Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/06/05
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I had the pleasure of borrowing one each of a Contax T2, Nikon 35Ti and Leica Minilux about a year ago now, specifically to run a short test roll in each and decide which I liked more. In sum, I liked the Minilux second of the three. Lens quality on all three was virtually indistinguishable, and equivalent to the lenses on my Leica M or Nikon SLR in casual inspection. The Minilux controls were very nice, the override selections were well thought out. It was a tough choice between it and the Nikon. The Nikon was a little smaller, had a little better information readout, had a couple of superior features (the integrated date/ time stamping is very nice) but has controls which are more fiddly, particularly for setting up the options. The Contax T2 would have been the choice if I intended to use the aperture priority exposure system primarily but a good part of my reasons for wanting a camera of this type is "professional quality results, 90% of the time full automatic-program". I found the Contax controls a little too small for my fingers, it has a wonderful assisted manual focus though. The evaluation was performed after the fact: I had purchased a Nikon 35Ti the a year or so previously. It just vindicated to me that I chose the right camera for my needs. I've been happy with the Nikon; I would also be happy with a Minilux if it proved to be reliable. That part I could not test, of course, in the course of a couple of days. Godfrey