P&S Cameras

[tom_tong]

I have short-listed 3 P&S cameras to supplement my M6ttl. They are 1.Contax T3, 2.Leica Minilux and 3.Konica Hexar (silver?). I am asking comments from knowledgeable friends here who have at least owned or used 2 of them. What and why is your prefence? I concern most about quality of lens and followed by quietness and ease of use, size is not that a matter to me. Any P&S cameras with lens of better quality than the above 3 can be recommended? Thanks a lot for your advices. Regards

[raymond_tai]

Without hesitation I recommend the Konica Hexar. The 35mm

f/2 is supposed to be a copy of the Leica 35mm pre-ASPH

Summicron and it is sharp with nice bokeh. The shutter is very

quiet, viewfinder nice and bright, meter, AF very accurate. If you

are looking for a one body one lens combo this is it.

 

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I had the Contax T3 for a little while and find it hard to use

because of the small size. For me at least it was too light to hold

studily. If you must have a Contax I recommend the T2 instead.

 

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Haven't used the Minilux but my friends swear by it. If you prefer

manual focus then how about a Bessa-R with 35mm Pancake

lens?

[geddert]

The Konica Hexar (With quiet mode - you can ad this to silver ones by

sending it to somebody in Australia - i read about this elsewhere) is

as big as (if not a bit bigger) then a M6 and i don't really think it

can be considered a point and shoot... its a seperate rangefinder

camera with a fixed lens - which may be exactly what you are looking

for. I don't own one but have used it in a store and will be buying

one as soon as i have the 90cron and 35lux. I personally use a Ricoh

GR1 (28/2.8), which is in the same quality league as the others you

mentioned, and love it - i find it to be the perfect compliment to my

M6 with 50cron when walking around a city. the M around my neck and

the cron in my pocket just in case i need a wider view. One of the

main draws of this camera is its incredibly small size, plus its wide

angle (for a point and shoot)... i guess it would be the one to get

if you like wide angles.

[frank]

I use a Hexar Titanium and a Leica Minilux. Both cameras have excellent

lenses that can be used wide open without any disappointment. While the

compact Minilux actual is ideal for snapshots the Hexar is a camera for

serious photograpy with a size comparable with your M6. The Hexar's

advantages are its accurate AF, its silent mode (more silent focussing

and film transport than Leica M) and its bigger body for male hands.

Unfortunately the Hexar's controls are fiddly but the pics are great.

IMO the poor man's Leica Hexar is more versatile than P&S cameras like

Leica Minilux, Contax T3 or Ricoh GR1 which are really tempting.

[jim_reed]

Tom:

 

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I don't meet your criteria as a person who has owned/used two of the

models you mention, but I do own/use a Leica Minilux Zoom and can

tell you that the lens quality is excellent for a P&S. The lens is

not as fast as the modern Leica primes, but resolution and contrast

are very good. It's perhaps not a compact as other P&S's, but it's

solid and reliable -- built like a little brick. Great little camera

to toss in your briefcase.

[jay_.]

I handled those cameras and a few more, before settling on a

Minilux. The Contax only let me use wide open aperture in Program

mode, otherwise f/4 was the widest I could set in aperture-priority.

Also, as a one-lens system I wanted the longest lens of the bunch,

which was the 40mm in the Minilux (same as the Rollei 335S I've been

using for many years). The Hexar's top shutter speed is 1/250, which

I don't see the reason for, as leaf shutters have been easily going

to 1/500 and higher for years. Given the Hexar's size, I would go

for a Contax G1 and have lens interchangeability. I wanted a P&S

with manual control as a backup for my M system, and as a weekend-

trip camera. The Minilux is just perfect...the only gripes are the

low-magnification viewfinder with small image, the lack of filter

threads, and the fact that each time you turn it on it defaults to

auto-flash-on and I have to manually scroll through several button

pushes to cancel the flash.

[stephen_jones4]

Hexar had noticable barrel distortion in the sample I had. Also

focus was so quiet (in quiet mode) that I had a job telling

whether it had done it's business at all. IF the barrel distortion

was atypical I think this is a fine camera. I struggle to find the

GR1 lens quality all that special (I've borrowed this camera

extensively and a leica friend has one and consistently

denegrates it's performance (but hasn't actually got rid of it)).

Also, I know a lot of people with broken/semi-faulty versions. It

seems to be a must-have camera here in the UK currently. The

T2 I owned took brilliant pictures (f4 and smaller) and handled

excellently - unfortunately the metal v.f. surround scratched my

glasses and in the end I sold it. The T3 I played with in a shop

seemed a little too tiny to me and it struck me as in no huge rush

to focus - (a bit like the Contax N1 but that's another story) I know

that it features a re-computed lens... Optically, from my

experience there is nothing to touch the minilux - the 40 f2.4 lens

is wonderful even at 2.4. HOWEVER, how annoying is it that you

need to turn the flash off (press, press, press) every time you

turn the thing on (not the case with the later zoom version- so

leica seem to know how annoying this is - so where's the

minilux 2?!)? Also, the really useful focus confirmation of the T2

is missing and the v/f (although spectacle friendly) is pretty tiny,

the af is not that certain and the reliability isn't perfect. I know

rollei have just come up with some 38 2.6 (??) compact for c.

£400 which may be good - seems to be aperture priority etc. but I

haven't had the chance to get hold of one yet to play with.

