User comments btil June 2003

[adeeh]

Hmmm - the issue of what film to use is an interesting point. I have found that I need to get down to 100/200 ISO to get the real benefit from the resolution of the lens. I've tried a few 400 films (Fuji superia, Kodak Portra 400 UC (pretty good colours))- but not Vista 400, but the 100/200 films are that bit sharper.
I've just started using the new Kodak Royal Supra 200 (this new release replaces supra and royal brands) which is claimed to set the standard for fine grained 200 ISO films. I think this works really well, not too slow, but with superb colour, grain and sharpness.
Linked to this, I do find that I get a terrific depth of field with my C3, the programming must tend to prefer to close the aperture before increasing shutter speed, or it's just another qulity of the optics and good film??

 

[dirk]

Joy,

at the end of every e-mail you get is also a direct link to your profile to turn off the e-mail notifications.

If this link is broken (often with aol accounts), then go manually to the forum and in your profile as described in the help file.

Dirk

 

[f16]

Thank you. I'll look out for Kodak Royal Supra. That's new to me.

I'm very happy with Fuji Reala at this time. And I always take it to a Fuji shop - just to be certain. The film can be fairly inexpensive from eBay if you buy ten cassettes at a time.

 

[jpmccormac]

Re: Portra 400UC: I just shot my first roll of 400UC and found it outstanding. Grain is as good as most any ISO 100 film. Colors are exact and not too saturated (I thought it might be wildly colorful like Agfa Ultra, but it's not - closer to 400NC actually.) I prefer it over Supra.

 

[yinkhoon]

Thanks to Adrian Holmes for his reply. I just got a bit worried and confused from the leica website which stated categorically spot AF for the c2, but did not mention for c3, thus wondered if that essential function was really omitted.

Anyway, I have gone ahead to purchase the c3, primarily for it's 28mm wide angle and faster aperture speed (although the c2's more compact size and cooler styling and cheaper pricing really attracted me too).

Yup, the c3 definitely comes with spot AF, but no multiple AF as in c2, which i guess, is why leica felt obliged to mention that spot AF is available in the c2 too.

And the c3 really feels comfortable to hold and handle, the rubber hand grip really helps make the grip more sure and secure, not to mention the large size. And once it's inside the leather casing, you realise it's really not that brick like.

All in all, it feels robust and likely to last a long time, which is good for a film camera which is fast going the classic traditionalist route in the ongoing digital wave!

Will write more on the picture quality when i have time to shoot in the weekend.

Yin Khoon

 

[adeeh]

Thanks for the interesting comments. I like the leather case, but always feel worried about dropping it, so I bought a padded (but slightly bulkier) case for mine.
Have any of you tried the timed release yet - it works really well. I've taken some traffic trails and also some pics of lit buildings. The lens seems to give really sharp results in low lighting situations without flash, which I feel is also a significant improvement on my previous compacts which were fine on a bright sunny day but poor (gloomy and badly defined) in low light. The C3 results seem to be really crisp in all lighting. As you can tell, I'm really impressed!!

Look forward to hearing your results Yin.

 

[yinkhoon]

Ok I shot my first roll of film with the leica C3, the AFGA200 that came with the camera. It was a cloudy day, so quite low light conditions, but i still managed to get good colours and contrast, no muddy colours. Flash is powerful yes and focus is so fast and responsive. But... pictures seem a bit on the soft side.. quite a few pictures, i was quite sure i got the focus lock and recomposed the shot, but the end result was a subject that's a bit soft. But maybe I have overly high expectations of the camera, given its price! For now I would say overall it's still above average.

 

[yinkhoon]

Tried another roll of film, Fuji Superior 400 this time, in sunny conditions. Yup, definitely a few shots which are soft, especially if the subject is some distance away. When the subject is closer up, ie more zoomed in, the camera can focus better, with more pictures having sharp subject, but still a wee bit soft. The active autofocus, although seemingly fast and responsive, needs to be more accurate. Yes I suppose the infinity mode can be used, but for testing purposes, I left all settings on Auto, since that will be the setting I use most of the time for point and shoot...

Colours, contrast, exposure are good however. In conclusion, I still say above-average results for a point & shot, but not necessarily justificable the cost when looking at other alternatives. I would believe the Yashica T zoom with Carl Zeiss T* 28-70 lens can't do much worse than this, for half the price, so it will probably be a better buy for the money. Yes, the leica c3 has bigger (faster) aperture, but not so important a factor now to me when the image sharpness leaves something to be desired. So given that, I now think the smaller size of the Yashica is more important (after all, you buy a compact point and shoot more for its portability and convenience, for more creative control, i guess most of us still have our SLRs or medium format). Otherwise, if you look for SLR quality and sharpness, look at higher range Minilux zoom or Contax TVS III, or a fixed lens compact.

All these are my personal subjective views, of course, just listing them down in case it helps others who are going through the same decision making process that i did. Hope it helps somewhat, but pls don't ask me to do more scientific testing of variables, etc, haha.

I will be returning the leica c3 for either 2 yashica tzooms, or fork out a bit more for a contax tvs III.

Dear Adrian, pls don't take this as bashing the leica c3 and pls do continue loving your C3. It is overall, still a very good camera, probably as good as or even better than the Yashica Tzoom, but you see, I just want to get my full money's worth while I still can!

 

[david40]

> Re the C3: to get the best out of its lens, why not 1) shoot slides, not prints, and 2) do a really big enlargement, say 16x20? I don't think you can really judge a lens's (or camera's) performance from postcard prints.

 

[Craig24]

Just to reinforce David's points which are spot on. Furthermore, use a tripod whenever you can. All this is basic to photographic practice even with the C3 P&S. Then blow them up big to see what you get. The most common cause of soft pics is due to hand held photography. You can not properly assess the image quality of a system from hand held exposures.