Contax RTS II Quartz
Contax (Yashica) · Contax/Yashica mount · 24×36mm on 35mm film (Yashica manual) · 1982
Also known as: Contax RTS II · Contax RTS II Quartz · CONTAX RTS II · Contax RTS 2 · Contax RTSII · Contax RTS-II · Yashica Contax RTS II · RTS2 · コンタックス RTS II · コンタックスRTSII · コンタックス RTS2 · コンタックス RTSII クォーツ
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contax RTS II Quartz (1982–1990) | Contax/Yashica | 1982–1990 | — | No production figure or serial table has been published; the George Eastman Museum holds body 161411 |
- The shutter, meter, finder, advance and self-timer figures are from the Yashica instruction manual's specification page (the cameramanuals.org scan). The manual's finder is 97% and 0.87×; davidde.com gives the same, and Japanese Wikipedia's account of the RTS III raising coverage from 92% to 100% reads as if the RTS II were still 92%. The manual's figure is adopted; see disputed.
- The battery-less mechanical speed is 1/50 in the manual and in davidde.com, 1/60 in Japanese Wikipedia; the manual is adopted. The flash sync is 1/60 in every source.
- The weight, 735g, and the 1983 price of $500 body only are davidde.com's alone; the manual's specification page as scanned carries no weight or dimensions. Both are single-source.
- Winder names disagree. Japanese Wikipedia names the RTW winder (2 frames per second) and the PMD motor drive (5) for the RTS and RTS II, and the manual refers to the Real Time Winder and the Professional Motor Drive; davidde.com names a W-6 of up to 5 frames per second with a 12-AA power back and a W-3 of 3 frames per second, which elsewhere are the winders of the 139 and 137 line. The maker's names are adopted.
- The gold-plated limited set that English Wikipedia calls the Golden Contax RTS may be built on this body, since 1982 was Contax's 50th anniversary, the year Japanese Wikipedia gives for the 50th-anniversary Planar 85mm f/1.2; no source reached settles it, and the variant is recorded on the RTS page.
How to tell them apart
- RTS II QUARTZ on the prism front; main switch on the top plate; AE-lock lever and exposure-check button on the front beside the lens (Yashica manual)
- Shutter dial marked X, 2000 down to 4 seconds and B, with the long-time settings in a second colour; a lever for the battery-less 1/50 (Yashica manual; davidde.com)
- Red LED digital read-outs for aperture, compensation and shutter speed along the finder, legible in the dark (Yashica manual; davidde.com reader)
- Two-pin TLA hot shoe with the TTL flash contacts, a sync terminal on the front and a release socket for the cable switch, infrared and radio controllers, Auto Bellows PC and RTF540 (Yashica manual)
- Body dimensions and the RTW/PMD base coupling are those of the RTS, so RTS accessories fit (davidde.com)
Contax RTS II Quartz (1982–1990):
- RTS II QUARTZ on the prism; black finish
- Main switch, AE-lock lever on the front, eyepiece blind lever and an electronic self-timer, none of which the RTS has (Japanese Wikipedia; Yashica manual)
- Shutter dial with X (1/60) and 16 settings from 4 seconds to 1/2000 and B; a mechanical 1/50 and B when the battery is flat, engaged with the depth-of-field preview lever (Yashica manual; davidde.com)
- Titanium-foil curtains behind the mirror, where the RTS has cloth (Japanese Wikipedia)
- Contax RTS II Quartz (1982–1990): The only production form found. Japanese Wikipedia describes it as the RTS's performance and looks with the electronics moved to flexible printed circuits for reliability, titanium curtains, quartz timing and AE lock as on the 139 Quartz, plus the main switch, eyepiece blind and electronic self-timer.
