small companion to Hexar

[alwinvrm]

I used Leica's but found the Hexar due to the AF a better companion for my use of it, street. I also used the oly XA and Rollei 35's. I don't care for zooms / changing lenses.

Having a combination of GAS and deteriorating eyesight I am looking for a another small pocketable camera (yashica / contax t series size or a bit bigger), a user to put in my pocket, not a little gem like a minolta tc1 or the nikon ti's with designer dials.

It should be a pocketable camera at a reasonable price point approaching as closely as possible what makes the Hexar so useful for me in street photography: Autofocus, autoexposure, excellent optics, no noisy focusing or transportation, no autoflash.

I do realize that concessions probably must be made. I am very curious to hear your experiences, especially because irritating AF noise / little features are so personal and become apparent in real life only.

Thanks for your help, Alwin

 

[FrankS]

I have a Contax Tvs, the zoom lens version of the Contax 2. I have a couple of other high end P+S, but the advantage that the Contax has is that flash-off can be set and remembered as the default mode. With the other cameras, the flash mode button needs to be pressed multiple times, each time the camera is turned back on, in order to get into the flash-off mode. Just a little thing as you mentioned.

 

[amateriat]

When I was still shooting with AF (film) SLRs, I had a Hexar autofocus as my take-almost-everywhere "runabout" camera, and loved it. Then I got hold of a Ricoh GR-1, and gradually the Hexar found itself out of rotation. Then I ditched everything except the Ricoh for my current setup (a pair of Hexar RFs), and all was dandy until I dropped the Ricoh a few years back. I've tried assorted cheap n' cheerful compacts, but the only thing that's come close to rivaling the GR-1 (which I still have, and will eventually send out to CRIS to get fixed) has been my new-to-me Contax Tvs (which I got from FrankS; he had two 🙂): it's a tad bigger and somewhat heavier than the Ricoh, but that (manual) zoom is so good. And, I do take it practically everywhere.

Edit: And: what Frank said.


- Barrett

 

[morback]

I highly recommend the Contax T3. It's a highly functional camera and once you have setup your preferences you don't have to change a thing anymore.

You can:
choose to have flash on or off (with sub-choices) every time you turn it on
choose to have the film leader in or out of cassette
choose to have the lens move into position at half-depression or when you take the picture
simple control over what aperture you shoot (the camera prefers fast shutter speeds over tight apertures)
and more and more options...

In fact, why don't you have a look at the user's manual (6mb .pdf)?
As far as noise, it has the typical noises of an electronic camera, but is by no means loud. Top-notch quality all around. A keeper for sure. Fits in pockets. The shutter lag has not bothered me so far (If I need to be super fast I do zone focusing with lens in position mode).

 

[Mablo]

My vote goes for Olympus Trip. Pocketable, no batteries, fast scale focus, auto exposure - you set the ASA and start shooting, super silent and has a good lens. A good one costs maybe up to 50$.

See: http://www.tripman.co.uk
For pics: http://www.flickr.com/groups/olympustrip35/

 

[Warren T.]

How about a zone-focus XA2? 🙂

I would suggest the Yashica T4 Super, but it's one of those where you need to reset the flash mode to turn off autoflash every time you turn it off/on. Other than that, it's pocketable, weatherproof, great AF and AE, and has an excellent Zeiss lens.

 

[alwinvrm]

Thanks a lot to all for your prompt and useful feedback!!!!

@ FrankS and amateriat:

Thanks for the idea. I frankly did not consider the tvs, being the prime lens nut that I am. I will go into that one in more detail.

@ morback and Warren T:

Both the contax t3 and the yashica t4 crossed my mind. In my current mindset where I am looking for less prestigious equipment that can produce excellent results I would wonder to what extent the yashica lens is comparable with the contax.

It is funny in a way. I own and use leica, hasselblad, rolleiflex yet I am delighted with the yashica electro gt I just bought. It has the metally appeal of a toy robot from the sixties but its lens is very good and surpisingly its operation is excellent for street shooting. You can see on the top plate whether sufficient light is there and when you learn to know it a bit you can know and adjust the exposure without bringing the camera to your eye. This qualifies as a quircky camera but good for street. It is about as portable as a hasselblad though.


