Made a mistake...

[menthel]

So, I love my Contax G2 and it's 3 lovely lenses but have been slightly disappointed by the level of involvement in the process. It's like shooting with a dslr in truth. The AF is great and it exposes superbly in it's aperture priority mode. However, I had some spare time on Monday after work so spent a little time in a small central London second hand camera emporium. With a leica M6 and a 50mm f2. I now want one! The camera feels great in the hand, the viewfinder is so crisp and clear and the lens was a beauty. Damn, time to find a buyer for the contax!

 

[excalibur2]

erm well, for me:- It's been there done it fiddling with cameras, and now results are important to me (the easiest way)...mind you, I haven't got around to AF SLRs yet

 

[Tokkelossi]

Contax are a great camera and with time and use you get amazing results. They can become good friends. However, Leica ..... mmmmm .... once you tasted one ... you can never go back

She is the mistress in the cupboard, the dark whisper at night calling your name "leave your wife Tom & come over here to play with me".

Dont do it, stick with the Contax ....... go for the other ... and your doomed hahahaha

T

 

[menthel]

I know I am doomed and there is no going back!

 

[Andysnap]

You fool, had you not heard how contagious L's are. Now you will be damned forever and have to pay waaay over the odds for every bit of kit with an L on it, you mad, crazy, fool.

Andy

 

[menthel]

You fool, had you not heard how contagious L's are. Now you will be damned forever and have to pay waaay over the odds for every bit of kit with an L on it, you mad, crazy, fool.

Andy

There may be some salvation, I love zeiss lenses and their rendering of images and they are not as expensive either...

I am going to be so broke!

 

[IainG]

I'm also facing the same dilemma. I have an AF Nikon 28Ti, which is a great camera but I love the manual focus rangefinders. If only the Xpan had been produced in a 35mm format! It was proposed, but never delivered

 

[TheBigYin]

Well - I always try and reserve judgement on any camera I buy until I really get the hang of - I call it my 10 rolls rule. Unless a camera is obviously broken, damaged or otherwise unsuitable for purpose, I will try and hold onto it until I've shot at least the obligatory 10 rolls. Some cameras I've hated when I first tried them - the FED-3 springs to mind, but around the 4th/5th film, I got into the way it handled, and stopped cursing it for what it hadn't got, and started to appreciate it for what it had. Other cameras I've liked at the outset, but by the 7/8th roll little things had begun to niggle - like how the Yashica 108 became a housebrick as soon as it ate its way through the 4xAAA batteries it ran on! I mean - AAA's! when there was ample room in the hand-grip for AA's or even a 2CR5.

The Contax is a lovely camera, more so with the set of lenses you've sourced. It's a world away from the Leica's in operating concept and user feel - but neither camera is a particularly bad way of operating per se, it's just which suits you better. For me, despite my mentioning the FED-3 above, I just don't get on with rangefinders for the bulk of my shooting. I've tried a number of (considerably) more upmarket rangefinders - well it'd be hard to go downmarket from a FED afterall - but it's just that double image coming together thing that doesn't work for me. I wish it would - as I love the look and handling of the Voigtlander R3A/R4A's

 

[menthel]

I am probably on my 6th or 7th roll through the contax and the pictures are beautiful and initially I loved using it but now there is no real 'magic' or involvement in taking the photos, it seems more about the results and that is what I use digital for! Just picking up the M6 and playing with the settings put a smile on my face again and I know that either zeiss or leica lenses will give me results as good or even better than the contax, its just that my skill will have more influence it!

The 7D was an easy choice, it has the AF and sensor I need when I am out shooting wildlife and is also a great all-round camera, but I just want something more with my film shooting. Oh well!

 

[TheBigYin]

I am probably on my 6th or 7th roll through the contax and the pictures are beautiful and initially I loved using it but now there is no real 'magic' or involvement in taking the photos, it seems more about the results and that is what I use digital for! Just picking up the M6 and playing with the settings put a smile on my face again and I know that either zeiss or leica lenses will give me results as good or even better than the contax, its just that my skill will have more influence it!

The 7D was an easy choice, it has the AF and sensor I need when I am out shooting wildlife and is also a great all-round camera, but I just want something more with my film shooting. Oh well!

It's a lot of money to have tied up in something you don't get a kick out of Jim, I can definitely understand that. Sounds like your well on your way to an informed decision anyway - it's just I've seen people who want to chop and change after the first 2 rolls, which strikes me as a little :nuts: to be honest. It definitely takes me at least 5 rolls to get to know how a camera/lens combination really behaves - how far you can push it shooting into the sun etc. Then again maybe I'm just a little slow :shrug:

 

[joxby]

Nobody is fully fully informed till they've been told they should be buying a T90 instead..

inB4Brian

 

[menthel]

It's a lot of money to have tied up in something you don't get a kick out of Jim, I can definitely understand that. Sounds like your well on your way to an informed decision anyway - it's just I've seen people who want to chop and change after the first 2 rolls, which strikes me as a little :nuts: to be honest. It definitely takes me at least 5 rolls to get to know how a camera/lens combination really behaves - how far you can push it shooting into the sun etc. Then again maybe I'm just a little slow :shrug:

I think you are right though, you have to spend some time with such a camera. Mind you, I went into this eyes open, recognizing the fact that it can be a bit of a marmite camera as it is so advanced. I have a few more films to send off from the contax. I will make my decision once I have seen those!

