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New addition.
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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.
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