I am going to buy either a T2 or a TVS II. Despite the difference in price I would buy the TVS II right away (because of the zoom lens and faster top shutter speed), but I am concerned about the lens quality. It seems everyone agrees the T2's lens is wonderful, how does that of the TVS II compare? Also, has the slow lens on the TVS II posed any problems? Any other comments would be welcome.

-- Patrick Ctti (pcote@ccai.com), October 06, 1999

Answers

I don't know about the TVS II, or TVS III, and so forth. The original TVS with the 28-56mm range had a tendency to produce underexposures in the corners at 28mm. I think the newer ones don't go out to 28mm, so maybe the problem has been "fixed".

I've only seen 4X6 prints from the original TVS, so I can't comment directly other than about the dark corners. Several years back Shutterbug published a two page spread of a shot taken with a TVS, and it was excellent, but not quite superb. I would assume that the lens would not be equally good at all focal lenght settings. So I would guess that an overall quality range for the TVS and later variants to be excellent to excellent-.

If Zeiss or anyone could make a point and shoot zoom as good as the T2, they would corner the market. But really, the practical advantage of the T2 is that you can use 100, 200, or 400 speed film with confidence. With the TVS II, you will tend to stick with 400 speed film. The slower speed film offers you finer grain and even more importantly, lower contrast when you need it.

So Patrick, the conclusion is obvious. You need both.

-- Charles Miller (chasmill@swbell.net), January 17, 2000.