Kyocera SL400R (Contax SL300RT clone) (5 Viewers)

[Andy Holt]

Andy (H or B)

How much vignetting do you get with the Kyocera / Contax?
I'm getting very tempted with these cameras, more so the Kyocera due to price. Though it's interesting that when you click on the 'contact us' link on Contax's website it goes to Kyocera's UK office address! I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Kyocera has the same lens system as the Contax, much in the same way as the Leica D1 and a Panasonic (can't remember the model) used to have, the latter was £200 cheaper! It wouldn't be in Contax's (Kyocera) interest to mark it up as such and upset the Zeiss badge snobs who've paid up to £150 more. They are however other reasons for choosing the Contax namely it comes with the filter adaptor, a 128mb SD card, leather trim and a leather case and definetly has a Zeiss T* lens. Oh decisions decisions

Mark:h?:

I looked at the spec for the lenses on these cameras and the technical spec for the Contax and the Kyocera does appear to be the same except for the Zeiss coating.

I did wonder whether I'd made the right decision after ordering the Kyocera, especially when I realised (after placing the order!) that the Kyocera didn't come with a filter adapter. As I think I was one of the first to contact them I got one for free , but even at £5 it's a good deal. I'm glad that Kyocera are offering the adapters to Digiscopers for these cameras, I'm really encouraged by Kyocera/Contax's customer service and it's great to see that another manufacturer is taking Digiscoping seriously.

 

[christineredgate]

Can I mention www.pennineonline.com It was recommended to me by Andy(Bright),they are the company who are sorting the adaptor bracket(works with the Eagle Optics adaptor) for the 300 also the cable release.A really helpful company.Their phone no is 01706 524965.Their cable release is now shown on their website.

 

[Jay Turberville]

It's a fair point. I've got mixed feeelings about white balance, having had occasional problems with the Coolpix's and the Kyocera using the auto setting, I've also suffered from colour casting using the fixed settings. I probably need to spend a bit more time doing some experiments with the fixed settings to ascertain the best settings to use in specific lighting situations.

I can't speak for the Kyocera/Contax cameras specifically, but I'm a big fan of white balance presetting through the scope. Considering the number of yellow cast images that I see posted, I think others could benefit from this practice as well. That and some fine tuning of color later as well.

 

[ashrich]

I have just picked up an SL300 on ebay for £ 99.00 in " as new " condition , arrives tomorrow , can't wait to try it with my scope , also ordered an extra SD card that reads/writes at 10mb/sec , should be fast enough , I'll have to try it during my holiday next week and will see about posting some of the better results !

Ashley

 

[Pie Face]

I have just posted pic's of a DIY cable release adaptor on the Contax Thread. Full details can be found at www.camerashed.co.uk

Mark

 

[ashrich]

That looks a hell of a lot easier than bending bits of metal around all over the place , easily portable too , would just fold up into a pocket . Does it stretch at all with use , or haven't you used it that much yet ?

Ashley.

 

[Pie Face]

That looks a hell of a lot easier than bending bits of metal around all over the place , easily portable too , would just fold up into a pocket . Does it stretch at all with use , or haven't you used it that much yet ?

Ashley.

I suppose it might stretch, but with it being velcro you can just adjust the strap. It does fold up completely flat and there's no chance of scratching the camera. But best of all it only costs a £1.

Mark

 

[Pie Face]

Managed a bit of digiscoping with the Kyocera this evening (complete with the cable release). Unfortunately the light was very poor. The first Hare shot was taken in the shade at 200 ISO at 1/30 of a second the other at 100 ISO at 1/15. The Woodpigeon was at 200 ISO at 1/180. Incidentally this is the first decent shot of a Woodpigeon that I've managed in over 4 years of digiscoping.

Mark

 

[Doug Greenberg]

It's interesting that the users of the Kyocera/Contax mini-digicams seem so far all to be British, am I correct? I'm a U.S. person thinking, sort of, of getting one or the other of these cameras, even though I already have a functional and healthy CP4500. I am attracted by the lack of shutter lag, and also the tiny size of these cameras, which means that one could be slipped into a shirt pocket for general use. I also confess to be a bit gadget-obsessive.

