...small is beautiful....
In 2001 Contax launched the compact camera T3, the successor of the 10 year old T2. This new model is significant smaller then the T2, has more features and above all a totally new designed 35/2.8 Zeiss lens. Before I go into details about pro and cons of the T3, I have to make some general statements about these kind of compact cameras.
1. Benefits and Limitations of expensive Point and shoot cameras
On the internet, there a are a couple of “it worries me a lot…and for this price…â€-comments with the T3 and other expensive so called “point and shoot†cameras. I would like to explain here my personal view about this attitude, just to make sure, that we are on the same planet.
I assume if you are considering buying a Contax T3 or Leica Minilux etc., you do not want to have the most fancy and bargain camera. First of all you want to have an excellent lens. Secondly you want to have a certain build quality and thirdly some nice feature, which make sense if you want to shoot very good pictures and you know something about photography.
So if you just want to have the best price/performance ratio for average day to day photos, Contax or Leica is not the right choice for. Bearing this in mind, you will find with the T3 a very good compromise between size, possible features without being to much loaded of it, an excellent lens and good/reasonable price.
There will be always people who wish additional capabilities, lens ranges etc. But as a manufacturer you can not satisfy everybody. There is no free lunch. Therefore a point and shoot will be always a kind of compromise.
Price and size are very important criteria for a product development. I like the T3 a lot, but obviously it can not have all the features and comfort of an SLR because of its size. So do not expect the viewfinder-size of an RTS III, big user dials (hopefully one for each function) with measurements of 105x63x30,5mm and weight of 230g. This is simply unrealistic!
The more feature you add to a camera, the harder it is to combine them and also to use them, so the more people complain. As with all cameras, the most important question is, whether you will use it. The camera can be as good as it gets, as long as you do not carry it with you, it is useless. This means wasting your money. The best SLR or Rangefinder is useless at home in the closet. With the T3 there is just no excuse anymore, not to have it always with you.
Reflecting the size, Contax did a great job with the T3 viewfinder, features, custom functions, user interface, lens quality, shutter speed, quietness, build quality, filters and accessories and last but not least elegant design.
Although the price seems in the first second not cheap (899 Euro), you pay it mostly for the quality of the lens. The body is more or less a gift on top of it. Compare the prices: a Zeiss G 35/2.0 costs you 669 Euro and the Zeiss MF-SLR 35/2.8, which is a design from the 70s costs 549 Euro. The cheapest Contax body like an Aria or NX costs additional 899 Euro. Of course these are also more capable, but still you have to pay that money just to make one picture with a 35mm Zeiss lens. Since I made test shots with all 3 mentioned lenses and the lens of the T3 is the clear winner, I would call the T3 a bargain (on a Contax/Zeiss and Leitz level).
2. Lens Quality/Picture quality
There are some tests out there, which conclude, that the new Sonnar 35/2.8 on the T3 is the best lens on a point and shoot currently available. Both journals, “Pop Photo†and the German “FotoMagazin†promoted the T3 as their new reference model which means that it must be better then the point and shoots they tested before (i.e. Contax T2, Leica Minilux, Minolta TC-1, Ricoh Gr-1, Nikon 35 etc.).
But nevertheless, you should be always careful with tests of Photo magazines. Therefore I did my own testing with lenses I used over a longer period of time. I did test-shots with a Leica Minilux Zoom, Contax TVS III, Contax G2 with the 35/2.0 Planar and a Contax Aria with the 35/2.8 Sonnar. I did all shots handheld, Fuji Velvia, different apertures etc. on my preferred “testwall†in Frankfurt, which is a graffiti school wall with a lot of different colours and different structures in the material. Of course I did also normal shootings, but this wall gives me always the possibility to have consistent test-parameters.
To make a long story short. The Lens of the T3 is outstanding. It is better then the two point and shoot zooms from Leica and Contax, which is normal. But the big surprise was, that it is also better then the G 35/2.0 and the MF 35/2.8 ! I was really impressed with these results.
But you have also to be aware, that the differences of all the mentioned lenses are not that big. Of course you can see them if you do test-shots always under the same circumstances, but this is not how you normally take pictures. So please bear in mind, that all these lenses are excellent (we are talking here about Leitz und Zeiss levels). But you can see differences on slides with a loupe or with projection and careful inspection.
