Comparison
after doing much, much research and in my search to purchase a rangefinder system for its lack of a mirror and for its ability to contain optics in a more compact system, a decision was made to purchase the contax g2 system. all the reviews before and the mtf charts compared this system with the leica m system and so forth. the spoke highly of both systems, with the mtf charts showing that the zeiss lenses were equal to the lenses of the leica m system, at least in the f-stop range of 4 and above.
usually, the rule is that when people compare to something, that "something" is better. in this case, that might well be true to a microscope. according to the mtf charts however, the zeiss lenses were equal to better to any other 35mm lens on the market today. now, when one keeps this in mind and looks at the price of a system, for example the one that was purchased by me, then a decision to purchase a contax g2 system is made with much ease.
the system purchased on ebay, the contax g2 plus the 28mm plus the 45mm plus the 90mm plus the 35-70mm plus the flash plus all cases plus a tamrac camera bag plus all the manuals and paperwork all in perfectly new and unused condition, all for half of the price of a new leica m lens, half the price of a hasselblad medium format lens, was the best purchase made by me in my photographic career.
this was proven on the first weekend. portraits were made of a most beautiful person with my two systems, the hasselblad with the 180mm cfi lens and the contax with the 90mm lens, the hasselblad on a tripod and the contax hand-held, both using fuji's neoplan acros 100 asa film. the shutter speeds on both were higher than 1/180. to write that the detail on both enlarged images is an understatement. to write that the lighting captured shows the characteristics of the zeiss family is an understatement as well. both images showed that three-dimensional characteristic that is classic german glass. both images showed the texture and transition from light to dark areas with perfect smoothness.
also, out of the 120 images made, four were out of focus terribly. that was surely to my first attempt with the contax g2 system. after using it for just a few minutes, it was easy to work with for the rest of the time. the controls are intuitive and easy to visualize. the auto-focus system might be an issue of noise for some in a church and so forth... but for street photography and portraiture, this is a non-issue.
the viewfinder, while certainly outside of the best in the camera world, has this to brag about: magnification with each lens used. in comparison to a leica m system, when one is looking through a box the size of a pea for the 90mm lens, the contax system gives me the entire viewfinder to compose. now, some like to see everything outside of the subject in order to compose and they have my respect for that thought. however, for me, there is reason that everything outside of that subject is outside, it was my choice.
it is a beautiful system, automatic to a beautiful level, manual to a beautiful level. the lenses are superb, just like the lenses of my hasselblad system.
sure, this system is no longer being made. sure, repairs to this system will be hard to make. however, when one thinks that five contax systems (rangefinder and lens) could be purchased for the price of one new leica, why worry?
that is an overstatement of course.. but just slightly an overstatement. enjoy!Read full review
