Contax G2 image gallery

yerbury · Oct 2, 2005

Perhaps people get to hung up on the 'techie' aspect and forget that its the eye and heart behind the lens that creates the image the camera is simple a means to an end.

dphphoto · Oct 2, 2005

Contax vs. Leica? If you want to save money, why not get a G1? Simpler and every bit as robust, a good one will set you back less than $500. U.S. with the 45mm. I like mine better than the M3's and the R4's that I used to have. Of course it's kind of a mute question for me, since I mostly shoot 4X5 these days. Dean

Nicole · Oct 2, 2005

Played around with a G2 this weekend and posted an image in the gallery from the test roll. Wish it were more manual is all I can say. Although it has manual focus, I can't see when something is or isn't in focus. Anyway, doesn't feel quite right so won't be buying one.
Played around with the M6 as well. I have no problem loading the film at all and don't understand why it's an issue. The winder didn't work at the end of the roll, so chewed up my negs, and the shutter stuck most times when trying to shoot - which is probably because the camera I borrowed looks like it was run over by a truck! Ouch! I won't be buying this one! The negs I viewed from the M6 (the ones that survived the slaughter) are crystal clear and really quite incredible. The M6 is easy to focus and being all manual with no batteries wins hands down. It's a totally different feel to the SLR and MF which I'm used to but because of it's size, weight, clarity and ease of use - it's on my wanted list. One day.

Robert Budding · Oct 2, 2005

Some folks like the Hexar RF:

http://dantestella.com/technical/hexarrf.html

There are other M-mount options, too - Voigtlanders, Zeiss Ikon (eventually). It's nice to have options.

And if you don't mind a slightly larger camera, the Bronica RF645 is an option.

Robert

AndrewH · Oct 3, 2005

Nicole:

If it doesn't feel right, don't buy it. I have 2 G2's and bought an M6 because of the Leica mythology. I didn't l;ike it. I prefer the G2's and that is what I have stuck with. It is an instrument, no more, no less.

Bruce Appel · Oct 7, 2005

All this comparing a g2 to an m is kind of nuts. Very different cameras, both with their respective virtues. The one valid comparison is the lenses, and ultimatley, the images the camera makes. Tools are all different, and greatly affect how we work, frequently in subtle and hard to quantify ways. When I bought my G2 I had never had any kind of automatic anything. Automatic to me meant having a coupled light meter. The change did me good- sort of jump started creativity if you will. Some times it takes doing something very different to jolt ones sensibilites.
As for the lenses and images, the negatives I get from the g2 are phenominal. It would be hard to convince me that the leica offerings are any better.

Nicole · Oct 12, 2005

Well I took the M6 and the XPan for a workout and low and behold, the XPan was nothing short of amazing! I took a series of landscape shots (uploaded on Apug) with the Xpan and must say I really enjoyed it. Midroll switch btw 35mm and pano, incredible meter, Auto if you want it, great manual camera allround.

bjorke · Oct 12, 2005

...then you should check out the fuji rangefinder pages (XPan is actually a fuji product). Go to contaxg.com and click the related links on the lower left corner....

ajuk · Oct 22, 2005

The G2 Does allow MF as well as AF right?

bjorke · Oct 22, 2005

Trivette · Oct 23, 2005

Maybe it should be mentioned that regardless of the merits of one system versus another, many people prefer MF because they use selective focus and find DOF scales to be helpful in that regard. Most AF lenses do not have DOF scales, and this is true of the G lenses. DOF scales are also handy for setting hyperfocal distance for maximum DOF in landscapes (and street photography when it may be desirable to skip focussing altogether for the sake of immediacy).

suzums · Oct 23, 2005

bjorke said:
My buddies Eddie and yoshi shoot documentary with G2 in harsh conditions and it just keeps coming back for more.

I'm a little late to this, but thank you for sharing the websites. Though Eddie's link isn't right, and I want to see it!
Yoshi's work is incredible. The kind of visual commentary that would love to be doing.

