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The new Contax U4R is a tiny 4-megapixel digicam with a swiveling lens that
exemplifies the long-time Contax philosophy of achieving beautiful images from
a beautiful camera. With a sleek brushed magnesium body, a premium leather wrap
and a terrific Carl Zeiss lens, this camera is a successful fusion of great
looks and impressive performance.
Essentially an upgrade of the earlier 3-megapixel Contax SL300R, the new model
not only offers higher resolution, but enhanced ergonomics, faster and more
precise automatic focusing, an easier to access control scheme, and a convenient
cradle for charging the camera’s battery and transferring images to the
computer.
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The Contax U4R features a beautiful brushed magnesium body with
premium leather wrap, in a convenient size that makes it easy
to take just about anywhere. It’s a fine travel camera,
very easy to use. The Zeiss Vario-Tessar T* zoom lens is very
sharp, and covers wide-angle to portrait telephoto angles of view.
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Great Optics
It should come as no surprise to those familiar with Contax cameras that the
U4R features a premium lens—in this case a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar T*
5.8–17.4mm f/2.8–4.7 zoom that’s equivalent to 38–115mm
in the 35mm format. That’s a lot of numbers, but the short translation
is with its combination of both aspheric and high-index elements, this lens
delivers impressive sharpness, contrast and color rendition throughout its 3x
zoom range.
Image quality is further enhanced through the use of Carl Zeiss’ proprietary
multi-layer T* coating that reduces both flare and ghosting. The camera also
incorporates a 4x digital zoom for a maximum 12x total zoom (although our preference
is to avoid this feature and rely on the optical zoom capability of the cameras
we use).
Like its predecessor, the U4R utilizes Kyocera’s unique RTUNE image-processing
technology, which virtually eliminates start-up and shutter lag and permits
continuous shooting at 3.3 fps at full resolution until your memory card is
full. The caveat here is that you must use a high-speed SD memory card to take
full advantage of the camera’s high-speed processing capabilities.
Enhanced Focusing System
The U4R features an Enhanced Continuous AF mode that delivers precise results,
even when shooting moving subjects. Also contributing to the camera’s
focusing accuracy is a sophisticated multi-AF system in which the U4R automatically
selects one of nine focusing points. We used this system almost exclusively,
with very consistent results. It worked particularly well when photographing
off-center subjects, enabling us to avoid the time-consuming extra step of pre-focusing
on the main subject and recomposing before taking the shot.
The camera also offers a Spot AF mode for those situations in which you want
to control the focus point yourself.
The U4R offers automatic exposure control with shutter speeds from 1–1¼2000
and apertures from f/2.8–f/4.7 in the wide setting and f/4.7–f/7.5
in the telephoto position. It’s possible to modify the automatic exposure
setting by using the camera’s EV-compensation capability of
2 in 1¼3-stop increments.
The camera also includes a selection of eight programmed scene modes for optimum
results under a variety of popular shooting situations. These include Portrait,
Sports/Action, Sunset, Twilight, Night Portrait, Black and White, Night View,
Sepia, and Portrait.
We appreciated the camera’s 2” LCD monitor, which is large and sharp
enough to critically view images and navigate menus with ease.
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The rotating 2-inch LCD monitor makes it easy to frame subjects
at ’most any angle, while convenient control buttons make
it easy to set things.
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New Charging Cradle
The U4R comes complete with a USB charging cradle that wasn’t available
with the earlier SL300R model. This accessory makes it easy to charge the battery
without removing it from the camera, and facilitates the transfer of images
to your computer. One simply places the camera in the cradle to begin charging
or image transfer.
A minor gripe here, however, is the lack of a small travel charger like those
available for most PDAs, cell phones, etc. In short, while the sleek U4R camera
is small enough to carry in a shirt pocket, the charging cradle and its cable
and AC adapter are a lot to carry. I’d prefer to leave the cradle hooked
up to my computer at home, and just carry a small compact charger like I do
with my Palm and Blackberry.
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