Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/10/20
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]About three weeks ago I entered a photo store in Biel (Switzerland) and intended to buy the Leica Minilux as an everyday camera. And just then I asked the old man at the counter how he would choose between the Leica minilux and the Contax T2. That was out of curiosity but what I heard just made me change my mind and ended up buying nothing. Specifically, he said that this Leica was no M6 (he told me that even most parts of the R series are made by Minolta). The quality for one. The plastic parts inside (he said: "no, no german puts these thins inside, the foam around the cover used for tightness, how long do you think is going to last, the film holder, the curtain in the back..."). Instead the Contax had I think a ceramic back, not foam (was it rubber) around the door, metal parts inside. But the most important was that the viewfinder of the minilux looked like plastic while that of the contax was saphire glass. You could most certainly see the difference. In the viewfinder of the contax you could also see focus info plus other stuff. That of the Leica... Well if you put the distance manually you don't know when its focused. That's very useful, yeah, especially at f2.4! And then he went on about the lens differences (leica is warmer, contax has more contrast) and finished: "this is of course Leica (it says so) and this is contax; you make up your mind". Of course I couldn't, because I wanted the leica but I knew that contax was better. My question is (since then I looked up camera catalogues) that I cannot realize why nobody talks about the ideal for me point and shoot camera which is the Contax Tvs (with a very useful zoom: 28-56, although a rather slow lens and a good price). If by next month that I am going back to CH Leica don't come up with something I think this is the one I will buy. Unless of course anybody has any suggestions... Thanx Dimitris