The RTL 1000’s shutter was similar to that used in the Praktica L, a vertically travelling metal shutter which earned a reputation for being incredibly reliable. What it didn’t earn a reputation for was whisper quiet operation – the “Praktica clack” is not exactly music to a street photographer’s ears.

Like the earlier Exaktas, the camera came with a choice of prisms. The standard was a black plastic pentaprism (which gave you a heavily vignette view of the action), a metal waist-level finder and a metering prism. The standard prism also came with a choice of focusing screen aswell. It was almost a system camera.
The RTL 1000 usually shipped with a Meyer-Optik Gorlitz Oreston 50/1.8 lens. As Vintage Camera Lenses reports, it is “very good at rendering warm colours and creates a distinctive vintage look”. The lens is very soft wide open, and not coated, so has a tendency to flare.

I bought it and am selling it with an undeveloped film. Someone's personal photos are inside it.