Contax Kyocera U4R Digital Camera

Rating:
Summary: Best Tiny Digicam?
Review: I purchased this camera because I wanted a true shirt-pocket camera -- something I'd always carry with me. Having tried other small cameras (Minolta X series) I was very disappointed with the optical quality of the lenses, the poor focusing systems, and the overall slowness and poor respondiveness of these cameras.

Kyocera/Contax seemed to solve a number of these issues with the previous generation of this camera. Once they announced the U4R -- with the quality of the Contax optics, beautiful body design, and 4-megapixel resolution -- I decided to take the plunge.

The camera's design is very well conceived and executed. Genuine leather adorns the front of the camera, and the entire body (except for the battery door) is made of magnesium. The swivel feature is tremendously useful, both in actual use and for the fact that it allowed the designers to fit a quality lens, without resorting to quality-reducing "tricks" (prismatic lenses -- think periscope here) that allow other slim cameras to have a lens that doesn't extend from the body.

The camera is quite fast. It "boots up" at power on quite quickly, but what really separates the U4R from the competition is how rapidly it responds when shooting. Focusing is commendably quick, but you can shoot at 3.3 frames per second if you use a high-speed (60X) memory card.

The 2" LCD has extremely good resolution, contrast, and brightness. It seems to work well in all but the brightest sunlight. Most of the time you don't miss the absence of an optical viewfinder.

Focusing and exposure have, so far, been faultless. The images from this camera are quite sharp -- not tack-sharp as you'd expect from a Nikon D70, but admirably crisp for this category of camera.

The battery for this model is a higher-capacity model than the one used on previous models. I think the battery life is good compared to other models of this size, but if you are used to a larger Sony or Nikon model you might be a bit disappointed -- by all means order a spare battery and keep it ready to go.

The only downsides for me are dictated by the camera's small size. Namely, the buttons for zoom, menus, and other functions are quite small and a bit fiddly in operation. This is a minor quibble, however; I'm not certain you could do any better given the limited real estate available after deducting the area for the 2" LCD. It would also be nice to have an optical viewfinder, but this is (again) dicatated by the camera's size ( or lack thereof). Also, it would be nice to have a good wrist strap; the camera ships with a long "necklace" style strap which seems useless to me. Also, the built-in flash units on any of these tiny cameras are only good for use at close range. If you'll be doing a lot of flash photography I would recommend buying something different (read: larger), or limiting your use of the U4R to daylight and limited flash photography.

All in all I highly recommend this lovely little camera. Great build quality, top materials, and wonderful design all contribute to a tiny gem of a camera that makes few compromises or concessions dicatated by it's small size.