I would say that Zeiss put basically the latest improvements and knowledge in lens-design into the T3. But because it is a fixed lens and not a zoom, it is also easier to manage this then with the TVS III for ex&le.
The pictures are very sharp, very contrasty, showing also fine details, colour balance is excellent, no flare etc.
Another big surprise is the lack of vignetting. This was achieved with a new designed shutter which guarantees also the higher speed from 1/500 to 1/1200.
There are some advantages with the special construction of the shutter regarding vignetting. I will go more into detail about that in a couple of days I hope. You can Use shutter speed up to 1/500 in Av, and til 1/1200 in P mode. Also more on this later.
3. Size and quality
The T3 is tiny, same appearance as an APS camera. This is for me one of the biggest benefits, because you really can take it everywhere with you without being bothered of the size or weight. Even my girlfriend does not mind to put it in her handbag, because it is so small and light.
But you have to pay attention to handhold it in the right way. Because the T3 is so light (230g), I would recommend faster shutter speeds to ensure that your picture is taken shake free. In this respect I prefer the TVS III. Because of the weight, it gives at least the feeling, you could shoot easier shake-free with 1/60sec. But this is subjective.
The construction is solid and elegant, not to many buttons to press. The material seems to me not purely Titan. It is more a Titan-surface. But I am not sure about this. Overall appearance is for me modest and elegant. Also the Contax name on the front is not to aggressive on the silver version. This is just me, but I do not like to make advertisement for someone else without being paid for it. If you do a lot of street photography, you will also prefer not no be recognized by red dots etc. (at least if you want to keep your camera).
4. Viewfinder
If you wear glasses like me, the viewfinder is not the easiest one to look through. Of course you get used to it, but still you have to turn your head slightly if you want to see everything. Without glasses, there is no problem at all. Because of the tiny size of the T3 I can forgive this, because the benefits of this smaller size outperforms by far the negative points.
The viewfinder is very light, contrasty and ahs no visible distortion. No problems with flare.
You can see the ballpark of the shutterspeeds (500, 125, 30 and LT) and the times in between are stated with parallel lighting of two speeds i.e. 125 and 30 for the 1/60. You can also see flash ready, AF locked, exposure correction warning, Makro (AF distance between 0,35cm and 1m showed with a red tulip) AF Sensor and bright lines for framing.
The bright lines should be just an indication, since the viewfinder lines are showing just 85% of the final picture. It is therefore not important, whether you can see them against bright sunlight etc, as mentioned on other threads about the T3. there will be more on the picture mostly on the right side of the horizontal viewfinder and on the top. So bear this in mind while framing.
5. Autofocus
The T3 can be used with autofocus and also for focusing manually. You can do it manually by pressing the mode button 4 times and then turning the +- wheel for the appropriate distance.
You can do it also with autofocus via AFL Lock buttom or by pressing the shutter half-way down. With autofocus it seems to me that the Contax T3 has 2 different focussing areas (see also manual page 24 bottom and 32 in the upper right corner). When you use AFL lock button to focus, the focusing area is exactly within the 2 brackets (1 oval) which you see in the viewfinder (page 32). This is like a spot-AF.
If you focus the usual way by pressing the shutter halfway down, the focusing area will be bigger, somewhat like 4-5 ovals wide on a horizontal line (page 24). And it seems to be more on the right side, then on the left side of the 2 brackets in the viewfinder. I have to check that with Contax in Hamburg.
Depending on the subject, this causes sometimes wrong focussing results, because the sensor is to big. Unfortunately, you can not program the custom function in a way that you have always the spot AF area also by the usual way of focusing (using the shutter release).
It is also difficult to test this without really shooting one film, because the LCD distance reader on top of the camera just shows the following steps and no numbers in between:0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, 1m, 1.1, 1.3, 1.5, 2m, 3, 5, 10 and InF. With short distances it is not as difficult as with distances over 1m. Because of the DOF of a wide-angle like the Sonnar 35mm, you probably will not see any misfocusing.
For a nice head-shoulder picture it should be o.k., assuming you stop down to 5.6. But for longer distances or wider aperture you easily miss the right point, especially if it is in between 2 other subjects, which might be more the foreground.
Obviously Contax wanted to avoid the typical focusing problems of 2 head shots, focusing exactly in between the 2 people.
The AF in general is different to the older T2 or the Leica Minilux. The T3 is using a passive AF, The T2 and the Minilux are using active AF. Both systems have their pro and cons and there is not one system superior to the other.
