T3 - The Aptly Named Little Gem
Written: Aug 15 '03
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Pros: Carl Zeiss lens, titanium body, lots of manual controls, size!
Cons: Lack of zoom, no shutter-priority mode, price, delay in shutter release
The Bottom Line: A luxury, high-end compact camera packed with features that won't let you down. Carl Zeiss Sonnar lens is superb, and the overall design is outstanding.
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| hayzen's Full Review: Contax T3 35mm Film Camera |
To be honest, I have a horrible luck with cameras. One of my first 'serious' ones, a Russian-made SLR, was stolen while on a trip to France. So was my surprisingly high-quality tiny Nikon APS P&S, only at the airport in London. Similar one made by Cannon refused to operate approximately one week after its warranty expired. My trusty Olympus P&S with a rare wide-angle lens broke down after almost 2(two!) years of use. The other APS camera that I had, another Nikon P&S, produced pictures of such lousy quality that I had to take it back for repairs, alas unsuccessfully.
If you are still reading this, you might think I am some kind of a klutz with my things, allowing my cameras to be stolen or breaking them. Perhaps. I am not a professional photographer, but an enthusiastic amateur, therefore I believe that I tend to operate cameras a little more than the average person. However, size is extremely important to me. While I love SLR's, they are much more limiting in where you can take them, let alone medium-format equipment. I like my camera to be small enough to be taken everywhere with me, from hiking trips to rock-climbing to bars and lounges. Unfortunately, few cameras are durable enough to withstand such an abuse for too long.
Enter Contax T3. I bought it, having high hopes that this so highly-regarded camera will produce near-professional picture quality combined with its amazingly small size and durability. And I can say, that in the T3, I finally found the desired combination.
The price of a new T3 is steep indeed - somewhere between $600 and $700 in most shops (cheaper on the Internet). I got lucky to have found a used one in excellent condition for only $350. Sill not cheap compared to other P&S, but a good deal given what you are getting.
What you are getting is indeed hard to believe considering the camera's size. Most important thing that stands out in T3 is its lens. Made by the famous Carl Zeiss, it is meant to deliver sharp, almost professional picture quality.
Indeed, the picture quality of the T3 has been consistently higher than most other P&S that I had. I am not sure if I would call it 'professional', meaning that upon a serious enlargement (8x10 or more), you start noticing a lot of grain. Still, the images are sharp overall, the colour is bold and contrast seems to be very good. Of course, best results are produced with a professional or semi-professional film such as Fuji Reala or Superia, for example.
One thing that I wish this camera had is a zoom. I know, lack of zoom is actually an advantage for some people. However, given its size advantage, I like to use this camera for candid street portraits, and those are hard to do without a zoom on a 35 mm lens. On the positive side, this is perhaps the only P&S that allows the use of filters, albeit with a relatively expensive ($60) Contax transition ring.
I keep saying 'size', but it is really a combination of size and ingenious design that makes this camera so convenient. Shaped as an almost perfect slim brick, this camera is about the size of a bar of soap. I knew it was small before I bought it, but when I received my Contax, I was in awe from its size and was almost worried that there was no way all the advertized features could fit in such a miniature package. The lens, when it is fully retracted, does not protrude from the camera at all - another brilliant feat of engineering from Kyocera.
And the body is a work of art. Grey titanium, scratch-proof and light yet highly protective of precious optics and electronics inside. My only complaint about the body is the stainless steel ring around the battery cover, which is prone to rust.
T3's features are a whole other story. There are tons, but most useful ones for me are exposure compensation and aperture-priority. The range of apertures is f/2.8 to f/16, with a P mode for fully automatic exposure, of course. Exposure compensation works from -2 to +2 with 1/3 steps. While I use these modes a lot, I wish there was also a shutter-speed priority option, which I often wish I had. But then again, this is a point & shoot camera, and having anything other than automatic is pretty unique. Of course, it has a few flash-shooting modes, such as portrait, night-time fill flash, red-eye reduction, etc. - pretty standard. I must note that while it does not have shutter-speed controls under 1 second, you can set shutter speed manually in the range of 1 to 180 seconds for night-time shoots. I find it to be another great feature and only wish I had options below 1 second.
Generally speaking, controls on this camera are somewhat fiddly and require some practice.
The viewfinder is clear and accurate, with lots of information provided in it electronically.
Packaging of the camera is superb: it comes with a snug-fitting natural leather pouch with a belt strap.
I have been enjoying T3 ever since I bought it. I do need another camera with a zoom to accompany it in many situations, but for what it is, it is unsurpassed in a combination of quality, size and features.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 350 (used)
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Flexible Enough for Enthusiasts
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Epinions.com ID:
hayzen
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Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
Reviews written: 12
Trusted by: 0 members
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