In the ER at the hospital I work we have a photo tack board. On this board we put up pictures of the staff, sometimes at work, sometimes not at work. I use my S230 camera to take pictures, and then print them out in black and white on our laser printers while at work. A good way to show the staff in action. Of course making sure no patients are included!

When I saw one of the clinical staff using the Contax TVS to do the same, I had to ask to try it out. While she was busy dealing with patients, I spent the rest of the night playing with the camera (in addition to doing my normal work!).

End result was that I was happier with my Canon S230 at 3.2 megapixels, than I was with the Contax TVS at 5 megapixels. Read on and find out why!

Picture Quality: B
I've said it time and time again, a camera has to have its baseline measurement based on how well it takes pictures. A camera can have a lot of quirks but if it takes wonderful photos, most can be forgiven. Unfortunently the Contax TVS doesn't take all that great of pictures. When judging this camera against other 5 megapixel cameras I've used, I have to say it is not up to par. I found they are less sharp than Canon's S40 model at 4 megapixel, and definently not up to par with any of the major 5 megapixel cameras out there.

In addition to lacking overall sharpness, the pictures were "noisy". Sortof like blurred or not quite focused. At 400 ISO, for instance, became unuseable.

Remember those old technicolor films? Where the colors seemed more "colored" than they should be? Well the pictures from the Contax is the same wasy. The colors are too vivid. Blue scrubs just seems to scream blue.

Now what was good was the white balance, I was impressed how it handled the bright florensence lighting of the hospital.

Overall I'd have to say the picture quality was middle of the road, but with the high price of the Contax TVS it should be performing in the higher range.

Lens: A
The 3x zoom lense is more than adequete for the size of the camera. It gives good zoom for a point and shoot. The quality of the lens is also quite impressive being that it is a Carl Zeiss. The name itself screams quality. I never saw any problem with the lens, so I give it a A .

Style: A-
Now this is only the 2nd camera that I have seen that is compact and has a metal body. Just like the ELPH series. Now they might have been trying to copy the look because a lot of people like the metal frame, doesn't really to me because a metal frame is nice, I like it. But it doesn't stop there, while the ELPH cameras are made of aluminum the Contax TVS is made of Titanium which is hard to manufacture. What isn't impressive is while they make the camera out of a tough as nails metal, they made the plastics and knobs all out of plastic. It just seems so silly that they would go through the extra expense on the frame but not follow through with the buttons. Overall the camera looks slick, nice looking and well enclosed.

Ease of Use: B
The weight of the camera is just over 9 ounces, so while it is portable it definently isn't the lightest out there. Looking past the fact that the buttons are plastic, they are confusing as well. Just like the ELPH cameras, the Contax TVS uses a circular menu area. A round "Rocker" button surrounded by four smaller buttons. The difference is that the buttons are too close to the round rocker button, making it hard to use with your thumb. Ok look past the buttons being close together as well, this would be the perfect camera to go on a puzzle hunt because the lables on the buttons are a puzzle all their own. I used it for many hours and still had trouble figuring out the buttons. On the circular rocker button area the buttons say "WB ISO" ok that one controls the ISO, "rec. Review" ok maybe that one is for reviewing pictures or movies? "C. Menu" and the last one "D.menu" huh?!? each menu controls a different subgroup but darn if I saw any difference of the buttons. Plus what happened to A.menu and B.menu? Other buttons include the microphone and flash on one button, hard to work. But although these are annoying what did work well was the turnwheel ontop. In addition to easily picking out what function you want, it had the ability to lockdown the autofocus and the exposure as well. But the wheel really doesn't make up for the bad design of the other buttons.

LCD Screen: B
The contax TVS uses a 1.6 inch LCD that is supposed to be able to be seen clearly in bright sunlight using a technology called Dayfine. But all is not fine with Dayfine (did you get the joke, sigh I crack myself up) in fact I couldn't use the LCD at all in the outdoor light, it just wouldn't show up very well at all on the LCD screen. For a screen that promotes itself with a "special" technology for outdoor, it comes up lacking for sure.

While the LCD screen isn't the best the optical viewfinder is, easy to use, bright and sharp, you see the entire picture but with a digital I like to be able to use the LCD.

Quickness: B
I found the quickness of the Contax TVS lacking as well, yes on the fast mode it will take 3 fast shots at about 2 pictures per second, but here's the big drawback, after 3 shots it takes about 12 seconds to dump those shots into the flashcard! Normal mode it takes a shot every 4 seconds. My S230 beats that speed.

Flash: A-
While the camera has some flaws the flash isn't one of them, it has a decent flash that will reach about 11-12 feet in darkness. Not bad for a compact.

Battery: A
If the Contax has one thing outshining it in any one category, it would have to be the battery. I shot all night long, many times deleting many pictures without it running out. For a compact that can shoot over 200 photo's without the battery running down is impressive. The battery is a lithium-ion battery that fits interestingly under the left side of the camera, directly under the LCD screen.

Price: C
Ah if the battery is the high point, then I must follow up with the low point. For the cost you'd think you'd be buying a direct competitor for the Canon G5 but as 5 megapixel cameras go the Contax is just average. The ONLINE price is $900, offline I'd say you can add $100-$200. I found this out yesterday, at home, and I was shocked by the price. I was thinking that this camera was in the $500 range. At $900 it is severely overpriced for what it does.

The rest...
The Contax TVS doesn't support any add-ons like external flash or zoom lense, or any kind of add-on lens. Being that they are not extremely popular as of right now, I don't see any "after market" attachments for it either, unlike the ELPH series.

I think you can get a better camera for at least $100-$200 cheaper. It is Contax's first entry into the digital market and I hope they make improvements with their next model of digital camera. But I can't say it is a bad camera either, I'd say overall it was just average.



Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 900
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Easy Enough for Anyone to Use