Contax RTS II
Introduced in 1982 by Kyocera/Contax, the Contax RTS II was not just a successor to the earlier Contax RTS camera but, in many ways, a whole new camera in its own right. It featured extremely stringent quality standards in its construction, a long list of new and improved features, and compatibility with the Zeiss line of lenses made for the C/Y Contax/Yashica lens mount.
The RTS II was a revolution of a camera, beginning even with its construction. Kyocera put the components of the camera through strict testing and even redesigned how they assembled cameras in order to have a better manufacturing process. Much attention was paid not just to what the camera could do, but how the camera was made. Kyocera made specific advancements in the film chamber of the camera in order to obtain as flat of film during exposure as possible. The pressure plate was widened and a larger diameter take-up spool was used to reduce film curl. Meanwhile the camera employed quartz-timing in its shutter mechanism to make it even faster and more accurate.
Beyond the design, the camera offered many features targeting the professional market. The camera has only two exposure modes, aperture priority and full manual, but when combined with the aforementioned electromagnetic shutter, this produces a near-instantaneous response. The shutter, while battery powered, could be tripped manually without batteries at a 1/50th of a second. Other features included AE lock (that could be locked in for an infinite amount of time), quartz-timed self-timer, an ISO range from 12 to 3200, and a manual shutter speed range from 1/2,000th to 8 seconds (or 16 seconds when in auto exposure).
Then, of course, were the Zeiss lenses, some of the best 35mm SLR lenses with which one can work. It might be because Kyocera knew they were building a camera behind these particular lenses that they worked so hard to make this camera so good - Zeiss is known for their high standards and they would not want their lenses on just any SLR body.
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