Y
yinkhoon
hmm.. ok guys. here's my final verdict.. drum roll...
Do note again that this verdict is based on very limited personal experiences.. with very small s&le size (just one s&le per camera model), very small and limited testing parameters.. not meant to be conclusive.. just sufficient for my own usage purposes, and just putting my observations down here for anyone who might be mildy interested. Not authorative comments, in other words.
The Contax TVS III and Yashica Tzoom are sharp, tack sharp. Maybe the Contax TVS III has the edge here. Now I usually do not scrutinise pictures overly by blowing big and with manifying lode and all, but well, you know sharpness when you see it, even if it's on a postcard sized picture. And the Contax was impressive, with the Yashica Tzoom a close second. As for the Leica c3.. now I think its images are really on the soft side. Ok, ok maybe I just don't know how to use the camera and is not doing it justice, given the positive verdicts by Amateur Photographer and all but hmm.. give any person three cameras, and two of them give excellent results without any tinkling required and regardless of whom the camera was handed to, I think i would go for one of these two idiot proof ones, thank you! This is especially bearing in mind that a compact point & shoot will be used extensively by dad and mum and sis and gf, non-photographic savy people, and whom just wants good pictures without fuss.
I am really very impressed with the picture qualities of the Contax and Yashica. Why, on the contax, the tiny light reflections off a small jade pendent, or a watch, are all recorded faithfully and in detail. True 3-d effect.
The Yashica loses out to the Contax, but still produces wonderful pictures, and for its price, zoom range and picture quality trade-off, I think it is still a great buy and definitely superior to the run-of-mill canon, pentax, nikon points and shoots out there. Especially those ultra-big zooms into the 150mm ranges with ultra-slow apertures, shudder.
The Yashica Tzoom is highly recommended. It is small and light too, easily pocketable, ya no manual controls except + or - 1.5EV (Leica C3 only has +2EV, no minus EV possible). Good for snapshots and chucking into pocket or handing over to family members and others to shoot pictures without getting worried about losing or damaging it. The lens is slow yup, f4.5-8.4, but maybe the maufacturer deliberately stopped it down for better pictures, and at any rate, it is still usable with ISO200 and 400 films, and still faster than other mega-zoom consumer zooms.
But I chose the Contax TVS III in the end. The picture quality just had that extra omph that did it for me! Plus the beautiful solid titanium body that almost turns me on by just carressing it.. and I like it that you have strap eyelets on both extreme ends of the camera, so you can hang it around the neck or by the shoulder like a SLR camera, and it feels very balanced and comfortable.
And of course, the aperture priority, allowing me to choose how sharp or blurred the background I want (usefulness subject to the limits of the lens, of course). And the large and bright viewfinder. I doubt I will use the manual focusing much, if at all. The passive autofocus works very fast and accurately.
I would hesitate to put out so much money for a digital camera (eg Contax TVS digital), where the speed of innovation and improvements is still tremendous, and new, better models and technology come out every year, if not months.
But for the Contax TVS III, a film camera, I think the technology has pretty much matured, and it is a good long-term investment for me and my family, with many solid years of usage in promise down the road.
Ok, thanks everyone for reading. Again, all opinions are entirely my personal view and subjective.
Yin Khoon
Do note again that this verdict is based on very limited personal experiences.. with very small s&le size (just one s&le per camera model), very small and limited testing parameters.. not meant to be conclusive.. just sufficient for my own usage purposes, and just putting my observations down here for anyone who might be mildy interested. Not authorative comments, in other words.
The Contax TVS III and Yashica Tzoom are sharp, tack sharp. Maybe the Contax TVS III has the edge here. Now I usually do not scrutinise pictures overly by blowing big and with manifying lode and all, but well, you know sharpness when you see it, even if it's on a postcard sized picture. And the Contax was impressive, with the Yashica Tzoom a close second. As for the Leica c3.. now I think its images are really on the soft side. Ok, ok maybe I just don't know how to use the camera and is not doing it justice, given the positive verdicts by Amateur Photographer and all but hmm.. give any person three cameras, and two of them give excellent results without any tinkling required and regardless of whom the camera was handed to, I think i would go for one of these two idiot proof ones, thank you! This is especially bearing in mind that a compact point & shoot will be used extensively by dad and mum and sis and gf, non-photographic savy people, and whom just wants good pictures without fuss.
I am really very impressed with the picture qualities of the Contax and Yashica. Why, on the contax, the tiny light reflections off a small jade pendent, or a watch, are all recorded faithfully and in detail. True 3-d effect.
The Yashica loses out to the Contax, but still produces wonderful pictures, and for its price, zoom range and picture quality trade-off, I think it is still a great buy and definitely superior to the run-of-mill canon, pentax, nikon points and shoots out there. Especially those ultra-big zooms into the 150mm ranges with ultra-slow apertures, shudder.
The Yashica Tzoom is highly recommended. It is small and light too, easily pocketable, ya no manual controls except + or - 1.5EV (Leica C3 only has +2EV, no minus EV possible). Good for snapshots and chucking into pocket or handing over to family members and others to shoot pictures without getting worried about losing or damaging it. The lens is slow yup, f4.5-8.4, but maybe the maufacturer deliberately stopped it down for better pictures, and at any rate, it is still usable with ISO200 and 400 films, and still faster than other mega-zoom consumer zooms.
But I chose the Contax TVS III in the end. The picture quality just had that extra omph that did it for me! Plus the beautiful solid titanium body that almost turns me on by just carressing it.. and I like it that you have strap eyelets on both extreme ends of the camera, so you can hang it around the neck or by the shoulder like a SLR camera, and it feels very balanced and comfortable.
And of course, the aperture priority, allowing me to choose how sharp or blurred the background I want (usefulness subject to the limits of the lens, of course). And the large and bright viewfinder. I doubt I will use the manual focusing much, if at all. The passive autofocus works very fast and accurately.
I would hesitate to put out so much money for a digital camera (eg Contax TVS digital), where the speed of innovation and improvements is still tremendous, and new, better models and technology come out every year, if not months.
But for the Contax TVS III, a film camera, I think the technology has pretty much matured, and it is a good long-term investment for me and my family, with many solid years of usage in promise down the road.
Ok, thanks everyone for reading. Again, all opinions are entirely my personal view and subjective.
Yin Khoon
