Contax S2
Contax (Kyocera) · Contax/Yashica mount · 1992
single source, unconfirmedAlso known as: Contax S2 · CONTAX S2 · Kyocera Contax S2 · Contax S2 body · Contax S2 titanium · Contax S2 60 Years · Contax S2 60th · Contax S2 C/Y · コンタックス S2 · コンタックスS2 · CONTAX S2 ボディ · コンタックス S2 チタン
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S2 (titanium colour, 1992–2000) | Contax/Yashica | 1992–2000 | — | — |
- No launch price in yen or dollars was found in any source read for this page; Japanese Wikipedia's Contax article lists no body prices, and Kyocera's own pages for the S2 were not reached. Used prices are the only figures: about $300–400 for an S2 in 2020 (35mmc) and an average eBay selling price of $447 over the six months before October 2022 (Casual Photophile).
- Weight and size are disputed by a few grams and a millimetre: 560g and 134 × 89 × 50mm (Casual Photophile) against 565g and 134.5 × 89 × 51mm (Emulsive; 35mmc gives 565g, and the S2b's specification on cdegroot.com gives the same 565g and 134.5 × 89 × 51mm). The 565g figures are adopted as the better supported.
- 35mmc and Emulsive both say the S2 was released for Contax's sixtieth anniversary. Dealer listings seen by search title it 'S2 60 Years', but none of the three reviews describes a 60 Years marking on the body, and none was confirmed for this page.
- The factory conversion of some S2 bodies to centre-weighted metering rests on Japanese Wikipedia alone, which is the single-source flag on this page.
- Emulsive's specification table calls the shutter 'electronically controlled', which its own text and a reader contradict; Japanese Wikipedia, Casual Photophile and 35mmc all have it fully mechanical, and the camera fires with no cells fitted.
How to tell them apart
- Titanium-coloured top and bottom plates, CONTAX in black on the prism (Emulsive; 35mmc); the S2b is the same camera in a black finish
- Shutter-speed dial on the right, the only Contax SLR so arranged (Japanese Wikipedia)
- Finder shows the shutter speed and the meter LEDs but not the set aperture (35mmc)
- Depth-of-field preview button and a shutter-release lock; no mirror lock-up, though the self-timer raises the mirror before the exposure (35mmc and its readers; cdegroot.com for the S2b)
S2 (titanium colour, 1992–2000):
- Silver titanium-coloured top and bottom plates with CONTAX in black across the prism hump (Emulsive; 35mmc)
- Shutter-speed dial on the right of the top plate, where every other Contax SLR puts the mode and release (Japanese Wikipedia), with the 1/250 sync speed colour-coded on the dial (Casual Photophile)
- Spot meter only; a body that reads centre-weighted is either an S2b or an S2 converted at the factory (Japanese Wikipedia)
- S2 (titanium colour, 1992–2000): The only version in this finish. Japanese Wikipedia records that some S2 bodies were converted at the factory to centre-weighted metering before the S2b appeared; nothing external is known to mark them. Sold alongside the S2b until both were discontinued in 2000 (Casual Photophile; Emulsive).
Specifications
- Finder
- fixed eye-level pentaprism with dioptre adjustment; LEDs for the meter reading, shutter speed, over- and under-exposure and flash ready; interchangeable screens FU4 (horizontal split image and microprism, standard), FU3 (45° split image), FU5 (matte) and FU6 (grid) (Casual Photophile; Emulsive) · 0.82× magnification · 95% coverage · no rangefinder image
- Shutter
- Copal vertical-travel metal focal plane, fully mechanical; the camera fires without batteries (Japanese Wikipedia; Casual Photophile) · 1s–1/4000, B (Casual Photophile; 35mmc; Emulsive) · flash sync 1/250, X contact on the shoe and a PC socket (Casual Photophile; Emulsive) · self-timer
- Film advance
- single-stroke lever, no split-stroke winding and no winder or motor offered; manual rewind by crank; multiple-exposure lever (Japanese Wikipedia; 35mmc)
- Back
- hinged, opened by pulling up the rewind knob (as described for the S2b, which shares the body)
- Meter
- TTL silicon-photodiode spot meter, 5mm, EV 4–20 at ISO 100 and f/1.4, ISO 12–6400, manual exposure only; no TTL flash metering (Casual Photophile; 35mmc; English Wikipedia). Powered by two LR44 or SR44 cells, the meter being the only thing that needs them
- Motor drive
- Not compatible — No winder or motor drive was made for it (Japanese Wikipedia)
- Weight
- 565 g
- Dimensions
- 134.5 × 89 × 51 (W × H × D), body only (Emulsive); Casual Photophile gives 134 × 89 × 50 mm
- Country
- Japan
- Accessories