I found a very good desription from Joachim Hein of the different AF systems on the internet in the photo.net discussion forum. I put it here, assuming that I am not violating any laws, because I could not have explained it better:
6. User Interface and custom functions
There is always an inherent limitation if you have a very small camera body as it is the case with the T3 regarding the user interface. In my opinion the compromises are well done and I do not miss any comfort. There are some comments on the net from users of the T2 which are missing some of the T2-handlings on the T3. But this is a normal reaction.
You have 2 (small) buttons on the top for flash settings and the selection of different modes. I find the usage very intuitive and self-explaining. With the mode button, you change the settings, which normally stay over a longer period of time in the same position or you do not need that function so often i.e. self-timer, LT, AF/MF and exposure correction.
Since some people like to use the exposure correction more often, even the metering of the T3 is very accurate, this function is on the first place of the mode-levels. I personally would prefer an extra wheel à la TVS III for this, but I could not tell you where to put it on the camera without making it uncomfortable to use.
The handling is easy and fast You just have to push the mode button ‘til you are at the settings you want to change (maximum 4 pushes) and then you turn the +- wheel on the top to change your desired setting..
For the flash exclusive there is the 2nd button, because you are using it more often (fill in flash, red eye reduction, flash off etc. Although both button are small, I do not have any problems in using them.
What I do not like is on the on/off switch the barrier between the P mode and the aperture selection. You have to press first the little silver button in the inner circle of the power switch and –while pressing it down- turning the wheel to the desired aperture. Of course this is not a big deal and I can do it with one hand, I would have preferred not to have this barrier. I am aware that this is risking the change of the P-mode by accident, but I would still prefer it.
You can also reduce the shutter time-lag with custom function CF2:2b. This causes the lens to extend fully to focusing position whenever the shutter is depressed halfway, thus reducing the time required to operate the shutter.
Exposure compensation can be programmed in 1/3 and ½ steps. For all details of the custom functions, please look at the download area. Selftimer 2 and 10 sec.
The lens cover does not look very convincing to me. It could be moved to easy by something hitting or scratching it.
7. Flash
The internal flash is a weak point with the T3. It has a LZ of 6, which is not very much. If you like to shoot with Provia 100F or Velvia, the meter-range is not always satisfying. 2m with 2.8 aperture and ISO 100 and 1m with 5.6 is often not enough. On the other hand a bigger internal flash would have made the body also bigger and needs more battery. Therefore I like the optional flash adapter SA-2, with which you can use the Contax TLA 200 in case I really need a good flash.
8. Accessories
This is also one of the big advantages of the T3. You have really sophisticated accessories. That starts with the flash adapter SA-2 (147 Euro). Once connected to the T3 it feels like one piece. The size is with the adapter approximately the same as the minilux zoom. So do not worry about that. The SA-2 works best with the TLA 200 (249 Euro). You can also connect other flashes on it, but you are loosing the automatic adjustments, which are just possible with the TLA 200 and the SA-2 together. So the results are getting worse. Results with TLA 200 are very good, no red eyes etc. and the LZ of 20 is better than any internal flash of a P&S. With Iso 100 and aperture of 2.8 you get 7m. With aperture 5.6 you get 3,5m. This is for me all I need. Everything is easy pocketable.
Additionally I would recommend the filter adaptor (46 Euro) for attaching 30,5mm filters on to the T3. You need to buy the original filter adapter, because there is no screw in possibility on the T3-lens. Contax offers 5 different filters (31 Euro each), metal hood (25 Euro) and the appropriate hood cover K-34 (25 Euro). It is great to have the possibility to attach filters and lens hood on the T3. This makes it a lot more suitable for serious shootings.
The Contax filters are expensive, but there are also other brands, which are seling 30,5mm filters (B&W, but they are not much cheaper), Helioplan etc. According to the manual do not use 2 filters or one filter and the lens hood at the same time because of vignetting. I heard different experience about that on the net, so I have to test that for myself.
Always check, whether the filters are multicoated.
Summary of most important points
Excellent image quality of the 35/2.8 lens. Better then G or MF-SLR 35mm
Very good build quality
Very good Viewfinder (except if you wear glasses)
Excellent Handling, Size and weight
Very good features and custom functions
Sophisticated Accessories i.e. filters, flash hood, flash adapter etc.
