Contax RTS III or Nikon F5 -- which would you buy?

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3754 Location: Switzerland

That looks really nice! RTS III plus 1.4/85 and 2/100mm ... I wonder which of the two lenses you'll prefer ?!

Ten years ago I sold my Minolta AF 2/100mm because I thought the MinAF 1.4/85mm plus the MinAF 2.8/100mm Macro would be sufficient ... but quite soon I did regret my decision and got a AF 2/100mm again. Lenses such as the 1.8/105mm Nikkor, the Min AF 2/100mm or the Canon nFD 2/100mm are really nice for portraiture.

Keep us informed about your experiences both with the RTS III and the lenses, please!

S

arri · Joined: 13 Jul 2014 Posts: 81

I know the Contax RTS III very good, I have had it for a long time and it were the best non AF camera ever.

Today I prefer an AF camera because of my eyes, I´am now in an age that the AF is a very good support.

The best lenses of the world are worthless when you can´t focus it correctly.

OPAL · Joined: 11 Dec 2012 Posts: 354

Most people don't know it, that at the PHOTOKINA 1998, an very first "prototype autofocus camera" was shown to camera experts, behind hotel doors, based on the CONTAX RTS III model, with an removable digital back, like the much later LEICA R9 digital camera!

This prototype "first digital camera" was market ready, before the later 2002 "first digital DSLR, the CONTAX N digital! KYOCERA/ZEISS made an decision, not to bring the real pro camera to the market!

At the Photokina 2000, the firm KYOCERA had there an so called special "PRO LOUNGE" for "professional photographers only", and I had the pleasure there, to show to the Pro's there, an wooden made black dummy model of the coming CONTAX N digital model, with an attached C/Y Zeiss PLANAR 1,4/50mm lens!

Cheers

RokkorDoctor · Joined: 27 Nov 2021 Posts: 1269 Location: Kent, UK

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

Wow, nice to see my old thread revived -- again. Actually, I ended up making a decision. Sort of.

I bought a Contax 139 Quartz -- mostly because the seller included a Tamron SP 17mm with the C/Y Adaptall-2 mount. The listing didn't describe the lens and didn't even show it that clearly. You just had to know what the Tamron 17mm looked like to know that's what it was. The Tamron 17mm goes for about four times what I paid for that outfit. So, I did get a Contax, albeit one that barely qualifies when compared to the RTS III in terms of quality. However, it was the 139 Q that first made me wake up and pay attention to the way those cameras were made. Its film wind is one of the smoothest I've ever found.

I also thought seriously about the Nikon F5, but then I got to comparing it with the Nikon F100, and I concluded that there wasn't a big enough difference between the two to go with the much larger and heavier F5, so I bought an F100.

I still don't own any Contax lenses. But because I have that Tamron Adaptall-2 mount, and because I do have a large collection of Tamrons, at least I have a good selection of fairly decent lenses that I can use with the 139 Q. Oh well, maybe I'll pick up a 50 Planar one of these days . . . .

Doc Sharptail · Joined: 23 Nov 2020 Posts: 994 Location: Winnipeg Canada

I came close at one time- while the 139-Q was still a new camera.
I was sorely tempted, just for the 50 Planar that came with it.
Fortunately, sanity made one of it's brief appearances, and I ended up getting something else.

As to the original question, neither. Mr. Green

I'd get a pristine chrome F2-AS and be done with it.
That is all personal taste, and nothing more...

-D.S.

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3754 Location: Switzerland

Doc Sharptail · Joined: 23 Nov 2020 Posts: 994 Location: Winnipeg Canada

Some of the F-5's switches and displays survive yet on the D-810 and 850.
The power switch and front control wheel as well as the top LCD panel are still there, as is the view-finder diopter knob.
It's a good thing the cluster of "other" switches was moved to other locations.

-D.S.

OPAL · Joined: 11 Dec 2012 Posts: 354

My first CONTAX camera was a Contax 167MT, the second Contax was a Contax ST, and the third model was a CONTAX RTSIII, and the fourth one, was a CONTAX AX! I've worked with these cameras as an professional Embassy photographer for 20 years, with a good row of C/Y Zeiss prime glasses, which I still pefer to use with adaptor, on my SONY cameras! The CONTAX RTSIII model with its first and only vacuum film suction system, and its black slic ceramic film pressure plate, was a world top technic on the camera market! Too bad, that the production was cancelled by KYOCERA in 2005! The production was to expensive, compared to the other camera manufacturer!