Feels good in your hands. Solid, rugged design. Very cool view finder. Stylish with attention to detail.

Brand new TvsII and lens barrier failed to open one day! Has potential to wearout over time (and did). Size is a bit too large to carry in pocket. Fastest shutter speed is 1/700.

For the price, I feel a RF or SLR might've been better purchase.

Customer Service

About to use it. Spoke with tech supp. rep and they seemed curtious.

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Leica minilux zoom; Contax T2; Pentax IQZoom 115

Looks nice, probably near-indestructible construction (haven't tried to destroy it, yet), enough controls if you know what you are doing, great, great lens (color, contrast, sharpness) under certain conditions (see weaknesses), quiet compared to SLR, snob appeal (but did you know it was Made in Japan?), not a slow-to-react push-button zoom

Although it's probably worth it, still too expensive, too big and heavy to be a carry-always camera, the power-on system takes getting used to, f6.5 at 50mm doesn't cut it for me, filters hard to find (although at least you have that option), have experienced slight light fall-off at very small apertures, EV control a little too fiddly

Hard to gauge niche. I am happy I have it, but given the chance, would probably buy a fixed-focus with a faster lens. The zoom end does nothing for me except on a tripod and that really defeats the purpose of a compact. In effect this is a more compact version of a full-size auto-focus with a slow-ish and short-ish zoom, albeit with better optics. In terms of flexibility, if I'm not blowing up my pictures past 5x8, my used EM with a used 28-70 f2.8-4 Sigma zoom is not much worse and not much bigger (no auto-focus or flash of course), not to mention one-fifth the cost. And if I want enlargeable pictures, I have to use a tripod anyway. In conclusion, I can't recommend it as rational selection as a compact, carry-always camera. If you've got money to burn, a Minolta TC-1 may make more sense because you can always argue that it actually fits in your shirt pocket without tearing it and has all the user controls but with one focal length. On the other hand, you can also get a Stylus Epic for a $100 and get comparable results on 85% of your photos.

Customer Service

Haven't tried. Probably good if you are in Japan

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Use Nikon MF SLR's; tried at store other "high-end" compacts when I bought Contax

Consistently produces extremely sharp pictures. Rugged design makes it a practical choice for travel

None

Excellent camera for travelling or carrying a second light camera - my first choice is a Nikon N90 with a Tamron 28-105 2.8 lens. For pictures taken at the same time, it is difficult to identify which pictur was taken with which camera

Customer Service

None

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Olympus stylus - took okay pictures and consistenly had mechanical problems

Compact. You rarely can find a point and shoot camera with 28 wide angles lens (with the same size)

Flexible, I find the range 28 to 56 very useful for travelling.

Elegant look, my friends were all impressed by the titanium finished body.

Colour contrast is good

Manual override, you can choose the aperature and the distance. (ie manual focus)

Viewfinder is yellowish. (dim)

Very poor sharpness, I was very disappointed after having my first roll of film developed. I already saw the grain with my 4x6 print. Although I used the iso 400 film (since I know the aperature is slow at 50mm and above) Somehow, I expected much sharper picture from Zeiss lens.

I always carry my nikon F90x (along with my 20-35 2.8, 80-200 2.8 and 50 1.4) to all of my trip except one trip to Mexico. That time, I carried a leica mini 3. (borrowed from my friend)
I was qutie worry if the pictures were sharp enough after the trip. I was sooo impressed.
The camera cost only $250 U.S and the sharpness can be comparable with my F90x.

Last week, I brought an used TVS at a fairly good deal. After the first roll, I was totally disappointed with the sharpness. I think it's almost impossible to do any enlargement with iso 400 film.
I will try 100 film later.
anyhow, This camera costs almost $1000U.S and I think it's not worthwhile.

I think if I would have buy a point and shoot again, I will buy a fixed lens P&S ONLY. r

Customer Service

Not yet needed

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I used once the Leica mini 3 for a trip(same lens with the leica minilux but not titanium body and no manual over-ride functions)

Accepts 30.5mm filters

Zeiss lens color saturation incredible

Flash program as good as my F100
(fill, backlight, front & rear sync, red)

You could use it daily as a wheel chock and it would not bend.

Indoor flash is weak simply because it is a point & shoot. But then so is my Nikon F100, I have to use a Stroboframe with it.

You can use a SA-1 flash adapter (option for TVS cameras) but it requires some math skills.

The TVS II is the best version of this camera ever. The original TVS was criticized for having a very dim viewfinder, and this was fixed in the TVS II. The TVS III came out later, and it was the "cost reduction" version of the TVS II. Removed were: the buttery rubber grip (the rubber is the quality of a $4000 Hublot wristwatch), the magical lens cover that opens up via a turn of the zoom nob (this also turns the camera on).

On the TVS III, that silly looking drawbridge that drops down in front of the lens forces one to walk around with a metal "tongue" sticking out of your face. MOST IMPORTANT: The TVS III does not accept filters, while the TVS II does! 30.5mm is a readily available size from B+H, Contax, & Hoya (one reason is it is a popular size for video cameras). Buy yourself at least a 81A and a polarizer. You'll have a camera that can fit in your tuxedo jacket (chest pocket) and not be visible, yet can compete with my Nikon F100 for everything up to 70mm and less than 15 ft for flash, and greater distances if using the SA-1 or no flash.

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I own a Nikon F100 and a Nikon FM.

Satin finish is elegant for more formal occasions where an ugly blob of plastic would be an eyesore. (a bit of sarcasm-hey, people don't buy these things to be stealth) Very high color saturation, very contrasty, wide 28mm. Original TVS. Manual controls if needed.

None

Nice Titanium brick which smacks of much higher quality and heft than a Ricoh GR1. With the possibility of manual controls, it's great, but the small aperatures at the longer end defeats the purpose. Surprisingly, the lense is not that sharp or at least not as sharp as some decent compacts. My Olympus Epic seems a better indoor snapper, but with limited controls. Color saturation is very rich, very heavy-this is in part to high contrast, which thickens the sauce. The viewfinder is somewhat pathetically dim, blue dim and small. It does feel high quality and has enough switches to play with that makes up for 'value'. Use fast film and realize that this is not a replacement for a fine SLR system.

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None

Beautiful, functional body with an excellent lens that accepts filters.

none

Expensive, but worth it. Overrides make this compact camera very versatile. Wonderful viewfinder.

Customer Service

not needed

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Had a Rollei Prego 90, but wasn't happy with it. Have mostly worked in medium format and 5x7.

Very compact, advanced funtions, super sharp lense.Good contrast. It feels confortable in your hans. Batteries perform wonderfull. I love every feature contax put in this camera

Flash beam seems to cover more the left side of the frame. If you want proffesional result I reccomend using and external flash mounted in the special flash bracket made by contax for this camera. I used my Vivitar 283 with excellent results. You have to be carefull about the vignetting which occurs when using large aperture.

Very easy to use in auto, but with most of the manual features required by a professional photographer. It is the best money I ever spent. It is a photographic gem!

Customer Service

Never needed

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I only had used 35mm., 6x45 and 6x7 before but after using the TVS I was so impressed that it has become my second camer

Built very sturdy. Extremely logical design. Excellent optics with zoom. Reliable. Simple to over-ride.

None.

Superior, razor-sharp optics with a zoom. Very good contrast. Gives you whatever photographic control you need for this type of camera. Flash works well. Highly recommended! Worth the money.

Customer Service

None necessary

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Leica M6 TTL