Hi everybody, Thanks for all the responses to my earlier thread regarding choices amongst Contax T3, Leica Minilux and Konica Hexar. It seems that Leica Minilux have enjoyed the highest appraisal on lens quality, however the shutter problems (requires costly replacement of the shutter after a few years' use) that I learned make me nervous - is it only a very few bad examples or there really a design fault or bad QC with Leica during these few years? Any one heard that a new Minilux is coming up soon? I hope it has a 35 or 50 f2 Summicron lens with improved shutter and memorized user settings - I am prepared to pay a premium for these. Anyway, thank you for all the valuable advices. Best Regards,

-- tom tong (tom.tong@ckh.com.hk), December 09, 2001

Answers

I think I will buy the T3 first and wait for the improved version of the Minilux. Leica should really think of an improved version of Minilux as this has been in the market for quite some time during which enough comments were received for the lst version. Regards,

-- tom tong (tom.tong@ckh.com.hk), December 09, 2001.

Tom, I believe the T3 has a long shutter lag- it sets focus then fires the shutter after the shutter release is pressed. I find this extremely slow except for landscapes and still life. I think the Ricoh GR1 captures focus at half-pressed shutter, as does the Konica.

For me, it may be that the differences in image quality would not be great enough to compensate for this shortcoming (I don't know for sure, since I'm not personally familiar with these cameras other than the Hexar).

Just a thought-

-- Tse-Sung (tsesung@yahoo.com), December 10, 2001.

Yes, the GR1 does achieve focus at half depressed shutter... you can also fix focus, and then shutter lag is almost completely negligable.

-- Matthew Geddert (geddert@yahoo.com), December 10, 2001.

The behavior of the T3 with respect to what happens when the shutter is half depressed is a user settable paramter. I have mine set to focus when the shutter is half depressed and this greatly reduces shutter lag to a negligible amount.

This is a problem common to most if not all autofocus cameras. At least on the T3 the user can choose how the camera will behave.

And on the subject of settable parameters, the T3 can be set to remember any specific flash mode as the default on power-up. I have mine set to "flash off" as the default. I believe on the Minilux you have to reset this every time you turn on the camera.

-- Rolfe Tessem (rolfe@ldp.com), December 10, 2001.

I find that the T3's parameter allowing for setting the autofocus to lock in when the shutter is depressed halfway greatly reduces any shutter lag compared to any other highend point & shoot that I've owned or tried out. Plus, as Rolfe pointed out above, I also have mine set to "flash off" so that when I turn the T3 on I can take the picture instead of scrolling through a list of settings. But, if I need flash, I only have to push the flash-setting button once and there it is. The only thing I wish the T3 had was a 40mm-50mm lens instead of the 35mm.

-- Cosmo Genovese (cosmo@rome.com), December 10, 2001.

Tom

I am not so sure that the reliability issues with the Minilux are any different with the other makes. I sold my Contax T2 for a similar reason. Personally I think any camera that moves its lens every time it is switched on is cruising for a short lifetime. As to the new T3, who knows whether this is at all reliable - it has only been out a few months? I would never consider the Ricoh really suitable for general photography as portraits are essentially out with a 28mm lens.

I think that all these expensive P & S are rather designed to fail - it is just a matter of when it will occur and whether you can live with this for the better aesthetic experience, results and controllability you have when it is working.

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), December 10, 2001.

By the way, here's a site where other T3 fanatics gather:

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=005ic4

-- Cosmo Genovese (cosmo@rome.com), December 10, 2001.

I don't think any P&S cameras are made for heavy-duty use. That's not the market. That's why I put my Minilux in my luggage as a last- ditch backup if all my other 3 bodies fail; to carry going out to dinner when I don't want a bagful of cameras or a huge pregnant lump under my coat; when I'm going for an overnight trip where photography is a maybe-proposition. You get the picture. And plus I bought my Minilux used so if it gives up the ghost my decision isn't whether to spend $350 to fix it, the decision is what camera to buy to replace it...which we all know is a decision we guys love to make ;>)

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), December 10, 2001.