Specifications
- Format
- 24×36mm on 35mm film (Yashica manual)
- Finder
- Fixed eye-level pentaprism with lever-operated eyepiece blind; microprism screen standard and seven other interchangeable screens; red LED aperture, compensation and shutter-speed displays and a green flash-ready mark (Yashica manual) · 0.87× magnification · 97% coverage · no rangefinder image
- Shutter
- horizontal-travel titanium-foil focal plane, quartz-timed and electronically operated (Yashica manual) · Aperture priority stepless from 16 seconds to 1/2000; manual X (1/60) and 16 settings from 4 seconds to 1/2000 with B; mechanical 1/50 and B without a battery (Yashica manual) · flash sync X at 1/60 through the direct-contact hot shoe and the sync terminal; the camera sets 1/60 itself when a TLA flash is charged (Yashica manual) · self-timer
- Film advance
- single-stroke lever, 120 degrees with a 20-degree stand-off, or several short strokes; film-feed indicator; automatic winding with the winder or motor drive (Yashica manual)
- Back
- removable; the Data Back Quartz D-4 replaces it (Yashica manual)
- Meter
- TTL centre-weighted reading at full aperture by an SPD cell, EV −1 to 19 at ASA 100 with f/1.4, ASA 12–3200; aperture-priority automatic and manual exposure; exposure compensation ±2 EV in half-stop clicks; lever-type AE lock holding the value metered at the film plane; direct TTL flash metering off the film with the TLA flashes; exposure-check button lighting the display for 16 seconds (Yashica manual). One 6.2V silver-oxide cell, Eveready or Ucar 544 (Yashica manual); davidde.com adds the S28PX, 4SR44 and alkaline A544.
- Motor drive
- Real Time Winder RTW, Professional Motor Drive PMD — The RTW at 2 frames per second and the PMD at 5, shared with the RTS (Japanese Wikipedia); the manual names the Real Time Winder and the Professional Motor Drive for sequential shooting. davidde.com describes the winders as the W-6, up to 5 frames per second on a 12-AA power back, and the W-3 at 3 frames per second on six AA cells; see table_notes.
- Weight
- 735 g
- Country
- Japan
- Original price
- $500 body only in the United States in 1983 (davidde.com); no Japanese launch price has been found (today $1,570)
- Accessories
- Real Time Winder RTW, 2 frames per second, and Professional Motor Drive PMD, 5 frames per second, shared with the RTS (Japanese Wikipedia; Yashica manual) · Data Back Quartz D-4, replacing the camera back; its data position is marked on the focusing screen (Yashica manual) · Power Pack P-3, an external battery holder for cold weather (Yashica manual; davidde.com reader) · TLA Auto Flash system: clip-on TLA20 and TLA30 and the grip-type RTF540, the last needing the TLA adaptor for TTL control (Yashica manual) · Cable switch, infrared and radio controllers and the Auto Bellows PC through the release socket (Yashica manual) · Seven interchangeable focusing screens besides the standard microprism screen (Yashica manual)
97% of the picture area and 0.87× with the 50mm lens (Yashica manual; davidde.com). The RTS shows 92%. davidde.com adds that the screens do not fit later Contax bodies and that split-image screens are hard to find.
Where sources disagree
- Frame coverage percent
- 97% — Yashica instruction manual; davidde.com; ImagingPixel
- 92% implied — Japanese Wikipedia, which says the RTS III raised coverage from 92% to 100%
Better supported: 97%
The maker's specification page prints 97%; Japanese Wikipedia's 92% is the RTS figure carried forward in a sentence about the RTS III.
- Speeds (mechanical backup)
- 1/50 and B — Yashica instruction manual; davidde.com
- 1/60 — Japanese Wikipedia
Better supported: 1/50
- Weight (grams)
- 735g — davidde.com
- No figure — the manual's specification page as scanned
Single source; recorded for want of a maker's figure.
What reviewers say
- davidde.com (May 2022) (blog) — "My favorite overall" of the Contax SLRs and, against any pre-1985 camera without a professional pedigree, the one he would pick, with the 137 MA second: a bright 97% finder with half-stop LED apertures, 16 seconds to 1/2000, a 1/50 fallback and TTL flash with the TLA 30, for $500 body only in 1983. The take-up sleeves make loading finicky, the screens fit nothing later, and a 50mm f/1.4 is nearly essential to the experience.
