コンタックスRTSⅡ。
難あり中古14000円で買ってモルトプレーンを自分で交換したものだ。内部もきれいで絶好調。なぜ難ありだったのかわからない。
1982年発売のこのカメラ、これまで中古市場になかなか出てこなかった。出てきても高値安定の中古価格。
それが最近、中古市場で見かけるようになった。
当時現役世代だった諸兄が40年ほど経って現役を退いたからだろうかそれとも遺品整理なのだろうか。
使い始めて半年経つが、手放したくなくなる気持ちに納得できる。
これまで使ったヤシカコンタックスカメラは、１６７MTに始まり、ヤシカFX-3スーパー2000、AX、RTS、RX、ヤシカFR、RTSⅢだ。
手に一番なじむのがこのRTSⅡ。初代RTSはポルシェデザインで、このRTSⅡはポルシェデザインとは謳われなかったが、初代とほとんど変わらないデザインなのでポルシェデザインに準ずると言っていいと思う。
特にシボ革の部分が初代よりⅡの方が圧倒的に感触が良い。直線的なデザインなのに手とのからみがここちよい。
初代RTSは電気系統の処理がまだ時代的に難しかった1975年発売だったのか故障が多かった。自分の中古は巻き上げ機構のトラブルで2年で故障してしまった。
RTSは視野率100％のニコンF6と併用していたが、視野率が92％だったため同じ被写体を撮影しようとしても、視野率の低さに惑わされてより広角で撮影してしまうことがあった。現像したフィルムを比較するとイメージが違って見えた。
それは視野率95％のRXでも起きた。青森から函館に向かうフェリーでカモメを撮影したときに、ファインダーでは避けたはずの人の手が写っていたのだ。そのことを当時写真を習っていた東京の半蔵門のJCIIの講師に話したら視野率100％のカメラを使いなさいと言われた。
RTSⅡは視野率97％なので視野率100％のカメラに比して不便だと思うことは今のところない。
もちろん、他に所有しているRTSⅢは視野率100％なので完璧なんだけど、電池抜き1150グラムは重い。それにⅢはでかくてかさばる。
RTSⅡはカメラバッグのポケット部分にも入ってしまう。フィルム巻き上げが手巻きでできるのが感触的にしっくりくる。
何年か前にNHKの日曜美術館でコンタックスカメラとカールツァイスレンズの使い手である林忠彦氏の特集があったんだけど、録画して今でも観ている。
林忠彦氏がRTS初代とRTSⅡをワインダーを使わず手巻きで撮影しているのを観ると、フィルムカメラは一枚一枚丁寧に撮りたいと思う。
さて、レンズのVario-Sonnar28－85㎜ F3.3-4.だ。
このレンズ、ズームレンズのせいか人気がない。
理解できないのが、廉価版である純正28－70㎜より中古価格が安いことだ。
純正とはいっても、28－70㎜は、その描写の違いから京セラオプテックス（富岡光学）ではなく、他社製だと聞いたことがある。
そして当時のカールツァイスレンズの描写とは異なるとする意見もあった（ディープなユーザーはズーム35－70㎜F3.4を使うのだとか）。
28－85㎜は定価15万を超える反面、28－70㎜はかなりお得な定価だったのに、今は28－70の方が中古価格が高い。
手にすれば造りの違いは明らかだ。ただし、28－70㎜は軽い。軽さを優先して人気があるのだろうか。それとも簡易マクロモード？ARIAと同時期に発売されたレンズだったと思うが、軽量なARIAに合わせたレンズのようだ。
28－85㎜は、今はなきアサヒカメラのニューフェイス診断室でキヤノンの28－80㎜F2.8-4Lにほぼ匹敵すると評価されたほどのレンズだ。
このレンズ、やたら逆光に強い。あまり役に立たない純正フードW-1を使う気にならなくなるほど逆光に強い。
それまでの自分のコンタックスレンズはすべて単焦点だったのだが、このズームレンズの描写の良さに驚いてしまった。色もこってり系だ。単焦点、ズームを問わず、レンズは絞り開放より絞ったほうが描写がいいのが一般的だが、このレンズは絞り開放での描写が良い。開放でも安心して使えるのだ。
ネットでは単焦点レンズに劣るという意見が大勢的だが、フィルムを使う前提では単焦点に劣るという印象は持たない。6千万画素を超えるカメラが買える今日、比較したうえで単焦点レンズに劣ると評価するのだろうが、自分はそうは思わない。
フィルム時代、ツァイスの辞書に軽量化の文字はないとまで言われた造りのしっかりした時代に作られた伝統のこってり系のこのレンズ、一度は試してみては？
ただし735グラムと重い。28-70ｍｍの倍以上の重さで、RTSⅢにつけて使うと数時間で重すぎて具合が悪くなる。特にRTSⅢの電源に単三型電池を使うと28-85㎜とで2キロを超える。2020年に自転車でしまなみ海道の尾道－今治間往復をサイクリングした際に、11キロの機材が入ったカメラバッグを背負い、RTSⅢにこのレンズをつけて首から提げていたら数時間で具合が悪くなり、首から提げるのをやめてハンドルにカメラストラップを巻いた状態にして何とか持ちこたえた。
RTSⅢと使う場合には覚悟が必要だ。
加筆：
2021年5月にアンプ部が原因と思われる故障で通電せず。修理見積が3万5千円で修理の決断がつかず実家で静態保存中。
2022年9月に二代目を約1万5千円で購入した。購入チェック時に最小絞りの露出表示がまれに不調で半額になったが以後好調。
Contax RTS II.
