Contax T3 - User Comments, Discussion (PART 2)

Greetings Contax T3 Users,

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It seems that the original discussion on the Contax T3 started by John McCormack has run into difficulties (perhaps because of its length). I have cut and pasted below the last of the discussion activity with the hope that the contributions continue. Thanks to John for starting the original discussion @:

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http://greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=004u2K

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Regards,

Eric

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I have a question about the flash synch speed of the T3. Does anyone know what it is? I would also like to see some pictures of the flash bracket and external flash mounted on the T3 so I can see what I would be getting into before laying out that kind of money. I haven't recieved my T3 yet but I must admit I am pretty excited to be able to back up my M6 with such a nice little P&S.

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-- Gus Hagberg (grhagberg@snet.net), July 08, 2001.

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I think the T3 flash sync up to 1/500 sec, as T2

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-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), July 08, 2001.

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I have a question concerning the flash too. Do the flash goes to slow sync mode when used in aperture priority as the GR1 do it? I found the flash settings of my GR1 to be ideal and i am wondering if the T3 is as logical/simple on this point. Any comment form a former GR1 owner would be great!

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-- Fabrice Bodet (beud@hotmail.com), July 08, 2001.

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Re: "Does the flash goes to slow sync mode when used in aperture

priority as the GR1 do it?"

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Yes. I believe the T3 operates similar to the GR1 (which I use also)

in slow sync with aperture priority. In fact, you can also set the T3

to very long shutter speeds (up to 180 seconds) with the LT setting

and also force the flash to fire, or not, as you wish.

Does the T3 has manual focus confirmation signal red < and >

and focus is right on, a green * ?

Martin,

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If I understand your question correctly, yes, manual scale focusing is

confirmed (using scale focusing mode where user sets the distance)

with a slowly blinking (one time/second) green circle in the

viewfinder (The distance is displayed in meters on the top panel.) The

slow blinking is a reminder that manual focusing is in use. I don't

recall seeing any red warning light on the T3.

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Using the AFL (Auto Focus Lock) button the focus distance is also

confirmed with a slowly blinking (one time/second) green lighted

circle in the viewfinder (The distance is displayed in meters on the

top panel.)

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Autofocus using regular AF is confirmed with a steady green lighted

circle in the viewfinder (The distance is displayed in meters on the

top panel.)

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If focus cannot be achieved, using AFL or AF, the circle blinks

quickly - 4 times/second.

Does the lens cover of T3 seem flimsy to you? T2 is perfect other

than the shutter lag.

I don't see any problem with the lens cover. The lens is tucked away

inside the body very well, and the cover seems to do its job as a

dust and scratch proof covering. The T2 is a top notch camera, but

the T3 has a few more improvements besides just the lag decrease.

The faster shutter / lack of vignetting at all speeds and apertures /

slightly better optics / closer focus / and noticeably more compact

size.

John, thanks for the reply, it seems that T3 retains one of the

unique feature of T2-- manual rangefinder-- not available on

Minilux nor Nikon Ti.

I just got my first 2 rolls back from the T3 and I am quite suprised

with the results. The detail is phenominal and the color rendition is

just beautiful. After the first 1/2 roll I felt like I've been

shooting with it for years. I lose no detail close focusing wide open.

Straight into the sun, no problem.

This is my first high end P&S. I looked at the Minilux but I hated the

veiwfinder. The T3 finder is 100% better. I also get a much higher

shutter speed than the Minilux.

I use an M6 TTL and bought this to back it up but I'm not so sure the

M6 wont be backing up this camera now.

I want to thank everyone on this thread for their input because it

definitely helped me make my decision to buy the T3. I will keep

reading this thread to pick up any other info or can be of any help to

anyone. Thanks again!

Has anyone used the flash bracket and additional flash with their T3?

Impressions? Are you solely limited to the TLA200 (which might be

more powerful, but does little to move the flash off the axis of the

lens to reduce redeye), or can you use one of the larger Contax

flashes which have bounce capability? Do you still get TTL with those

flashes or is the bracket connection solely for the TLA200?

Thanks in advance.

According to one Contax rep. I spoke with, you can only use the

TLA-200 flash with the SA-2 dedicated bracket for TTL flash metering.

I recently acquired the T3 and was perhaps slightly disappointed

by the 'snap shooting' results. I have a T4, Nikon 35Ti and

Contax G1 system and Pentax system. Nikon 35Ti seems

sharper and exhibits stronger contrast and colours from same

film batch and from the same processors taken of the same

environment.

