Contax Tix?

[muf]

I got one just before I went on my hols in August. Bought a couple of Fuji APS films from a local supermarker and took it with me. Here's a few shots, one at Charmouth beach South England on the Jurassic coast. The other two are when I called in at Stonehenge on my way home. I saw a guy there with a modern take on an old theme. The wooden plate camera. Wish I had time to stop and ask all about it. But it looked very interesting.
I like the sonar lens, very contrasty. It really is a great little pocketable titanium thing. Mines a black one.

Anyone else for APS?

Paul

 

[Lazzaros]

I wish I could get one at a good price since I have maybe 20 APS rolls to use...

This is the only APS camera I'd like to use because the quality is amazing! And with such a small format I want to see some quality in the prints...

 

[David Hughes]

Yup! I've always said that APS is the new half-frame. Try the Konica Z2 or Z3, Kodak T550, Minolta Vectis range (especially the SLR S-1 or S-100), etc, etc. I'll vote for the Tix too. No other film camera records the EXIF info on the print back...

Regards, David

PS Nearly forgot, there's some by Canon but beware the first one as the pop-up flash sometimes won't pop down: well, mine never would.

 

[umboody]

Charmouth is where I'm currently based. Small world.

 

[muf]

Charmouth is where I'm currently based. Small world.

It is indeed. You are very lucky. Nice place.

Paul

 

[muf]

Another Tix photo. A view of Charmouth from Lyme Regis.

The Tix has a pretty unique lens hood. It's screwed to the outside of the lens housing so looks like it's part of the housing. You unscrew it and turn it around and rescrew it on but that end only screws to the end of the lens housing, therefore acting as a hood. Clever. I don't know of another camera that does this. I found a couple of pics online that show it.

Paul

 

[David Hughes]

Another Tix photo. A view of Charmouth from Lyme Regis.

The Tix has a pretty unique lens hood. It's screwed to the outside of the lens housing so looks like it's part of the housing. You unscrew it and turn it around and rescrew it on but that end only screws to the end of the lens housing, therefore acting as a hood. Clever. I don't know of another camera that does this. I found a couple of pics online that show it.

Paul

Thanks, I've often wondered about the lens hood but never quite made sense of its description etc. Not seen one for sale either.

Regards, David

 

[youngcoby]

Hello,
another user of the Contax Tix here. In fact, reading this post made me registering here on this forum.
I'm very happy with the Tix, although I bought it by accident. If I had known what APS was, I wouldn't have bought it. I thought that it was half frame 35mm.
But now having it, I'm very happy with it. Only got to shoot one roll so far, but I think the results are incredible for such a small camera.
Have never seen the hood, but will be looking for it now.

 

[Welsh_Italian]

I've never used the Contax but I have a Canon Elph LT APS camera (definitely not a rangefinder!) that is so pocketable. Superb for travelling and quick snaps because it's so light, small, easy to pocket, and quick to get working.

I even used to have a Canon EOS APS SLR and it was the only Canon SLR that I've ever liked - all the 35mm ones just felt too awkward and plasticky. Great fun with my FF M42 lenses.

But I have to plead innocence - I had these before I learned about rangefinders!

I always wondered if someone could product a rangefinder for APS film - it would be the perfect stealth street shooter.

 

[muf]

Have never seen the hood, but will be looking for it now.

When you say "looking for it now" I take it you mean you will see if yours has it screwed to the outside of the lens housing. See the pictures. First one shows it with lens hood attached in 'hidden' mode. You will see the outside ring around the lens housing. Second pic shows the hood detached.

Sorry about the first shot being soft. It looked ok on the LCD screen of the digital camera!

Paul

 

[muf]

Two pics showing the camera with and without the hood.

Paul

 

[muf]

Compared next to the Oly XA.

Paul

 

[youngcoby]

Paul,
thanks a lot. I just realized that it might be cheaper than I thought - if it is still on the camera.
I'll check it tonight.

Does the lens hood improve the pictures a lot?