- Ibraar Hussain, 35mmc (March 2024) (blog) — A roll of expired Provia through a camera he calls his "favourite SLR" and prefers to the RTS III he has used: a metal body and a large, bright professional finder, used with M42 and other lenses because the Zeiss glass is beyond his budget. He raises no flaws.
- Anil Mistry, 35mmc (April 2018) (blog) — Five frames with the RTS II; a bright, large finder is the point he makes about the camera. single source, unconfirmed
History
The RTS II Quartz of April 1982 is the RTS made dependable. Japanese Wikipedia’s account is that Yashica kept the performance and the Porsche-styled looks and moved the electronics onto flexible printed circuits, replaced the cloth curtains with titanium foil, and added the quartz timing and AE lock of the 139 Quartz along with a main switch, an eyepiece blind and an electronic self-timer; English Wikipedia adds TTL flash metering and digital LED read-outs in the finder. The horizontal shutter kept the 1/60 sync. It stayed the top of the line until the RTS III of 1990, and davidde.com records a United States price of $500 for the body in 1983.
The manual’s specification page sets out what the camera does. The shutter runs steplessly from 16 seconds to 1/2000 in aperture priority, in 16 settings from 4 seconds to 1/2000 with X and B by hand, and at a mechanical 1/50 and B when the battery is flat, a speed that Japanese Wikipedia gives as 1/60. An SPD cell meters centre-weighted at full aperture from EV −1 to 19, with ±2 EV compensation in half stops, a front lever that locks the reading, and direct TTL flash control off the film with the TLA20, TLA30 and, through an adaptor, the RTF540 grip flash. The pentaprism shows 97% of the frame at 0.87× with the 50mm, the microprism screen is one of eight, and the back comes off for the Data Back Quartz D-4. Until the counter reaches 1, the camera fires at 1/60 whatever the dial says. The RTW winder and the PMD motor drive of the RTS couple to the same base, and most other RTS accessories fit. One 6.2V 544 cell powers it, and davidde.com weighs the body at 735g, a figure no other source gives.
The reviews are warm. davidde.com calls it a favourite overall and the better choice against almost any pre-1985 manual-advance camera, praising the bright finder with its half-stop LED aperture scale, the fallback speed and the TLA 30 pairing, and faulting only the take-up sleeves that make loading finicky, the screens that fit no later Contax, and the scarcity of split-image screens and rubber eyecups. Ibraar Hussain at 35mmc calls it his favourite SLR and prefers it to the RTS III. A forum reviewer’s observation that the electromagnetic release helps sharpness at slow speeds is the same point made of every RTS.
Telling it from an RTS takes a glance: the main switch, the AE-lock lever and exposure-check button on the front, the eyepiece blind and the X position on the dial are all new. No production figure or serial table has been published; the George Eastman Museum’s body is numbered 161411. The gold-plated limited set that English Wikipedia names the Golden Contax RTS may belong to this body, since 1982 was Contax’s 50th-anniversary year, but no source reached settles which.
This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.
Live listings
- Contax RTS II Rewind Knob and Post
- Contax RTS II Quartz - New light seals September 2026
- Contax RTS II / 50mm f1.4
- CONTAX RTS II QUARTZ ボディ Y268-Y22
- ★ジャンク / 通電可★ コンタックス CONTAX RTS II QUARTZ 一眼レフ フィルムカメラ ボディ #7179_14_90L
- ★実用品★ コンタックス CONTAX RTS II QUARTZ ボディ ★露出計動作★ ##08022 #81927 #08052
- ★ジャンク品★ CONTAX コンタックス RTS II QUARTZ ボディ フィルム一眼レフカメラ J2608053
- ★ジャンク品★ CONTAX コンタックス RTS II QUARTZ ボディ フィルム一眼レフカメラ J2608052
- 60☆CONTAX コンタックス RTS II QUARTZ ジャンク◇1013-242
- 【中古】CONTAX コンタックス RTS II QUARTZ フィルム一眼レフカメラ
- ★ジャンク品★ CONTAX コンタックス RTS II QUARTZ ボディ フィルム一眼レフカメラ J2512085
Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.
Listings updated 2026-11-02. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.