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PostPosted: Sat Nov 02, 2024 10:20 pm    Post subject: New addition. Reply with quote
This arrived today and I have to say, what a beast.
Feels like it's hewn from granite.



Been finding all it's quirks and idiosyncrasies.
One had me going for a while. Every document on the internet said "if the smallest aperture is in green the lens is compatible to the RX shutter and program modes".
As can be seen my lens has f22 in green so should have worked ...
Except it didn't. It behaved as though in aperture priority.

It appears the above statement is not true for MC lenses and mine is the 35-70.f3.5 MC lens. Fooling the camera with the a matchstick proved the issue.

Looks like I needs some MMJ lenses. Such hardship.

Warning. Man maths ahead!
The reason I started looking was because I was given a Yashica 108 which seemed ok but is very restrictive control wise. Nothing that couldn't be worked around but ergonomics on it weren't great either and although I got it working it is a bit temperamental. Which left me with a lens. A lens that seemed quite nice and needed a camera body... Started out looking at RTS and RTS2 before thinking the RTS3 was to have, being the pinnacle of the Contax range (if not film SLR in general). Dismissed that after a while due to a seeming predilection to destroyed LCD screens. Then progressed through ST, RX to AX. That looked very interesting but... The size of the thing! I knew it would never be used.
Which brought me back to the RX. Looked at a few online, did a lot of reading and found this one in Cardiff at a very decent price from a used camera dealer. Arrived today and I'm very pleased with it do major credit to Camera World.for delivery today after ordering Thursday afternoon.

It's interesting to note that when alongside my Fuji X-T4 it looks similar sized (my Fuji has a SmallRig grip on it) and you can see where Fujis engineers got their styling cues!

Looking forward to running a roll of film through it.


PostPosted: Sun Nov 03, 2024 5:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
So having had a good play with it found it had the slipped mirror problem that affects so many Contax cameras of this era. 10 minutes with careful use of a hairdryer and it's sorted.
Only other issue is the aperture motor seems a bit noisy. I'll run a couple of rolls through and see how I get on.

The more I handle this camera the better it feels though. Absolutely love it in terms of handling.


PostPosted: Sun Nov 03, 2024 8:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Looks like an interesting camera.
Let us know how it does with film.

-D.S.


PostPosted: Mon Nov 04, 2024 8:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I'm interested to hear more about your "new" RX, too! I never ever had one in my own hands, but years ago I could play with an RTS III for a few moments. Well, also the RTS III did make a good impression Wink

S


PostPosted: Mon Nov 04, 2024 11:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 04, 2024 8:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
stevemark wrote:
I'm interested to hear more about your "new" RX, too! I never ever had one in my own hands, but years ago I could play with an RTS III for a few moments. Well, also the RTS III did make a good impression Wink

S


It's kind of like a shrunken RTS III with a few things removed and a few added.
For example it's only does 3fps on continuous not 5 max, has a max shutter speed of 1/4000 not 1/8000, uses a single 2CR5 lithium battery instead of 6 Alkaline batteries, has no vertical grip but does have a digital focus indicator and depth of field scale in the viewfinder. The focus indicator is pretty cool but a little temperamental if light levels are low. Also has some nice customisations like film rewind leaving the leader available (allows mid roll changes - just note the frame number, hit the rewind and remove the film then to reload just load film and advance with aperture stopped down, 1/4000 shutter speed and lens cap on).

In the hand it feels reassuringly solid and weighty with a lovely grip. Ergonomics are excellent with everything falling neatly to hand. Unusually the film speed and mode selector is on the left and everything else on the right. Feels odd initially but doesn't take long before you realise what a great idea it is. Viewfinder is large, bright and has all the information you need with metering mode, focus, DOF, shutter speed, aperture, exposure and frame count all visible across the bottom.

An old 24 shot roll of 2004 Fuji superia 200 was run through yesterday (at 100) and sent off today. Be interesting to see what I get.


PostPosted: Thu Nov 07, 2024 12:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Test roll is back.
Film was 2004 expired Fuji Superia 200 exposed at 100.

Pretty pleased with these results.

So here's the summary of the first week experience.
It had mirror slip. It was very close to having the mirror hit the back of the lens.
Using a hairdryer I was able to heat the glue and push it back. Next day it had slipped halfway back so repeated it.
Took a visit to my local camera guru and he suggested heating it again, pushing the mirror back then securing it using capillary action to apply a small amount of super glue from a pin along the joint between mirror frame and mirror.
Problem solved.
The aperture motor seems a little noisy but doesn't seem to affect operation.
Something for my local camera guru to look at at a future date.
The focusing screen has a bit of dirt and dust on it. Will look at cleaning it in my ultrasonic cleaner with deionised water and then blowing dry with filtered compressed air.
Ergonomically it's a heavy camera but all the controls fall very neatly to hand making it pleasant to use. The digital focus indicator works well but seems to require a fairly decent level of light. The depth of field indicator is interesting and potentially quite useful. Jury is out on this.
The viewfinder is large, clear and bright. It's significantly better than the SRT100X viewfinder in that respect and on a par or slightly better than the SL35 one.
At this stage the only lens I have is an MC35-70 F3 5-4.5 Yashica - not a great reputation but seems ok to me.
Looking at a 24mm Sigma Super wide as the next one then follow up with a Zeiss T* 50mm or a Vario Sonnar. Might even look at some Yashica ML lenses too.

Overall I'm pleased with it. It feels great and initial images look promising.









PostPosted: Thu Nov 07, 2024 11:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Vintage_Photographer wrote:
Test roll is back.
Film was 2004 expired Fuji Superia 200 exposed at 100.
Pretty pleased with these results.

