Contax RTS II and a roll of Expired Provia

Damn I love this camera! Sometimes I caress and stroke it, touch every surface and the lovingly pack it away again. Then I get love sick and take it out again! A shame I don’t use it as often as I should like, but that’s the trouble with me rather than my favourite pastime.

I’m lazy, I procrastinate and stay indoors, this is severe during winter – sometimes I wish I could hibernate and sleep from November to March when I suddenly feel alive again.

Anyway this is a short post about my darling Contax RTS II. A shame I can’t afford to buy any of the matching Carl Zeiss lenses, but I do have a small stash of cheap crap which I am quite fond of.

M42 lenses are not in any way cutting edge – but they’re cheap, well built, user serviceable and with bags of character. And you can use them on any camera! Mine are used on my two Minolta Dynax 7 and Konica Minolta Dynax 7D.

The main weapon is the formidable Yashica ML 50mm f2 – the closest I could get to the snub nosed Cal Zeiss 45mm Tessar f2.8. The Yashica isn’t a Tessar design as it has more elements, but it’s small and doesn’t protrude – it’s smaller than it’s faster 50mm Yashica ML brothers and has a very pleasing swirly almost DDR/Soviet type out of focus areas when opened up.

This is augmented by my collection of cheap and cheerful M42 lenses. Firstly is the Walter PKK – the Indutstar 50mm f3.5 Tessar. I have never used it yet as I haven’t had the chance, it’s tiny and fiddly – but one day God willing I shall use it to produce a masterpiece (in my dreams).

Next up we have a couple of beauties – The Pentacon 135mm f2.8 with a zillion bladed diaphragm. I really like this a lot – solid build quality and user serviceable – great for sniping targets over long distance – better for portraits with a lovely dreamy look.

Then we have my personal favourite – the Helios 44-2 58mm f2. What a fantastic lens! Great for people and with a flare and look which was made in Valhalla. Finally I have my snapshot wider lens – which is an Auto Chinon 35mm f2.8

If I were to buy another lens it would be the Jupiter 85mm f2. That would be as like rolling the collection in glitter as it’s not a cheap M42 lens.

Anyway I’ve shot a few rolls here and there – always love the feel of the camera and the HUGE bright Pro level Viewfinder which I have heard say is biggest and brightest of any 35mm SLR.

I had a roll of Fujichrome Provia 100 which had been expired for years and was lingering in my freezer. (I had bought it expired  before I put it in the freezer several years ago so I was expected it to be crap).

Well, in for a penny and in for a pound as they say and I went out to shoot it!

I used to live in Wivenhoe – if you look on a map you’ll see it hidden away south-east of Colchester on the Colne Estuary. A pretty quiet place full of bohemian University types, very different from the rest of Essex and you won’t find many Essex accents there. (I’m a cockney boy from Clapton in East London so sneer at such mockeries). It is great for photography and full of interesting subjects. So on one of my cycle rides (on a 1983 Raleigh Clubman) I took my camera bag, then went to town with shooting – trying out the various lenses. I shot about half a roll and then went home.

Later that week – on the hottest day of 2022 (it was 100’F) I popped down to my home town – London, which I love and am homesick for, but which I loathe as soon as I get there. I can’t live without it and can’t live with it. One day I think after I die my soul will try and haunt London but’ll get vexed and drift off somewhere else. I was around the West End and South Bank with my missus and her relatives who wanted to marvel at this once great city. My Contax RTS II 35mm Full metal jacket was poised in my hand as I shot! I enjoyed holding it, and sneering at these Digital mirrorless users I came across. We stayed and for the very last time we went for a stroll in the woods of Epping Forest around Loughton where I haven’t been to since and probably never will again.

Anyway, I used all of these lenses and enjoyed every shot.

Every single shot was a keeper – and the over dated expired Provia showed some interesting character.

The primary colours especially red, blue and green popped nicely. Everything was quite grainy and some had shifted to be quite warm others blue. Of course most of my photos (from London) were family shots (so not included) but I’ve a few here which show off some of the characteristics of the expired film, the lenses and of course the places which I photographed. In London especially, the heat combined with the expired film and expired lenses produced slides with a look that could have been shot in 1972!

Anyway I hope you like the Photos – they won’t win any prizes but I think they show off the outdated lenses and expired film with some character.

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