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Demontage Contax RTSIII

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naaldvoerder

naaldvoerder

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Today I started an attempt to disassemble a Contax RTSIII body in order to replace the shutter. I hope I can bring this to a good end. So far, so good. I"ll keep posting on the progress, in case anybody is interested.:blink:

Jaap Jan
 

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I was just thinking the insides of cameras these days look more like transistor radios .
 
When I see a camera body in this state I think of Terminator when his underlying electronics start to show through...
 
naaldvoerder said:
This one is over 15 years old....:whistling:
Click to expand...

LOL. I think it actually came out 20 yrs ago. I was just thinking, this all-computerized style of camera started back in 1985 with the Minolta Maxxum 7000. 27 yrs ago!
 
My friend the Yashica/Kyocera repair guy says the original RTS (the RTS I) is a mess as far as the electronics go and they're mostly unrepairable today. Not so with the others, though I waited 7 years before he found the right spot to send my RTS III in Japan for repair. They had to replace the internal displays in mine to get it operational again. Works great now. He says the RTS II is an RTS I with better internal electronics design inside.
 
Revisiting an earlier abanded project. I was able to acquire a donor RTS3 for 40€. I am now getting close to where I need to be to get the replacement shutter out!




image.jpg
 
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Good luck with the repair! This must have been the most advanced mf camera of its time. Once I'll get one for myself.
 
miha said:
Good luck with the repair! This must have been the most advanced mf camera of its time. Once I'll get one for myself.
Click to expand...

I suggest you do. It's an inspiring machine! Nowadays they are not ridiculously expensive anymore.
 
I have an RTS and an RTSII. Got the feeling I have to try a III someday. What a fun repair job. Good luck.
 
image.jpg


The donor-shutter is out. So far, I don't think I have damaged anything..
 
carbon_dragon said:
My friend the Yashica/Kyocera repair guy says the original RTS (the RTS I) is a mess as far as the electronics go and they're mostly unrepairable today. Not so with the others, though I waited 7 years before he found the right spot to send my RTS III in Japan for repair. They had to replace the internal displays in mine to get it operational again. Works great now. He says the RTS II is an RTS I with better internal electronics design inside.
Click to expand...

Actually, there's more difference than just that. The shutter was changed between the 1 and the II from cloth to metal.
 
Scott,

Your friendly gesture might be hazardous. Once Richard played with it, he will want to get one..:laugh:
 
TheFlyingCamera said:
Richard-

the next time I get out to SF, I can bring my RTS III along if you want to play with one for an afternoon.
Click to expand...

Back in my mid-20's I worked at very fine high class restaurant as a waiter. One evening a regular customer brought in a whole slew of wines for his wife's 40th anniversary party of 8 and he let me try a couple of the most amazing wines that ever existed. We're talking classic Bordeaux and Burgundy wines from the 20s and 30s and a few aged champagnes from the 50s and 60s. I tried them and yes they were phenomenal. He asked me what I thought. I told him I didn't know whether to thank him or curse him. Before this I tried some pretty good wines but now that I tried the very best that ever existed what I previously thought were good wines before would now drop on my personal scale from an eight or a nine out of the 10 down to a five or a six out of 10 and I don't know whether I will ever be happy with wine again or will ever taste wines as good! Nonetheless it was a pleasant experience. That said I will certainly take up your offer the next time you're out this way, please contact me at the very least a cuppa coffee and a beer with a fellow enthusiast would be fun and holding onto a RTSIII and playing with it I'll do my best to hold off on having to get one. Even though I may not think so highly of my RTS and RTSII afterwards!
 
Richard Sintchak (rich815) said:
Back in my mid-20's I worked at very fine high class restaurant as a waiter. One evening a regular customer brought in a whole slew of wines for his wife's 40th anniversary party of 8 and he let me try a couple of the most amazing wines that ever existed. We're talking classic Bordeaux and Burgundy wines from the 20s and 30s and a few aged champagnes from the 50s and 60s. I tried them and yes they were phenomenal. He asked me what I thought. I told him I didn't know whether to thank him or curse him. Before this I tried some pretty good wines but now that I tried the very best that ever existed what I previously thought were good wines before would now drop on my personal scale from an eight or a nine out of the 10 down to a five or a six out of 10 and I don't know whether I will ever be happy with wine again or will ever taste wines as good! Nonetheless it was a pleasant experience. That said I will certainly take up your offer the next time you're out this way, please contact me at the very least a cuppa coffee and a beer with a fellow enthusiast would be fun and holding onto a RTSIII and playing with it I'll do my best to hold off on having to get one. Even though I may not think so highly of my RTS and RTSII afterwards!
Click to expand...

Agreed the RTS III is something special. Lots of dials, levers and switches, but each has their place. In the category of "really cool but 99% useless" is the TTL OTF flash metering for non-dedicated strobes. Yes, you can hook up your Calumet or Broncolor or Profoto strobes via PC sync, push a lever, and it will trigger the flash and meter it. I've not tried doing it with a wireless trigger via the hot shoe, but I don't see why it wouldn't work. THAT would make that feature useful in this day and age when so many monolights and even quite a few pack/head combos can be triggered via a PocketWizard.
 
Small set-back:sad:
I have stripped a screwhead on the receptor camera.
 
After battling a couple of stuck srcrews I finally reached the deepest inerts of my receptor RTS III. The broken shutter is out..

Reassembly-time.

image.jpg
 
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