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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

New Contax 4.2mp announced (1 Viewer)

Andy Bright

Administrator
Staff member
England
A new Contax has been announced called the U4R, I have some basic detail and a couple of piccies.
Similar in many ways to the SL300RT*

The Contax U4R incorporates a 9-point Multi AF function. The 9-point Multi AF Function is the perfect solution especially with subjects that are not centrally located in the composition. With the 9-point Multi AF system, the U4R automatically selects focus via one of the nine focusing points for precise focusing accuracy.

2 inch monitor. This should be excellent for digiscoping.

Easy Charge USB Cradle, the user no longer needs to be concerned about plugging an ac adapter into the camera each time the battery needs to be charged or a USB cable to transfer images. With the Easy Charge USB Cradle user hooks it up once to an ac outlet and to a personal computer via the supplied USB cable. Once the Easy Charge USB Cradle is connected to an outlet and computer, whenever the camera needs to be charged, it is just placed in the cradle for charging. When captured images need to be transferred from the camera, the camera is just placed in the Easy Charge USB Cradle for convenient transfer of images.
 

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This looks promising, indeed. In the meantime, I would really like to see more pix posted to the gallery by current owners of the Contax SL300RT and the Kyocera SL400.
 
The USB cradle alone is a wonderful feature in my opinion. The only one I have seen is the Kodak version for an old camera and it was ghastly and big. I can see the contax's being a simple affair. Is it?
 
Andrew said:
The USB cradle alone is a wonderful feature in my opinion. The only one I have seen is the Kodak version for an old camera and it was ghastly and big. I can see the contax's being a simple affair. Is it?


Any indication of availability & price?
 
If it's as good as the Contax SL300RT then I think the days of the Nikon CP4500 will be very much numbered. A lot may depend on the price point though the SL300RT was well priced.
 
Andy seems to have got a 'scoop' on this camera as I haven't found any other reference to it yet on a (admittedly brief) search around a few likely websites.

I did find a reference to the much-suspected new Olympus 4/3 camera - the 8Mp E-300, which looks not unlike a Minolta 'APS'-type SLR.
 
The 2" screen sounds great, but unless they've improved the batteries I suspect the life will be even shorter than the SL300.

Mark
 
Yep, Contax UK website was pretty quick off the mark... not quite as quick as myself though ;) News embargo until today, as it's been revealed at Photokina.
There was talk of a green version for the digiscoping market but not too sure on whether that will materialise... at least it's genuine leather on these things, not some vinyl jobby.

I do hope a black bodied version will appear, the black sl300's do look a lot better to my eyes.

Another feature on this new camera is a video out capability ... I know some like to check their shots on tv's when away from a pc to see what to delete.. also makes digiscoping lectures easier as we can have real-time views projected on to a large screen.

Not sure on price yet, but I don't think we will have to wait long for them to reach Contax retail outlets... in fact you may not have to go very far at all to purchase one ;)
 
Latest on this little beauty - I emailed contax to find out about it.....

they replied (within a few hours of my email) :

Many thanks for your enquiry.
The Contax U4R had its release date today at Photokina exhibition in Germany.
Stocks should become available early November, but just at this moment no retail price has been set.
If you could contact us in about 7-10 days time we should be able to give you an idea on prices.

Very many thanks

Geoff Butler
Sales Office Manager


.....all I have to do now is decide wether to go with the SL300RT, or wait for the new one.....?
 
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U4R pricing

There is some more information about this camera on DPeview http://www.dpreview.com/news/0409/04092808contax_u4r.asp suggesting a retail price around £399 with a large (possibly 256mb SD card included).

I noticed that the battery appears to be different from the SL400, although having said that my battery has improved somewhat after a number of complete recharge discharge cycles (Contax recommend 5 full discharge cycles for the battery to reach its full charge)
 
On the SL300RT battery I have found the same. It's life is much longer after several discharges and in addition even when it is first exhausted, by switching the camera off and on again another 30 or so photos can be taken.
 
Jessops quoted me £400 for one of these today but said it would be a special order and I would have to wait a couple of weeks. Anyone else got any news?
 
bob hastie said:
Jessops quoted me £400 for one of these today but said it would be a special order and I would have to wait a couple of weeks. Anyone else got any news?


Bloody Hell I've just found it on Pixmania for £289 :eek!: Where's my credit card gone?

Mark
 
Any chance of a review soon Andy? This sounds like a great offer but I don't want to buy one and then find out that its not as good as I hoped
 
bob hastie said:
Any chance of a review soon Andy? This sounds like a great offer but I don't want to buy one and then find out that its not as good as I hoped

Agreed Bob. I nearly put my Kyocera 400 on Ebay when I saw it. Incidentally Jessops are selling the Kyocera SL300 (identical to the Contax 300 but without the Zeiss lens) for just £169. At this rate they'll be giving them away with corn flakes next.

Mark
 
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