#CONTAX 645 FILM PROFESSIONAL#
square), you should give very serious consideration to this camera very solid, professional piece of equipment. In English: Contax 645 AF Medium Format SLR Camera at medfmt Contax 645 AF Lens.
![contax 645 film contax 645 film](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/zzoAAOSwbiRhc8aG/s-l640.jpg)
The camera and lenses were discontinued in 2005. It's a marvelous, well-designed, well-manufactured camera. The Contax 645 AF is a 6×4.5cm medium-format, autofocus film camera, introduced by Kyocera under the Contax brand in 1999 with a range of interchangeable lenses. I would also like to see leaf shutter lenses and short barrel lenses soon. Primed for digital, the Contax 645 is the perfect hybrid solution for photographers shooting 120 film but needing the flexibility of digital to help expand what they offer. I will have to admit that I would have liked some sort of matrix metering, given all the electronic trouble they were going to anyway. The Contax 645, a robust system familiar with many for its unique look, beautiful lenses and it’s mechanical reliability. I would have loved an averaging spot-meter, like they have in the Rollei 6008i or the Olympus OM4 and OM3 models, but this is just a quibble. And, while I haven't compared the shutter noise to the Mamiya 645 AF, it is certainly considerably quieter than the Pentax 645n. The viewfinder brightness and crispness alone could hook you on this camera.
![contax 645 film contax 645 film](https://bamberphotography.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/photo.jpg)
There are a lot of good, useful features: The flash system is great. The flexibility of the system - interchangeable finders and backs - make it unique among the AF medium format SLRs. For the most part, the control layout is intuitive. Sometimes I look at a print of what I know to be a perfectly ordinary shot, and the quality of the lens is such that my breath catches. The AA adapter with ni-cads is my (and others) solution, but it's a partial fix only, adding bulk, weight and inconvenience. The battery consumption in particular is truly appalling, literally four to six rolls of 220 with the vacuum back per lithium cell! I can't help but conclude that Contax have been caught out in the same way that Leica were with the motor drive for the R8, the production models eating batteries far beyond the design criteria. All three represent significant shortcomings, so much so that the Contax is really a "system in waiting", and I'm hoping there will be a version two that addresses these problems. The problems are battery consumption, auto shut down nafter 16 seconds, and focus speed in low light.
![contax 645 film contax 645 film](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/GssAAOSw9EVg3-gQ/s-l300.jpg)
Being ultra critical the Contax lenses are fractionally, minutely down on the 'Blad 38mm, 100mm, and 180mm (I can't speak for the longer lenses), but more than fractionally up against the 'Blad 40mm and 50mm, and significantly up against the 'Blad 120mm macro. The reality didn't quite live up to the theory. I came to the Contax 645 after several years of using both Pentax 645 AF and Hasselblad, I was disapointed in the Pentax lens & build quality and delighted with Zeiss, so why not put the advantages together in the Contax 645?