AF focus accuracy with Contax Tvs (iii)?

[Huss]

My first roll had more than usual (compared to my other P&S cameras) missed focus.
If it missed, it would always miss focusing behind the subject.
I had the camera set to spot focus, so thought that that maybe was the issue. 2nd roll I changed it to wide focus (the default setting). This time I took great care noting what I was doing. Lighting was daylight and good. Very often the focus indicator in the vf gave a result that would obviously result in an OOF pic. Subject about 8 ft away, camera reads focus setting at 5m-infinity. Sometimes the af reading would look correct, but the image would come back slightly oof if you looked really closely . Which I do as this is a $400 p&S!
Thinking back to a bunch of years ago when I had a T3, it too would miss occasionally but at that time I never paid much attention as I was not 'into' photography the way I am now.
These af misses are partially obscured by the fantastic 3d rendering of the lenses in the T3 and my TVS III. The contrast and pop disguised a focus miss to an extent, but when the focus was dead on, wow.
So, anyone else have experience with focus issues with these AF Contaxes? I'm on the fence whether to return this camera, as when it nails the focus the results are fantastic, but this is shooting film not digital so I do not have the luxury to make multiple shots of the same image to make sure one is definitely in focus!
I do not have this issue with my cheap P&S cameras.

(Cross posting this to get more views)

 

[valdas]

I had one faulty T2 that always focused on infinity. I did not notice this at first due to DOF, but it became obvious when I shot a few frames at wide aperture and close distance.

 

[Huss]

This one has focused closely and accurately but there seem to be too many misses. Always slightly behind and it takes less effort nailing focus w a manual focus camera than this! defeats
the purpose of af!

 

[littleearth]

Mine focuses perfectly, I rarely have a missfocused or badly exposed frame ! It's the sharpest compact I have.
My T2 on the other hand missed focus all the time.

 

[jsrockit]

It sounds like parallax error due to the VF not seeing what the camera sees. I remember this with my Contax T2. Modern cameras VFs and AF are more sophisticated.

 

[Huss]

It sounds like parallax error due to the VF not seeing what the camera sees. I remember this with my Contax T2. Modern cameras VFs and AF are more sophisticated.

Thing is I dont get this w any other of my p&s cameras. a 40% plus af miss rate - even if it is only slightly missed - is not acceptable. Shame as the lens has so much potential. Anyway returned. Thank u ebay for making that painless.

 

[jsrockit]

Thing is I dont get this w any other of my p&s cameras. a 40% plus af miss rate - even if it is only slightly missed - is not acceptable. Shame as the lens has so much potential. Anyway returned. Thank u ebay for making that painless.

Yeah, plus the parallax error theory doesn`t generally account for slightly out of focus...

But you are right, you have a lot of other gear that works well, so... next!

 

[charjohncarter]

I thought I would love an AF camera. But no, they are great if you use (like a P&S) a wide angle lens. I still have to be very careful with the four AF bodies that I have (2 digital, and 2 film). I have old eyes now so I was missing SLR focuses that were not AF, so then I bought the AF cameras. Now I use RF cameras if at all possible or wides on my AFs.

 

[TenEleven]

I had the same issues with a T2. The focus missed - a lot. Almost always behind the subject as well. Sometimes this could be explained by parallax, sometimes it made no sense at all. Which sort of obviated the point of having a compact camera with a good lens for me. I wanted to be able to one-hand shoot from the hip. But, alas. It also oftentimes made exposure decisions I disagree with, but that is down to taste.

There's also the idiotic insistence of not stopping down until like 1/250 which aggravates the above problem and also brings out the lens flaws, which is - in my opinion - not as good as the designers thought it was.

Last but not least the shutter speed readout in the finder is neigh useless. LT? Can be anything from 1/25 (handholdable, no problem) to 4 seconds. Great!

I now just use my Rollei 35s, which has the better version of that lens anyway (less distortion, clearer picture) and I get to decide everything by myself and can still take snap-shots.

 

[Huss]

Interesting, thanks Manuel. Funny that the first I have heard of this issue with Contax AF cameras is after I post about it! Now I feel very happy that I returned it. I shot a second test roll just to make sure it wasn't user error. Way too many shots out of focus - and always focused behind.

🙂

 

[TenEleven]

No worries, glad to be of help!

I think with the Contax (compact) prices being what they are these cameras are best left to collectors and/or people who are new to film. (Might turn them off, though, so perhaps not?) I could swallow some of the flaws better if it weren't as expensive as it currently is. Oh -- and it being non repairable is just the cherry on top.