Review 3 of 22
Price Paid:
$900.00
from second-hand Summary: You know, generally from a philosophical point of view I don't believe in gear-worship which a lot of people succumb to. The emphasis should never be on equipment unless you truly simply enjoy using cameras and not photographing the world, but really belongs on the vision and point of view and message of the photographer.
That said, this camera sometimes makes me lapse into a state of near-gear worship. All in all it (along with a couple of the lenses I mount on it) is definitely one of the finest pieces of photographic equipment I've ever owned, and certainly gives me the most joy to use.
First and foremost, an SLR camera is essentially a light-tight box that holds film behind a lens and allows you to look through that lens to see what the film is going to record. Getting a good, clear, bright and accurate view of that is an aboslutely ESSENTIAL function of an SLR. A camera that is neither light-tight (and most of the time we can take this for granted thankfully) nor gives an excellent view through the lens is useless. This is the RTS 3's strongest aspect, hence it is a very good camera. Looking through it I can "feel" the light on the subject, the contrast range, the color, a certain 3 dimensionality (as much a function of lens design as camera design, and yes we all know Contax uses excellent Zeiss glass) that for me is a conduit to creativity. All else, though important, is secondary.
As for the rest (also important), the build is as solid as a 35mm SLR comes, eclipsing even my past experience with Nikon (which is saying something). Unimportant technically but a strong personal preference of mine is the use of big, (mostly) easily manipulated and intuitively used dials and levers instead of LCDs and modal buttons and so on and so forth. I hate pushing buttons when I'm shooting, the only button I really want to push is the shutter. Ergonomically speaking, camera rates a "very good, plus" as opposed to excellent. For my work I'm very cranky about shooting on tripod, my creativity when I feel nailed to the ground takes a nosedive, so "hand-holdability" takes a certain precedence and the camera performs more than adequately in that arena. It's somewhat heavy but fortunately well-balanced with most lenses that I use most frequently (all my glass I own for this system is in the 28-85 range, mostly fast primes, though I've occasionally used others). It's got a built-in battery grip with a vertical shutter release button that, while not quite as comfortable as the oversized grips they build in or add on as accessories to many other 35mm and DSLR systems (a la Nikon and Canon) it's relatively comfortable. Most of the control and function dials are easily reachable with the notable exception of the exposure mode which is locked and must be released with the push of a button on the side of the body underneath the dial, a pain in the butt as much as it keeps you from accidently switching, but I rarely move mine out of manual so it doesn't really matter much to me. The most frequently used dials in my experience, the shutter dial and the exposure compensation dial (the only way to access intermediate stops, something I find a weakness) are easily reached. The switch from spot to center-weight metering is also easily reached and appropriately out of the way of the other primary controls; you're not likely to change meter modes accidently without noticing. Though the viewfinder image is bright and beautiful (and I strongly believe covers very slightly less than the "100%" that Contax claims) the exposure meter display is a bit dim when shooting backlit subjects, which I find an irritation, and though a traditionalist you might call me, I actually prefer the "picket fence" exposure readout of my Canon. One convenience I do enjoy is the TTL pre-flash meter lever which measures not only hotshoe flash but studio flash plugged into the PC sync as well (I use it most often to monitor changes in my ringflash exposure when either my model or I move around and change flash-to-subject distance). I hear a lot of hot air blown about the benefits of the much-touted vacuum system which keeps the film flat to the back, theoretically a big plus. I'm sure it is but I don't concern myself with it (and I don't have to fortunately, it works automatically). Let the camera designers and equipment measurebators debate its relative virtues or necessity, the end result either way is that correctly exposed images carefully focused and shot with a fast shutter with Zeiss glass and this camera are SHARP.
All in all, this is a wonderful camera, a joy to work with, my first choice when picking up a 35mm unless it's a clear AF situation or I just wanna putt around with a rangefinder for purely personal work. I honestly doubt I'll ever use a better 35mm camera, ever, I don't know if it's more attached to me or I to it. Strengths: Viewfinder, lens quality (we all knew that), very solid, rugged build, good hand-holding balance with most relatively mid-range lenses, good spot and pre-flash TTL meters. In short, most everything that's important in an SLR. Weaknesses: No intermediate apertures except in shutter-priority mode and intermediate stops (shutter only) in manual mode must be accessed via the exposure compesation dial which I dislike. Exposure meter difficult to read in bright or backlit situations. I'd caution that it's kind of heavy, a hinderance to some more than me (it's well-balanced which mostly atones for it in my opinion), and, well, it couldn't be much more costly, could it? Though I wouldn't give or sell it back for 4 times what I paid for it used, I give it a value rating of 4 instead of 5 acknowledging that's it's about as costly a 35mm film-based SLR as they come (Leica's of course excepted). Similar Products Used: Lots of 35mm SLRs, but most relevantly for comparison Canon EOS 1v and 1n and 3, and Nikon F4. Customer Service: I bought it second-hand and it's been 100% reliable and given no problems (knocking wood as always).
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