@ Mablo:

Thanks for the suggestion, a cute seventies rangefinder is very appealing to me and probably what I feel like using the most. It lacks, though, the AF that I unfortunately "need". The problem with a leica-like (not M7) operation is that I need glasses to see the settings and then need to take them off to focus and compose. That may be solved with an automatic seveties RF with a dioptr correction; I could stroll without glasses and focus like that. I may settle for one depending on what the outcome of our discussion in the forum is.

 

[amateriat]

Both the contax t3 and the yashica t4 crossed my mind. In my current mindset where I am looking for less prestigious equipment that can produce excellent results I would wonder to what extent the yashica lens is comparable with the contax.

I had the T4 for a while. Decent enough lens, but I was frustrated by the lack of control. I'd imagine the T3's lens is somewhat more refined, but the bigger deal would be control; the T3 absolutely trumps the T4 there.

It is funny in a way. I own and use leica, hasselblad, rolleiflex yet I am delighted with the yashica electro gt I just bought. It has the metally appeal of a toy robot from the sixties but its lens is very good and surpisingly its operation is excellent for street shooting. You can see on the top plate whether sufficient light is there and when you learn to know it a bit you can know and adjust the exposure without bringing the camera to your eye. This qualifies as a quircky camera but good for street. It is about as portable as a hasselblad though.

Don't discount the lens quality of the GT's lens: I used that camera a good deal thirty years back, and the images it rendered were quite good.

I also grok the glasses-on/glasses-off situation in terms of focusing. I'm lucky in that in my current state of vision, I can keep my specs on full-time with the camera to my eye, but since the lenses are scratched to Hades, and I'm in quite overdue for a new prescription anyway, I'm toying with the idea of contact lenses, partly to ease the little bit of frameline-angst I've put up with on occasion, but also because a proper pair of light, thin lenses in a decent frame will set me back more than I care to spend right now.


- Barrett

 

[daniel~]

Yashica T5(T4 Super) will meet your criteria nicely. I also enjoy using more sophisticated cameras , such as XA, Hexar AF, Contax T2 & G1/G2, but Yashica T5 remains one of my favourite for event/travel.

With this kind of p&s, one will lose some control but surely gain on portability & speed, so it's not that much a compromise really. The photo results prove itself, anyway. I can go on & on with T5's many advantages over those sophisticated cameras (eg. XA is sweet but dim RF is a pain; Contax G lens shines but G bodies so noisy; Hexar is quiet but bulky with too many button pushing...) , but in a word, I'll recommend it to anyone who wanna take good photos with a p&s. The challenge is to find one at a good price. Good luck!

 

[alwinvrm]

@ amateriat:

The fiddling with the glasses is what irritates me too. I thought rolleiflexes would be a solution where I could keep my reading glasses on. It works as long as I don't recompose after focusing a close portrait. Anyway, from the 4 flexes I bought 2 have focusing issues, so, back to hasselblad, same weight anyway. With my drugstore reading glasses I stopped hoping to see framelines in a RF. Contacts may be a good solution if you can get the hang of it. I use readers only, so contacts are no option for me I suppose.



@ Daniel:

I do see your points about the Hexar AF being relatively bulky and the hard focusing of the XA. I find the XA a little marvel but focusing indoors is not easy for me. amateriat mentioned he liked the T4 lens but that he was less taken with its lack of control. I checked ebay and do't see a "buy now" (which is usually too expensive anyway) but from the bidding I would expect they sell for around 100,- to 125,- Euro's. Seems indeed a lot if you can get a Hexar AF for 250,-

 

[daniel~]

Yes, the lack of control is typical limitation of this type of camera, but also the reason why it's cheap, small and fast in action. I often shoot with a single hand using T5. I can never do that with manual RF/SLR... Also I often shoot rather close-- Hexar's 0.6m minimum focusing distance is not bad, while T5 can focus down to remarkable 0.35m. Both far more versatile than traditional RF's 0.9m plus... Furthermore, being weather-proof, T5 saves me from worrying, be it about shooting in the rain or bumping in my dusty/humid jacket pocket without a pouch. I cannot bring myself to abuse my Contax like that, even if it might survive.

T5 is great alone and it'll be perfect companian to Hexar or other sophisticated machines, because it fits in the gap nicely. There're things Yashica T5 actually does better. Well have I mentioned its waist-level scope yet...

