Contax G2 with 2/35 used at streets

[Cron]

referring to another thread some weeks ago I will show some pics on my flickr which were made with a Contax G2 with Planar 2/35 in autofocus mode on slide film. To find these, click on my album "Croatia".
More pics will follow next days or week if my time allows to scan ;-)
Thanks for looking

cheers

 

[ruben]

Hi Cron,
Greetings for your good eye and timing. Very good compositions too.

What I do not know is if you want to make a statement about the G2 as a tool for street photography. This question really keeps me curious.

In case you or anyone else do want to show the capabilities of the G2 as a tool for street photography, I would like to see its behaviour in poor lighting, loaded with Neopan 1600.

Because there is no great intelligence in showing the capabilities of any camera or any lens at midday sun light, over a computer screen, and with a small weight image. Recently a nice folk amuzed us in the same way with an Olympus RC.

Kindly don't take it as a personal criticism, because you may have your own reasons, but definitely I would like to see the performance of such a good camera, at your good hands and eye - but under stress lighting conditions. I do hope my wish will be filled some day.

Best,
Ruben

 

[Cron]

Hi Ruben!

I'm understanding what's your wish but I'm sorry, normally I sleep when dark ;-)

A very used (not from me) old 'G2 cheapish bought at e*** with some also heavy used G-lenses was my travel companion. No problems with that outfit and nobody wanted to have it without my permission so I brought it back.

Thanks for looking at my flickr, I spent my holidays in Croatia together with my family and about 1 hour distance to a (this) city. I only was once there for about 3-4 hours. So I made typical holiday shots and some people.
My question in the other thread was "autofocus or no" and here are the promised pics with AF which worked ok at 80% sharp pics. About 20% the AF was too slow or missed the subject (my fault).
I only want to show that AF also can be used and it is not necessary only to use prefocus in combination with f/5,6-8 as I do with non-AF RF.

AF of the G2 works precise in darkness (cave) with very little light - 15sec/F2 with iso 100.
Also no problems of AF or metering in other situations like high contrast or water. Remeber I used slide film.

Maybe I will try the G2 with lenses wide open at dark streets in future. But I would need much moooooooooooooore time for photography!

Best from me

 

[sweathog]

Surely the shot 'Sundown' (here http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3226/2690255100_fac982e869.jpg?v=0) shows you what you are asking for, ruben.
Some lovely shots Cron, can't wait to see more.
Just as an aside, did you crop some of thpse?

 

[ruben]

Hi folks,

Let me reasure you that I am not looking for an empty discussion. I am really curious for the look of the G2 lenses and the camera operation under stress, since I may be in need of auto focus sooner than I thought.

May be is here the key word. And the G2 is high on my agenda of possibilities.

Now, let me clarify crystal clear what are stress conditions, in my opinion. I understand that it may be misunderstood as near total darkness, but this is not my intention at all.

When the sun is very low, producing poor shadows and your iso 200 or 400 is not anymore enough for a shadow shot - this is an example.

Another example is night shooting which may take place immediately after the sun is down, leaving a lot of time for any one to shot and go bed at time. But then when you have a mix of street lighting, lighting shops and your shot is in the street at widest aperture and 1/30 - this is a shot showing the gear under stress.

In contrast, shots done at midday or with generous sun light will not reveal the quality of the lens, unless they are extremely enlarged and shown vis a vis the same shot and enlargement of another lens.

So there is no great point in proving that at midday the G2 auto focus doesn't miss.

The shots shown at this thread testify for the eye of the photographer, which is very good. Perhaps I was misled by the thread title.

Cheers,
Ruben

 

[sweathog]

Fair enough, I get what you're after.
Makes sense.

 

[alkos]

My girlfriend uses G2 + 35/2 on the street all the time 🙂

http://ewczak.pl

I used to myself (http://pad.alkos.info), but switched to M6+CV35/2.5... still regreting the decision a bit ;-)

 

[Cron]

When the sun is very low, producing poor shadows and your iso 200 or 400 is not anymore enough for a shadow shot - this is an example.

Another example is night shooting which may take place immediately after the sun is down, leaving a lot of time for any one to shot and go bed at time. But then when you have a mix of street lighting, lighting shops and your shot is in the street at widest aperture and 1/30 - this is a shot showing the gear under stress.

Cheers,
Ruben

I know, was just joking ;-)

cheers

 

[caila77]

ohhh

ohhh

Some photos are very nice, some photos are very funny!
good work

 

[Cron]

thanks for all comments here and thanks for comments regarding my pics on flickr. I'm glad if my pics are liked by other

 

[alexz]

According to what I keep hearnig and reading, G series is considered as a gem, mainly thanks to the optics line.
Having said that, some tme ago, being curious myself about G fame, I happened to figure a used G1 set on sale at one of the well know street shops in Tel Aviv. Took the camera along with 50mm/2 outside to feel it in hand and shootign a few frames in particular for AF - an AF noise it produced shocked my ears (probably due to being so used to M) which was enough leave the camera in shop without regrets. Certainly, for me in particular, it lost its potential value for street shooting.
However, many users confirm that G2 has quiter AF facility which may indeed improve the situation in this respect.
IMHO, of course.

 

[35mmdelux]

You have to test and learn the parameters of your gear. Even the best gear will fall short if one does not use it properly.

sure you can autofocus or you can pre-focus. whatever works for your style of shooting.