Re: Leica Minilux

[Oddmund Garvik <garvik@i-t.fr>]

Dimitrios V. Lyridis wrote:
> 
> 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.

It is a very interesting story you tell here. I have had similiar
experiences myself.

> 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..."). 

I have heard the camera house was built by Panasonic and that the lens
was built by Hoya. The Minilux is actually a repackage of the Leica mini
with a titanium shell and new lens.

I think Minolta is able to build good cameras. Their last "Titan", TC-1,
is a good example. I tried this camera during a day, and I found it
excellent, ergonomic and very efficient. The problem is that I don't
like a 28mm lens on my everyday camera. It depends upon what kind of
photography you are doing. I prefer 40-50mm lenses and decided to buy a
Rollei 35 for everyday outdoor use. An excellent camera as well.

> 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! 

If they only could have included an DOF indicator around the command
button, it would at least be possible to work with scale/zone focus. I
have heard the Minilux is delivered with a DOF table in a plastic cover,
but that is not intuitive at all!
  
> 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.

I had a Contax T2 and used it together with my (former) M6. Leica is of
course better wide open. When you compare the sizes of the Sonnar lens
with the M-lenses, it is not difficult to understand that. But closing
down I could not see differences between them. Using Kodakchrome 64 I
thought the Sonnar lens was even sharper (at f/8) than the Summicron 35.
The 50mm Summicron is not very warm. Actually there is only a slight
difference in color balance, nothing to talk about. It depends more upon
which films you are using.

In B&W the Sonnar T* lens was more contrasted than my Summicrons. But it
is easy to compensate this using a flexible film like Tri X, and a warm
tone paper like Oriental New Seagull Warm Tone FB-F (Variable contrast). 
  
> 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

I use a TVS since some days only, but I like it very much. It has an
ideal zoom lens, like having a 28mm, a 35mm, and a 50mm in the pocket
everywhere you go. I use it that way. The only critical remark must be
that the flash also here opens in AUTO mode, but you just have to hit
the button once in order to shut OFF the flash. (On the Minilux it is
six times...). 

Wide open at the extreme ends the Vario-Sonnar lens has a slight
fall-off at the corners, but once again, when you see the size of the
stone, it is understandable. And you get rid of it in the darkroom
without any problems. There is no manual ISO setting, but with +/-5 EV
exposure compensation in 1/3 step increments, this is not really a
problem. Exposure times is 16seconds to 1/700 second. I am very
satisfied with the results. You will find the same sense of depth and
openess as in all Zeiss, Schneider, Leica a/o lenses.  

For me the Contax TVS and the Rollei 35 Classic was a good replacement
for my M6, and much cheaper. I do not shoot in low light very often, so
I do not really need f/2 or 1.4. Finish and handling is like the T2: A
very rough shell with simple, intuitive handling. You can put filters
and a lens hood on it, 30.5 threading, same as Rollei 35. 

Tomorrow I will shoot the night of the "Beaujolais Nouveau" in some of
my favourite bars and bistros here in Paris (it is the third thursday of
November...). People know me, so I can openly use the built-in flash of
the TVS, in slow shutter speed sync mode (oaoh), and with easy
bracketing. Very convenient. I can put the thing in the pocket and be
like everybody, drunk and happy.

Best regards

Oddmund