Field Tested 01: The Contax RTS III
Contax is a brand shrouded in mystery and reverence. From the T2 and T3 that were brought to fame and astronomical prices by celebrities, to the Contax 645 that every wedding photographer drools over, they made some legendary cameras. Their 35mm SLR system seems to have taken a back seat though, and that’s a real shame. They made some absolutely superb slr cameras with beautiful designs and absolutely wonderful Carl Zeiss glass. Today I will be sharing my experience with what I believe to be one of the best they ever made: the Contax RTS III.
I ordered my RTS from Japan along with the Zeiss 50mm F1.4. In usual Japanese fashion, it arrived in three days, perfectly timed for a trip to Chicago. My first impressions as I pulled it from the packing were of the beautiful Porsche design, and the immense weight. It is a chunky camera. The weight gives a sense of confidence in the build and is easily justified by the sturdiness and strength. As cliche as it is, you could use this thing as a weapon and keep shooting like nothing happened. Lo0king through the viewfinder is a similar experience to going to your first IMAX movie. It is truly one of the most beautiful viewfinders I have had the pleasure of using. The high eyepoint design makes looking through the viewfinder a breeze with glasses, and it has an excellent diopter adjustment if you choose to shoot without your glasses. To the right of the viewfinder you will see an LCD readout of your selected shutter speed, as well as the metered speed if you are using manual mode. The bottom LCD displays your film counter, selected aperture, and selected shooting mode. For shooting modes you have aperture priority, shutter priority, manual, and bulb. Shooting modes are easily selected with a lever on the left of the top plate. Above that is your shutter speed dial, providing four seconds to 1/8000 top speeds, with a 1/250 flash sync. Impressive speeds for a film camera. Moving to the right you have a dial that controls the exposure compensation, ISO selection, as well as bracketing. Other controls on the top plate include drive mode selector, and your on off switch around the shutter button.
Soon I found myself standing over the Chicago River as a cool wind chilled my southern skin, watching a tour boat saunter past as the sounds of the L train and honking horns filled my ears. Back in my favorite city, with three good friends, ready to shoot the stunning architecture, on a 50mm. Not great planning on my part, but we will make it work. The shooting experience of the RTS III is quite unique in my opinion. It is a very advanced camera for its time, but also came out very far into the autofocus era, a feature it is lacking. The closest thing I can relate it to is the Nikon F4 with AIS lenses. Auto-winding, multiple metering modes, fast shutter speeds for you always wide open nerds, and a big, heavy camera. It is not a subtle camera, but I don’t feel it brought anymore attention than any other camera. The shutter and winding noise is not quiet, but it is quite smooth and unobtrusive. The portrait orientation shutter release is a handy feature that makes vertical shooting quite nice. With center-weighted and spot metering options, difficult lighting situations are a breeze. If the need arises, simply flip the switch and take a meter reading for the highlights and shadows, find an average, and boom, nice exposures.
I think the crown jewel of the system is the Carl Zeiss lenses. As mentioned, I took the 50mm F1.4 Planar with me as it was the only lens I had at the time. I ended up purchasing a 35-70mm F3.4 Vario-Sonnar while I was in Chicago, but did not have a chance to shoot it (that’s a story for another time). I will not go into too much detail as a plan to write an article on the 50mm separately, but it is a superb lens. I felt a little limited by the 50mm field of view, but sharpness, contrast, and out of focus areas are rendered extremely well. Detail was rendered in a way that only Zeiss lenses seem capable of.
All around, this camera is quite excellent if the weight doesn’t hinder you too much. Crazy engineering that the folks at Kyocera seemed to be the experts of, a wonderful Porsche design, and excellent Carl Zeiss lenses come together to make a very well rounded package that has pushed me to acquire more lenses and bodies for the system, so keep an eye out for more reviews and tests as I try the lenses on film and Gfx digital.