I not only am having trouble justifying the expenditure, but I can't decide between the Kyocera SL400R and the Contax SL300RT.

I am aware that the all-important filter adapter does not come with the Kyocera digicams, so I contacted Kyocera North America to ask about this issue. Various emails went unanswered, so this morning I got on the phone. The Kyocera "expert" seemed to know little about the SL400R, and the distinction he made between it and the Contax SL300RT was that the former is a "home use" camera and the latter is for "professional use." Uh-huh. When I asked about obtaining an extra filter adapter he told me flat out, "no." I explained about the niche market for these cameras for digiscoping use that is surely developing, and the guy's response was complete indifference.

So I asked to speak to someone in the Contax cubbyhole at Kyocera, so I could ascertain whether or not the filter adapter on a Contax SL300RT could be replaced if lost. And if this could be done, why couldn't a Kyocera owner just buy an adapter from Contax?

Well, I was put on hold. Endlessly. I eventually gave up and hung up. I wish I could say that this was atypical of customer/technical service in the U.S., but it's not.

My conclusion is that you folks in Great Britain seem to have a more together Kyocera office than we do.

 

[kirkbot]

Hi everyone--I'm new to the forum. Thanks for all of your post re: the kyoceria sl400r. I recently bought the camera for general spur of the moment shooting and have been enjoying this compact convenience. I'm interested in attaching the camera to a scope as mark and andy seem to have done. In all the pictures, the sl400r s seems to be attached only at the lens to the spotting scopes. My sl400r has no lens cover, a removable plastic piece (which i just realized i must have misplaced as it's nowhere to be found) and that's it. What do I need to attach the sl400r to a spotting scope?

 

[Pie Face]

Hi everyone--I'm new to the forum. Thanks for all of your post re: the kyoceria sl400r. I recently bought the camera for general spur of the moment shooting and have been enjoying this compact convenience. I'm interested in attaching the camera to a scope as mark and andy seem to have done. In all the pictures, the sl400r s seems to be attached only at the lens to the spotting scopes. My sl400r has no lens cover, a removable plastic piece (which i just realized i must have misplaced as it's nowhere to be found) and that's it. What do I need to attach the sl400r to a spotting scope?

Hi Kirkbot and welcome to Bird Forum.

It is the plastic ring that you need (the one which comes with the Contax) it's a 28mm filter thread which snaps in place where the little plastic rectangle fits. Your digiscoping adaptor (with a 28mm thread on it) then screws to the ring and hey presto you're ready. The only way of obtaining one (though I would buy a couple) is to contact Kyocera/Contax directly. Now there's the tricky bit. I seem to recall in another thread (or this one) that Kyocera in the US are unwilling to supply them. Now you could tell a little fib and contact Contax (which is Kyocera!) tell them that you've got the Contax SL300RT and how you'd like to purchase some new filter threads as you're afraid that your existing one might break at that all important moment. They'll fall for that, Contax/Kyocera in the UK did o

Mark

 

[christineredgate]

Mark,I did actually break a couple of mine.I split them trying to take on and off.But Kyocera were very good.I received a couple of freebies,then I bought a couple.They are quite flimsy.

 

[John Fleet]

Review of Kyocera SL400

Interesting review here http://www.pcmag.com/review/0,2491,s=1563&a=134893,00.asp

concludes image quality is worse than the SL300!

John Fleet

 

[garry1366]

Sl400

Hello,
Just got rid of my 4500 (too bulky kept getting left in the car) And got an SL400 last week. Had to wait until Saturday to get a card, so the Masked Shrike was my first attempt at using it. First impressions are that the images are not quite as sharp as the 4500. I had to use photoshop to make the images worth printing when I never used to touch them apart from resize and occasionally brighten some with the 4500. This maybe something I'll sort out with more use. Apart from battery life being only 30 minutes I have no complaints. One thing I was thinking of was trying to get some of the £5 adapters made up in aluminium so they are less prone to being broken. However the actual piece around the lens that these twist onto seems to be plastic as well and I wondered if it was better to leave the £5 piece as the weakest link. Has anyone ever broken the bit on the camera or know how strong it is?

