizontal cloth shutter with 1/60 sync (Karen Nakamura; ImagingPixel), so the 139 is the faster-syncing of the three.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Compact body close to the Olympus OM series in size (Kosmo Foto), the smallest Contax SLR of its generation; the 137 MD and MA are the larger motor-equipped bodies
  • Shutter-speed dial with an AE position and manual speeds from 1 s to 1/1000, where the 137 MD offers only A, X and B (Casual Photophile; Karen Nakamura on the 137 MD)
  • Hot shoe with TTL flash contacts for the TLA20 and TLA30 (Kosmo Foto)
  • Crumbling synthetic leatherette on unrestored bodies (Kosmo Foto; Casual Photophile)

139 Quartz (1979–):

  • Compact body close to the Olympus OM series in size, machined aluminium under the covering (Kosmo Foto; Casual Photophile)
  • Synthetic leatherette covering that crumbles with age, so many bodies have been re-covered (Kosmo Foto; Casual Photophile)
  • The Yashica FX-D Quartz is the same design under the Yashica name (Japanese Wikipedia); the Contax carries the Zeiss-oriented engraving and the Contax finish

Specifications

Format
24×36mm on 35mm film
Finder
fixed eye-level pentaprism; horizontal split-image spot with microprism collar · 0.86× magnification · 95% coverage · no rangefinder image
Shutter
vertical-travel focal plane, electronically controlled with quartz timing (Kosmo Foto) · Aperture priority 11s–1/1000 stepless; manual 1s–1/1000; B (Casual Photophile; Kosmo Foto) · flash sync X at 1/100 (Casual Photophile; Kosmo Foto; English Wikipedia) · self-timer
Film advance
single-stroke lever; optional 2 fps winder (Kosmo Foto)
Meter
TTL centre-weighted silicon photodiode, read at full aperture; aperture-priority AE with AE lock, ±2 EV compensation, and manual; TTL flash metering through the hot shoe with the TLA20 and TLA30 flashes (Casual Photophile; Kosmo Foto)
Motor drive
Compatible — Optional winder, up to 2 frames per second (Kosmo Foto); Casual Photophile calls it the 139 Power Winder
Dimensions
135 × 85.5 × 50 (Casual Photophile) mm
Country
Japan
Accessories
139 winder, up to 2 fps (Kosmo Foto; Casual Photophile) · TLA20 and TLA30 TTL flashes (Kosmo Foto)

95% and 0.86× by Casual Photophile; Kosmo Foto gives about 95%

What reviewers say

History

The Contax 139 Quartz was Yashica’s compact answer to the question of what a Contax below the RTS should be. Announced at Photokina 1978 alongside the motorised 137 MD and on sale from April 1979 (Japanese Wikipedia), it was the first camera to time its shutter with a quartz oscillator, which is why Japan’s National Museum of Nature and Science holds one. The headline figures were modest: 1/1000 at the top, aperture-priority automation running steplessly down to 11 seconds, manual speeds from 1 second to 1/1000, and X sync at 1/100 (Casual Photophile; Kosmo Foto). What it added was TTL flash metering with the TLA20 and TLA30, an AE lock, an electronic self-timer and a body the size of an Olympus OM, which made it the Contax many people could afford. Kosmo Foto puts production at about 200,000.

The same design was sold as the Yashica FX-D Quartz (Japanese Wikipedia), and the two reviewers read the body differently from one another. Casual Photophile finds a machined-aluminium shell with no flex or rattle and calls it one of the best cameras its reviewer has used; Kosmo Foto calls it a delight to use and its author’s go-everywhere camera. Both agree on the one well-known weakness: the synthetic leatherette crumbles, so most bodies have either been re-covered or need to be, and replacement covers are cheap and easy to find.

The finder shows 95% of the frame at 0.86× with a horizontal split-image spot and microprism collar, the meter is a centre-weighted silicon cell read at full aperture with ±2 EV of compensation, and an optional winder advances at up to 2 frames per second (Casual Photophile; Kosmo Foto). The kit lens was the Planar T* 50mm f/1.7 (Kosmo Foto). No launch price was found in the sources read, and the end of production is not dated; the 159 MM of February 1985 took its place in the line.

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This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Live listings

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Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.

Listings updated 2026-11-02. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Contax 137 MD Quartz · Contax 137 MA Quartz · Contax 159 MM · Contax RTS

Lenses for this body: Apo-Sonnar T* 200mm f/2 (C/Y) · Distagon T* 15mm f/3.5 (C/Y) · Distagon T* 18mm f/4 (C/Y) · Distagon T* 21mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Distagon T* 25mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Distagon T* 28mm f/2 (C/Y) · Distagon T* 28mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Distagon T* 35mm f/1.4 (C/Y) · Distagon T* 35mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · F-Distagon T* 16mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Makro-Planar T* 100mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Makro-Planar T* 60mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Mirotar T* 1000mm f/5.6 (C/Y) · Mirotar T* 500mm f/4.5 (C/Y) · Mirotar T* 500mm f/8 (C/Y) · PC-Distagon T* 35mm f/2.8 (C/Y, shift) · Planar T* 100mm f/2 (C/Y) · Planar T* 135mm f/2 (C/Y) · Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 (C/Y) · Planar T* 50mm f/1.7 (C/Y) · Planar T* 55mm f/1.2 '100 Jahre Planar' (C/Y) · Planar T* 85mm f/1.2 anniversary editions (C/Y) · Planar T* 85mm f/1.4 (C/Y) · S-Planar T* 100mm f/4 bellows lens (C/Y) · Sonnar T* 100mm f/3.5 (C/Y) · Sonnar T* 135mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Sonnar T* 180mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Sonnar T* 85mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Tele-Apotessar T* 300mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Tele-Tessar T* 200mm f/3.5 (C/Y) · Tele-Tessar T* 200mm f/4 (C/Y) · Tele-Tessar T* 300mm f/4 (C/Y) · Tessar T* 45mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Vario-Sonnar T* 100–300mm f/4.5–5.6 (C/Y) · Vario-Sonnar T* 28–70mm f/3.5–4.5 (C/Y) · Vario-Sonnar T* 28–85mm f/3.3–4 (C/Y) · Vario-Sonnar T* 35–135mm f/3.3–4.5 (C/Y) · Vario-Sonnar T* 35–70mm f/3.4 (C/Y) · Vario-Sonnar T* 40–80mm f/3.5 (C/Y) · Vario-Sonnar T* 70–210mm f/3.5 (C/Y) · Vario-Sonnar T* 80–200mm f/4 (C/Y)

Sources (5)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this camera, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.