The pictures I have made so far with it, are much better (!) than the ones I took with the Contax T2 and the G2, in the same circumstances that is. There was a lot of hard sunlight, and exposure on T2 en G2 (without filters) made the air turn OK, but the subject way overexposed. Tix handled this situation perfectly.

Have to keep on trying.

Sorry, cannot show images at this moment, but will figure out how to scan from printed pic and show it here.

Filip

 

[David Hughes]

When you say "looking for it now" I take it you mean you will see if yours has it screwed to the outside of the lens housing. See the pictures. First one shows it with lens hood attached in 'hidden' mode. You will see the outside ring around the lens housing. Second pic shows the hood detached.

Sorry about the first shot being soft. It looked ok on the LCD screen of the digital camera!

Paul

Good Grief! It's been there all the time! I even asked when I bought it (second-hand) and they'd not heard of it...

Anyway, a quick twist and I found I'd got one. I'll have to sit down quietly and recover.

Thank you so much.

Regards, David

 

[David Hughes]

Hello,
another user of the Contax Tix here. In fact, reading this post made me registering here on this forum.
I'm very happy with the Tix, although I bought it by accident. If I had known what APS was, I wouldn't have bought it. I thought that it was half frame 35mm.
But now having it, I'm very happy with it. Only got to shoot one roll so far, but I think the results are incredible for such a small camera.
Have never seen the hood, but will be looking for it now.

Hi, welcome aboard.

Funny thing; half-frame is 18 x 24 (or 432 mm²) and portrait mode and APS is roughly 30 by 16 (or 480mm²) and landscape mode. So more usable and 10% larger negative. And I can still get APS printed in the high street. Plus the lenses are several generations ahead of the old half-frames. And there's zooms and primes. Yet few take APS seriously.

Regards, David

PS OTOH, I can still buy APS gear for pennies. I think we'd better close this thread now and hope it gets buried...

 

[youngcoby]

When you say "looking for it now" I take it you mean you will see if yours has it screwed to the outside of the lens housing. See the pictures. First one shows it with lens hood attached in 'hidden' mode. You will see the outside ring around the lens housing. Second pic shows the hood detached.

Paul

Paul, thanks a lot for the pics. It seems mine is still on, but I cannot get it off, and don't want to use too much force.
Unfortunately, something is wrong with mine (first time I encounter this). When i want to switch it on, it immediately turns itself off again. So lens is popping out, just to pop in again.
Someone experienced this as well?

Filip

 

[youngcoby]

Yesss!!
I succeeded getting the hood off.
Filip

 

[kdemas]

Paul, thanks a lot for the pics. It seems mine is still on, but I cannot get it off, and don't want to use too much force.
Unfortunately, something is wrong with mine (first time I encounter this). When i want to switch it on, it immediately turns itself off again. So lens is popping out, just to pop in again.
Someone experienced this as well?

Filip

Low battery? I've never seen this behavior with mine.

 

[kdemas]

The Tix has a pretty unique lens hood. It's screwed to the outside of the lens housing so looks like it's part of the housing.

Paul,

OK, I have to laugh. I have had my nice black Tix for, well quite some time. I always wondered why they didn't have a hood option for it like they did my T3.

Now, I know.

For anyone who has not seen one of these beauties the Tix is probably up there with the GR series for the title of most intuitive and well designed P&Ss ever. It's titanium, built like a rock with a nice real aperture ring, wonderful. I had NO idea there was a hood, even adding further to the cleverness of the design.

It still bothers me that Contax (Kyocera) couldn't market their way out of a paper bag, they really had some terrific products late in their brand life. Many still live on with many users, including me. Actually, too many live on in my house but that's another story!

Thanks again Paul, you learn something new every day!!!

Kent

PS- Read the Manual...never!! ;-)

 

[kdemas]

My Tix wanted to say Hi, with it's integrated hood nicely stored. That's this current thread in the background 🙂

To think that Minolta got the TX-1 down to this size with regular 35mm film, amazing.

Tri-X pushed to 3200, Microphen, Stand Development. Nah, the iPhone with PS Mobile!