Garry

 

[IanF]

I have had the Contax Sl300RT for about three months now and have used it quite a lot. I still have the original bracket despite alternating between it and the CP4500.

I had a similar thought to you about making the bracket stronger but likewise realised the lens surround is itself plastic and not that rigid. Having said that I have had no problems with camera shake at all because of the bracket and produce far more keeprs than I ever do with the CP4500 as it's such a simple camera to set up and operate. I can live with the shorter battery life and to me the only area it's inferior to the CP4500 is the image quality - more so I believe due to the 3 MP sensor as opposed to 4 MP - though I'd say it's better than the CP990, much though I love that camera for it's operating system.

 

[Andy Bright]

Hi Gary, welcome to birdforum from all the staff here.

The Masked Shrike looks pretty good from here! I'm not overly familiar with the Kyocera version but am amazed you never had to use USM with the output from your coolpix, can only presume you had the internal camera sharpening whacked up to highest.

Yes, about the £5 adapter, you hit upon exactly why those involved with Contax Digiscoping have baulked at the idea of a metal adapter... if anything is going to break, make sure it's the £5 part and not the actual lens surround of the camera... breaking this could effectively be a camera write-off!!

Hopefully you're noticing a slight increase in speed of use with the Kyocera
regards,
Andy

 

[garry1366]

What length of time are people getting out of their batteries? I'm begining to think I have a duffer as it only lasts about 5 minutes before "low battery" coming on and then switching itself off. I can turn it back on and take a few more shots but it keeps turning off after say 30 seconds. I had been charging it in the camera (approx 15 charges) but got an external one last week (3 charges) but it still seems the same.

 

[Neil]

Battery life is my biggest gripe with the Kyocera SL400R so I have just ordered an external battery pack and a spare battery off the Internet. I would say 30 mins is optimistic with the battery that came with my camera.
The camera doesn't feel quite as robust as the Coolpix line so I would advise people to be careful when attaching it to the scope as there could be a risk of damaging the lens as Andy says. You want an adapter that goes over the camera body and provides some support.
Neil

What length of time are people getting out of their batteries? I'm begining to think I have a duffer as it only lasts about 5 minutes before "low battery" coming on and then switching itself off. I can turn it back on and take a few more shots but it keeps turning off after say 30 seconds. I had been charging it in the camera (approx 15 charges) but got an external one last week (3 charges) but it still seems the same.

 

[Pie Face]

What length of time are people getting out of their batteries? I'm begining to think I have a duffer as it only lasts about 5 minutes before "low battery" coming on and then switching itself off. I can turn it back on and take a few more shots but it keeps turning off after say 30 seconds. I had been charging it in the camera (approx 15 charges) but got an external one last week (3 charges) but it still seems the same.

Unfortunately Garry they don't like cold weather. I used 3 batteries in an hour at the Masked Shrike, but during my week in the Canaries they were lasting on average 40 minutes or so each. They do seem to last longer when you've had them a while. The other option is to by an external battery pack or make one your self, Bardwell's in Sheffield have all the required bits for about £1.50. You just need a soldering iron and 4 NiH AA's.

Regards

Mark

 

[stanacko]

What length of time are people getting out of their batteries? I'm begining to think I have a duffer as it only lasts about 5 minutes before "low battery" coming on and then switching itself off. I can turn it back on and take a few more shots but it keeps turning off after say 30 seconds. I had been charging it in the camera (approx 15 charges) but got an external one last week (3 charges) but it still seems the same.

Hi Garry 1366
Make up an external one got all the bits from Maplins cost around £3 holds 4
AAs and seems to go on for ever.
Stan (Beverley)