Again, thanks for sharing.

ajuk · Oct 25, 2005

Trivette said:
Maybe it should be mentioned that regardless of the merits of one system versus another, many people prefer MF because they use selective focus and find DOF scales to be helpful in that regard. Most AF lenses do not have DOF scales, and this is true of the G lenses. DOF scales are also handy for setting hyperfocal distance for maximum DOF in landscapes (and street photography when it may be desirable to skip focussing altogether for the sake of immediacy).

WTF not DOF scales, Why the hell not :confused: How does the Nikkor 50mm 1.8 AF have DOF scales?

Trivette · Oct 25, 2005

ajuk said:
WTF not DOF scales, Why the hell not :confused: How does the Nikkor 50mm 1.8 AF have DOF scales?

. That's a good question, but I sure don't know the answer.

bjorke · Oct 25, 2005

suzums said:
I'm a little late to this, but thank you for sharing the websites. Though Eddie's link isn't right, and I want to see it!
Yoshi's work is incredible. The kind of visual commentary that would love to be doing.

Again, thanks for sharing.

Eek! you're right, that's "walkeast.com" not "Walkest"

http://www.walkeast.com - Eddie Ng

suzums · Nov 3, 2005

bjorke said:
Eek! you're right, that's "walkeast.com" not "Walkest"

http://www.walkeast.com - Eddie Ng

WOW again! I'm glad I looked back on this thread! I love Eddie's work as well!

sircarl · Nov 6, 2005

I'm a little late to this party, but I've owned a G2 for about 5 years now and love it. The lenses were the main reason I got it (I own five of them), and I haven't been disappointed. They produce awesome images. It's also nice to have a real-image zoom viewfinder (I find framelines awkward to work with). The 1/4000 sec max shutter speed, 1/200 sec flash sync speed, two continuous shooting modes, and ease of loading were further pluses for me.

One thing I will say, though, is that if you're considering getting one, you have to spend some time with it -- more than a day or two -- before making a decision. For me it wasn't a "natural" at first. Having owned SLR's before, the small viewfinder image was off-putting (though now it doesn't bother me, and the defined image is larger than what you see in a frameline-based RF for lenses 50mm or longer). And yes, the autofocus can be tricky (Bjorke's tips on using it are vital). Once you master it, however, it works beautifully. Sure you lose a few shots when it misses, but for all the shots you do get, it is FAST, far faster than fiddling with MF, as I used to. I do mostly street photography and crowd shooting at events, and I'd never have gotten half the shots that I think are good with any MF camera, Leica or otherwise.

The bottom line, of course, is whether the G2 works for the kind of photography you do. All I'm saying is don't be hasty -- or listen to a lot of the uninformed chatter about this camera, mostly by people who have never used one for more than three seconds -- before making a decision.

Photo Fitz · Apr 8, 2006

I have enjoyed reading all of the commentary about M6/7 vs G1/2. It reinforces my choice of a G2 and my dream of an M6/7.

I will compare a similar situation I had using a Fuji GA645Zi vs a Mamiya 6. The Fuji GA is all automatic with full manual overides, like the G2. With the Fuji GA I took great photos (when I did my job of course) and I enjoyed traveling with this camera.

I now own a Mamiya 6MF and like the Leica M6/7 has a meter but is pretty much all manual. I love my interaction with the Mamiya better than the Fuji GA.

There is a place on my equipment shelf for both, but not in the camera bag at the same time. Depending on the day's activities, I take out the G2, a Leica IIIf or a Canonet GIII.

Thanks for the great commentary and debate!

Fitz

twopointeight · Apr 9, 2006

not famous but

I'm not famous but I have worked professionally alot with the G2. Hundreds of portraits with the 90mm, 98% of them spot on focus. Dozens of editorial shoots using the 28, 45, 90. A book shot almost exclusively with the 45mm lens. I got into it because my M6 couldnt flash sync at 1/250 and the G2 could. The finder is not great but I'm used to it. Changing lens on the fly can be finicky. Its a very intuitive camera for documentary and events. And rear curtain sync with the TLA 360 (?) flash is nice.

Contax G2 image gallery

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