OK, first week of using the G2. So this is a first impression of sorts,
I just sent off 5 rolls of Portra 400 NC to the lab, and will put up a few
soon. It's all about the potential of the lenses. So this post will be about
gear, and usability.
The viewfinder reminds me of my mother's old Olympus Stylus point and shoot.
It's tiny and dark. Again if anyone has had the chance to use a Mamiya 6 or 7,
the rangefinder lines in these camera's are quite good, better than Leica M.
So against the Mamiya rangefinder, its no contest - since I always thought the
M4-P was OK, I agree with the most common complaint against the Contax G's
- The viewfinder is crap.
The manual focusing is awful compared to my Leica and the Mamiya 6.
It's really meant, in my opinion, to be used in auto focus mode.
But, it's actually works well, when I discreetly want to take a candid
of people, I can hold it down near my waist, depress the button slightly, and
assume that the camera is going to pick up the subject, I like that.
The motor winder is nice, I like it, and I was able to shoot 5 rolls of film this week
much faster than I typically do with my Leica M. It's seductively simple, and
the camera is very well designed. The lenses look like very good glass, sharp,
when I hold them up to the light. That was the whole point,
to pick up a 35mm RF system, that I could shoot quickly with, but have excellent optics.
This could really work, I am impressed. The M4-P requires me to dial in the
aperture and speed according to what the Voigtlander II meter suggests, which,
requires fiddling with it's small dials, then holding it up to my eye, focus in the image,
and when people see me holding a camera up to my face the moment is gone,
their bodies and faces stiffen up, and the rather time consuming process of preparing
a picture is all for not, I end up catching a remnant of what I saw in the first place.
The same problem exists with the Mamiya 6, As great as the images both the Leica M,
and Mamiya systems produce, both cameras require far too much manipulation, IMO,
to catch a candid. So I think that the Zeiss Contax G people have been onto something
all along.
Funny, because when I think it about it, rangefinders are a cult camera, and the Contax G
is like a subculture within that cult.
This camera has it's warts, for sure. But I am quickly being won over,
by its strengths. The acid tests are the images though, that will be the deciding factor.
To be continued, when I post more images ....