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

Contax Aria

Contax (Kyocera) · Contax/Yashica mount · 1998

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: Contax Aria · CONTAX Aria · Kyocera Contax Aria · Contax Aria body · Contax Aria D · Contax Aria 70 Years · Contax Aria 70th · Contax Aria C/Y · コンタックス アリア · コンタックス Aria · コンタックスAria · CONTAX Aria ボディ · CONTAX Aria 70周年

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Aria (black, 1998–2005) Contax/Yashica 1998–2005 — —
Aria D (with Data Back D-9) Contax/Yashica 1998 — —
Aria 70 Years Edition (2002) Contax/Yashica 2002–2003 — 2,000 units, produced for one year from 2002 (Casual Photophile; camera-wiki)
  1. The shutter range and 1/125 sync are confirmed by camera-wiki and davidde.com, which agree with each other; camera-wiki also has a loose line giving '30 sec to 1/4000' as the overall range, which contradicts its own 16-second figure for aperture priority and is not adopted.
  2. The 460g weight is Casual Photophile's and davidde.com's (without batteries); Japanese Wikipedia explains it by a plastic exterior over a non-metal main frame, and says two lightweight lenses were launched alongside the body so as not to overbalance it. No body dimensions were found in a source read for this page, so none are given.
  3. The $825 US price is Casual Photophile's figure alone, with no year, and is the single-source flag on this page. The yen figures are the maker's own list prices as archived in 2003, late in the run, not launch prices; no Japanese launch price was found, and kakaku.com's record shows none.
  4. Battery life is disputed: Casual Photophile gives about 1,000 shots per pair of CR2 cells, camera-wiki about 90 rolls of 24 exposures.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • The smallest and lightest Contax/Yashica SLR at 460g, with a plastic exterior and a modest grip (Japanese Wikipedia; Casual Photophile; a kakaku.com reviewer finds the grip small for left-hand focusing)
  • Metering-pattern switch (evaluative, centre-weighted, spot) at the back right of the finder; the 167 MT's control layout with a multiple-exposure function added (camera-wiki; Japanese Wikipedia)
  • Five-pin TLA flash contacts on the shoe and no built-in flash (Casual Photophile); only the later five-pin TLA flashes give rear-curtain sync (davidde.com)
  • MM lenses, with the green-painted minimum aperture, work in every mode; AE lenses give aperture priority and manual only (davidde.com)

Aria (black, 1998–2005):

  • Black body with CONTAX on the prism and Aria on the front; metering-pattern switch at the back right of the finder (camera-wiki)
  • Two CR2 cells in the base of the grip (camera-wiki; Casual Photophile)

Aria 70 Years Edition (2002):

  • 'Champagne' silver finish recalling the 1949 Contax S, and a 'Contax 70 Years' badge on the front derived from the 60 Years design of 1992 (Casual Photophile; camera-wiki)
  • The Aria name moved to the rear of the body (Casual Photophile)

Specifications

Finder
fixed eye-level pentaprism with dioptre adjustment; standard screen matte with a central microprism collar and horizontal split image (camera-wiki); about 25mm eye relief (Casual Photophile) · 0.82× magnification · 95% coverage · no rangefinder image
Shutter
vertical-travel metal focal plane, electronically controlled (camera-wiki; davidde.com) · 16s–1/4000 in aperture priority and program; 4s–1/4000 in shutter priority and manual; B (camera-wiki; davidde.com) · flash sync 1/125 (camera-wiki; davidde.com)
Film advance
built-in motor, single frame or continuous at up to 3 frames/s; motorised rewind (camera-wiki; Casual Photophile)
Meter
TTL evaluative (matrix), centre-weighted and spot, selected by a switch at the back right of the finder; the LCD can show the difference between the evaluative and centre-weighted readings. Program, aperture priority, shutter priority and manual; compensation ±2 EV in 1/3 steps; A.B.C. bracketing; DX ISO 25–5000, manual ISO 6–6400 (camera-wiki; Casual Photophile; davidde.com). The only Contax manual-focus SLR with evaluative metering (Japanese Wikipedia)
Motor drive
Not compatible — Motor built in; no separate winder (camera-wiki)
Weight
460 g
Country
Japan
Original price
$825 in the United States (Casual Photophile, year not stated); Kyocera's list price as still shown in 2003 was ¥89,000 for the body and ¥132,000 for the Aria D with Data Back D-9, before tax (today $1,590)
Accessories
Data Back D-9, recording aperture and shutter data; sold fitted as the Aria D (Japanese Wikipedia; davidde.com; kakaku.com) · Contax TLA-series flashes on the five-pin shoe; rear-curtain sync only with the later five-pin models (Casual Photophile; davidde.com) · Limited Tessar T* 45mm f/2.8 in champagne finish, sold with the 70 Years edition (Casual Photophile) · Two CR2 lithium cells (camera-wiki; Casual Photophile)

