Contax RTS Camera
On February 5, 1979 my aunt traded in a Honeywell Pentax Spotmatic F with a F/1.4 50 mm SMC Takumar lens for this Contax RTS Camera which would be the last SLR camera my aunt would own.
The new Contax RTS camera came with a F/1:1.4 Planar Carl Zeiss 50 mm lens. It was priced $459.50 at Photo World Camera on Franklin Street in Chicago. The store gave her $125.00 for her Honeywell Pentax, which was about 6 or 7 years old.
December 19, 1979 She traded in a 35 mm F/2.0 Pentax SMC Takumar lens on a 28 mm F/2.8 Carl Ziess Distagon lens for use on the Contax.
In the mid 90’s (1996?) I bought the Contax RTS camera and two lenses from my aunt for $200.00 as she was no longer using it due to being too heavy. I bought the Contax Real Time Winder (used) at a camera store that sold new & used camera’s. The winder takes six, AA batteries.
I am puzzled as to why my aunt bought this camera. She was done traveling out of the country in 1977. She retired in 1980. I have yet to find any vacation slides dated after 1979, so far I don’t know what she even took pictures of with this camera.
In the 80’s and 90’s my aunt began using some of those disposable camera’s to take on those Mystery Trips that the Senior Center was organizing. At some point she bought an inexpensive Kodak 35 mm point and shoot camera.
I still use the Contax RTS to this day, to shoot slide film. With the winder on the weight is slightly over three pounds.
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Some history I found on the internet:
Contax RTS is an SLR 35mm film camera, manufactured by Yashica and introduced in 1975.
In the early 1970s, production of Zeiss Ikon cameras had ceased but the desire to build a high-quality system using Zeiss lenses remained.
In 1973 the Contax name was licensed to the Japanese maker Yashica to create a prestigious brand of 35mm cameras and interchangeable lenses in cooperation with the German company. By that time, Yashica was a production giant with considerable electronic camera experience, and was seeking ways to expand sales and improve brand name recognition in the highly competitive 35mm SLR market. Thus began ‘Top Secret Project 130’, a collaboration with Carl Zeiss to produce a new, professional 35mm SLR with an electronically-controlled shutter, bearing the Contax brand name, along with a new line of premium quality lenses. The F. Alexander Porsche Group was hired to complete an ergonomic and styling study of the new camera. The result was the all-new Contax RTS, which appeared at Photokina in 1974, and proved an immediate hit.
The RTS featured an electronically-controlled, horizontal cloth focal plane shutter with speeds of 1 - 1/2000 sec. plus B, interchangeable focus screens, and the ability to accept a number of professional accessories including power winders, professional motor drives, and both infrared and radio-controlled remote releases.
Before being replaced by the RTS II, an interesting variant of the RTS was produced in small quantities: the Contax RTS Fundus (also called Scientific/Medical). This was essentially an RTS with two additional features. Firstly, below the shutter speed dial on the front of the top-plate, a locking button was added that prevented the dial from being accidentally knocked from its X-sync (1/60) and Auto settings. The second change was even more useful: the celebrated electronic shutter release of the RTS was incredibly sensitive with a depression of less than 1mm to activate the shutter but in a laboratory, for example, where you may be wearing gloves, accidental firing of a standard RTS was a problem.
Contax solved this by modifying the top plate further and adding a 2mm guard ring around the shutter release button. Most - but not all - of the RTS Fundus cameras had 'Scientific/Medical' stencilled in white on the base plate. A very small number of these bodies also featured additional mirror-damping.
Since the advent of the RTS, Contax cameras have been made by Yashica in Japan, with lenses made by Carl Zeiss - some in Germany, some in Japan by Yashica (later Kyocera). The cameras were noteworthy for their advanced electronics. The Contax Zeiss T* lenses, in particular, soon gained a reputation for superb optical quality. Since manual-focus Contax and Yashica manual-focus 35mm SLR cameras share the same common bayonet lens mount, their lenses may be used interchangeably.
The success of the RTS led to other Contax cameras (see Contax (Yashica/Kyocera)). In the Contax model range, the most professional and most expensive body would always have a name beginning with RTS.
In 1982 the original RTS was replaced by the Contax RTS II.
In 1991 the RTS II was replaced by the Contax RTS III.
