Contax 167MT

[Mark Von Lanken]

I recently purchased a couple of lenses along with a Contax 167MT. I bought the package deal for the lenses and I have no use for the camera body. I would like to know what the value is of the 167MT as I would like to sell it, but want to list it at a reasonable price.

I can post some pictures of it, but it seems to be in really good shape. It powers up, the LCD screen comes on with f/stop and shutter readout info and it seems to function properly. When I click to take a picture it activates the lens as well as the film, well it would if there was film in the camera.

This is a much more advanced camera than when I was shooting a lot of film with a Pentax ME back in the late 70s early 80s.

Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated in putting a reasonable value on this camera. Thanks.

[Orio]

[Mark Von Lanken]

Hi Orio,

Thanks for your input. So I guess I will be buying a roll of film so I can take some pictures and test it out. Do these cameras have any particular features or functions that cause problems or become faulty that I should be looking for?

[Orio]

[Nikos]

[Mark Von Lanken]

Thanks for all of the good advice. Instead of me trying to learn the camera, spending a few hours in the process of testing and then possibly overlook something do to my lack of experience with it, I will take it to a good camera repair shop that specializes in vintage cameras.

I will then report their findings, good or bad, when I sell it. Thanks again.

[alex]

Typical dealer price in the UK for the 167MT is around £100-£125. Obvious things to test are aperture and speed functions in all modes.

You do not need an MM lens to test MultiMode (Program, Tv) functions on the 167, an ordinary AE lens can be used for this, with only a slight fudge. MM lenses differ from AE in having a small lug which engages with a corresponding lug on the body, and twisting the lens on moves the body lug, which tells the body that an MM lens is engaged and that MM functions can be enabled. You can attach an AE lens then just wedge this lug in place using a small splinter or even a piece of Blu-tack. This done, you will find that the camera will now present Tv and Program options to you, and you can then confirm shutter priority modes and so on. Many people do exactly this fudge for regular photo use, although I don't do it myself, as I rarely use the P or Tv modes anyway.

There is a small window on the back with a diagonal white line showing. This shows film advance, and shows when the film is rewinding, by spinning during film transport. Worth checking, because my first film through my 167 failed, with every exposure made on frame 1, because I hadn't loaded it properly and the first few sprockets ripped. Entirely my fault, not the camera's. Had I checked this window, I'd have spotted the film load error.

Check the obvious things, like the LCD contents match what's seen in the viewfinder. The electronics in my 167 failed ; the camera metered and exposed correctly, but the displays had vanished. My service depot was able to repair it easily.

If you decide to keep it -- I think it's a superb body once you get used to the slider control in place of rotary -- it's worth getting the P5 battery pack. One design feature of the 167 is that the native AAA battery chamber is not isolated from the camera's innards, and a battery leak can be catastrophic. (Guess who's talking from personal experience.) The AA battery chamber in the P5 is isolated from the camera, and at most a battery leak will make a mess of the P5, not the camera electronics.

[Orio]

[poilu]

[Orio]

[Nikos]

[poilu]