Contax G issues

<p>I don't own a Contax G, but what's all this I keep hearing about shutter lag, and it being "just a sophisticated point and shoot"? Is there any truth in these allegations?</p>

<p>Hi,<br>

No shutter lag.<br>

Dream cameras, magnificent lenses, a pleasure to shoot with!<br>

Rui</p>

<p>Not shutter but it lags... it always resets the lens to infinity so you have to wait for it to focus first and its slow for a RF. Poor viewfinder and no confirmation of what is actually in focus. Yes the lenses are good. A G2 was my first RF style camera and it almost made me give up on this style of camera and return to an SLR. I sold it and moved to a Leica and could not have been happier. 10+ years later I'm still shooting Leica M's</p>

<p>Thing is, I'm considering moving on up in rangefinders. I've only had my Olympus RC a few months, but already I find it limiting. My choices are Leica M mount and Contax G mount. I think I'll wait till I can afford Leica. Thank you for your help.</p>

<p>I have a G1. I use it a lot. The lenses, the 45mm f2 Planar in particular, are just stellar.</p>

<p>Before you jump in, however, it's important to understand what the G1 (and G2) isn't. These bodies don't handle like manual focus rangefinders. While the autofocus mechanism does indeed use a traditional rangefinder, there is no coincident patch in the viewfinder. As the camera confirms focus, the confirmation is only in the form of a measured distance scale in the viewfinder.</p>

<p>The viewfinder itself is actually quite sophisticated. It's a zooming telescope automatically keyed to the attached lens. A camera controlled LCD shutter corrects for parallax. The viewfinder framing is thus very accurate, more akin to that on a SLR. The downside is that it is darker than the floating bright frame finder found on every other RF camera (and of course, there is no bright frame.)</p>

<p>Okay, finally, about the AF performance itself. The G1 focuses no more quickly than I can a traditional RF camera, which is to say, not that quickly. It has the same problems in the same scenarios that I do, e.g., having to find a part of the scene relative to the VF patch that has vertical lines. So, what people bitch about is that the AF doesn't work as well as that found on a recent generation AF SLR, but neither is there a truly positive feedback of the quality of focus (no coincidence patch remeber.)</p>

<p>SD:<br>

Leica is the right way to go based on my own and several friend's experience. Like Craig C., I had a G2 kit for some time and found it to be an elegant camera design that could take beautiful photographs. Wonderful lenses. But the AF is very quirky and especially unreliable with the 90/2.8. The noise of the AF and wind-on motors was very annoying - louder than my Nikon SLRs. I lost several rolls of film because it misread the auto-ISO code on the canister. Repairs will become an issue soon, since the company is out of the camera business. I ultimately traded it all in for an M6 setup, and have been very happy with that.</p>

<p>Is it always AF, or can they manual focus? I've had my eye on a nice G2 and 45mm lens, but not if it's just AF.</p>

<p>I have also heard stories about being told by the camera that autofocus was correct, yet upon seeing the negative, the photographer discovered that he had not seen eye to eye with the AF system. I don't know if I could stick that. I'm used to either SLRs or manual focus rangefinders, so I know what I'm focusing on and I like it that way. Obviously I must start saving, that beat up M3 isn't going to get here by itself, nor is a 50mm Summicron.</p>

<p>I'm afraid I don't know about AF Michael, but I've heard nothing but very, very good things about the 45mm Planar, supposedly the second sharpest 35mm lens ever tested by Photodo(or whatever it's called, I don't use technical sites).</p>

<p>Here it is probably a bit too off topic, but if you Rick, or you Craig, could message me with any recommendations I would be most grateful for them.</p>

<p>Another alternative is a Hexar AF. You can set them for manual zone focus and with that there's no lag. Make sure you get a lightly used one though because they're also out of production. </p>

<p>The first Leica I had was a beat up M2 that was really a piece of crap. I took some great photos with it. Go to KEH and you can find a Bargain condition M3 and 50mm Summicron for about $1000 with a 14 day return option and 60 day warranty.</p>

<p>Hey Michael, you really need to try one before you buy. It's not really a MF camera, like a traditional RF or SLR where a positive focus confirmation is obvious.</p>

<p>It's been denigrated as a boutique camera, or an expensive p&s, poor AF and as loud as a JT8D. It's all and none of those things on who likes or dislikes it.</p>