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Characteristics of lens seem quite similar to the T4 but T4 is

less sharp in the majority of cases, though it can be pin sharp in

others. I found the focusing metering a bit odd, sometimes the

T3 would display a distance of 10 m when clearly the subject is

at infinity or it would display 3m when the subject is clearly more

at about 6m. I found that the focusing area is unusually wide and

'averages' the focus, which is fine for 'newbies' who might shoot

between peoples heads, but going for precise focus is difficult

as really what keen photographers want is spot focus on a

particular point? 35ti and T4 system works fine for me. And this

is probably why 35ti appears sharper in the majority of shoots?

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For Flash usage the Flash is relatively weak and light fall off is

very apparent more than T4 and 35Ti, Flash sync seems quite

high as it cuts off the ambient light into darkness whereas the

35Ti exposes more for the surrounding enviroment. However the

T3 does have a night flash mode where it does open the shutter

long enough for the background while firing the flash for the

main subject. My feelings on the flash is it could have been

stronger (for a camera of this price) and is bettered by many

cheaper cameras. ISO 100 film only covers 2 metres!

Infact with non flash photos there is also light fall off at the

corners of the frame, something I was not expecting as I read it

didn't happen. T4 and 35Ti exhibit it at small apertures

particularly in bright conditions and with blue skys. T3 exhibits at

large apertures, but need to do more shooting to confirm.

G1 and Pentax systems do not exhibit light fall off in the corners

of the frame.

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Camera is very quiet compared to 35Ti and noticably less bulky

and lighter, though T4 appears even lighter!

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Overall the 35Ti is a better overall camera, more control, more

feedback e.g. precise shutter speeds given in viewfinder, auto

adjusting parallex marks, better flash performance, flash

aperture priority mode etc. (but you can't buy it anymore!)

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So T3 is the best compact camera you can buy if only I can verify

if it is better than the Leica Minilux which I don't own!

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Happy shooting...

Re: "...T3 is the best compact camera you can buy if only I can verify

if it is better than the Leica Minilux which I don't own!"

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The lens on the Minilux is excellent (arguably as good as the T3's),

but I sold my Minilux to buy the T3 because the T3 is smaller, has a

better viewfinder, has a nice set of custom functions, operates

quieter, has flash default setting not found on the Minilux, accepts

filters and a lens hood, has a faster high shutter speed (max 1/1200

vs. 1/400), longer programmed exposure mode, and focuses much closer.

YMMV.

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New T3 images added to my T3 folder at:

http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=122840

So far I've found that the T3 although it can focus to .35m it's not

very good at it (on large apertures) - Due to it's wide (averaging)

auto focus area (when focusing is critical at close quarters with

shallow depth of field). Camera generally focuses on the wrong

point if the subject /s is not flat. Lens also does not appear to

perform it's best at very close range, not as good as 35ti

subjectively. Though the design of the Sonnar lens seems to be

uncompromised as the length of the barrel is unusually long. -It

appears the optical designers haven't compressed the length for

the sake of compactness. When focusing at infinity of course

there are no targeting problems and the camera returns VERY

sharp results even at f2.8

Pricing wise in Hong Kong the Contax is the most expensive

(Even T2 was). Cheapest Hong Kong price for T3 is 624 USD,

Minilux is 429 USD, my Nikon 35Ti was 519 USD. The price I

paid for my T3 was 662 USD as this store was giving away a free

databack because Beijing won the right to host the 2008 Olympic

games. Not a bad price (I think).

Kwen. It sounds to me like you may have gotten a camera with some

problems. Mine does not exhibit any of the fall off or focusing

errors you were describing, and the lens is in another league

compared to the one on the T4 I used heavily for 6 years. I have

gotten 24 out of 24 in focus well exposed shots with no edge fall off

on all the rolls I've exposed with mine so far. My flash exposures

have been just fine as well, both indoors and outside for fill.

John,

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Nice pics. The extremely sharp close-up of the flower belies claims

that the T3 does not focus properly on close-ups. I have one flash

shot close-up of my friend's face that is "scientific" sharp showing

details of every pore, blemish and sprouting whisker. Yuk! In that

case it was too sharp! But its nice to know that such close-up

capability is available for shots just like your flower shot.

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Phil

I think I probably do have a slightly suspect specimen if everyone

else has sharp pictures at close up and evenly illuminated

pictures across the frame for flash shots...