Contax RTS Camera
On February 5, 1979 my aunt traded in a Honeywell Pentax Spotmatic F with a F/1.4 50 mm SMC Takumar lens for this Contax RTS Camera which would be the last SLR camera my aunt would own.
The new Contax RTS camera came with a F/1:1.4 Planar Carl Zeiss 50 mm lens. It was priced $459.50 at Photo World Camera on Franklin Street in Chicago. The store gave her $125.00 for her Honeywell Pentax, which was about 6 or 7 years old.
December 19, 1979 She traded in a 35 mm F/2.0 Pentax SMC Takumar lens on a 28 mm F/2.8 Carl Ziess Distagon lens for use on the Contax.
In the mid 90’s (1996?) I bought the Contax RTS camera and two lenses from my aunt for $200.00 as she was no longer using it due to being too heavy. I bought the Contax Real Time Winder (used) at a camera store that sold new & used camera’s. The winder takes six, AA batteries.
I am puzzled as to why my aunt bought this camera. She was done traveling out of the country in 1977. She retired in 1980. I have yet to find any vacation slides dated after 1979, so far I don’t know what she even took pictures of with this camera.
In the 80’s and 90’s my aunt began using some of those disposable camera’s to take on those Mystery Trips that the Senior Center was organizing. At some point she bought an inexpensive Kodak 35 mm point and shoot camera.
I still use the Contax RTS to this day, to shoot slide film. With the winder on the weight is slightly over three pounds.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some history I found on the internet:
Contax RTS is an SLR 35mm film camera, manufactured by Yashica and introduced in 1975.
In the early 1970s, production of Zeiss Ikon cameras had ceased but the desire to build a high-quality system using Zeiss lenses remained.
In 1973 the Contax name was licensed to the Japanese maker Yashica to create a prestigious brand of 35mm cameras and interchangeable lenses in cooperation with the German company. By that time, Yashica was a production giant with considerable electronic camera experience, and was seeking ways to expand sales and improve brand name recognition in the highly competitive 35mm SLR market. Thus began ‘Top Secret Project 130’, a collaboration with Carl Zeiss to produce a new, professional 35mm SLR with an electronically-controlled shutter, bearing the Contax brand name, along with a new line of premium quality lenses. The F. Alexander Porsche Group was hired to complete an ergonomic and styling study of the new camera. The result was the all-new Contax RTS, which appeared at Photokina in 1974, and proved an immediate hit.
The RTS featured an electronically-controlled, horizontal cloth focal plane shutter with speeds of 1 - 1/2000 sec. plus B, interchangeable focus screens, and the ability to accept a number of professional accessories including power winders, professional motor drives, and both infrared and radio-controlled remote releases.
Before being replaced by the RTS II, an interesting variant of the RTS was produced in small quantities: the Contax RTS Fundus (also called Scientific/Medical). This was essentially an RTS with two additional features. Firstly, below the shutter speed dial on the front of the top-plate, a locking button was added that prevented the dial from being accidentally knocked from its X-sync (1/60) and Auto settings. The second change was even more useful: the celebrated electronic shutter release of the RTS was incredibly sensitive with a depression of less than 1mm to activate the shutter but in a laboratory, for example, where you may be wearing gloves, accidental firing of a standard RTS was a problem.
Contax solved this by modifying the top plate further and adding a 2mm guard ring around the shutter release button. Most - but not all - of the RTS Fundus cameras had 'Scientific/Medical' stencilled in white on the base plate. A very small number of these bodies also featured additional mirror-damping.
Since the advent of the RTS, Contax cameras have been made by Yashica in Japan, with lenses made by Carl Zeiss - some in Germany, some in Japan by Yashica (later Kyocera). The cameras were noteworthy for their advanced electronics. The Contax Zeiss T* lenses, in particular, soon gained a reputation for superb optical quality. Since manual-focus Contax and Yashica manual-focus 35mm SLR cameras share the same common bayonet lens mount, their lenses may be used interchangeably.
The success of the RTS led to other Contax cameras (see Contax (Yashica/Kyocera)). In the Contax model range, the most professional and most expensive body would always have a name beginning with RTS.
In 1982 the original RTS was replaced by the Contax RTS II.
In 1991 the RTS II was replaced by the Contax RTS III.