Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/03/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]-----Original Message----- From: Bunting, Roger L (Roger) Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2005 10:22 AM To: 'lug@leica-users.org' Subject: [Leica] OT: Contax ceased production of 35mm cameras, digital to follow > According to the BJP Contax has pulled the plug on all 35mm film > cameras and will do the same with digital cameras by the end of the > year :-( > http://db.riskwaters.com/public/showPage.html?page=210204 > <http://db.riskwaters.com/public/showPage.html?page=210204> > Sad day. > Simon. Simon, The Contax T3 and/or Canon S60 are my travel backups. These two P&S cameras offer me a lot of flexibility. I've often had business trips where I'm very heavily loaded and the P&S cameras are the only "extras" that I can get in. Not so long ago the T3 was my only camera for a two week stint in Asia. It's taken some of my best shots. The lens quality reminds me of my 35mm Summicron. The controls on the camera allow for simple P&S operation through aperture preferred metering. You can manually focus the lens (electronic scale focus) and most of the user options are sticky so you can reconfigure the camera for near manual defaults, especially hyperfocal shooting so there is no shutter delay. In fact you can do that with the S60 also. The lens in the T3 put it in a special category. I much prefer handing either of these cameras rather than my M6 to a passerby to take a shot of my spouse and myself. This not only signals a passing era for Contax, but I think I've read that the Olympus Stylus Epic has also stopped production. Now Contax, who knows what Leica will keep on the books, but I wouldn't expect the film P&S cameras to stay in the lineup. By my counting, that really is the end of the quality film P&S era. For P&S, digital makes more sense to me from the mass market sense, I wonder if we will begin to see the specialized "quality" lens entries as that market matures. One could hope. I have close friends who use the Contax SLR system. For those who have a large investment in those quality products this must really come as a blow. Regards, Roger