Contax T3 35mm Film Camera

Pros: Great lens. Plenty of manual controls and overrides. Small enough to carry everywhere.
Cons: Useless exposure information. Weak flash. Too small? Price!

Over the years I had gone through a long list of P&S cameras looking for one that is small enough to carry anywhere, optics that equal those on SLRs & rangefinders, and provide some form of manual control over focusing and exposure. I wanted to be able...

Pros: Carl Zeiss lens, titanium body, lots of manual controls, size!
Cons: Lack of zoom, no shutter-priority mode, price, delay in shutter release

To be honest, I have a horrible luck with cameras. One of my first 'serious' ones, a Russian-made SL ...

Pros: Beautifully built, superb optics, small size.
Cons: Lens mechanism a tad noisy, filter use hard, small controls.

I love not only photography but precision-built cameras and this one satisfies both. The pictures this machine captures are only limited by me and a few compromises in design. Don't let all the SLR fans tell you it's "almost as good" as the SLR primes....

Pros: Lens, lens, lens, size, costum functions, accessories
Cons: I personally prefer 40-45mm for a P&S; weak internal flash

The T3 in the right hands is a great P&S. I am using it now since last November (9 months) and I am really happy with it.

Obviously there has to be a compromise between size and user-interface. But Contax achieved a very good solution to this...

Pros: Very sharp optical, aperture priority, build quality, small size.
Cons: Slow and noisy start-up, no speed priority, expensive, imprecise speed indication.

I wanted a compact 35mm camera as second body, for b&w shooting.
A sharp optical was my first need. There are several cheaper cameras with good lenses, like the olympus mju...
But I looked also for something with at least some manual features. This Contax has an aperture priority mode (good !) but no speed priority (bad !). A manual focus setting is also available.
Fast AF was important too. Contax offers a "strange" AF, but once you are used to it, it is very fast and accurate. Exposition is very good too.


But remember, the most important is optical quality and no other P&S camera can beat this one !

Besides having to pay $100 more to get the T3 in black chrome, it is a great camera. The legendary Carl Zeiss lens makes this an excellent choice for any photographer. You also get the benefit of an easy to use, auto flash. Lastly, its easy to load and is a well made item.