Duration estimation of square-wave gratings presented for "short" (up to 150 ms) and "long" (above 190 ms) time intervals was studied. The spatial frequency (SF) of the gratings with equal mean luminance and contrast 85% varied from 0.7 to 12 c/deg. Duration estimates were assessed by the method of magnitude estimation. For brief presentations only the duration of high SF gratings was subjectively shorter than the duration of low SF gratings. It was shown that the apparent contrast of the square-wave gratings decreased with the increase of SF. In an experiment on duration estimation of patterns of different contrast it was demonstrated that duration estimates increased with increasing contrast for short presentations only. The apparent contrast of the gratings covarying with SF was supposed to underlie SF influence on short duration estimation. The assumption about different mechanisms operating in short and long duration perception was supported by the results.