<p>It may be the absolutely the very best platform for ultra wide shooting, period. What camera price point can you get into a 16mm Hologon?</p>

<p>The 21mm Biogon is one of the best ever made, a 35-70 zoom on a RF body, does that also. So the G2 can't be buttonholed into any category and that was it's problem IMHO. Those that hate it wanted it to be something it isn't. For me it's simply a wonderful machine.</p>

<p>Go for a Leica, my choice would be M3 or M2 totally mechanical, not battery dependent, can use thread lenses by Voigtlander/ Cosina, Canon, Leitz, M lenses by VC as well as Leitz/ Leica M lenses, plus Konica M lenses. I have M3 DS, M3 SS and M1 plus lots of Leica and Canon lenses and one rare lens a Konica Hexanon 50mm f1.9 from the 1950's which performs beautifully. The Contax and it's G lenses are probably quite wonderful but there is not the variety of the above stable of cameras and lenses.</p>

<p>Paul, which body is your favourite? And if you could only have one lens, what would it be?</p>

<p>I had a G1 and moved up to a G2 for quicker AF. The lenses (particularly the 45 and 21) are stellar, especially for colour and I shoot a lot of Fuji Reala. Used properly, I get as many properly focused shots (and less "creatively" exposed) as my Leica M's.<br>

Check this site and others for more info...<br>

http://contaxg.com/contaxuser/</p>

<p>Chris, if you had to choose, would you keep your Leica M system, or your Contax G system?</p>

<p>Mr. Woods;<br>

People who offered the opinions you cited may have their reasons to be critical of the Contax G system.<br>

I have the G2 and find its workflow much faster than most of my Pentax AF rigs and previously owned Nikon AF system. The G2 can be manually focussed and metered if one wants to do so. To refer to it as a "point'n'shoot" camera sells it very short! One could use that same logic then and refer to all DSLRs as "point'n'shoots." I also use Leica and manual, non-metered SLRs in many formats. In the end, the G2 results speak volumes for its quality output. Noisy? I agree it has slightly more decibels than my Leica MP which is noisier than my Minox GTE which is noisier than my Minox LX. :-) But the G2 is quieter than most DSLRs, many film SLRS and less than a whisper compared to my P67! :-) BTW; the G2 with its 21mm is truly awesome in terms of image quality!</p>

<p>The G1 and G2 <em>can</em> be focused manually, but it's a strange process using a little wheel on the front of the camera body and checking for an LED confirmation of correct focus in the viewfinder; since there isn't a coincident image or other image-based focusing mechanism you're basically watching for a light to go on to indicate when the camera is focused properly.</p>

<p>If you want to focus the camera at infinity, manual focus is great; for other distances not so much. But the AF is very reliable and tolerably fast, so in practice it's what you'll end up using almost all the time.</p>

<p>I owned both the G2 and a Leica M6 at the same time and much preferred the Contax. Maybe I'd just become spoiled by my Nikon AF cameras but I always had a hard time focusing the Leica. The normal lenses for each were about equal with the Contax being slightly sharper and the Leica having a better look in the out of focus areas. When it came time to trade one for a new digital Nikon a decided to part with the Contax because I had had some problems with it and it had to be returned to Contax several times for warranty repair (focus way off & oil leaking out of the lens). Contax went out of business about that time and I didn't want to be stuck with a camera I couldn't bet repaired. I also thought the Leica would retain more if its value so I could trade it in later for another digital Nikon, which it did. G2's are a very good value right now as are most film cameras. </p>

<blockquote>

<p>Is it always AF, or can they manual focus?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>It can be manually focused. On the G1, the focus dial is on the top of the camera, right next to the index finger. Push in the button to release mechanical interlock for auto/manual focus. </p>

<p>The dial is scribed with a distance rule marked in meters, but he AF circuitry remains active when manually focusing. A horizontal bar graph in the viewfinder indicates the amount of current front or back focus. Center the graph, and the part of the scene under the viewfinder AF bracket is what's in focus.</p>

<p>I suppose it's easy enough to use the Contax in the Leica, street shooter fashion. Set aperature to f8, and manually pre-focus out to 4 or 5 meters. See something interesting? Bring the camera up to the eye, frame, then press the shutter release.</p>

<p>Oh, by the way, the viewfinder image is 1:1 life size when using the 90mm f2.8 Sonnar. This makes it comfortable to shoot with both eyes open. The shooting experience is, hmmmm, different enough to sometimes give composition quite a unique feel.</p>