My advice, on balance, would be to get the T2 s/h or put up with

the foibles of the minilux, but there sure is a hole in the market

for that new improved minilux...

[stephen_jones4]

Done it again - failed to read to the end of the previous poster's

thread 'til after I wrote my stuff - apologies to Jay who already

mentioned the flash quirk on the minilux...

[godfrey]

In this set of three, I prefer the Contax T3 to the Minilux as I like

the smaller size and find the features/lens very suitable. The

Hexar Silver is not compact enough to be considered for carrying

as an alternative to the Leica M; it does have an excellent lens,

no question.

 

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But truth be told, I would carry a Rollei 35S or a Minox 35GT-E in

preference to all three of them. I prefer the more manual, user

controllable operation of these two.

[jay_.]

I carried a 35S for many years, a Minox for a couple months. The

Minox shutter/electronics conked out, it was more expensive to

replace than the camera was worth. Both it and the Rollei are guess-

focus cameras. Shoot up-close at f/2.8 and you'd better be a really

good guesser. The 35S can't meter at eye level and the coverage

angle is pretty wide, so slide exposures are tricky with long-

distance scenics. Both Minox and Rollei require add-on flash, and

the Rollei's shoe (except the ridiculously expensive Classic) is on

the bottom of the camera so to avoid upwardly mobile shadows you have

to turn the camera upside down to shoot flash. I have not regretted

replacing the Rollei with the Minilux...but I still have the Rollei!

[andrew_schank]

I don't think the Contax T3 has been given its due credit in the

comments above. The focus is as fast as any P&S out there, and it has

more features than the Hexar or Leica, such as 13 inch minimum focus,

higher shutter speeds (up to 1/1250 at smaller apertures), and very

importantly, no measurable vignetting at any f stop/shutter speed

combo. There are user settings so you can customize the camera to

your needs and it will remember them after the camera is turned off.

The Contax T3 can be set to 2.8 in aperture priority, not just f4.0

and smaller. The camera is very quiet for a P&S. The meter is very

accurate, and I must not have very big hands, because I do not not

find the camera to be too small. It is solidly made out of Titanium

(not just a coating like the Leica). The reformulated Sonnar on the

T3 was tested out as the best lens ever seen in a P&S camera, and

tops over 80LPMM resoltuion, is nearly flare proof, and has no

measurable distortion. Color reproducxtion is superb as well. The

lens is fantastic wide open, and lends itself to "Leica Summicron

quality" low light images.

[alfie wang]

I use the Leica Z2X for my P and S most of the time. It supposed to

give nice slide photographs. So far, no complaints at present. This P

and S just replaced my Leica Mini :)

 

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alfie

[jay_.]

I'm happy to hear the T3 can be set to f/2.8 in AE. The T2 couldn't,

and neither could the T3 I played with at the store, but maybe it was

a very early production or something was wrong with it. I may take

another look at a T3 if my Minilux goes belly-up. I bought it used

for about 1/2 the new price, so it may have 1/2 the longevity also;>)

[tse_sung_wu7]

There are good reviews on the Hexar AF at photo.net:

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<a

href="http://www.photo.net/photo/hexar">http://www.photo.net/photo/hex

ar

</a><p>

I can strongly recommend it, tho' it seems rather bulky compared even to the

M6 now, to my eyes. Someone mentioned the AF was too quiet- it is quiet,

but through the VF you can see it working. In 100s of photos, I've never had

one incorrectly focused. It's a superb camera, and the shutter release is

quite quick- I would assume the other high end P&S' focus before the shutter

release is fully pressed.

<p>

Hexar is what led me to Leica.

<p>

BTW, does anyone know anything about the Rollei Prego 30? It seems like a

nice, small metal body. I would like to know how the AF is, and image quality.

[MTC Photography]

My favourite compacts: Contax T2 and Minox 35ML

[david_killick]

Tom, I would have unflinchingly recommended the Minilux for its fine

lens, but after four years and about 100 films it has developed an EO2

error message which necessitates a costly new shutter. Apparently,

this is not that uncommon, so I wonder about the longevity of P/Ss in

general.

[nikitatuan_nguyen]

Of the cameras listed above, I've played with the Minilux extensively

first and almost bought it but the Contax T3 came along and made the

decision for me. :-) (No experience with Hexar)

 

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I'm holding the T3 here in my hand and can tell you that f2.8 in AE

is possible. I've shot using all f-stops from 2.8 to 16. The optical

performance of this new Zeiss Sonnar is wonderful... no fall-off,

very flare-resistent and almost as sharp as my Contax G 45mm lens,

also a Sonnar.

 

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Other features I like:

-Can set different Flash defaults

-Lens can be set to pre-focus when the shutter release is lightly

touched

-Long Time (LT) exposure ranges up to 180 secs

-Separate AF Lock button

-Manual Focus and Exposure Comp can be set in various ways

-Bright, clear and contrasty VF

-Takes filters and lens hood

-Can accomodate the TLA200 Flash with SA2 bracket

 

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As for size, that's personal preference. Noise... not silent like

Canon EOS and USM, but doesn't bother me at all. With ambient noise,

your subject won't likely hear the camera's operation.

[tom_tong]

Thanks guys,

I've bought a T3 and the photos come out to be wonderful. No regrets

and I will recommend it without reservation.