Which film with your G?

[GRK]

Hi all, this is my first foray into rff, or any forum for that matter. I was wondering what film you guys shot with? I have two Contax G2's which i really love. They give me great results with colour neg and B&W hovever i cant seem to get good exposures with slide film.

I tried to shoot slides (Velvia 50) for the first time last year in Iceland. I kept hearing about how much superior the results were. However I kept getting solid black areas with no detail or blown highlights. I didnt shoot any colour negs at all so out of 7 films I got about 20 shots I liked. My friend took kodak disposables and even he got more balanced results of the same subjects!

I'm of to Pakistan, Thailand and Cambodia this summer so i figure I would need about 100 roles of film (mixed colour, mixed B&W) so what should I take? I may never do this trip again so i'm thinking of erring on the side of caution and taking Reala and Superior 200 for colour. I shoot mainly landscapes and street scenes. I'd like to photograph people but i'm a bit shy to ask (i had a scary encounter with a guy in Indonesia when i asked to photograph a nice old lady who turned out to be his mother- he tried to chase me down the street on his moped!)

I realise transparency hasnt the same latitude as negs and so metering has to be more considerate.

So how do you meter accurately with just the TTL metering in the G? or any RF for that matter. Will a spotmeter help me get better metered shots?

I also noticed that the G lens only have aperture clicks in whole stops rather than the third stops of my SLR (which I get much better metered results with) Is that part of the problem? I read that the new Zeiss lens for the Zeiss Ikon had aperture clicks in third stops so i'm thinking of changing system, would it help? Do Leica lens have whole, half or third stop clicks?

Its taken me ages to aquire my two G2 bodies 21mm, 28mm, 35mm, 45mm, 90mm outfit and I love the quality of the glass. I'm quite reluctant to sell up now. I'd be grateful for any suggestions anyone has.

 

[Socke]

I shot slides for the first time in my G2 last year in Cuba. I used Fuji Sensia 100 and I was very impressed by the results.

This folder contains pictures mostly from Sensia 100, the goat is from a D60 and the low light pictures with Fujipress 800

http://www.hett.org/web/folder.php?id=24

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Don´t blame it on the camera, GRK, but look at it instead and think of this: slide film will give you absolute blacks. It's the nature of the beast!

However, check if the compensation dials are turned on to underexposing. It may happen with the G1, and I believe their layout isn't too different from the G2's. Also, there's a trick in how you expose slide film. While you expose B&W for the darks, and color print for the midtones, slide film should be exposed by the highlights letting the shadows fall where they may. That's because the other two films are more tolerant (and processed), while slide film isn't.

In any event, almost all the film I burn is positive, so I know a little. Besides, if you've been getting good results with other film in this case I'd blame the film, not the camera.

Good luck! 🙂

 

[geoset]

Why not just expose a roll of slide film, using the same scene and aperture, varying only the exposure compensation in 1/3 steps. From the results select the amount of compensation which gives optimal exposure and adjust the film ISO setting to give the same compensation with the compensation dial at 0. ( ie. lower ISO to increase exposure and vice versa).

 

[Doug]

The spacing between the click-stops on the lens have no effect on exposure accuracy when there's automatic electronic control of the shutter speed. And you can put the aperture ring between click stops if you like!

If you get good results with negative film and bad results with slide film, I suggest your choice for the future is clear! And welcome to RFF. 😀

 

[einolu]

Buy a few rolls now to play around with and if you still dont get better results than with negative film just stick with the negative.

 

[GRK]

Thanks for all the replies, I hadn't thought of the auto exposure compensation controls being the same as 1/3 stop aperture clicks; I've always used the G2 in straight aperture priority. I think i'll stick with Reala for portraits and Fuji 100 for landscapes and wherever I want saturated colours. I'll just have to learn how to scan negatives 🙂

 

[Doug]

I hadn't thought of the auto exposure compensation controls being the same as 1/3 stop aperture clicks; I've always used the G2 in straight aperture priority.

To be clear, they are not the same at all. Changing the lens aperture (when using AE), causes the camera to shift the shutter speed so the overall exposure remains the same. Using the AE compensation control also causes the camera to shift the shutter speed... and of course the aperture remains the same, for a different overall exposure!

 

[NoTx]

Take out a roll, and shot some sets with compensation on. See where velvia 50 falls (some films prefer a slight over or dunder exposure). Personallys I use: Astia, NPZ, NPH, NPS in my G1.