<p>The Contax G series is a great system that was unfortunately abandoned. It is very different from Leica but the lenses are as good - possibly better. It has MF but this is really rather limited except for infinity or wide angle lenses. The G2 is better than the G1 for AF and I personally prefer the meteing (it is more like partial metering whereas the G1 is more average - bigger reflecting area on shutter). The lenses are great 21mm, 28mm, 35mm, 45mm and 90mm - I have never used the zoom or the 16mm. The G2 is the one to buy as it has better AF and handling. You will have to accept the fact that you will lose the odd shot due to AF issues. It is really a question of what you want to do. For the price of a good Leica lens you can get a body and almost all of the Contax lenses - only the 21mm, zoom and 16mm are expensive. The camera is also good at flash photography and fill in flash. It has two ciustom flashed but can also use the Contax SLR flashes. My wife owns quite a lot of the system and is very happy with it - for $1000 to $2000 you can assemble a system that is very comprehensive and delivers results as good as the Leica. The question is can you live with it's foibles and the odd out of focus shot in exchange for a saving of at least $5000 over an equivalent Leica set up. My wife can and is very happy. None of my Canon SLR lenses (even the 85 F1.2) can produce results to match the Contax. The metering on the Contax is also very good. There is no shutter lag issue if you know how to use it - she has even taken some good ahots using continuous Af and the motor of the kids ski racing. The shutter lag issue is just the lens re-focusing but if you use the Af button on the rear - not the shutter button this will not happen. All in all it is a great but unusual system with Leica quality lenses, TTL flash, AF and a motor wind for the price of a comparable Leica lens.</p>

<p>For the record, I never thought Contax G1s and 2s were sophisticated point and shoots, I just heard that they were and wasn't sure what to believe.<br>

Are there any decent Contax G repairmen? I don't like the thought of having a camera I can't get fixed. It'd be a lot of money to spend on a paperweight.</p>

 

<p>Sent an e-mail to you regarding the G2</p>

<p>And you, Dear Jack</p>

<p>Ok, the Contax G2 is a camera without equal. What you hear negatively about it are mainly operator errors, people complain who have a hard time adjusting to a completely different way of operating a rangefinder camera, in a modern way with assists, not like a classical all fingers Leica or Bessa.</p>

<p>If you can adjust, you will love the G2. Leave yourself some time such as 10 rolls and a few dozen readings of the manual, study the camera, and the advice on the internet about the little pre-focus thumb button, etc etc and you might make the grade with a G2. If not, someone else will become very happy buying it from you.</p>

<p>The pics will reward you at every competition ... If you have an eye and a knack for composition, framing, ... that is. No gear, except maybe a Rolleiflex can help you as much as the G2 can. It can hinder you, however, as well if you do not learn how its focus works for example. It does focus automatically and perfectly , nay-sayers please listen, 99 % of the time when the operator understands the system. I can assure you of that.</p>

<p>So good luck to you with a safe old fashioned expensive manual focus patch camera with shrinking viewfinder frames as on a Leica of great prestige or with the world's best 35 mm camera system. By best I mean regarding the outcome, i.e., the pictures, the keeper ratio, the wow effect of the pics; not the best in the sense of most advanced, heavy gimmicky 14 frames per second DSLR, of course.</p>

<p>Contax G is repaired by ToCAD in the US. There are also a few other general camera repair shops that do work on them, including Nippon Camera Clinic in NYC. </p>

<p>There's no shutter lag. And, the matter of the lens going in and out for every exposure is overstated. It does that but it still works/focuses much faster than any other manual focus camera i've used because i always reconfirm focus between shots with manual cameras. Unless i shoot a sequence with a motor, and in that case, the G2 does not need to retract/extend either. </p>

<p>The lenses are great. </p>

<p>The AF system is generally very good if you know how it works. If the photographer notices things aren't as sharp as he expects, he should consider getting the camera calibrated. I recently bought a G2 kit (for the third time....) and tested it. The AF was off, and test images were soft, so i sent it to ToCAD. Not much different from a manual focus rangefinder. I've owned two Leica M7s, a Zeiss Ikon, Mamiya 6, and various Fuji 6x4.5 AF rangefinders, and most of them have had to have a calibration done at some point. </p>