Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/06/20
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>Is it true (Chasseur d'images, n=B0159, p.68) that the viewfinder of the >Contax TVS is "incredibly dark" (sic) ? Have you compared with the vf of >the Minilux ? I just took a look at the Minilux Zoom (MZ) today. The MZ viewfinder is brighter than the Tvs viewfinder, but it's just as small and doesn't display _any_ information. I shot a roll of film with the Tvs a while back, and the viewfinder did not seem "incredibly dark" to me. Neither the Tvs or the MZ is suitable for low-light work due to the max. apertures on the zoom lenses; viewfinder brightness is trivial (in my view) compared to the numerous other shortcomings of the MZ. Looking at it today I noticed that the "manual" focussing actually consisted of about ten click stops. As far as I could tell, when you manually focus you are choosing one of about ten focus zones, you are not getting a continuous focus range. This seems to be a nail in the coffin for my opinion of the camera. Leica have provided no innovation here: they haven't even met the challenge of the competition. If I were to spend the money on a top quality point and shoot I wouldn't hesitate to pass up the MZ for the Tvs. I have _not_ seen photos taken with the MZ--the lens could yet compensate for all of the drawbacks of the body, but it would have to be pretty stunning. - -Charlie