Post by belgiumreporter on Feb 12, 2015 13:17:54 GMT -5
I finally was able to buy a contax RTS for a reasonable price.Problem was it was sold "as is" with "probably" only a battery problem. In my experience people who sell camera's with such a problem know very well it isn't the battery, as that would be an easy fix and would put the working camera in a totally diffrent price range. Because this RTS looked not to battered i thought i would give it a chance as i wanted a RTS for quite some time now. I'm not planning to use it, it is going to serve the sole purpose of completing my collection. Still even if it is only for shelve display i would like the camera to somehow work. The problem with this RTS however seemed a bit more complex as the mirror was blocked in the upright position so you can't look trough the viewfinder, film transport was blocked as well. Putting in a battery ( the dreaded 6v type) obviously didn't solve the problem. When i pushed the depht of field lever inside the lensmount the mirror came down but didn't want to stay down. Next thing i did was to remove the bottomplate wich is fairly easy with the right screwdriver. Nothing wrong there, at least nothing broken as was the case with the 139 i recently bought. I then started looking for gears that did move and if i moved them what did they drive? Now my English falls a bit short to explain wich gear i just moved but after figuring out the right sequence, gently pushing a lever and turning a gear everything fell back in place, the mirror dropped and i was able to cock the shutter.
Now it is ( at least partially) working i noticed the contax is a heavy camera (no problem with that) it has a cloth shutter curtain, for a camera in that price range i would have expected at least metal shutterblades...The focussing screen has only a microprism center circle of wich i find it difficult to focus ( quickly) i know they can be replaced but don't think i'll be doing that.
UPDATE i've put in a battery and the camera is fully functional !!! YIPPEEE !
My collection in the upper segment SLR's is nearing completion, i would only need a pentax LX to make it complete, but here the same story as the contax, LX's are still expensive and are camera's wich can develop a lot of problems, so buyer beware...
Now it is ( at least partially) working i noticed the contax is a heavy camera (no problem with that) it has a cloth shutter curtain, for a camera in that price range i would have expected at least metal shutterblades...The focussing screen has only a microprism center circle of wich i find it difficult to focus ( quickly) i know they can be replaced but don't think i'll be doing that.
UPDATE i've put in a battery and the camera is fully functional !!! YIPPEEE !
My collection in the upper segment SLR's is nearing completion, i would only need a pentax LX to make it complete, but here the same story as the contax, LX's are still expensive and are camera's wich can develop a lot of problems, so buyer beware...