Nice test images indeed!

Vintage_Photographer wrote:
So here's the summary of the first week experience.
It had mirror slip. It was very close to having the mirror hit the back of the lens.
Using a hairdryer I was able to heat the glue and push it back. Next day it had slipped halfway back so repeated it.
Took a visit to my local camera guru and he suggested heating it again, pushing the mirror back then securing it using capillary action to apply a small amount of super glue from a pin along the joint between mirror frame and mirror.
Problem solved.

Not exactly my suggested repair method - super glue is pretty brittle once hardened, and may be prone to breaking (though I'm not sure how the mechanical construction of the RX mirror looks). I've had a similar problem with two of my many Sony A850/A900 DSLRs, and the problem was solved using a somehow "softer" trimethoxyvinylsilan glue (Pattex Repair Gel Extreme). Mirror movenments are quite abrupt ...

Vintage_Photographer wrote:

The focusing screen has a bit of dirt and dust on it. Will look at cleaning it in my ultrasonic cleaner with deionised water and then blowing dry with filtered compressed air.

I don't know about Contax/Yashica, but the "superbright" Minolta focusing screens were made of a quite soft synthetic material. It might even be a plastics-on-glass solution in some cases; be careful not to damage the surface ...

Vintage_Photographer wrote:
The viewfinder is large, clear and bright. It's significantly better than the SRT100X viewfinder in that respect and on a par or slightly better than the SL35 one.

It should be so!! Minoltas "superbright" scrrens - introduced with the Minolta XD and used also in Hasselblad SLRs - was much brighter than the SR-T ... and so are the superbright screens introduced around 1980 with the Canon New F-1.

Vintage_Photographer wrote:
At this stage the only lens I have is an MC35-70 F3 5-4.5 Yashica - not a great reputation but seems ok to me. Looking at a 24mm Sigma Super wide as the next one then follow up with a Zeiss T* 50mm or a Vario Sonnar. Might even look at some Yashica ML lenses too.

Overall I'm pleased with it. It feels great and initial images look promising.


I only have a few Zeiss CY lenses, such as the 2.8/25 and 2.8/28, the 2.8/35 Shift, the 1.7 and 1.4/50, the 2.8/135, and the zooms 28-85, 80-200 and 70-210mm. The mechanical construction of theses lenses (with exception of the 1.7/50) is nice, and they are beautiful and user-friendly lenses. Some of them are better than their contemporary CaNikon lenses (2.8/35 Shift, 80-200 and 70-210), the others are comparable to the respective CaMiNikons. Get them if you can find them at a reasonable price. I have been shooting with some of the more expensive Zeiss CY lenses as well (4/18, 2/28, 1.4/35, 1.4/85). The 2/28mm is better than the corresponding Minolta MD, the others are comparable to the corresponding Minolta MD/AF lenses. The CY 2.8/180 and CY 3.5/200 can't compete with the MinAF 2.8/200 APO, though. Images talen with the 28-85 zoom look very clean and clear (much better than with Canon nFD 4/28-85 or Yashica ML 28-85mm), comparable to the (aspherical) Minolta MD/AF 28-85mm.

That said, I really like some of the Yashica lenses too. The 21mm is pretty good, but has some moustache distortion (as many vintage 20mm). The 24mm is OK, but not overwhelming, and so is the 28mm. THe 1.4/50mm is very well built, but can't really compete with the Zeiss CY 1.4/50mm. The 2.8/35mm as well as the 2.8/55m Macro both are very good, and the compact tele series (2.8/135 C, 4/200 C, 5.6/300 C) is surprisingly sharp as well if stopped down 1-1.5 EV (wide open low contrast). The three latter lenses are Tokina clones! The 28-50 and the 3.5/35-70 hae a quite a good reputation, but they are late 1970s constructions, and therefore not as gfood as the corresponding primes.

BTW All lenses tested on 24 MP FF and compared side-by-side to the most common competitors!

S



Some Yashica ML lenses including the ML 3.5/21mm (on the right FR I), the ML 2.8/24mm (on the middle FR I) and the ML 2.8/35mm (on the silver FR). ML 2/50mm and 1.4/50mm in front of the cameras, and a few 135mm/200mm/300mm teles and 80-200 tele zooms on the left. Also on the left the 2.8/28 and the 2.8/55 Macro as well as the 4/35-70, the ML 35-105 and the ML 28-85 zoom.


PostPosted: Fri Nov 08, 2024 12:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
That's a great collection and a lot of useful information too.
I haven't anything like your collection. I do have a 1.8 50mm Rollei HFT which is a Zeiss lens made under licence that I love the colour and rendering of. The rest of the Rollei kit is mainly Rolleinar (Mamiya Sekor made) which are quite nice but not in the same league. The 3 5/200 is particularly disappointing wide open.
Minolta kit is the 2.8/28, 3 5/35-70, 1.7/50, 4.5/75-200 and 5 6/100-300.

Thanks for all the info. Really useful.


PostPosted: Sat Nov 09, 2024 6:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I've had my RX for years, it's a lovely camera that I've used a few times - I love the focus confirmation.

Recently I showed the camera to a guy who is a Contax dealer, and he noticed that the shutter speed dial didn't match the viewfinder display. Which I hadn't noticed as I used the viewfinder display which was accurate. It turned out the speed knob was on 180 degrees out, which was a very easy fix. But I noticed that the glue on the rubber grip looked undisturbed from new as did the thread lock on the two tiny screws holding the knob to the shaft. It looks like it left the factory like that!

I was thinking of selling it, but after putting a battery in it and handling it again - I've changed my mind, It's a keeper.
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