Laurence Kim Photographer

Summary: Star Trek fans will probably remember the episode “Spock’s Brain“.  In this episode, Kirk, Spock and McCoy find themselves on Sigma Draconis VI, a planet ruled by a race of ruthless (but gorgeous and scantily-clad) women.  The men on the planet are basically slaves, used for labor and for procreating the species.  They refer to their female rulers as the “givers of pain and delight”.  After spending a few months with the Contax G2, I’ve come to a similar conclusion as the male inhabitants of Sigma Draconis VI – this camera is a giver of both pain and delight.

Pricing

The Contax G2 can either be cheap or expensive, depending on your point of view.  A G2 in excellent+ condition usually goes for $600 – $700 on eBay.  Lenses are around $400-$600.  On the one hand, this is a lot more than quality used SLRs like the EOS3 or F100, which can be had for peanuts.  On the other hand, you are getting a camera that’s more advanced than a Leica, the same size as a Leica, with lenses of equal quality to Leica for pennies on the dollar.  A G2 + 45mm lens will set you back about $1,000, while a Leica M6 + 50mm Summicron will set you back about $3,600.

Body and Design

The G2 is nice and compact.  It feels solid – a quality build of titanium with rubber grip.  It’s not as solid feeling as a Leica, but much more solid feeling than today’s plastic DSLRs. Is the Leica better built because it’s heavier?  I don’t know, is brass and steel a sturdier material than titanium?  Anyway, here it is compared to my 5D. Which camera would you rather carry around with you all day?

Controls

The controls are simple and intuitive.  Set the aperture by turning the aperture ring on the lens.  Set the shutter speed with the shutter speed dial on the top plate.  You can shoot in aperture priority or full manual. The only kludge is setting the ISO.  Instead of a dial, you have to press the ISO button for a couple seconds until the speed displayed on an LCD blinks, then turn the manual focus dial to set the speed.  One demerit for this.  Max shutter speed is nice and fast at 1/6000.

Viewfinder

Like the price, the viewfinder is subjective – some users will love it, others won’t.  For one thing, it zooms depending on which lens you mount, so it’s always the perfect size. Ingenious.  It also automatically corrects for parallax error. Now the bad news:  it is relatively small and not very clear.  It’s not particularly pleasant to look through.  Unless your eyeball is perfectly aligned with it, the image disappears. If your angle of view is off by a couple degrees, forget it. Finally, it’s significantly more prone to flare than any other camera I own – and I own quite a few. If you’re shooting into a backlit situation you’re just going to see an orange hazy cloud.

Autofocus

This is a full autofocus camera. Don’t even think about manual focusing here – it’s really clumsy.  It has a two-stage autofocus system, an infrared system that can focus in the dark as well as a second passive system. How does it work?  It depends.  In ideal conditions it focuses okay.  In medium-contrast light like indoor window light or overcast outdoor conditions, it locks on positively 8 out of 10 times.  If it doesn’t lock on, I simply take my finger off the shutter and try again.  That usually does the trick.  Now the really bad news:  in bright sunlight it really struggles.  I have real difficulty obtaining a focus lock in backlit conditions, and even with front-light, it struggles. I have to keep taking my finger off the focus button and trying repeatedly to get a lock. I tried the G2 at a recent wedding (as a guest, not the primary photographer) and could not get a focus lock during the ceremony, which took place in bright 5pm sun.  [full disclosure:  many online reviewers have not experienced the same focusing issues I have]

Batteries

Two CR2 batteries should last you about 60-70 rolls.  I’m still using the G2 with the original (used) battery that it shipped with when I bought it, and 25+ rolls later it still has plenty of juice left.