Autofocus not as obvious as it should be
Relatively weak internal flash for ISO 100 or ISO 50 films
Lens cover not convincing
Top shutter speed over 1/500-1/1200 just at aperture 8 or higher
Price/performance ratio "excellent" (899 Euro) - compared to other Contax models
Dirk
In 2001 Contax launched the compact camera T3, the successor of the 10 year old T2. This new model is significant smaller then the T2, has more features and above all a totally new designed 35/2.8 Zeiss lens. Before I go into details about pro and cons of the T3, I have to make some general statements about these kind of compact cameras.
1. Benefits and Limitations of expensive Point and shoot cameras
On the internet, there a are a couple of “it worries me a lot…and for this price…â€-comments with the T3 and other expensive so called “point and shoot†cameras. I would like to explain here my personal view about this attitude, just to make sure, that we are on the same planet.
I assume if you are considering buying a Contax T3 or Leica Minilux etc., you do not want to have the most fancy and bargain camera. First of all you want to have an excellent lens. Secondly you want to have a certain build quality and thirdly some nice feature, which make sense if you want to shoot very good pictures and you know something about photography.
So if you just want to have the best price/performance ratio for average day to day photos, Contax or Leica is not the right choice for. Bearing this in mind, you will find with the T3 a very good compromise between size, possible features without being to much loaded of it, an excellent lens and good/reasonable price.
There will be always people who wish additional capabilities, lens ranges etc. But as a manufacturer you can not satisfy everybody. There is no free lunch. Therefore a point and shoot will be always a kind of compromise.
Price and size are very important criteria for a product development. I like the T3 a lot, but obviously it can not have all the features and comfort of an SLR because of its size. So do not expect the viewfinder-size of an RTS III, big user dials (hopefully one for each function) with measurements of 105x63x30,5mm and weight of 230g. This is simply unrealistic!
The more feature you add to a camera, the harder it is to combine them and also to use them, so the more people complain. As with all cameras, the most important question is, whether you will use it. The camera can be as good as it gets, as long as you do not carry it with you, it is useless. This means wasting your money. The best SLR or Rangefinder is useless at home in the closet. With the T3 there is just no excuse anymore, not to have it always with you.
Reflecting the size, Contax did a great job with the T3 viewfinder, features, custom functions, user interface, lens quality, shutter speed, quietness, build quality, filters and accessories and last but not least elegant design.
Although the price seems in the first second not cheap (899 Euro), you pay it mostly for the quality of the lens. The body is more or less a gift on top of it. Compare the prices: a Zeiss G 35/2.0 costs you 669 Euro and the Zeiss MF-SLR 35/2.8, which is a design from the 70s costs 549 Euro. The cheapest Contax body like an Aria or NX costs additional 899 Euro. Of course these are also more capable, but still you have to pay that money just to make one picture with a 35mm Zeiss lens. Since I made test shots with all 3 mentioned lenses and the lens of the T3 is the clear winner, I would call the T3 a bargain (on a Contax/Zeiss and Leitz level).
2. Lens Quality/Picture quality
There are some tests out there, which conclude, that the new Sonnar 35/2.8 on the T3 is the best lens on a point and shoot currently available. Both journals, “Pop Photo†and the German “FotoMagazin†promoted the T3 as their new reference model which means that it must be better then the point and shoots they tested before (i.e. Contax T2, Leica Minilux, Minolta TC-1, Ricoh Gr-1, Nikon 35 etc.).
But nevertheless, you should be always careful with tests of Photo magazines. Therefore I did my own testing with lenses I used over a longer period of time. I did test-shots with a Leica Minilux Zoom, Contax TVS III, Contax G2 with the 35/2.0 Planar and a Contax Aria with the 35/2.8 Sonnar. I did all shots handheld, Fuji Velvia, different apertures etc. on my preferred “testwall†in Frankfurt, which is a graffiti school wall with a lot of different colours and different structures in the material. Of course I did also normal shootings, but this wall gives me always the possibility to have consistent test-parameters.
To make a long story short. The Lens of the T3 is outstanding. It is better then the two point and shoot zooms from Leica and Contax, which is normal. But the big surprise was, that it is also better then the G 35/2.0 and the MF 35/2.8 ! I was really impressed with these results.