You may also want to check Olympus Mju-II (Stylus Epic). Some users find mju-II as good as T5, and it's cheaper & smaller. However, as owner of both, I do prefer T5.

Zone-focus cameras, as others have mentioned, is an interesting alternative. I enjoy this way of shooting perticularly for street photography.

 

[alwinvrm]

@ Daniel & all: The Conclusion and a new question

1) Thanks again for your contributions. I did some more thinking. The Contaxes I find too expensive for what I want it for. The Yashica T3 I considered but I read too may reports about focus inaccuracy and breakdowns. Stylus Epic seems interesting but I did not find one for sale so far and I fear it is not so sturdy. The Yashica T4/5 does not offer all the control I would want but seems the best compromise so far, between features, optical quality and price. That, if you find one for a reasonable price.

2) Having said that, admittedly another issue came to my mind, repairability. Are Hexar Af's, Yashica T4's, Contax T's repairable camera's or are they good disposables like most digital camera's. To console myself I bought two seventies RF's in very good condition, a red leather Canonet GIII QL17 and an Olympus RC 35. These, I reasoned, would at least last for a while while I make up my mind about the life expectancy of more modern brethren like the Yashica and Contax T's or Hexars.

 

[amateriat]

The Contax cameras can be serviced at numerous places; presumably, so can the Yashicas (being kisssin' cousins of a sort), but that's no guarantee. The Hexar is a bit more "iffy." All these cameras, BTW, are quite hardy...about the only way to stop them from working completely would be to drop them. Quite hard.


- Barrett

 

[morback]

The Contax cameras can be serviced at numerous places; presumably, so can the Yashicas (being kisssin' cousins of a sort), but that's no guarantee. The Hexar is a bit more "iffy." All these cameras, BTW, are quite hardy...about the only way to stop them from working completely would be to drop them. Quite hard.


- Barrett

T3 seems to have this little problem of the lens cover not opening properly when the lens moves out on turning the camera on. I even managed to somehow get the shutter stuck...Repair was not a problem.

Did I mention the T3 is titanium? Feels quite nice... 🙂

 

[btgc]

My idea about small camera: Yashica Electro 35 MC (please check dimensions before fearing from full sized Electro's).

It's a little aperture priority camera. Autofocus? Huh, it's scale focus - eyesight isn't problem anymore as long as you see at least something. Not knowing about preferences for field of view, I can just add that 40mm lens is nice compromise between 50mm and 35mm.

Excellent optics it's maybe not (I mean, compared to world's first rate glass) though in it's class it is very, very good. Enough contrast, too.

No autoflash because of lack of flash 🙂 Runs on 6v battery - either single cell or 4 1.5V cells - whatever you can get, I just advice to stick to silver oxide cells instead of alkalines.

Don't know about you, though I use it - mostly for street and as one of travel cameras. It is not titanium, not waterproof, not big name, not cult, not anything. Just very good camera.

 

[filmfan]

Ricoh GRD is perfect.

 

[Michiel Fokkema]

Leica CM is my favorite. Then the Contax tvs.
Both are great camera's and not expensive anymore.

Cheers,
Michiel Fokkema

 

[Alex Krasotkin]

Hexar AF is real winner fo me. If I have only one camera, it will be Hexar AF.

 

[alwinvrm]

@ amateriat:

Good that the T's can be repaired. I suppose with electronics it is a bit a thing of luck. I would expect that the more posh Contaxes have better changes for repair, then again maybe not, it is not mechanical fixing but the availability of an integrated circuit or a piece of electronics that determines repairability.

I realize that I've been using my Hexar for about 15 years by now. It was carried around for 5 years, day in day out, in a shoulder bag, not a bad score so far.

 

[alwinvrm]

@ morback:

So repairs are possible in real life and not only on paper, thanks for reducing this worry.

I have this electronics repairibility phobia since having bought two digital point and shoots that lasted less than a week in normal, sorry no, use, I just unpacked them and tried to make a picture; One DSLR of one of the top brands that stopped after a bit more than a year "Yes sir, you can never tell with sensors...", was repaired under warranty; Cell phone with camera, broke down in a week, got replacement, next one broke down in a week as well but this time the display "Sorry sir, display is not covered in the warranty ...". And the list goes on ...