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

Contax RX

Contax (Kyocera) · Contax/Yashica mount · 1994

Also known as: Contax RX · CONTAX RX · Kyocera Contax RX · Contax RX body · Contax RX 35mm SLR · Contax RX C/Y · Contax RX Zeiss · コンタックス RX · コンタックスRX · コンタックス RX ボディ

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
RX (1994–2002) Contax/Yashica 1994–2002 — —
  1. Kyocera's own specification page, archived in February 2004, gives 151 × 104.5 × 59mm, about 810g without battery, the EV ranges, ±2 EV, A.B.C. at ±0.5 and ±1, the long-eyepoint 95% / 0.8× finder and one 2CR5 cell. Mike Eckman's 862g is with the battery fitted. The frame rate of the built-in motor is not stated by Kyocera, Eckman, Emulsive or 35mmc.
  2. Kyocera's spec page carries the shutter range twice: 16s–1/4000 in Av and P in the shutter row, and 32s–1/4000 in auto in the speed row; the RX II page repeats both. Eckman gives 16s. Both figures are recorded under disputed.
  3. The ¥160,000 body price is the one Kyocera's site quoted in 2003–04 and the one its RX II page says was revised down to ¥132,000 for the successor; whether it was also the 1994 launch price is not stated. No Japanese launch price was found: Japanese Wikipedia gives none.
  4. Serial number on the body; no serial table or production figure was found (Mike Eckman).
  5. Three reviewers mention the mirror-slip fault common to Kyocera-built Contax and Yashica SLRs, where the glued mirror shifts and focus goes off: Emulsive's reviewer notes it as a known issue his body had escaped, and 35mmc's had it repaired permanently by a local shop.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Shutter-speed dial on the left of the top plate with the exposure-mode collar around it, released by a lock button at the back; exposure-compensation dial −2 to +2 in 1/3 steps with the A.B.C. collar (off, 0.5, 1) (Mike Eckman)
  • Drive-mode dial on the right, lift-and-turn, with single, continuous, self-timer, DFI (a small lever) and multiple-exposure 2–9 positions, and the spot / centre-weighted metering collar around it; the release collar is the power switch and AE lock (Mike Eckman)
  • Blue-tinted external LCD with two unmarked up/down buttons below it; dioptre knob beside the hot shoe; deep right-hand grip with a self-timer LED near its foot (Mike Eckman)
  • Lens release at about ten o'clock and depth-of-field preview at about eight o'clock on the mount; film-door release slider, PC socket and finder-blind lever on the left end; P-8 power-pack port at the lower left of the back; coin-slot battery door in the base (Mike Eckman)
  • Against the RX II: the RX reads RX on the top plate and has the DFI position on its drive dial where the RX II has a 2-second self-timer; the RX II's finder is brighter (Kyocera RX II page; kakaku.com user reviews)

RX (1994–2002):

  • Drive-mode dial with a DFI position marked by a small lever, which the RX II lacks (Mike Eckman; Kyocera RX II page)
  • RX, not RX II, on the top plate (kakaku.com user reviews of the RX II)

Specifications

Finder
Fixed eye-level pentaprism, long eyepoint, dioptre adjustment +1 to −3 with the knob beside the hot shoe, eyepiece blind, interchangeable FW-type focusing screens (five); green-backlit LCD along the finder showing the exposure data and the Digital Focus Indicator (Kyocera spec page; Kyocera RX II page; Mike Eckman) · 0.8× magnification · 95% coverage · no rangefinder image
Shutter
Vertical-travel focal plane, electromagnetically controlled metal blades (Kyocera spec page; Mike Eckman) · Av and P 16s–1/4000; Tv 4s–1/4000; manual 4s–1/4000, B, X (Kyocera spec page; Mike Eckman gives 16s–1/4000 stepless in auto). A second row of Kyocera's page gives 32s–1/4000 in auto; see disputed · flash sync X at 1/125; TTL direct flash control with TLA units on the direct-contact hot shoe, with auto-set of the shutter speed on Kyocera's auto-set flashes; PC socket on the left side (Kyocera spec page; Mike Eckman) · self-timer
Film advance
Built-in motor: automatic loading, single-frame and continuous advance, multiple exposure of 2–9 frames from the drive dial, automatic rewind at the end of the roll or on the lever, with custom functions choosing whether the leader is left out and whether rewind starts automatically (Mike Eckman; Emulsive; Kyocera RX II page, whose six custom functions are carried over from the RX). The frame rate is not given by any source reached
Back
Hinged, with a data back as standard imprinting the date between frames in the formats year-month-day, day-hour-minute, month-day-year or day-month-year, or nothing (Kyocera RX II page, 'standard on the RX II as well'; Mike Eckman); film window and manual rewind on the back
Meter
TTL silicon photodiode, switchable centre-weighted average (EV 1–20) or spot (EV 5–20) at ISO 100 with an f/1.4 lens; aperture priority, shutter priority, program, manual, TTL auto flash and manual flash; exposure compensation ±2 EV in 1/3 steps on its own dial; A.B.C. bracketing of three frames at ±0.5 or ±1 EV, working in every mode including manual; AE lock on the collar around the release, with a custom function choosing whether half-pressure locks it (Kyocera spec page; Kyocera RX II page; Mike Eckman). No evaluative or matrix pattern
Motor drive
Not compatible — The motor is built in; no separate winder exists. The P-8 external power pack, four AA cells on a cord, plugs into a port at the lower left of the back (Mike Eckman).
Weight
810 g
Dimensions
151 × 104.5 × 59, about 810g without battery (Kyocera spec page); Mike Eckman weighs 862g with the 2CR5 and no lens mm
Original price
$1,499.99 body only (US list at launch, Mike Eckman); $1,094 at B&H after a $75 rebate in August 1996 (Mike Eckman). Kyocera's site still listed ¥160,000 body only and ¥204,000 with the Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 MM, before tax, in February 2004 (today $3,170)
Accessories
P-8 external power pack, four AA cells on a cord, into the port at the lower left of the back (Mike Eckman) · Interchangeable FW-type focusing screens, five, shared with the RX II (Kyocera RX II page) · TLA-series flashes with TTL direct control and automatic shutter-speed setting on the auto-set units (Kyocera spec page) · Flex case C-4, ¥10,000 before tax (Kyocera spec page) · Electronic cable release, on the socket at the back (Mike Eckman)

