Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Contax RTS III

Contax (Kyocera) · Contax/Yashica mount · 24×36mm on 35mm film (Kyocera manual) · 1990

Also known as: Contax RTS III · CONTAX RTS III · Contax RTS 3 · Contax RTSIII · Contax RTS-III · Kyocera Contax RTS III · RTS3 · コンタックス RTS III · コンタックスRTSIII · コンタックス RTS3 · コンタックス RTSIII

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Contax RTS III (1990–2005) Contax/Yashica 1990–2005 — No production figure or serial table has been published. The end year is the close of the Contax/Yashica-mount system: Kyocera's announcement of 12 April 2005 ended production of the whole line (Digital Camera Watch), and Emulsive's specification table gives 1990–2005.
  1. Every figure in the tables is from the Kyocera instruction manual's specification pages (the cameramanuals.org scan): the shutter ranges, the X settings of 1/125 and 1/250, the EV 0–21 and 3–21 meter, the ISO ranges, the 100% and 0.74× finder, the frame-rate table by battery type, the 13-second rewind, the 120-roll battery capacity and the 156 × 121 × 66mm, 1,150g body. Mike Eckman's figures agree except on weight; see disputed.
  2. The Japanese price is a late list price. Kyocera's archived product page of 2003 gives ¥350,000 for the body and ¥394,000 with the Planar 50mm f/1.4 MM, before tax, with the flex case C-1 at ¥10,000; a Digital Camera Watch film-camera column found by search recalls the body at roughly ¥350,000 when new. No 1990 Japanese launch price has been found. The $3,200 is Eckman's figure for September 1990.
  3. The frame-rate claim in a reader's comment on Eckman's page, 5 frames per second on six AA cells against about 3.5 on a 2CR5, is confirmed by the manual's own table, which also gives 4.5 on Ni-Cd cells.
  4. Japanese Wikipedia's spot flash metering, between-frame data imprint, magnesium and titanium exterior and 100% finder are not contradicted by anything reached; the manual's dating unit prints between the frames.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • RTS III on the prism front and a top-plate LCD panel showing the counter, film-transport mark and battery warning (Kyocera manual)
  • Integral grip with a vertical-position release; dedicated release socket and cable-release socket for bulb (Kyocera manual)
  • Direct-X hot shoe with TLA contacts and a sync terminal; mirror-up lever and aperture stop-down button (Kyocera manual)
  • Ceramic pressure plate with three vacuum slots and the dating unit inside the detachable back (Kyocera manual; Mike Eckman)
  • Shutter priority needs an MM lens: the manual specifies the Contax/Yashica MM mount, and an AE lens limits the body to aperture priority and manual (Kyocera manual; Japanese Wikipedia on the MM lenses)

Contax RTS III (1990–2005):

  • RTS III on the prism; a tall, wide body with an integral grip and an LCD display panel on the top plate (Kyocera manual; Mike Eckman)
  • Vertical-format release button on the grip, a dedicated release socket and a cable-release socket for bulb exposures (Kyocera manual)
  • Blue LCD read-out below the finder image; back with built-in dating unit and film-check window; ceramic pressure plate with three narrow vacuum slots inside the back (Kyocera manual; Mike Eckman)
  • Mode selector with Av, Tv, M, X and B; A.B.C. bracketing lever; 2-second and 10-second self-timer positions on the drive selector (Kyocera manual)

