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Contax RTS III Viewfinder Display Stays ON when the camera is OFF!!


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<p>My Contax RTS III speed/f displays (the small blue displays within the viewfinder) stay on when I set the camera in the off position, and keep on, until I remove the batteries. <br>

If I operate the controls nothing happens, which is to be expected, and the speed and f displays do not change when I change the corresponding dials. So it seems the camera is actually off except the blue background light stays on forever.<br>

Does anyone have experienced a similar problem (and have a solution) ? <br>

Regards.<br>

Luis.</p>

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<p>I had some peculiarities with my RTSIII display. I think there was extra stuff lit up but not when the camera was turned off. I think the RTSIII displays are a trouble area. It took me years to find someone who had connections in Japan that could find parts. Mark Hama in the Atlanta, Georgia area found someone he could send the camera to. He used to be a Yashica/Contax repair person.</p>

<p>These Contax bodies are getting hard to service. You could contact him but I'm afraid that option might no longer be open. The cheapest way might be to buy a donor body with the displays good. Then someone like Mark could fix it. Or you can buy a totally new body to use. They've come down to the 600s I think. Not optimal I know.</p>

<p>Also stay away from the beautiful but hard to service RTS 1. The later, if plasticky Aria seems more robust in terms of reliability. You have to look at the bright side. There are a lot of good Contax bodies on the open market and they really aren't very pricey and they're wonderful to use.</p>

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  • 2 years later...

<p>Sorry to reply so late!. I did not find a solution but Contax service in Spain was open to fix the problem, for a modest fee of about 500 USD!. <br>

So, I still have the problem and probably never will fix it. I remove batteries when storing the camera and that is all.<br>

I own some more Contax bodies, in particular two RTS-I which are in working state. One of these is a RTS Gold 50 Anniversary, of course without any use (btw, I tried to sell it some years ago, without much success). <br>

The rarest I own is a Hewlett Packard 139, made by Contax for a HP plotter device. It is a Contax 139 with some modifications. <br>

Thanks for your answer.</p>

 

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