The Contax 167MT Is a Beast

Some cameras are beautiful.

Some cameras are weird.

And then there are cameras that make you think someone in 1986 was trying to build the future.

The Contax 167MT is definitely the third one.

We had one come through the shop recently, and after spending some time shooting with it, we completely understood why this slightly strange-looking Contax deserves more attention.

A Contax, but not the one you're thinking of

When most people hear “Contax”, they probably think of a G2, an RX, or one of those beautiful Zeiss-lensed cameras that somehow became more expensive every time someone posted one on Instagram.

The 167MT is different.

It's a 35mm SLR made by Kyocera, introduced in 1986, and it was designed as a serious professional camera. It doesn't have the minimalist charm of a mechanical SLR. Instead, it looks like someone took a classic film camera and asked:

“Okay, but what if we put a computer in it?”

And honestly, we're into it.

It's seriously loaded

The 167MT was way ahead of its time.

You've got program auto exposure, aperture priority, shutter priority and fully manual exposure, plus centre-weighted and spot metering. There's also automatic exposure bracketing and TTL flash metering. The electronic shutter runs from 16 seconds all the way up to 1/4000 sec.

In other words, this thing has more ways to take a picture than most people actually need.

And that's part of what makes it fun.

The controls don't feel like they're trying to hide the technology. There's an LCD display on the top of the camera, another display inside the viewfinder, and a little sliding control that lets you move through the settings.

It's very 1980s.

It's also surprisingly intuitive.

The lens is where things get serious

The particular camera we shot was paired with a Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm f/1.4.

And yeah...

It's good.

Really good.

The Planar gives you that combination of sharpness, contrast and beautiful rendering that makes you understand why people get slightly obsessive about old Zeiss glass.

At f/1.4, you can shoot in pretty low light while getting that lovely separation between your subject and the background. Stop it down and you've got plenty of detail and punch.

The 167MT body is sophisticated, but the lens is what gives the whole setup its personality.

Fast. Really fast.

One of the things that surprised us most was the motor drive.

You've got three drive modes:

S — Single
C — Continuous
S-T — Self Timer

Put it into continuous mode and the camera absolutely gets moving.

This isn't a camera that feels like it's politely waiting for you to take the next photograph. Hold the shutter down and it'll keep firing, making it a surprisingly good choice for sports, movement, street photography or anything where the moment lasts about half a second.

For a film camera from 1986, it feels kind of ridiculous.

In a good way.

Looking through it

The viewfinder is big and bright, and that's probably one of the first things you'll notice when you actually pick one up.

The camera gives you your exposure information inside the viewfinder, so you don't need to constantly take your eye away from the scene to check what you're doing. The top LCD also shows the important settings, including film speed, exposure mode and shutter information.

It's a small thing, but it makes the camera feel much more modern than its age suggests.

So what's it like to shoot?

Honestly?

Really nice.

The camera feels solid without being completely ridiculous to carry around. The controls are responsive, the metering is useful and the viewfinder makes composing easy.

And despite having an intimidating number of settings, you don't actually have to think about them very much.

Stick it in aperture priority, put a roll of 400 ISO film in it and go.

Or switch to manual and start messing around.

That's the beauty of the 167MT. It can be as simple or as nerdy as you want it to be.

The underrated Contax?

We think so.

The 167MT doesn't have the cult status of some of the other Contax cameras, and maybe that's exactly why we like it.

It's not trying to be a fashion accessory.

It's a proper 35mm SLR, built around a very good lens system, with a ridiculous amount of control and a motor drive that still feels fast today.

It's a bit chunky. It's a bit complicated. It's very electronic.

And it's an absolute beast.

If you see one in the wild, pick it up.

Put some film through it.

You might be surprised.

All photographs by Alessandro Iotti.