Specifications

Format
24×36mm on 35mm film (Kyocera manual)
Finder
Fixed eye-level pentaprism, long eye-point, with built-in dioptre adjustment +1 to −3; horizontal split-image and microprism screen standard, interchangeable; LCD read-out of shutter speed, aperture, counter, mode, A.B.C., flash and metering marks (Kyocera manual) · 0.74× magnification · 100% coverage · no rangefinder image
Shutter
vertical-travel metal focal plane, electronically controlled (Kyocera manual) · Automatic 32 seconds to 1/8000 stepless; manual 4 seconds to 1/8000, B, and X at 1/125 or 1/250 (Kyocera manual) · flash sync Direct X contact synchronising at 1/250 or slower, with a sync terminal; dedicated TLA flashes set the speed automatically when charged (Kyocera manual) · self-timer
Film advance
built-in motor: single frame, continuous low at about 3 frames per second and continuous high at about 5 with fresh alkaline AA cells, 4.5 on Ni-Cd and about 3.5 on a 2CR5; automatic loading to frame 1; motorised rewind in about 13 seconds, mid-roll rewind, leader left out (Kyocera manual)
Back
detachable, with built-in dating unit on its own CR2025 cell and a film-check window; ceramic pressure plate with the RTV (Real Time Vacuum) attraction system (Kyocera manual)
Meter
TTL centre-weighted average and TTL spot metering, switchable, EV 0–21 and EV 3–21 at ISO 100 with f/1.4; aperture priority, shutter priority (MM lenses), manual, TTL auto flash, pre-flash TTL auto and pre-flash TTL manual flash; AE lock; compensation ±2 EV in 1/3 steps; A.B.C. bracketing at ±0.5 or ±1 EV; ISO 25–5000 by DX code, 6–6400 by hand (Kyocera manual). Six AA alkaline or Ni-Cd cells or one 6V 2CR5 lithium, for about 120 rolls of 36 on alkalines (Kyocera manual).
Motor drive
Not compatible — Built in: there is no external winder or motor drive for the RTS III (Kyocera manual; Japanese Wikipedia).
Weight
1150 g
Dimensions
156 × 121 × 66, 1,150g without batteries (Kyocera manual) mm
Country
Japan
Original price
$3,200 body only in the United States in September 1990, with the Planar 50mm f/1.4 a further $430 (Mike Eckman); Kyocera's own Japanese product page still listed it at ¥350,000 body only and ¥394,000 with the Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 MM, before tax, in 2003 (today $7,680)
Accessories
TLA flash system with pre-flash TTL metering, through the direct-X hot shoe with TLA contacts (Kyocera manual) · Magnifier F-2N for the eyepiece and interchangeable focusing screens besides the standard split-image/microprism screen (Kyocera manual) · Cable switch through the dedicated release socket and a cable release for bulb exposures (Kyocera manual) · Flex case C-1, listed at ¥10,000 on Kyocera's 2003 product page

Approximately 100% field of view, with no mirror cut-off up to 600mm, and 0.74× with the 50mm lens at infinity (Kyocera manual). The magnification is read from an OCR'd line of the manual; see derived.

Figures we worked out rather than found: The finder magnification of 0.74× is read from the manual's OCR'd specification line, which prints as 'O.Z+X'; it matches the figure commonly quoted for the camera, but treat it as a reading rather than a quotation.

Where sources disagree

Weight (grams)
  • 1,150g without batteries — Kyocera instruction manual
  • 1,151g with batteries, without lens — Mike Eckman, weighing his own body

Better supported: 1,150g without batteries

Six AA cells weigh well over 100g, so the two cannot both be right as stated; the maker's figure is adopted.

Film advance (frame rate on lithium)
  • About 3.5 frames per second on a 2CR5, about 5 on alkaline AA cells — Kyocera manual
  • 5 on six AA cells, 'about 3.5' on the 2CR5 from memory — reader comment on Mike Eckman's page

Better supported: The manual's table

What reviewers say

History

The RTS III of 1990 shares a name and a lens mount with the RTS and RTS II and nothing else. Japanese Wikipedia describes it as the first flagship designed after Kyocera took over Yashica, mechanically and dimensionally unrelated to the earlier bodies: a magnesium and titanium shell with an integral grip, a motor built in for winding and rewinding at up to 5 frames per second, a vertical metal shutter to 1/8000 with X sync at 1/250, a pentaprism showing the whole frame, pre-flash TTL spot metering for flash, and a ceramic pressure plate behind which a small pump, the RTV or Real Time Vacuum system, holds the film flat through three narrow slots. The dating unit in the back prints between the frames. Mike Eckman puts the United States list at $3,200 for the body in September 1990, with the Planar 50mm f/1.4 a further $430; Kyocera’s own Japanese page was still listing the body at ¥350,000 before tax in 2003, and production ran until the Contax line closed in April 2005.