Nobody is fully fully informed till they've been told they should be buying a T90 instead..

inB4Brian

I like my film cameras rangefindery!

 

[CT]

It' s a shame you're not feeling the love for the G2 Jim. We're all different ,but I do understand where you're coming from with the desire for a more slowed down manual way of working. That's what I get and enjoy from medium format while I find those things a bit irritating with 35mm when I usually just want to shoot quickly and get on with it.

You're dead right of course when you say the G2 is like shooting with an SLR - it really is that quick and convenient which is what I love about it, together with the fact that it's so quiet and no-one takes a blind bit of notice of me compared to when I'm toting a DSLR around.

The technology packed into the G2 is incredible - the viewfinder alone is a marvel, changing shape and altering the field of view for each lens you mount as well as changing shape again to adjust for parallax as you move closer. Admittedly that's a big bright viewfinder you get with the Leica, but all you get is a series of brightline frames for different focal lengths.

Good luck with what you decide - I really wouldn't rush into it. I do sort of understand the attraction, but for me it would have be an M7, M8 or M9.

 

[excalibur2]

Nobody is fully fully informed till they've been told they should be buying a T90 instead..

inB4Brian

Well I felt sorry for you not having a T90 and was going to leave my T90 to you in my will, but I'm not going to now :razz:

 

[menthel]

It' s a shame you're not feeling the love for the G2 Jim. We're all different ,but I do understand where you're coming from with the desire for a more slowed down manual way of working. That's what I get and enjoy from medium format while I find those things a bit irritating with 35mm when I usually just want to shoot quickly and get on with it.

You're dead right of course when you say the G2 is like shooting with an SLR - it really is that quick and convenient which is what I love about it, together with the fact that it's so quiet and no-one takes a blind bit of notice of me compared to when I'm toting a DSLR around.

The technology packed into the G2 is incredible - the viewfinder alone is a marvel, changing shape and altering the field of view for each lens you mount as well as changing shape again to adjust for parallax as you move closer. Admittedly that's a big bright viewfinder you get with the Leica, but all you get is a series of brightline frames for different focal lengths.

Good luck with what you decide - I really wouldn't rush into it. I do sort of understand the attraction, but for me it would have be an M7, M8 or M9.

I agree, leica have never equalled the g2 and the zeiss lenses are as good as the leica ones too. A system with the possibility of both the af and the normal manual rf focus would have been perfect.

Mind you the method to the madness may be an m6 and lenses now and an m9 in the future...

 

[CT]

I agree, leica have never equalled the g2 and the zeiss lenses are as good as the leica ones too. A system with the possibility of both the af and the normal manual rf focus would have been perfect.

Mind you the method to the madness may be an m6 and lenses now and an m9 in the future...

LOL Just remember - more than half the appeal of that strrumpet winking at you is you don't have to live her - or deal with the high maintenance.

 

[menthel]

LOL Just remember - more than half the appeal of that strrumpet winking at you is you don't have to live her - or deal with the high maintenance.

I will keep my eyes wide open!

 

[Happy_medium]

Aren't these Contax Zeiss lenses for the rangefinder one of the sharpest out there?

I saw a guy with a 45mm lens adapted for a Leica. It looked fabulous. Must have cost a bit to re-barrel it.

 

[desf]

Although Leica M is expensive, you can console yourself by the fact that they go up in value so you're unlikely to lose anything if you fall out of love with it.

I've just bought a Leica R7 and the R bodies are fairly cheap (the R7 was £215 on ebay and is mint) but the lenses are still pricey. Not M pricey but not cheap.

 

[Andysnap]

Not only Zeiss but I think that the newer Voigtlander lenses are getting very close too (and in some cases maybe equalling) Zeiss/Leica quality and at a much lower price.

Andy

 

[CT]

Aren't these Contax Zeiss lenses for the rangefinder one of the sharpest out there?

They are, in fact the Zeiss 45mm f/2 Planar was the sharpest lens ever tested by one well known reviewer - it's really the pick of an excellent set.

Testing Leica and Zeiss lenses side by side and like for like it tends to be one or the other just shading it, but there's really very little in it either way.

 

[menthel]

Not only Zeiss but I think that the newer Voigtlander lenses are getting very close too (and in some cases maybe equalling) Zeiss/Leica quality and at a much lower price.

Andy

They are, in fact the Zeiss 45mm f/2 Planar was the sharpest lens ever tested by one well known reviewer - it's really the pick of an excellent set.

Testing Leica and Zeiss lenses side by side and like for like it tends to be one or the other just shading it, but there's really very little in it either way.

Hence my consideration of a mixture of lenses, esp. the zeiss 50/2. I would like to have a 28, 50 and a 90, its the lengths I am used to with primes on film cameras.