Need advice on contax t2, t3 and similar

Hi APUG

I have found good use in my olympus XA4 and XA2. With this little camera I have been able to do a lot of stealthy street photography without no one ever noticing the presence of the camera. Handy. I have got the seperate flash unit but it is quite clumsy and takes a long time to charge. I was thinking of spending some money on a high-end 35mm compact camera. This is new ground for me and I have never handled anything like the Contax T2 or T3. I have heard about Nikon 35ti being in the same league when it comes down to lens, size etc. So, let me try to cast som sense to this rambling of mine: I am looking for a "professionel" compact 35mm camera. Small of size, something that slides in my pocket and has a fast lens + built-in flash unit.

I have tried to google the subject, figuring that someone out there might have made a comparison of a handlefull similar cameras, but without luck.

Opinions, links etc. Is very much appreciated.

//Kim

By the way.. I have been looking for a loooong time at the Fuji Natura but these seem impossible to get hold on. Where should I look? I am in love with the 1.9 24mm lens

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

made this a few weeks ago. Feel free to bump it.
The last page has an updated list of all quality "cult status" point and shoots. This does not include toy cameras. (homie don't play that)

I, myself, chose a Nikon L35AF because it was found at a junk store for $2.

Hi,
Have you thought about the Ricoh GR1 series? Tad more compact than that of a contax T2 and in a nice black finish.

Kim Catton said:

I was thinking of spending some money on a high-end 35mm compact camera. This is new ground for me and I have never handled anything like the Contax T2 or T3.

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Hi. I've been a Contax T3 user since 2001, and I'm happy with this camera. It's a great snap-shot camera, in many situations, perfect for taking pics of people when a Leica M is too big and draws too much attention.

If the price is not an issue, try it.

Kim Catton said:

By the way.. I have been looking for a loooong time at the Fuji Natura but these seem impossible to get hold on. Where should I look? I am in love with the 1.9 24mm lens

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In the Japanese market, it's been treated as a collective item, so even an used price is higher than the original one.

What's being reasonable here is Fuji Klasse W or S. I think you can buy it new for less than 50,000 yen.

TheSohnly: I am going to read through this thread, seems theres some useable information, thx!

opticagent: I have looked at the GR series and I absolutely love the design. Can these be found at resonable prices?

firecracker: I am going to take a look at the Fuji klasse cameras. Any experience?

//Kim

Kim Catton said:

firecracker: I am going to take a look at the Fuji klasse cameras. Any experience?//Kim

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I only tried a Klasse W in a store without any film in it, so I can't tell you much, but the retail price has been dropped almost half for these cameras, and if you can't get a good used Contax P&S at this point, a W or S will probably be a choice for you.

It's about the same size as the Contax T2 if you need to compare, which is not that small to begin with, but with a faster AF than the T2 for sure. The W has a 28mm lens and the S has a 38mm lens, so the S is closer to the T2.

Meanwhile, about Contax T3, which I own one and use it regularly, I like it a lot. There's nothing like this camera in the market. The optics is really good, and the AF is not too slow, and the AE is fine, The viewfinder is big enough, and the shutter noise is very little, and the manual settings for taking shots are just enough to make the photos better than the cameras that don't have any.

The lens distortion on the T3 is like, it's a 35mm lens but makes it look more like a 28mm, but unless you are very critical, you won't see it. The light fall-off is visible on the images from outdoors, but still it's not as visible as the shots taken by other high-end P&S cameras far as I know. You won't see a tunnel effect that Ricoh GR1 and Minolta TC1 sometimes tend to create with their 28mm lenses. So, for me, over all, this 35mm lens is just fine.

I can go on and on like this...

This is an old article, but it gives you some ideas:

http://photo.net/equipment/contax/t3

One more article for the T3:

http://www.shutterbug.com/equipmentreviews/35mm_cameras/0801sb_contax/

Just got back from the local flea market. Ive got my hands on a Konica Big Mini Zoom. Although I am not fond of the zoom I have already shot a few rolls and the results are decent. The flash is soft, actually too soft for my style, pictures are sharp and autofocus seem to be working as it should. Paid about 50 cent for it.

Minolta TC-1

Minolta TC-1, Any experience with this camera ? I have come down to this list of possible cameras:

Minolta TC-1
Fuji Klasse W
Fuji Natura Classica

The Natura because of the pricetag. But I am really being more and more optimistic about the Klasse W.

While I have not put film through a Minolta TC-1, I have handled a few of them. The lens aperture on it is almost a waterhouse stop- each aperture is perfectly round, which gives you very nice out-of-focus areas. It has manual aperture selection, which by itself is a good thing, but the aperture selector lever is rather small and may not be to your liking. I don't know that I'd go out of my way to buy one, but I'd certainly not turn my nose up at one as a gift, or if I came across one on the cheap, I'd buy it. The other thing is that it's a 28mm lens, and not exceptionally fast either (f3.5), so it is somewhat limiting for use as a portrait snapper.