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I recall having a conversation with a professional event photographer friend of mine in the mid-1990s. He was probably in his mid-60s at the time and had just traded in his Nikon F3 bodies for a pair of Nikon N8008s auto-focus cameras. I remember him saying that he would have probably shot those F3s forever if his eyesight wasn’t beginning to fail him. Retirement wasn’t an option, he told me, so auto-focus allowed him to continue earning a living. Luckily, I don’t earn my living with my photography and my +1.50 readers are fine for computer work, reading and other close-up tasks. But I have been struggling a bit with my manual focus cameras lately making me regret selling my last two auto-focus cameras late last year. I have a Fujifilm X-T1 for digital photography, but I started yearning for another auto-focus film body.

I considered all of the usual suspects…Nikon F4, F5, N90s…or perhaps I might even begin a journey into Canon auto-focus film bodies. I browsed eBay and also kept my eye on the used gear case at my local camera store. Over the course of a couple of weeks, two cameras appeared there; a Nikon N8008s, which I felt was a nod to my aforementioned photographer friend and a Contax N1. I was very familiar with the Nikon but knew nothing about the N1. The N8008s was a steal for under a hundred bucks complete with a Nikkor 28-85mm f/3.5-4.5 AF-D zoom. The Contax body, which was new old stock, in its original box and with the “remove before shooting” insert still in the film chamber. The N1 cost me $200.

The Contax N1 was one of the last film cameras manufactured by Kyocera who, throughout the 1990s, built some brilliant Contax 35mm SLRs. I had a Contax RX for several years and loved that camera along with its amazing Carl Zeiss lenses. You can read my review of the RX here.

The N1 was introduced in 2000, aimed at professional photographers. A pro-sumer model, the NX came out about the same time. In 2002, Contax released the N Digital, the first professional digital SLR with a full frame sensor. Kyocera would halt all camera production a few years later in 2005. Unlike earlier Contax cameras which used the Contax/Yashica (C/Y) mount lenses, the N1, NX and N Digital used the new N mount glass. In cooperation with Carl Zeiss, Contax released a few prime lenses for the N cameras and several zooms:

Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 17-35mm F/2.8
Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 24-85mm F/3.5-4.5
Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 28-80mm F/3.5-5.6
Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm F/1.4
Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 70-200mm F/3.5-4.5
Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 70-300mm F/4.0-5.6
Carl Zeiss Planar T* 85mm F/1.4
Carl Zeiss Makro-Sonnar T* 100mm F/2.8
Carl Zeiss Tele-Apotessar T* 400mm F/4

While I easily stumbled across the N1 body at a good price, finding an affordable lens, I would soon discover, would be much more difficult. I have always been a prime lens guy and really like 50mm. With that in mind, I started my N mount search looking for a 50mm Carl Zeiss Planar, which I had owned before in C/Y mount with my Contax RX. All of the N mount Planars I found were between $700 and $1000…way out of my budget. After some research, I found that the two Vario-Sonnar mid-range zooms were closer to my price range and would give me the 50mm focal length as well as wide-angle and medium telephoto. The 28-80 was the most affordable and also offered me macro capability. Interestingly, the only Contax N mount lenses I could find for sale in any focal length were from Japanese sellers. I’ve purchased several cameras and a few lenses from Japan and have always had good luck, so after finding a 28-80 from a seller with lots of good reviews and a 100% rating, I pulled the trigger. One of the things I find very cool about buying from Japanese sellers on eBay is that shipping is usually free and the items arrive here in California in 2-3 days via FedEx, as was the case with my lens.

With all of the anticipation of a kid at Christmas, I eagerly unwrapped my lens and mounted it to my N1 body, inserted the big 6v Lithium 2CR5 battery and turned on the camera. Everything came to life except…the auto-focus lens wouldn’t auto-focus. I fiddled with switches and knobs and poured over the owner’s manual. In manual focus mode, everything worked fine. The lens focused manually and the focus confirmation indicator in the viewfinder worked as designed. I was stumped. Was it the lens or was it the camera? While you can find oodles of information about Nikon or Canon camera issues online, there’s not much out there on the Contax N1 or these lenses. I called the camera shop I bought it from and they just shrugged…”Can’t say what the problem might be. Maybe the camera body, maybe the lens. That’s the first Contax camera we’ve ever had in the store. You’re a great customer. You can return it for a full refund if you want.” I really liked the N1 and because it was hardly used, if at all, my hunch told me the fault was in the lens, not the camera body. I contacted the seller in Japan and told him that the lens would not auto-focus. The seller was responsive and kind, suggesting I try this and try that before initiating a return. The one forum I found on these lenses mentioned that it could possibly be a stripped focus gear. After a few days of back and forth messages, I mentioned the stripped gear idea to the seller and he authorized the return for a full refund. Back online, I found another 28-80 from a different Japanese seller and three days later, I was once again unwrapping and eagerly mounting a lens to my N1. This time…bingo! The lens auto-focused like a dream!

The N1 is a feature-packed camera. Multiple shooting modes including manual, aperture and shutter priority and a fully automatic program mode. Multiple metering patterns too. Shutter speeds from 4 seconds up to `1/8000th of second. Exposure compensation, multiple drive and auto-focus modes, selectable auto-focus points, manual focus assist and probably more things once I read the entire owners’s manual.

The N1 has a big and bright viewfinder with adjustable diopter that displays all of the information a photographer needs to know about what the camera is doing along the bottom of the screen. There are five auto-focus points in the center of the finder that illuminate to indicate which one you have selected or all, if you use five-point AF. The N1 focuses quickly and quietly, relatively speaking. One cool feature is that if you are shooting in manual focus, there’s a button on the back of the camera that gives you one quick burst of auto-focus just to for peace of mind. Even though the camera is large with the zoom mounted, like all of the other Contax cameras I have tried, it fits your hand like a glove and is well balanced. Ergonomically, I think Contax really nailed it with the N1.

By the time I got the lens quest figured out, life got busy and I didn’t have much time to get out and do any real shooting with my N1. My test roll was Kodak Pro Image 100 documenting the flowers in my backyard.

And, the wheel on my car…

The N1 would be a perfect auto-focus companion for me if I could find the 50mm Zeiss Planar lens at an affordable price. And I am not sure why these N lenses are so expensive. I mean there aren’t a lot of Contax N users out there I imagine. I need to get out of my backyard with this camera and really put it through its paces, but after this brief test drive, the N1 is definitely two thumbs up.