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

Contax ST

Contax (Kyocera) · Contax/Yashica mount · 24 × 36mm on 35mm film (cdegroot.com spec sheet) · 1992

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: Contax ST · CONTAX ST · Kyocera Contax ST · Contax ST body · Contax ST 35mm SLR · Contax ST C/Y · Contax ST Zeiss · コンタックス ST · コンタックスST · コンタックス ST ボディ

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
ST (1992–) Contax/Yashica 1992 — —
  1. Every figure in the specification fields comes from cdegroot.com's spec sheet, which reproduces the maker's specification without naming its edition; no Kyocera document for the ST was reached. en.wikipedia's table agrees on 1/6000, 1/200 X-sync and the two metering patterns, and Japanese Wikipedia on 1/6000, the illuminated LCD and the battery case. The ST's shutter is said by a dprforum owner to be the RTS III's mechanism; that is one forum member's statement and no maker's source confirms it.
  2. No launch price was found. Japanese Wikipedia's Contax article gives no body prices, and the ST was absent from Kyocera's product site by December 2003, so no late list price survives there either; no US advertisement was reached.
  3. The 1/6000 top speed applies in the automatic modes only; shutter priority and manual stop at 1/4000 (cdegroot.com). Reviews and listings that quote 1/6000 without the qualification are not wrong, but a body tested in manual does not reach it.
  4. Owners on the dprforum thread report that the camera has no mirror pre-release, and that a loud sound at the end of motorised rewind is normal for the model.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Large shutter-speed knob and exposure-compensation dial on the top plate, with a small LCD for the frame counter and film speed; most controls are locked, in the manner of a Nikon F4 (cameragx)
  • Metering selector and the electromagnetic release on the right-hand side of the top plate (cameragx)
  • The LCD panel illuminates in the dark (Japanese Wikipedia; cdegroot's 'info light')
  • Built-in dioptre adjustment and an eyepiece shutter at the finder (cdegroot.com)
  • Kyocera-Japan signature on the body (cameragx)
  • Ceramic film pressure plate behind the hinged back (cdegroot.com; cameragx)

ST (1992–):

  • Kyocera-Japan signature on the body (cameragx)

Specifications

Format
24 × 36mm on 35mm film (cdegroot.com spec sheet)
Finder
Fixed eye-level pentaprism with a long eyepoint, built-in continuously adjustable dioptre correction and an eyepiece shutter; interchangeable FW-type focusing screens, horizontal split-image microprism as standard; LED readout of aperture and shutter speed with over/under, metering, flash-ready, compensation, bracketing and frame-counter indications (cdegroot.com; cameragx) · 0.8× magnification · 95% coverage · no rangefinder image
Shutter
Electronically operated vertical-travel metal focal plane, electromagnetic release with exposure-check function, cable-release socket (cdegroot.com) · Auto (Av and P) 16s–1/6000; Tv and manual 1s–1/4000; B and X (cdegroot.com; en.wikipedia and Japanese Wikipedia give the 1/6000 top speed) · flash sync X at 1/200 or slower on the direct-contact hot shoe; TTL direct flash control with TLA units, and second-curtain sync with the TLA units that support it (cdegroot.com; en.wikipedia gives 1/200) · self-timer
Film advance
Built-in micro-motor: automatic loading, single-frame and continuous advance at 3 frames/s, automatic rewind at the end of the roll with mid-roll rewind; additive frame counter with automatic reset; no multiple-exposure facility (cdegroot.com)
Back
Ceramic film pressure plate (cdegroot.com; cameragx)
Meter
TTL silicon photodiode, centre-weighted average (EV 0–20) or spot (EV 4–20), both at ISO 100 with an f/1.4 lens; aperture priority, shutter priority with auto shift, program and manual, with TTL auto flash, manual TTL auto flash and manual flash; AE lock stores the reading, and works only in spot mode by cameragx's account; exposure compensation ±2 EV in 1/3 steps; A.B.C. bracketing of three frames at ±0.5 or ±1 EV; film speed by DX code (ISO 25–5000) or by hand (ISO 6–6400) (cdegroot.com; cameragx)
Motor drive
Not compatible — The motor is built in, at 3 frames/s; no separate winder or motor drive exists. An external battery case with a vertical-format shutter release was offered (Japanese Wikipedia).
Weight
800 g
Dimensions
151.5 × 97.5 × 55, 800g without batteries (cdegroot.com) mm
Country
Japan
Accessories
External battery case with a vertical-format shutter release (Japanese Wikipedia) · TLA-series flashes with TTL direct control on the hot shoe, with second-curtain sync on the units that support it (cdegroot.com) · Interchangeable FW-type focusing screens, FW-1 to FW-5 (cdegroot.com) · Cable release, on the release's own socket (cdegroot.com)

cameragx rates the finder among the best of its time for magnification and eyepoint, and measures its image about half a stop darker than a Nikon FE2's because the standard screen is not an ultra-bright type. cdegroot's sheet says four screens are available but lists five, FW-1 to FW-5; Kyocera's RX II page names five FW-type screens for that body.

What reviewers say

History

The Contax ST went on sale in Japan in October 1992, two years after the RTS III and in the same autumn as the mechanical S2 (Japanese Wikipedia; cdegroot.com). It is the smaller, cheaper Contax of the pair: Japanese Wikipedia calls it a compact premium body on a different path from the heavy flagship, and the cameragx reviewer a simplified, less bulky derivative of the RTS III. What it kept from the flagship was the ceramic film pressure plate and the general layout of locked dials; what it dropped was the vacuum back, the 100% finder and the 1/8000 shutter. Its own figure is 1/6000, reached only in the automatic modes, with shutter priority and manual stopping at 1/4000 and X-sync at 1/200 (cdegroot.com; en.wikipedia).

The specification is that of a complete multi-mode body of its day: program, aperture-priority, shutter-priority with auto shift and manual exposure, centre-weighted or spot metering from a silicon photodiode, TTL flash with second-curtain sync on the TLA units that support it, three-frame bracketing at half or whole stops, DX film-speed reading, a built-in motor at 3 frames/s with automatic loading and rewind, and a finder with 95% coverage, 0.8× magnification, built-in dioptre correction and an eyepiece shutter (cdegroot.com). It runs on four AAA cells, and Kyocera sold an external battery case with a vertical-format release for it (Japanese Wikipedia). Two things it does without are multiple exposure and any mirror pre-release (cdegroot.com; dprforum owners). The LCD panel lights up in the dark, a feature Japanese Wikipedia singles out.

By 1992 the other Japanese makers had moved their SLR lines to autofocus, so a manual-focus body specified like a mid-1980s professional camera was an outlier, and that is the ground on which its one blog review judges it: cameragx finds it dense and comfortable, with little plastic and a finish that still looked new after 28 years, and rates the finder among the best of its time for magnification and eyepoint, if half a stop darker than a Nikon FE2’s. Owners on dprforum add that it was chosen over the RX for reliability and that the loud sound at the end of a motorised rewind is normal.

No launch price was found in any source reached, and no end date: Kyocera’s product site as archived in December 2003 no longer listed the ST among the Contax/Yashica-mount bodies.

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 167 MT · Contax Aria · Contax AX · Contax RTS III · Contax RX · Contax S2

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 (6)

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.