Where sources disagree

Last
  • Production to December 2004, sold until 2005 — Casual Photophile
  • 1998–2004 — davidde.com

Better supported: 2005 for sales

Kyocera announced the end of the Contax/Yashica system in April 2005, so the two agree once production and sale are separated.

Battery life
  • About 1,000 shots on two CR2 cells — Casual Photophile
  • About 90 rolls of 24 exposures — camera-wiki

Both are presumably the maker's figures under different conditions; neither source says which.

Speeds (slowest)
  • 16 seconds in aperture priority and program — camera-wiki's mode-by-mode table; davidde.com
  • 30 seconds — camera-wiki's summary line

Better supported: 16 seconds

What reviewers say

History

The Aria of May 1998 is the camera Kyocera built to put Zeiss lenses on something a person would carry all day. It weighs 460g without its two CR2 cells, which Japanese Wikipedia attributes to a plastic exterior over a frame that is not metal, and it is the entry model and the last new body of the Contax/Yashica line. Inside it is the 167 MT’s control layout with a multiple-exposure function added, a built-in motor at up to 3 frames a second, a 16-second to 1/4000 shutter with 1/125 sync, and a 95% finder at 0.82× (Japanese Wikipedia; camera-wiki; davidde.com). What no earlier Contax had is the meter: evaluative, centre-weighted and spot, chosen by a switch behind the finder, with the LCD able to show how far the evaluative reading departs from the centre-weighted one (camera-wiki; Casual Photophile).

Kyocera sold it in three forms. The plain black Aria; the Aria D, which is the same body with the D-9 data back that imprints aperture and shutter data, listed in 2003 at ¥132,000 against ¥89,000 for the body alone; and, from 2002, the 70 Years Edition, 2,000 bodies in a champagne finish recalling the Contax S of 1949, with a 70 Years badge derived from the 60 Years design of 1992, the Aria name moved to the back, and a matching Tessar T* 45mm f/2.8 in the box (Casual Photophile; camera-wiki). In the United States the body was $825 (Casual Photophile). MM lenses, with the green-painted minimum aperture, work in every mode; AE lenses give aperture priority and manual only (davidde.com).

The reviews agree on what it is for. Cheyenne Morrison recommends it because of how well it works: the finder is big and bright, the metering is the most capable in any Contax manual-focus body, and the weight makes the Zeiss lenses the heaviest thing in the bag. davidde.com would take it over a Leica R7 or a Nikon FM3a and finds the finder better than anything from the consumer SLRs before it, while noting that the matrix meter underexposes in difficult light and is less sophisticated than Nikon’s, that 1/125 sync is merely adequate, that the motor is quiet rather than silent, and that most of the lenses make it front-heavy. Both point to the RX as the cheaper way to the same features in a bigger, heavier body with focus aids the Aria lacks.

Production ran to December 2004 by Casual Photophile’s account and the camera sold into 2005, when Kyocera ended the Contax/Yashica system. No production total and no Japanese launch price have been found; the yen figures above are the maker’s list prices as archived late in the run.

Expand Collapse

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

Asking price, USD: a median of $420 across 57 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-02 (middle half $370–$600). Tracked since 2026-11-01, 2 days: unchanged from $420.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-11-02$420$370–$60057
2026-11-01$420$370–$60057

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Show 91 more listings

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

Related: Contax 167 MT · Contax AX · Contax RX · Contax RX II · Contax S2 · Contax S2b · Contax ST

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 (9)

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.