... Journal Entry
Twenty four years on, I still love my Contax G2 electronic rangefinder 35mm film camera outfit. With a body and lenses wrapped in titanium, a clever combination electronic rangefinder plus an exceptional set of Zeiss prime lenses, the G2 system has not been equalled in all the long years since its introduction. It remains peerless.
Pick up a Contax G2 and it screams quality. Quality of materials, quality of construction, quality of design and quality of handling. It's a gem of a camera. The lenses are typically Zeiss, that is of extremely high quality that render photographs on film with that 'pop' that Zeiss are famous for. On top of all that the outfit looks gorgeous too, mind you it was intentionally designed to be that way. This was a 'high end' system when it was introduced and seen as a Leica M competitor.
Let me start by saying that this not going to be yet another review of the Contax G2. There are loads of those out there on the web written down the years for you to peruse covering specifications, operation, pros and cons, fans and haters, all the usual stuff.
Rather it is a sort of "ode" to the camera and its lenses from a long term user, appreciative of a truly one of a kind photographic instrument - the interchangeable lens, clever combination electronic rangefinder, 35mm film camera. Now you notice the use of the expression 'clever combination' as it did have a predecessor, the Contax G1, but its electronic rangefinder was simplistic and consequently much less effective and so I discount it as a realistic competitor.
I got my first G2 as part of a millennium kit back in 2000 along with the Zeiss Biogon 28mm f2.8, Planar 45mm f2 and Sonnar 90mm f2.8 lenses plus the little Contax TLA 200 Flash, all in a neat little aluminium briefcase. I added to this the Planar 35mm f2 and the Biogon 21mm f2.8 with its 21mm finder and eventually the Hologon 16mm f8 with its finder and special vignette correction filter.
This outfit travelled everywhere with me and for a long time I used it exclusively even when the rest of the world went digital, then came back to it after I too was finally suborned by the convenience of digital, then came back to it yet again after my second foray into the digital world. Upon reflection, I have taken most of my best pictures with it as I suspect it encourages me (as rangefinder film cameras do) to work in a more considered and "seeing" way.
Along the way the Hologon 16mm was disposed of as being too impractical, as at f8 and in reality f16 with the all important anti-vignetting filter attached, it was recognised as being something of a novelty lens for collectors. I also acquired a second body as a back up and to be able to carry a different film type for immediate use just by swapping camera bodies if needed.
There are a number of unique features to this camera which I have simply come to take for granted after using this exceptional piece of apparatus all these years. It's nice to be reminded of them.
Because of the exclusive electronic rangefinder which works on a "combination reinforced external passive/active arrangement", in other words it combines an active infrared beam AF system with a passive contrast based AF system, the experience of using this rangefinder camera is unique, but amazing. It's somewhat like using a manual focus rangefinder but with a processor that calculates the distance and automatically sets the lens focus for you. You point the focus patch in the viewfinder at the subject, half press the shutter release (or indeed the rear focus button), then press she shutter button all the way down and "click". It will even focus in total darkness.
Talking of the viewfinder, instead of the old manual rangefinder camera's fixed viewfinder with multiple frames for different focal length lenses, the G2's finder zooms to match the view of the attached lens. It's a very different experience and is unique in correcting for different magnifications of different lenses at different distances. It always gives perfect framing at any distance, unlike a traditional manual rangefinder camera.
Ergonomics are superb; this is a photographers camera with everything you need exactly where it should be, locatable by touch and settings visible at a glance, plus there is nothing annoyingly superfluous to get in the way of making photographs. You forget how good it is until you pick up another camera to find the things you want are buried in custom functions or menus and obscured by loads of other unproductive stuff you never use which is a huge distraction.
The Zeiss G lenses are extraordinary due in part, for example, to the G2's construction allowing the rear lens elements of their wide angle lens to extend inside the camera body, very close to the shutter curtains and thus the film plane which allows for superb very low distortion optics to be made without the need to resort to retrofocus, aspherical designs with their tell-tale "wavy" residual distortion. They make beautiful photographs.
So here we are all these years later and my G2 outfit is still going strong and it remains a treasured possession that I shan't ever part with. As mention previously I have a second G2 body useful these days in case one dies and can't be repaired for any reason for example as spare parts run out. As a final word, my Contax G2 is something I pick up and don't want to put back down again, it looks and feels just right and I just want to go out and take pictures with it; it's one of those sort of cameras, if you know what I mean?