Contax RTS – getting it right | Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris

My recently acquired RTS stripped of its faulty skins. It’s a blank canvas and I like the look for now. The mirror is locked in the up position (the little lever to the right of the lens mount).

This scan (below) is from a Yashica marketing brochure from early 1975. There’s been so much misinformation about the origins of the RTS that I thought it would be best to go to the source to get the facts straight.

Lots of flowing marketing speak in there but it delivers with no uncertainties who did what and why. The when isn’t mentioned but many of the pictures inside this brochure are from mid 1974 based on the cameras, lenses, and accessories pictured (not just the RTS stuff). It’s generally believed that the initial talks between Yashica and Zeiss started as early as 1971. I might mention that this was an extremely challenging time financially and structurally for Yashica with some accounting and management issues reported in the global press which led to a bit of a scandal of epic proportions for Yashica’s founder(s).

Some of these accessories weren’t fully developed at the time this brochure was published and I’m far from being an expert on which lens was or was not available. I’ve never looked closely at the Carl Zeiss lens line developed for and with Yashica.

Contax RTS Real Time System.

Comments are always welcomed as I’ve learned quite a bit from reader feedback. As always, thanks for stopping by and while you’re at it, feel free to visit my camera shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.com (CC Design Studios hosted by Etsy). – Chris Whelan

Please respect that all content, including photos and text, are the property of this blog and its owner, Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic, Yashica Sailor Boy, Yashica Chris, Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris.

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Contax RTS – getting it right

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