squirrel$$$bandit
Veteran
joachim said:
No, I meant that only six lenses were made. I'm aware that some photographers prefer greater expandability than this, and might not want to buy into a discontinued system. But I don't mind that at all.
I don't find RF limited in the least! Its straightforwardness can be a creative advantage, it seems to me; it lends itself naturally to certain kinds of subjects.
kuzano
Veteran
Did it come with the supplemental focus manual
Did it come with the supplemental focus manual
I have a G1, and would have been frustrated with the autofocus, if I had not received the supplemental manual for focusing and read a lot about the need to focus on the subject, press the shutter halfway to hold focus and then recompose the view. I do not have a problem with this method, and contrary to popular complaints about getting use to the method, found that it's not really different than most autofocus systems I've used over the years. I presume the majority of the complaints stemmed from people not being able to understand the focus patch (quite like a normal rangefinder but without the superimposed images) and wanting to lay blame on the camera.
I am quite happy with my G1 kit. It works just fine for me, and the image results are superb. It's my favorite other than shooting medium format.
Back to the point. There was a user guide/manual and a separate supplement (probably generated later) on the focusing issues.
Did it come with the supplemental focus manual
I have a G1, and would have been frustrated with the autofocus, if I had not received the supplemental manual for focusing and read a lot about the need to focus on the subject, press the shutter halfway to hold focus and then recompose the view. I do not have a problem with this method, and contrary to popular complaints about getting use to the method, found that it's not really different than most autofocus systems I've used over the years. I presume the majority of the complaints stemmed from people not being able to understand the focus patch (quite like a normal rangefinder but without the superimposed images) and wanting to lay blame on the camera.
I am quite happy with my G1 kit. It works just fine for me, and the image results are superb. It's my favorite other than shooting medium format.
Back to the point. There was a user guide/manual and a separate supplement (probably generated later) on the focusing issues.
squirrel$$$bandit
Veteran
Yes, focusing and then recomposing is actually how I prefer to shoot with my DSLR. I just leave the center focus point on much of the time. So the G1 feels very natural to me.
joachim
Convicted Ektachome user
mabelsound said:
Which lenses are you missing from the system?
I think I understand your comments about the discontinued system. I think this has something irrational to it.
arseniii
Well-known
Lovely camera! Took me 2-3 years to get to like it 
Cannot live without it now, Ahhhh this Zeiss lenses they sweep me of my feet... ahhhh ahhh ahh
Cannot live without it now, Ahhhh this Zeiss lenses they sweep me of my feet... ahhhh ahhh ahhmyoptic3
Well-known
Great cameras, but they do occasionally mis-focus. One thing that takes a while to understand is that you want to lock the AF within one of the little ] bars, not in the middle of them [ ]. You will usually know when it is going to mis-focus because the lens will lock when you half depress the shutter button, then when you fully depress the shutter button the lens will travel in, then back out again. These cameras are notorious for having focus difficulties w/ the 90 lens, but you should be ok w/ the wide angle and 45 lenses. The focus problems are on a camera by camera basis. I just use the manual focus on the 90 lens when in doubt. Once you get used to it it is surprisingly easy to manually focus the camera. It is a real pleasure to lock the AE on this camera too. I usually do that to lock in my metering, then compose and focus and shoot.
Other issues are: make sure the lens contacts and the lens mount are perfectly clean. They have a habit of getting a blue oxide on them. Just wipe them off w/ a little alcohol on a rag. The lens needs to make perfect contact w/ the body to communicate aperture and focus info. And lastly, sometimes the shutter buttons will get a film on the contacts and cause the camera to behave erratically. It is a good idea to every now and then take the camera out and depresss the shutter button hard and fast about 10 or 20 times as this will clean the contacts. The Hexar RF has the same problem.
Other issues are: make sure the lens contacts and the lens mount are perfectly clean. They have a habit of getting a blue oxide on them. Just wipe them off w/ a little alcohol on a rag. The lens needs to make perfect contact w/ the body to communicate aperture and focus info. And lastly, sometimes the shutter buttons will get a film on the contacts and cause the camera to behave erratically. It is a good idea to every now and then take the camera out and depresss the shutter button hard and fast about 10 or 20 times as this will clean the contacts. The Hexar RF has the same problem.
squirrel$$$bandit
Veteran
joachim said:
All but the 28mm ;-) The only other one I'd really like to try is the 21mm...at the moment I've got the other focal lengths covered with other cameras. But who knows, perhaps I'll get hooked on the G1 and develop a jones for the rest of the set....
myoptic3, thanks for that information...I didn't realize you're supposed to focus ON the lines, not between them...that's really odd. It also explains why putting a nice sharp contrasty line between them sometimes doesn't work, and moving slightly to the side does.
Is that focusing supplemental Contax put out available somewhere online for download?