- Focusing screens FU3 (45° split image), FU4 (horizontal split image and microprism, standard), FU5 (matte) and FU6 (grid) (Emulsive; 35mmc) · Eight optional dioptre lenses for the eyepiece (Emulsive) · Contax TLA flashes on the X-contact shoe, without TTL metering; PC socket (Casual Photophile; English Wikipedia) · Two LR44 or SR44 cells for the meter (Casual Photophile)
Where sources disagree
- Weight (grams)
- 560g — Casual Photophile
- 565g — 35mmc; Emulsive; cdegroot.com's S2b specification
Better supported: 565g
- Dimensions (mm)
- 134 × 89 × 50mm — Casual Photophile
- 134.5 × 89 × 51mm — Emulsive; cdegroot.com's S2b specification
Better supported: 134.5 × 89 × 51
- Meter (batteries)
- Two LR44 or SR44 cells — Casual Photophile; cdegroot.com for the S2b
- One LR44/SR44 — Emulsive's table
Better supported: Two
- Type
- Fully mechanical, works without batteries — Japanese Wikipedia; Casual Photophile; 35mmc; Emulsive's text
- 'Electronically controlled' — Emulsive's specification table
Better supported: Fully mechanical
What reviewers say
- James Tocchio (Casual Photophile) (blog) — 'The Contax S2 is a great camera' that belongs with the legendary all-mechanical SLRs, from a reviewer who admits he prefers automation. He sets out the full specification, the two batteries that power nothing but the meter, and the market: an average eBay price of $447 over the previous six months, against $50–100 for a Minolta SRT, OM-1 or X-700 that does the same job without the titanium or the Zeiss mount.
- Joe Monat (35mmc) (blog) — 'The Beauty of Simplicity': an incredible, reliable, well-made camera whose narrow spot meter is hard to fool and whose 1/4000 lets fast lenses open up in daylight. Against it: a loud shutter with a ring after it, no mirror lock-up, a stiff speed dial, no aperture shown in the finder, and a price that buys a Nikon FM several times over. He went back to a Leica M; the Zeiss lenses are the reason to buy.
- Tom Sebastiano (Emulsive) (blog) — 'Simple is best': a 'blameless camera' that hands the photographer ISO, aperture and shutter speed and nothing else, which he finds liberating. Carries the maker's table, including the four focusing screens and the eight dioptre lenses.
History
The S2 arrived in September 1992, sixty years after the Zeiss Ikon Contax I, and it is the odd one out in the Contax/Yashica line: a fully mechanical, manual-exposure camera from a maker whose every other SLR since the RTS of 1975 had been electronic (Japanese Wikipedia; 35mmc; Emulsive). Its Copal vertical-travel metal shutter runs from 1 second to 1/4000 with X sync at 1/250, and fires with no batteries in the camera; the two LR44 cells power only the meter, a 5mm silicon-photodiode spot reading EV 4–20 at ISO 100 and f/1.4, with the result shown by LEDs in the finder beside the shutter speed (Casual Photophile; 35mmc). The top and bottom plates are titanium in a titanium colour, the finder shows 95% at 0.82× and takes four interchangeable screens, and the whole thing weighs 565g (Emulsive; Casual Photophile).
Kyocera placed the shutter-speed dial on the right of the top plate, where no other Contax SLR has it, gave the camera a single-stroke lever without the split-stroke winding of its stablemates, and made no winder or motor for it (Japanese Wikipedia). There is a depth-of-field preview, a shutter-release lock, a multiple-exposure lever and a 10-second mechanical self-timer, but no mirror lock-up, which 35mmc counts against it for tripod work; a reader there points out that the self-timer raises the mirror before the exposure. Some S2 bodies were converted at the factory to centre-weighted metering, by Japanese Wikipedia’s account, before the black S2b of 1993 or 1994 made that meter standard; the two sold side by side until both were discontinued in 2000 (Casual Photophile; Emulsive).
Three reviewers reach the same place from different directions. James Tocchio, who prefers automation, still calls it a great camera and puts it with the legendary mechanical SLRs, while noting that a Minolta SRT or an OM-1 does the same job for a tenth of the money. Joe Monat values the spot meter, which is hard to fool, and the 1/4000 top speed that lets fast Zeiss lenses open up in daylight, and lists the faults plainly: a loud shutter that rings afterwards, a stiff speed dial, no aperture readout in the finder, a meter on his example that leaned half a stop toward overexposure. Tom Sebastiano calls it a blameless camera that leaves the photographer nothing to blame but himself. All three say the lenses are the reason to own it.
No launch price has been found. Used, Monat put an S2 at $300–400 in 2020 and Tocchio found an average eBay selling price of $447 over the six months before October 2022, with the S2b dearer.
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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