But you have also to be aware, that the differences of all the mentioned lenses are not that big. Of course you can see them if you do test-shots always under the same circumstances, but this is not how you normally take pictures. So please bear in mind, that all these lenses are excellent (we are talking here about Leitz und Zeiss levels). But you can see differences on slides with a loupe or with projection and careful inspection.
I would say that Zeiss put basically the latest improvements and knowledge in lens-design into the T3. But because it is a fixed lens and not a zoom, it is also easier to manage this then with the TVS III for ex&le.
The pictures are very sharp, very contrasty, showing also fine details, colour balance is excellent, no flare etc.
Another big surprise is the lack of vignetting. This was achieved with a new designed shutter which guarantees also the higher speed from 1/500 to 1/1200.
There are some advantages with the special construction of the shutter regarding vignetting. I will go more into detail about that in a couple of days I hope. You can Use shutter speed up to 1/500 in Av, and til 1/1200 in P mode. Also more on this later.
3. Size and quality
The T3 is tiny, same appearance as an APS camera. This is for me one of the biggest benefits, because you really can take it everywhere with you without being bothered of the size or weight. Even my girlfriend does not mind to put it in her handbag, because it is so small and light.
But you have to pay attention to handhold it in the right way. Because the T3 is so light (230g), I would recommend faster shutter speeds to ensure that your picture is taken shake free. In this respect I prefer the TVS III. Because of the weight, it gives at least the feeling, you could shoot easier shake-free with 1/60sec. But this is subjective.
The construction is solid and elegant, not to many buttons to press. The material seems to me not purely Titan. It is more a Titan-surface. But I am not sure about this. Overall appearance is for me modest and elegant. Also the Contax name on the front is not to aggressive on the silver version. This is just me, but I do not like to make advertisement for someone else without being paid for it. If you do a lot of street photography, you will also prefer not no be recognized by red dots etc. (at least if you want to keep your camera).
4. Viewfinder
If you wear glasses like me, the viewfinder is not the easiest one to look through. Of course you get used to it, but still you have to turn your head slightly if you want to see everything. Without glasses, there is no problem at all. Because of the tiny size of the T3 I can forgive this, because the benefits of this smaller size outperforms by far the negative points.
The viewfinder is very light, contrasty and ahs no visible distortion. No problems with flare.
You can see the ballpark of the shutterspeeds (500, 125, 30 and LT) and the times in between are stated with parallel lighting of two speeds i.e. 125 and 30 for the 1/60. You can also see flash ready, AF locked, exposure correction warning, Makro (AF distance between 0,35cm and 1m showed with a red tulip) AF Sensor and bright lines for framing.
The bright lines should be just an indication, since the viewfinder lines are showing just 85% of the final picture. It is therefore not important, whether you can see them against bright sunlight etc, as mentioned on other threads about the T3. there will be more on the picture mostly on the right side of the horizontal viewfinder and on the top. So bear this in mind while framing.
5. Autofocus
The T3 can be used with autofocus and also for focusing manually. You can do it manually by pressing the mode button 4 times and then turning the +- wheel for the appropriate distance.
You can do it also with autofocus via AFL Lock buttom or by pressing the shutter half-way down. With autofocus it seems to me that the Contax T3 has 2 different focussing areas (see also manual page 24 bottom and 32 in the upper right corner). When you use AFL lock button to focus, the focusing area is exactly within the 2 brackets (1 oval) which you see in the viewfinder (page 32). This is like a spot-AF.
If you focus the usual way by pressing the shutter halfway down, the focusing area will be bigger, somewhat like 4-5 ovals wide on a horizontal line (page 24). And it seems to be more on the right side, then on the left side of the 2 brackets in the viewfinder. I have to check that with Contax in Hamburg.
Depending on the subject, this causes sometimes wrong focussing results, because the sensor is to big. Unfortunately, you can not program the custom function in a way that you have always the spot AF area also by the usual way of focusing (using the shutter release).
It is also difficult to test this without really shooting one film, because the LCD distance reader on top of the camera just shows the following steps and no numbers in between:0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, 1m, 1.1, 1.3, 1.5, 2m, 3, 5, 10 and InF. With short distances it is not as difficult as with distances over 1m. Because of the DOF of a wide-angle like the Sonnar 35mm, you probably will not see any misfocusing.
For a nice head-shoulder picture it should be o.k., assuming you stop down to 5.6. But for longer distances or wider aperture you easily miss the right point, especially if it is in between 2 other subjects, which might be more the foreground.
