Lotusm50
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Spyro P. wrote:
From memory, you couldnt manually focus a Contax G for peanuts, you could only pre/scale focus it. Also it had a silly AF mechanism where the lens was going back and forth before it settled to where you wanted it. No MF override, it was either AF or MF to a certain distance, the VF was nothing special in terms of brightness/size and it protruded in the back making the camera less compact than it could be. And it was nowhere near as quiet as a Leica.
However everything else was near perfect about this camera, great TTL metering, 4 fps, zooming VF, high shutter speed and ISO ratings, nice controls, decent flash and brilliant lenses. If they ever make a digital G and they keep the mount, these lenses' prices will go right through the roof....Show more →
Having had A G2 for over a decade, I can tell you that you can indeed manually focus a Contax G2. In fact it is very easy, just different than you might be used to. You don't get split images to line up in the VF like a manual rangefinder, you get focus confirmation like you might get in a SLR. It works well as soon as you recognize and accept that you won't "see" the focus. You could set it to MF and it would focus to the distance set. Not sure what your issue is with it, it works just fine. Yes, the viewfinder was not exceptional in terms of brightness or size, but the VF zoomed to the focal length of the lens attached -- no frame lines to squint through. So in fact, depending on the lens used the actual usable viewfinder could actually be quite a bit larger than a Leica (especially if you used a 90mm lens). I while it wasn't a quiet as a Leica (what is?), it hard to accomplish that with a motor drive. It is, however, quite a bit quieter than an SLR, and quite a bit faster to use than a Leica. And as you suggest, everything else about it was just about perfect. Great ergonomics, easy to use, everything is where you expect it and falls nicely to the hand. Compact, light, yet felt solid and well made. While not an SLR, it had most of the features and conveniences of them that you might use most of the time. I would kill for a digital Contax G. Yes, AF needed improvements and would need to brought up to date now, but the completed but not produced G3 supposedly did just that )and who knows what else). As I suggested earlier, it would make a great platform for a digital AF rangefinder.
However, as Edward indicates, it probably going to be a Canon, and we'll have to suffer with its sucky user interface and uninspiring lenses. Although that 35/1.2 lens (Nokton?) does suggest that it might be a Cosina product...
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