I bought it used with difficulty for 14,000 yen and replaced the moltplane by myself. The inside is clean and in great shape. I don't know why it was labeled as "difficult to use."
This camera was released in 1982, and it has been hard to find in the used market. Even when it did appear, it was at a high and stable used price.
Recently, however, it has started to appear in the used camera market.
Is it because former users have retired after about 40 years, or is it because they are sorting out their belongings?
It has been half a year since I started using it, and I can understand why I don't want to part with it.
I have used Yashica Contax cameras, starting with the 167MT, followed by the Yashica FX-3 Super 2000, AX, RTS, RX, Yashica FR, and RTS III.
The RTS II is the one that fits best in my hand. The first generation RTS was a Porsche design, and although this RTS II was not claimed to be a Porsche design, the design is almost the same as the first generation, so I think it can be said to be a Porsche design.
Especially the grained leather part is overwhelmingly better feeling in RTS II than in the first generation. The feel of the leather is very comfortable to the hand, despite the linear design.
The first generation RTS was released in 1975, when the electrical system was still difficult to handle, or perhaps there were many malfunctions. My own used RTS broke down within two years due to trouble with the winding mechanism.
RTS was used together with Nikon F6, which had a 100% field of view, but since the field of view was 92%, I was sometimes misled by the low field of view and ended up shooting at a wider angle when I tried to shoot the same subject. When the developed films were compared, the images looked different.
This also happened with the RX, which has a 95% field of view. When I photographed seagulls on a ferry from Aomori to Hakodate, the viewfinder captured a human hand that I should have avoided. When I told this to my instructor at JCII in Hanzomon, Tokyo, where I was taking photography lessons at the time, he told me to use a camera with a 100% field of view.
The RTS II has a 97% field of view, so I have not found it inconvenient compared to a camera with a 100% field of view.
Of course, the RTS III, which I also own, has a 100% field of view, which is perfect, but it is heavy at 1150 grams without batteries. And the III is big and bulky.
The RTS II fits in the pocket section of my camera bag. I feel comfortable with the fact that I can wind the film manually.
Some years ago, NHK's Sunday Museum of Art had a special on Tadahiko Hayashi, a master of Contax cameras and Carl Zeiss lenses, which I recorded and still watch to this day.
When I see Tadahiko Hayashi shooting the first generation RTS and RTS II by hand winding without using a winder, it makes me think that I want to take film cameras carefully one by one.
Now, let me introduce the Vario-Sonnar 28-85㎜ F3.3-4.
This lens is not popular, perhaps because it is a zoom lens.
What I don't understand is that the used price is cheaper than the genuine 28-70㎜ which is a low-priced version.
I have heard that the 28-70㎜ was not manufactured by Kyocera Optics (Tomioka Kogaku) but by another company because of its different depiction.
And some people said it was different from the depiction of Carl Zeiss lenses at that time (deep users use zoom 35-70㎜ F3.4).
While the 28-85㎜ had a list price of over 150,000, the 28-70㎜ had a much more reasonable list price, but now the 28-70㎜ has a higher used price.
The difference in construction is obvious when you hold the lens in your hand. However, 28-70㎜ is lighter. Is it popular because of its lightness? Or is it a simple macro mode lens?
The 28-85㎜ lens was so highly evaluated by the now defunct Asahi Camera's New Face Diagnostic Lab as being almost comparable to Canon's 28-80㎜ F2.8-4L lens.
This lens is very strong against backlight. It is so strong against backlight that I don't mind using the useless W-1 hood.
I had been using single focal length Contax lenses up to that point, but I was surprised at how well this zoom lens rendered images. The colors are also rich. Regardless of whether it is a single focal length or a zoom lens, it is common for a lens to render better images when the aperture is stopped down than when the aperture is wide open, but this lens renders well even when the aperture is wide open. This lens can be used with confidence even with the aperture wide open.
Many people on the Internet say that this lens is inferior to a single focal length lens, but I do not have the impression that it is inferior to a single focal length lens on the assumption that film is used.
I do not think it is inferior to a single focal length lens in comparison.
However, at 735 grams, it is heavy, more than twice the weight of the 28-70mm, and when used on the RTS III, it becomes too heavy and sickly within a few hours. When I cycled the Shimanami Kaido between Onomichi and Imabari by bicycle in 2020, I was carrying a camera bag with 11 kg of equipment on my back and this lens attached on RTS Ⅲ and carried it around my neck. I managed to hold it up with the camera strap wrapped around the handlebar instead of carrying it around my neck.
I had to stop carrying it around my neck and wrap the camera strap around the handle to keep it in place.
Additions.
In May 2021, the camera was not energized due to a malfunction that was thought to be caused by the amplifier part. The repair cost was estimated at 35,000 yen, so it was left in static storage at my parents' house.
In September 2022, the second generation was purchased for about 15,000 yen. At the time of purchase check, the minimum aperture exposure display was rarely faulty and the price was halved, but it has been working well ever since.
English text added on 02JAN2023.