The Digital Focus Indicator is a TTL phase-detection system that reads the lens image and shows in the finder LCD whether the subject is in focus, too near or too far, and by how much; it is switched on from a position on the drive-mode dial (Kyocera spec page; Mike Eckman). It takes light from the finder path: Kyocera's RX II page says deleting it gave that camera about 20% more finder light.

Where sources disagree

Speeds (slowest automatic speed)
  • 16 seconds in Av and P — the shutter row of Kyocera's specification page; Mike Eckman
  • 32 seconds in auto — the shutter-speed row of the same Kyocera page, repeated on the RX II page

Better supported: 16 seconds

Both rows are Kyocera's own text. The shutter row, which separates Av/P, Tv and manual, is the fuller statement and is the figure Eckman's test confirms.

Last
  • 2002 — succeeded by the RX II on 5 November 2002 (kakaku.com), and marked production ended on Kyocera's site by December 2003
  • Around 2001 — Mike Eckman's date for the end of the Contax/Yashica SLR line

Better supported: 2002

Eckman's date is for the line as a whole, and Kyocera's site was still selling the RX II, Aria and RTS III in December 2003; Kyocera announced the end of Contax/Yashica-mount production for April 2005 (Digital Camera Watch).

Weight (grams)
  • About 810g without battery — Kyocera specification page
  • 862g with battery, no lens — Mike Eckman

Better supported: 810g without battery

The two figures differ by the 2CR5 cell and are not in conflict.

What reviewers say

History

The Contax RX of 1994 was Kyocera’s mid-priced manual-focus body of the decade, placed well below the ST in price (Japanese Wikipedia) and a step below the RTS III in features. Its distinguishing feature was the Digital Focus Indicator, a TTL phase-detection sensor of the kind an autofocus camera uses, reporting in the finder LCD whether the subject is in focus, too near or too far, and by how much, with the lens still focused by hand (Kyocera; Mike Eckman). Japanese Wikipedia reads it as an experimental step toward autofocus, and says the AX of 1996, which focuses any C/Y lens by moving the film plane, was designed on the RX. Yashica’s Dental Eye III intraoral camera was built on the same body (en.wikipedia).

The rest of the specification is a complete 1990s electronic SLR: an electromagnetic vertical metal-blade shutter from 16 seconds to 1/4000 with X at 1/125, program, shutter-priority, aperture-priority and manual exposure, switchable centre-weighted and spot metering, ±2 EV compensation on its own dial, three-frame bracketing that works even in manual, a built-in motor with automatic loading and a rewind that can leave the leader out, a between-frame date imprint as standard, six custom functions, a long-eyepoint finder of 95% and 0.8× with dioptre adjustment and an eyepiece blind, and one 2CR5 cell with an optional P-8 pack of four AA cells (Kyocera; Mike Eckman). It weighs about 810g without the battery and measures 151 × 104.5 × 59mm (Kyocera). The US list price was $1,499.99 body only, and in Japan Kyocera’s site still quoted ¥160,000 in 2003–04 (Mike Eckman; Kyocera).

The reviews agree on the handling and differ on the focus aid. Mike Eckman finds the DFI works as advertised but adds little, because the bright screen and split-image aids already make focusing easy, and still concludes the RX “may not be the perfect SLR, but it comes very close”. Paul Turner at Emulsive rates it the RTS III’s equal in build and ergonomics and values the auto-rewind with the leader out above the focus LEDs. Alastair Bell at 35mmc describes “carved from granite solidity” in a big, heavy camera that became an instant favourite. Two of the three bodies had or had escaped the mirror-slip fault that Kyocera-built Contax SLRs share, where the glued mirror shifts and focus goes off; 35mmc’s was repaired permanently by a local shop.

The RX was succeeded on 5 November 2002 by the RX II (kakaku.com), which kept the die-cast body, the metal covers and every control but deleted the DFI, gaining about 20% more finder light and a 2-second self-timer, at a list price cut from ¥160,000 to ¥132,000 (Kyocera). The RX itself was marked production-ended on Kyocera’s site by December 2003.

Expand Collapse

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

Show 16 more listings

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.

Related: Contax Aria · Contax AX · Contax RTS III · Contax RX II · Contax S2 · Contax S2b · 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 (11)

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.