Obviously Contax wanted to avoid the typical focusing problems of 2 head shots, focusing exactly in between the 2 people.
The AF in general is different to the older T2 or the Leica Minilux. The T3 is using a passive AF, The T2 and the Minilux are using active AF. Both systems have their pro and cons and there is not one system superior to the other.
I found a very good desription from Joachim Hein of the different AF systems on the internet in the photo.net discussion forum. I put it here, assuming that I am not violating any laws, because I could not have explained it better:
6. User Interface and custom functions
There is always an inherent limitation if you have a very small camera body as it is the case with the T3 regarding the user interface. In my opinion the compromises are well done and I do not miss any comfort. There are some comments on the net from users of the T2 which are missing some of the T2-handlings on the T3. But this is a normal reaction.
You have 2 (small) buttons on the top for flash settings and the selection of different modes. I find the usage very intuitive and self-explaining. With the mode button, you change the settings, which normally stay over a longer period of time in the same position or you do not need that function so often i.e. self-timer, LT, AF/MF and exposure correction.
Since some people like to use the exposure correction more often, even the metering of the T3 is very accurate, this function is on the first place of the mode-levels. I personally would prefer an extra wheel à la TVS III for this, but I could not tell you where to put it on the camera without making it uncomfortable to use.
The handling is easy and fast You just have to push the mode button ‘til you are at the settings you want to change (maximum 4 pushes) and then you turn the +- wheel on the top to change your desired setting..
For the flash exclusive there is the 2nd button, because you are using it more often (fill in flash, red eye reduction, flash off etc. Although both button are small, I do not have any problems in using them.
What I do not like is on the on/off switch the barrier between the P mode and the aperture selection. You have to press first the little silver button in the inner circle of the power switch and –while pressing it down- turning the wheel to the desired aperture. Of course this is not a big deal and I can do it with one hand, I would have preferred not to have this barrier. I am aware that this is risking the change of the P-mode by accident, but I would still prefer it.
You can also reduce the shutter time-lag with custom function CF2:2b. This causes the lens to extend fully to focusing position whenever the shutter is depressed halfway, thus reducing the time required to operate the shutter.
Exposure compensation can be programmed in 1/3 and ½ steps. For all details of the custom functions, please look at the download area. Selftimer 2 and 10 sec.
The lens cover does not look very convincing to me. It could be moved to easy by something hitting or scratching it.
7. Flash
The internal flash is a weak point with the T3. It has a LZ of 6, which is not very much. If you like to shoot with Provia 100F or Velvia, the meter-range is not always satisfying. 2m with 2.8 aperture and ISO 100 and 1m with 5.6 is often not enough. On the other hand a bigger internal flash would have made the body also bigger and needs more battery. Therefore I like the optional flash adapter SA-2, with which you can use the Contax TLA 200 in case I really need a good flash.
8. Accessories
This is also one of the big advantages of the T3. You have really sophisticated accessories. That starts with the flash adapter SA-2 (147 Euro). Once connected to the T3 it feels like one piece. The size is with the adapter approximately the same as the minilux zoom. So do not worry about that. The SA-2 works best with the TLA 200 (249 Euro). You can also connect other flashes on it, but you are loosing the automatic adjustments, which are just possible with the TLA 200 and the SA-2 together. So the results are getting worse. Results with TLA 200 are very good, no red eyes etc. and the LZ of 20 is better than any internal flash of a P&S. With Iso 100 and aperture of 2.8 you get 7m. With aperture 5.6 you get 3,5m. This is for me all I need. Everything is easy pocketable.
Additionally I would recommend the filter adaptor (46 Euro) for attaching 30,5mm filters on to the T3. You need to buy the original filter adapter, because there is no screw in possibility on the T3-lens. Contax offers 5 different filters (31 Euro each), metal hood (25 Euro) and the appropriate hood cover K-34 (25 Euro). It is great to have the possibility to attach filters and lens hood on the T3. This makes it a lot more suitable for serious shootings.
The Contax filters are expensive, but there are also other brands, which are seling 30,5mm filters (B&W, but they are not much cheaper), Helioplan etc. According to the manual do not use 2 filters or one filter and the lens hood at the same time because of vignetting. I heard different experience about that on the net, so I have to test that for myself.
Always check, whether the filters are multicoated.
Summary of most important points
Price/performance ratio "excellent" (899 Euro) - compared to other Contax models
Dirk