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One thing I did notice (on my T3) is that the autofocus area is

approximately 5 ovals wide (if you take the autofocus 'oval' and

lay them out 5 times) and it prevents my T3 from focusing

through a gap in the door which is half open -if I sit stand about 2

metres back from it. (by the way, are the U.S. T3 distance scales

in feet?). If I take a vertical shot the autofocus area doesn't clip

the edges of the door and focuses through into the distance.

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The above is the source of the problems I have with close up

focusing at wide apertures. Having analysed the 'duff shots' one

photo is of my son at the table with a basket from which he is

eating. The shot is vertical and instead of the focus on his face,

my T3 has turned it's attention on the basket. Although I

positioned the autofocus target on his face the width of the

autofocus area when the camera was vertical must have clipped

the basket in front of him and rendered that sharply

instead...hmmm. Of course if it was an outdoor shot with plenty

of sun the camera would have gone to a smaller aperture and

depth of focus wouldn't have been so critical.

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So it's probably 'operator error' more than anything, and stems

from the fact that Contax did not represent accurately the width of

the autofocus area in the viewfinder. Some other brands

physically show the width of their multipoint autofocus.

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Flash wise, 2 metres is not a very far with ISO 100 film and nor is

3 metres with ISO 200 which is about spitting distance! I am

surprised that most people achieve even illumination across the

frame.

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Anyway...if it really bugs me I'll try for a warranty claim, though I

always dislike people opening up things to have a look,

especially if they were precision made in Japan.

The popular photography tests said that although the flash was not

the most powerful they'd seen in a P&S, it was actually capable of

further distances than listed in the manual. They shot out to 20

feet with ISO 400 speed and still had good exposures. I am surprised

how well mine works in fill flash mode, even in bright sunlight I get

some fill on the faces even when I'm 7 to 10 feet away. I usually

use Fuji 400 speed color neg in most any P&S camera. The very slight

increase in grain is more than offset by the ability to shoot further

with flash and in lower light situations.

Just shot 18 rolls of print film, (NPH, NPC, Reala, NPS and Portra VC

400,) while on vacation in SE Pennsylvania and the Jersey shore.

Processed the film at A&I, Pro Lab in Los Angeles. I mainly used the

T3. A few shots were also taken with a Leica Minilux Zoom, the

Yashica T5 and the Canon 50mm F/1.4.

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I have never gotten better/sharper/eye popping color photographs.

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Mainly due to the ability to comfortably carry the T3 everywhere and

it's quick "point and shoot" operation, I was able to capture many

more natural shots of my five nephews (4-12) and my boy (2.8) playing

and interacting under a wider variety of situations, (beach,

boardwalk, backyard), than I would have with an SLR.

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Moreover the great T3 optics enabled me to capture extremely high

photos of fast moving kids' under every imagineable lighting

conditions.

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My relatives, includintg a few photo buffs, can't beleive the

great, "best ever" photo quality.

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In short, the T3 delivered superbly.

Sorry Ladies and Gents,

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Should read..."Capture extremely high quality photos.."

How does the manual focus on the T3 work ? By dial or by a litte

button ? Please detail the procedure.

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Thank you very much

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Jerome

There are two ways to set manual focusing on the T3:

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Manual Focusing by Scale

Press Mode button four times until "AF" is displayed. Then rotate +/-

dial until desired focus range is shown (.4 meters to Infinity). You

can return to AF mode quickly by pressing the AFL button.

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Focusing by AFL Button

Point camera at subject and press the AFL buttton to lock focus at

that distance (Distance is displayed on the top LCD.).

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The AFL function can be customized for focus lock only or focus lock

and AE (exposure) lock. Also, the focus lock hold time using the AFL

button can be set for one frame only or until camera is turned off.

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Manual focus hold time can be customized to remain set until camera is

turned off or until the setting is cancelled.

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See more discussion of T3 functions in this older thread:

http://greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=004u2K

I've been following the discussion of the T3 ever since the camera

first came out, and I find myself inching towards upgrading from my

T2. However, I have also read of another high end P&S from Fuji,

which is supposed to be available "soon." It is called the Klasse.

Does anyone have any information on it? Also, is it likely that

Leica will be introducing an update of the Minilux?

As to the minilux being updated, I cannot say, but there is a rumor

going around that it's to be discontinued. Someone in the minilux

club discussion group reported he'd heard it from 2 local camera

dealers. Of course, they may have been trying to move the item by

urging him to "get one while you can".

Whether it's true and whether it implies a replacement/update are

things I'd very much like to know. I've seen pictures of the Klasse

with a list of features; possibly they were linked on John's site?