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

Contax NX

Contax (Kyocera) · Contax N mount · 24×36mm on 35mm film, DX-coded, hinged back · 2001

Also known as: Contax NX · CONTAX NX · Kyocera Contax NX · Contax NX body · Contax NX AF · Contax NX 28-80 · コンタックス NX · コンタックスNX · CONTAX NX ボディ · 京セラ CONTAX NX

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
NX (2001–2005) Contax N 2001–2005 — No figure published
  1. The launch price rests on one forum review from the camera's first months (dprforum) and is in euro; kakaku.com lists no maker's price in Japan, and Kyocera's archived NX product page, reached only as a navigation shell, gives no figure.
  2. Weight and dimensions are camera-wiki's and kakaku.com's, both reproducing Kyocera's specification; neither states whether 605g includes batteries.
  3. The battery, two 3V CR2 lithium cells, is camera-wiki's figure alone.
  4. No serial table has been published and no serial location is recorded in the sources reached.
  5. Casual Photophile's reviewers put a body with the 28–80mm at roughly $200–350 in 2020, with the primes above $500.
  6. kakaku.com holds one user review of the 28–80mm kit, scored 5 of 5; its text was not read.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Built-in pop-up flash and a 1/4000 top speed: the N1 has no flash and runs to 1/8000 (camera-wiki; Mike Eckman)
  • Ten-contact N bayonet with no aperture-coupling levers: C/Y lenses do not mount, and a Contax 645 lens on the body means the NAM-1 adapter (Mike Eckman on the mount; camera-wiki on the NAM-1)
  • Thumbstick on the back right for the AF point and a menu-driven interface where the N1 has dials (Casual Photophile)

NX (2001–2005):

  • Pop-up flash on the prism housing, which no other Contax SLR of the N or C/Y lines carries (camera-wiki; Mike Eckman)
  • Front and rear control dials, a large top-plate LCD and a thumbstick on the back right for choosing the AF point; most settings live in a menu rather than on dedicated dials (Casual Photophile)
  • Plastic outer body, 605g against the N1's 795g (Casual Photophile; camera-wiki)
  • Cable-switch socket for the release (camera-wiki)

Specifications

Format
24×36mm on 35mm film, DX-coded, hinged back
Finder
Fixed eye-level pentaprism with built-in pop-up flash and hot shoe; the finder readout shows shutter speed, aperture, metering mode, focus confirmation and exposure compensation · 0.78× magnification · 93% coverage · no rangefinder image
Shutter
vertical-travel metal focal plane, electronically controlled · 32s–1/4000 in program, aperture priority and shutter priority; 32s–1/4000 and B in manual; X 1/125 in manual (camera-wiki) · flash sync X at 1/125 (camera-wiki; Mike Eckman) · self-timer
Film advance
built-in motor: single frame or continuous at up to 2.3 frames/s, automatic loading, DX reading, motorised rewind (camera-wiki; Japanese Wikipedia)
Back
hinged; an optional date back was offered (Japanese Wikipedia, which gives no model name)
Meter
TTL: evaluative (matrix) EV 0–21, centre-weighted average EV 0–20, spot EV 3–20, at ISO 100 with f/1.4 (camera-wiki); Casual Photophile gives the spot as 3%. Program, aperture priority, shutter priority and manual, set with front and rear dials; a mode switch toggles two user-configurable presets; ISO from DX code or by hand. Built-in flash, guide number 13.5 at ISO 100, covering a 28mm lens, with red-eye reduction; Eckman notes new flash metering modes over the N1.
Motor drive
Not compatible — Advance and rewind are built in, so no separate winder or motor drive exists for the N bodies (camera-wiki; Japanese Wikipedia).
Weight
605 g
Dimensions
142 × 113 × 66, 605g (camera-wiki; kakaku.com; neither says whether the figure includes the two CR2 cells) mm
Country
Japan
Original price
899 euro at the European launch in December 2001, 450 euro below the N1 (dprforum review thread). No Japanese list price was found: kakaku.com's record carries none. No US price was found.
Accessories
Optional date back (Japanese Wikipedia; model name not given) · Cable switch for the release socket (camera-wiki) · NAM-1 adapter for Contax 645 lenses with autofocus, shared with the N1 (camera-wiki Contax N1; Casual Photophile)

0.78× with a 50mm lens at infinity, 93% coverage (camera-wiki; kakaku.com). No interchangeable screens are recorded.

Where sources disagree

First
  • 8 December 2001 — kakaku.com's product record; December 2001 at 899 euro — dprforum review thread
  • 2002 — camera-wiki; announced February 2002 — Mike Eckman

Better supported: 2001

The Japanese and European releases came in December 2001; February 2002 is the PMA season, when the camera reached the American press.

What reviewers say

History

The NX followed the N1 by fifteen months as the consumer body of the N system: on sale in Japan from 8 December 2001 by kakaku.com’s record, and in Europe the same month at 899 euro, 450 euro below the N1. Japanese and English Wikipedia both call it the model for advanced amateurs, and the specification says the same. The top speed drops from 1/8000 to 1/4000 and the frame rate from 3.5 to 2.3 a second, the pentaprism shows 93% at 0.78× with no interchangeable screens, the outer body is plastic, and the whole thing weighs 605g against the N1’s 795g. What it gains is a pop-up flash, guide number 13.5, with red-eye reduction and new flash metering modes, and a price that let the kit with the Vario-Sonnar 28–80mm f/3.5–5.6, the one N lens introduced with it, reach a different buyer.

Underneath, the camera is the same system. The ten-contact N bayonet takes every lens made for the N1 and the N Digital and, through the NAM-1 adapter, the Contax 645 lenses with autofocus; it takes no Contax/Yashica lens at all. Five phase-detection AF points are chosen one at a time with a thumbstick on the back right, the meter reads evaluative, centre-weighted or 3% spot, and exposure runs in program, aperture priority, shutter priority or manual from front and rear dials, with a switch that toggles two user-set presets. The interface is where the NX departs from the Contax tradition: the N1’s dedicated dials are replaced by multipurpose buttons, a rear dial and a menu, which is the one thing every reviewer complains about.

Casual Photophile’s two-handed review is the only long one in English. Drew Chambers finds the body uninspired in looks and ergonomics, with its major settings buried in a menu, and keeps using it because the pictures are beautiful; his kit zoom’s AF motor failed after a few months. James Tocchio agrees almost entirely, says the camera fits him and gets out of the way, and reserves his praise for the lenses, which he calls godly. Both are describing a camera that in 2020 cost $200–350 with its zoom, while the primes that fit it sold for more than the body.

There is one model and nothing to confuse it with except its stablemates: the flash on the prism and the 1/4000 on the dial separate it from the N1, and the film door from the N Digital. No production total and no serial table have been published, and no serial location is recorded in the sources reached. Production ended, with every other Contax, when Kyocera left the camera business in 2005.

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

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 N1

Lenses for this body: Makro-Sonnar T* 100mm f/2.8 (N) · Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 (N) · Planar T* 85mm f/1.4 (N) · Tele-Apotessar T* 400mm f/4 (N) · Vario-Sonnar T* 17–35mm f/2.8 (N) · Vario-Sonnar T* 24–85mm f/3.5–4.5 (N) · Vario-Sonnar T* 28–80mm f/3.5–5.6 (N) · Vario-Sonnar T* 70–200mm f/3.5–4.5 (N) · Vario-Sonnar T* 70–300mm f/4–5.6 (N)

Sources (7)

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.