Contax G bombed

[froyd]

...well, I should not blame the camera, but its lack of focus confirmation proved to be my undoing on my last roll.

I'm one of those people who never had a problem with the Contax G's AF. Very, very rarely getting a shot out of focus. However, on my last roll, I was able to savage TWO images out of THIRTY SIX!!!

I was taking pictures at a recital and wanted to avoid both AF focus noise and possible focusing errors in the auditorium setting, so I switched the camera to manual focus, set the dial to infinity, and went on to happily shoot a whole roll at my preset exposure of 2.8/60, silently admiring the versatility of this great camera system. Unfortunately, I must have knocked the focus wheel off the infinity setting and the images were all a mushy, unusable mess. I could have sworn that throughout the performance I kept pushing the wheel against the infinity stop, to make sure it was in the right position, but either I was pushing it against the minimum focusing distance stop, or I must have imagined it.

How nice it would have been to have an RF double image in the VF to warn me that things were amiss!

Then again, the two pictures that came out well (shout outside the auditorium after the performance) look stellar, as I've come to expect from the G lenses.

I guess I can no longer *** *** the posts of those people complaining about out-of-focus shots on their Gs! A good lesson in humility!

 

[kuzano]

Owned 3 before I gave up...

Owned 3 before I gave up...

I even received the supplemental focus manuals that came separate from the user manual.

My final thoughts. Wonderful lenses that the bodies could never quite live up to in term of IQ and focus.

Since I am now on m4/3, I wish I had a couple of the Contax G lens and the adaptor that matches M4/3.

 

[Godfrey]

I had a G2 and four lenses once upon a time. It worked well, but I never really got to like shooting with it. I sold it and bought another Leica.

G

 

[splitimageview]

I never shot any of mine with manual focus. The dial on the G1 never gave me confidence for that... AF keeper rate was always higher than my Leica keeper rate...

 

[GaryLH]

I never shot any of mine with manual focus. The dial on the G1 never gave me confidence for that... AF keeper rate was always higher than my Leica keeper rate...

+1 ... Same w/ me. Af keeper rate better than my Leica ones when it came to focusing fast enough.. I resorted to zone/scale a lot instead when I was using the Leica. Also never used manual focusing on mine as well...

Gary

 

[L Collins]

I've had a lot more out of focus shots with my Ms along the way than I have with my G1 and G2s. Sh+t happens.

 

[froyd]

I never shot any of mine with manual focus. The dial on the G1 never gave me confidence for that... AF keeper rate was always higher than my Leica keeper rate...

I hear you, but I actually had my MF wheel adjusted by a local repairman to have strong resistance and not get knocked out too easily, and infinity is not a hard target to focus on. The only other time I use MF is with the G28, because I can zone focus an be faster than using AF.

+1 ... Same w/ me. Af keeper rate better than my Leica ones when it came to focusing fast enough.. I resorted to zone/scale a lot instead when I was using the Leica. Also never used manual focusing on mine as well...

Gary

I've had a lot more out of focus shots with my Ms along the way than I have with my G1 and G2s. Sh+t happens.

Me three. Hence the post. I always have great success with the G (I use a 1), even with the 90, which some have all sort of troubles using. I'm faster with it than with any of my M bodies (unless they are zone-focused).

The irony is that in trying to be clever and switching to MF, I actually manage to mangle a whole roll. I have no reason to blame the G, other than this accident made me realize the importance of focus confirmation in the VF (note to those who don't use a G, there is a distance scale in the VF, but it's coarse).

I'm not knocking the Contax, just Murphy's law.

 

[splitimageview]

This sort of thing is unfortunate, no one wants to waste film or worse, miss an important event. Sorry to hear about this...

The only question I have is this: are you sure the subject would be at infinity? I wouldn't think infinity would be the proper distance for a recital. Maybe it is, I'm just not envisioning that kind of situation...

 

[froyd]

Good point!

I was probably 40' from the stage, shooting with the 90. I just thought Infinity would be a safe bet, but I did not check (focusing by AF and looking at the top display for the distance read out).

I'm sure it was my fault, but on rare occasions the lack of focus confirmation can really bite you in the behind.

 

[splitimageview]

It's one of those two step cameras: (1) point; (2) shoot

🙂

 

[L Collins]

Mine would not focus... at least not in the time I had allotted for its use.

1. You point the camera at the thing you want to take a picture of
2. You put the little thingie in the middle of the viewfinder on the thing you want to focus on
3. You push the shutter thingie half way down to lock focus
4. You mash shutter thingie all the way down to take picture.

Voila! Focused picture.

 

[KoNickon]

Ah, but it's your Step 2 that's the problem with these.

 

[shadowfox]

Good point!

I was probably 40' from the stage, shooting with the 90. I just thought Infinity would be a safe bet, but I did not check (focusing by AF and looking at the top display for the distance read out).

I'm sure it was my fault, but on rare occasions the lack of focus confirmation can really bite you in the behind.

f/2.8 with a 90mm lens results in a pretty thin depth-of-field.
I bet that's what's messing your pictures up.

 

[Fraser]

Yeah I would say that with a 90mm at 40 feet thats not really infinity, on my 90mm summicron the last figure before infinity is 50 feet and there is still 5mm of travel until you get to infinity. At least you got a couple of images out of it.

 

[arseniii]

Focusing Gs is like wiping your ass, it's nasty but it works. Takes some time to learn too 🙂

 

[froyd]

Not for me... I was not taking photos of rocks which did not move. 😀

Hey, not fair!

Here is one from the G1 and the 90.

 

[Rangefinder 35]

The manual distance-set dial on G1 is notoriously finicky. There were people on ContaxG website, now defunct, who would take the dial off, and put some shims, before reassembling it. That made it turn with more resistance, so one wouldn't do it accidentally as easily. I found it easier to lose 2 screws on the side, reset the dial deeper and re-tighten the screws. It worked.

 

[Godfrey]

1. You point the camera at the thing you want to take a picture of
2. You put the little thingie in the middle of the viewfinder on the thing you want to focus on
3. You push the shutter thingie half way down to lock focus
4. You mash shutter thingie all the way down to take picture.

Voila! Focused picture.

The problem I found with the 90mm is that the focus mark in the viewfinder is inconsistent. Once I learned the correct focus mark, which seemed to vary a bit depending on distance, I got decent results with it.

But my negative experience with the G2 wasn't confined to focusing errors. I got good results out of the camera, more consistently when I used it as a point and shoot as you describe. The trouble is that I don't often work that way: I'm use to setting my desired exposure and focus point, then raising the camera to my eye, using the RF patch as a quick check, framing, and making my exposure. The G2 didn't work well that way, for me.

It's a nicely made camera and the lenses are very good, and if the way it works fits your shooting habits, it's terrific. But I found I was much happier with another M or the CL, which is why I sold it and went back to Leica.

G

 

[waltere]

Contax G

Contax G

I learned how to focus my G2 from here: http://www.botzilla.com/blog/archives/000378.html
and I rarely have an out of focus picture...I like my little G2, have a 21,28,45 & 90 for it using the linked method of focusing!
It's a nice little camera with great lenses-although my M4 is much nicer to handle, I took both to Europe a few years ago, and can't figure out which pics are from which!