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| The elegant 5-megapixel Contax Tvs Digital is available in a choice of lustrous silver titanium or "professional" black titanium finishes. In either case, beauty is more than skin deep, thanks in large part to the superb built-in Carl Zeiss lens that delivers outstanding sharpness, contrast and color rendition. |
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| The camera's default Wide Area AF setting delivered fast, precise results with a wide variety of subject matter. We switched to the Spot AF mode for the above image of the egret, and it worked flawlessly. |
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| Since we were traveling without a spare battery we decided to conserve power by framing most of our shots with the camera's optical viewfinder (rather than with the color LCD). The LCD did perform remarkably well under bright outdoor light, and we used it to avoid parallax error when photographing close-up subjects like the tropical flower above. |
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Stylish 5-Megapixel Digicam
Anyone who has used one of the Contax T Series 35mm cameras knows that these stylish "luxury compacts" offer a unique combination of striking industrial design, superb mechanical construction, and great Carl Zeiss optics. This line of tiny high-performance film cameras began with the jewellike T, T2, and T3 fixed-lens cameras, and the Tvs, Tvs II and Tvs III models that added the versatility of a built-in zoom lens. Along the way, Contax even added a high-end APS model to their luxury lineup, the Tix.
Now Contax has unveiled the long-awaited Tvs Digital, a 5-megapixel camera which carries on the tradition of the Contax T Series quite admirably.
Great Optical Quality
Like earlier cameras in the line, the Tvs Digital features a sleek titanium body and superior optical quality. The built-in Carl Zeiss Vario Sonnar (hence the "vs" model designation) T* 7.3–21.9mm f/2.8–4.8 lens is equivalent to a 35–105mm zoom in the 35mm format. With six elements in six groups, this tiny lens delivers optimum sharpness and color rendition; thanks, in part, to its proprietary Zeiss T* (T Star) seven-layer, anti-reflection coating that dramatically reduces flare and increases contrast.
Three aspherical elements enhance resolution by minimizing distortion throughout the 3X optical zoom range. The camera also features a 4X digital zoom for a maximum 12X zoom capability. In the normal shooting mode the lens will focus as close as 1.96 feet. There's also a Macro setting, which delivers precise automatic focusing on subjects as close as 3.7 inches.
The default automatic focusing setting is Wide Area AF, but you can also select Spot AF for subjects that require finer focus-point discrimination.
The Tvs Digital also has a focus lock feature which enables you to achieve sharp results with off-center subjects. Simply aim the focusing frame at your prime subject, depress the AF lock button to lock focus, then recompose and take the picture. When you lock focus in this manner, you are also locking the exposure setting at the same time.
For situations in which autofocus is impractical or not desired, manual focusing is also possible by setting the lens to one of eight preset distances (including infinity). The camera's TTL autofocus system proved fast and accurate under a variety of shooting conditions, so we only tested the manual focus mode out of curiosity.
Improved LCD Technology
We did most of our shooting with the Tvs Digital under very bright light in the Florida Keys, and we were pleasantly surprised to find that we could easily view images on the camera's color LCD in very sunny conditions. While outdoor LCD viewing is problematic with many digital cameras, the Tvs Digital utilizes a new "DayFine" color LCD specifically designed to deliver superior brilliance and contrast under bright conditions. This 1.6-inch TFT monitor utilizes 84,960 pixels and features a "Dual Backlight" design incorporating a special optical technology to enhance light transmission from the LCD. Ambient light is used to further intensify the brightness of the images displayed.
The camera is powered by a proprietary 3.7v 1500mAh lithium-ion battery. Since we were shooting on the road without a spare battery, we used the optical viewfinder to compose most of our shots (we did use the color LCD for macro shots to avoid parallax error); thereby significantly prolonging battery life. Contax claims that the supplied battery provides enough power for 41⁄2 hours of continuous playback or enough juice to shoot 310 images (half with flash) with the color LCD on.
Exposure and Flash Modes
The versatile Tvs Digital features a broad array of exposure, flash and shooting modes that will enable the experienced photographer to handle a wide variety of shooting situations with ease. Five flash modes are available, including auto flash, fill-flash, flash default, and a red-eye reduction setting for minimizing red eyes in people pictures. There's also a night scene mode that uses ambient light to expose the background of your scene, and electronic flash to illuminate your key foreground subject. The night scene mode results in long shutter speeds, so sure to use a tripod or other form of support to steady your camera.
The Tvs Digital provides a choice of exposure modes, including Program AE, aperture-priority AE and an LT (long time) mode with shutter speeds of 1, 2, 4 and 8 seconds for low-light shooting (top shutter speed is 1⁄2000). The camera also features exposure-compensation capability of ±2 stops in 1⁄3- or 1⁄2-stop increments. For added versatility, the camera also features an automatic bracketing function, enabling you to make three different exposures of your scene with a choice of ±0.3EV, ±0.5EV. or ±1.0EV.
The camera's default metering mode is a multi-area evaluative pattern, and we found it to be extremely accurate under varying lighting conditions. There's also a choice of center-weighted and spot metering. The camera enables you to capture images in sepia and black-and-white in addition to color and offers automatic and manual white-balance settings for optimum color rendition.
Easy to Use
The camera's control layout is a bit different from that on other consumer digicams we've used, but we mastered it quickly and found that it provided quick and intuitive access to all functions. The camera features two set-up modes for faster menu access: One mode (Set-up C) is used to modify camera functions like drive, longtime exposure, flash compensation, self-timer/remote, AF area, metering areas and ABC exposure, while the other (Setup D) changes digital functions like white balance bracketing, sharpness, chroma, color (color, black/white, sepia), resolution or compression.
Other features include an AVI mode for capturing up to 60 seconds of action, audio recording with built-in microphone and speaker, in-camera saturation and sharpness control, and built-in eyepiece diopter adjustment. The Tvs Digital comes complete with a remote control release, 16MB SD memory card, USB cable for connecting the camera to a PC or Mac, as well as a software CD, leather carrying case, lithium battery and AC adapter/charger.
The Bottom Line
If you're looking for a 5-megapixel digicam that takes good photos and offers a variety of creative controls there are quite a few options these days. But if you want all of the foregoing in a small, elegant titanium package with a superb Zeiss lens (and are willing to pay a bit extra to get it), this is the camera for you!
The Tvs Digital measures 4.4x2.4x1.4 inches and weighs only 7.4 ounces. Street price for the titanium silver camera is $899.95, while the black titanium model is $999.95. For more information visit www.contaxcameras.com.
Camera: Contax Tvs Digital
Category: 5-megapixel Digicam
AF Performance ****
Metering Performance *****
Feature Set ****
Ease of Use ****
Ergonomics *****
Value ***
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