Contax RXII vs. Aria

[king]

Hi all,

I currently own a Leica M and would like to add an SLR to my bag. I have had some experience with the Aria. I would like to hear your comments regarding the differences, advantages and disadvantages of the Aria and RXII. Since I live in New Zealand informatin regarding these cameras is thin.

Thanks,

Jim

 

[edmond]

For travel use, I selected to buy ARIA instead of RX because of the weight concern. I will take 2 ARIA for trips with one for back up purpose. The save in weight from 2 ARIA could give me 2 more prime lenses capacity. ARIA¡¦s shortfall is that for hand held shooting, you need to caution about body vibration for low shutter speed hand held photo especially if your lens are also light weight lens (like 2.8/85mm). ARIA¡¦s viewfinder has a higher magnification ratio making focus easier. The matrix metering is quite useful for some difficult light situation. You also need to consider whether you could accept imbalance weight with some zoom lenses combinations, but for me I feel it is OK for my 100-300 zoom which is 1000g in weight.

 

[jrong]

Just my personal opinion - I have the Aria and it's my main travel camera, it's just so light and does everything I need. I don't know if the RX II is worth it for the price and added weight, I'd like to see it do something that the Aria can't. (at least the old RX had a DFI... I can't really see how they could justify the need for an RX II that doesn't really have any interesting selling points). My 2 cents of course. You can't go wrong with an Aria.