The manual’s specification is a professional one. Automatic exposure runs steplessly from 32 seconds to 1/8000 in aperture priority, with shutter priority available on MM lenses, manual from 4 seconds to 1/8000 with B and two X settings at 1/125 and 1/250. Metering switches between centre-weighted, EV 0–21, and spot, EV 3–21, with AE lock, ±2 EV compensation in thirds and an A.B.C. bracketing lever for ±0.5 or ±1 EV; film speed is read from the DX code between ISO 25 and 5000 or set by hand from 6 to 6400. The finder is a long eye-point prism with dioptre adjustment from +1 to −3, about 100% coverage with no mirror cut-off up to 600mm, 0.74× with the 50mm, and a blue LCD read-out below the image. Six AA cells, alkaline or Ni-Cd, or one 2CR5 power it: the manual’s table gives about 5 frames per second on fresh alkalines, 4.5 on Ni-Cd and 3.5 on the lithium cell at the high continuous setting, and about 120 rolls of 36 from a set of alkalines. The body is 156 × 121 × 66mm and 1,150g without batteries, against the 735g that davidde.com gives for the RTS II.

Ownership is the question. Eckman calls it the nicest camera on his site that he still cannot recommend: his example came with a dead finder LCD and never advanced a frame through a dozen loads with four different films, he returned it for a refund, and he reads of enough similar electronic failures from other owners to say that a working RTS III is on borrowed time and worth a gamble only at a very low price. Emulsive’s reviewer, shooting one beside an RTS II with the Vario-Sonnar 35–70mm, finds it a clear departure from its predecessors and altogether larger and heavier; Ibraar Hussain, writing about the RTS II at 35mmc, has used an RTS III and prefers the older camera. A Japanese photographer’s column for Digital Camera Watch recalls the 1/8000, the motor, the vacuum plate and the bracketing on location, and a body bought late and little used as digital arrived.

Identification is simple, since nothing else in the line looks like it: RTS III on the prism, the top-plate LCD panel, the vertical release on the grip, the Av/Tv/M/X/B mode selector and A.B.C. lever, and the ceramic plate with its vacuum slots inside the back. No production figure or serial table has been published, and no 1990 Japanese launch price has been found; the only maker’s price is the 2003 one.

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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

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Listings updated 2026-11-02. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Contax 167 MT · Contax AX · Contax RTS · Contax RTS II Quartz · Contax RX · Contax RX II · Contax S2 · Contax ST

Lenses for this body: Apo-Sonnar T* 200mm f/2 (C/Y) · Distagon T* 15mm f/3.5 (C/Y) · Distagon T* 18mm f/4 (C/Y) · Distagon T* 21mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Distagon T* 25mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Distagon T* 28mm f/2 (C/Y) · Distagon T* 28mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Distagon T* 35mm f/1.4 (C/Y) · Distagon T* 35mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · F-Distagon T* 16mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Makro-Planar T* 100mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Makro-Planar T* 60mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Mirotar T* 1000mm f/5.6 (C/Y) · Mirotar T* 500mm f/4.5 (C/Y) · Mirotar T* 500mm f/8 (C/Y) · PC-Distagon T* 35mm f/2.8 (C/Y, shift) · Planar T* 100mm f/2 (C/Y) · Planar T* 135mm f/2 (C/Y) · Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 (C/Y) · Planar T* 50mm f/1.7 (C/Y) · Planar T* 55mm f/1.2 '100 Jahre Planar' (C/Y) · Planar T* 85mm f/1.2 anniversary editions (C/Y) · Planar T* 85mm f/1.4 (C/Y) · S-Planar T* 100mm f/4 bellows lens (C/Y) · Sonnar T* 100mm f/3.5 (C/Y) · Sonnar T* 135mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Sonnar T* 180mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Sonnar T* 85mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Tele-Apotessar T* 300mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Tele-Tessar T* 200mm f/3.5 (C/Y) · Tele-Tessar T* 200mm f/4 (C/Y) · Tele-Tessar T* 300mm f/4 (C/Y) · Tessar T* 45mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Vario-Sonnar T* 100–300mm f/4.5–5.6 (C/Y) · Vario-Sonnar T* 28–70mm f/3.5–4.5 (C/Y) · Vario-Sonnar T* 28–85mm f/3.3–4 (C/Y) · Vario-Sonnar T* 35–135mm f/3.3–4.5 (C/Y) · Vario-Sonnar T* 35–70mm f/3.4 (C/Y) · Vario-Sonnar T* 40–80mm f/3.5 (C/Y) · Vario-Sonnar T* 70–210mm f/3.5 (C/Y) · Vario-Sonnar T* 80–200mm f/4 (C/Y)

Sources (9)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this camera, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.