The Carl Zeiss Lenses

Y’all know that I parted reluctantly with my Contax 645.  I loved the Zeiss lenses but the autofocus was extremely unreliable.  It’s much the same story with the G2. What can I say about these lenses?  They’re all perfect.  Tack sharp, wonderful contrast, zero distortion.  As a group, they far outperform my Canon lenses. I’ve never owned a Leica system, but the G2 lenses are said to be every bit as good for about 1/5 the price.  The size/weight is a fraction of their slr equivalents.  And all three of the primary Zeiss lenses (28/45/90 mm) take the same 46mm filters, another user-friendly feature.

Loading film

Film loading is ridiculously quick and easy. (1) open back door (2) place film in the camera and pull out the film as far as the orange line.  (3) close the back and it automatically advances to the first frame.  After 37 shots it auto-rewinds. I can load a roll of film then brush my teeth in the time it takes me to load a Leica.

Lens hoods and caps

The G2 lenses have the best hood/cap system in the world – intuitive, simple, convenient, smooth, secure.  You don’t have to take your lens hoods on and off. Instead, you leave them permanently in place. Then you simply place the GK-54 lens cap over the lens hood.  It fits on smoothly and securely.  You don’t need to squeeze no stinkin’ spring-loaded tabs either, just put it on and press and it stays on. Oh, and the same GK-54 lens cap works on all of my lenses. Compare this to the  Canon system:  (1) remove lens cap (2) remove hood which has been reversed over the lens for storage (3) turn lens hood around and mount on the lens (4) shoot  (5) remove lens hood (6) reverse for storage and mount on lens (7) replace lens cap.  With the Contax system you just remove the lens cap and shoot, then replace the cap when you’re done. I know I’m getting all geeked out over something as small as the lens hood/cap system, but when something is designed so perfectly it’s just a pleasure to use.

The Images

28mm f2.8 Biogon and 45mm f2.0 Planar, Fuji Neopan 400 and Kodak Tmax 400, NCPS process and budget scans.

90mm f2.8 Sonnar, Fuji Pro400h, NCPS process and budget scan.

45mm f2.0 Planar, Fuji 800z, NCPS process and budget scan.

45mm Planar, Portra 160nc, RPL process and scan.

My bride MaryBeth. 90mm f2.8 Sonnar, Kodak Tri-x, RPL process and scan. This lens is sharp! (note: Tri-x is a grainy film. However, when your subject is well lit and properly exposed, the grain is a non-issue)

90mm f2.8 Sonnar, Kodak Portra 400nc, RPL process and scan.

Resources

Ken Rockwell has done a very comprehensive write-up. Read this for all the technical minutia.

Marcus Ehrenfried

Jens G.R. Benthien has a nice writeup along with some blindingly sharp sample images.

Ephotozine

Pros

• Solid titanium body with first rate build quality. This thing will last forever.

• Wide selection of perfect, distortion-free, tack-sharp Carl Zeiss lenses. The images are so sharp that they appear almost medium-format-like.

• Accurate internal meter.

• Innovative zooming viewfinder.

• Small, rangefinder sized body and lenses make it a pleasure to carry all day.

• Ridiculously fast and easy film loading.

• Good battery life.

• Attractive design makes it a pleasure to hold, use or simply just to admire.

• 1/5 the price of a Leica.

Cons

• No macro or long telephoto (although that’s a limitation of all rangefinders, not the G2 specifically).

• Small, dim viewfinder (about the size of a crop-sensor dslr) that’s prone to flare.

• Autofocus struggles in bright light and sometimes misses even in ideal conditions.

The Contax G2 is a difficult camera to evaluate.  Tack sharp lenses, perfect size (small, but not too small), autofocus, accurate meter, easy operation – there’s a lot to like about this system.  Unfortunately however, it has two major strikes against it that makes it not very fun for me to shoot.  For me, the viewfinder experience is critical. I love a big, bright viewfinder and detest small and dim ones.  And then there’s the hit-and-miss autofocus system.  Like I said – pain and delight……..

__________________________________________________________________

Please keep these blog posts coming! All you have to do is shop by clicking on the advertisements below. It won’t cost you a penny more to shop that way, but it will provide me with a small commission that enables me to spend time working on new blog posts. Thanks!