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Contax G2 general questions

Neil and Alan:
Thank you so much for describing the manual focus indicator! I had completely forgotten it existed, and I have been spreading misinformation...I take back what I said.

I guess I have never missed the manual focus ability, but I am happy to be reminded the potential is there. In which situations do you use it? I guess it would be helpful to avoid the noise of the lenses focusing (the 90 in particular).

Juan
 
Once you get used to which way to turn the wheel to focus long or short, it is real easy to focus one notch short. A valuable procedure when depending on depth of field as there is much more leeway behind the subject than in front. It makes sense to focus slightly short in many circumstances. Not hard to do with G2 "rangefinder" focusing.
 
Surprisingly, you won't avoid the noise of the lens focusing. Even in manual focus mode, the G2 doesn't move the lens until you press the shutter button halfway down. I have no idea why, and it seems strange at first, but I soon got used to it.

I use manual focus when I want to focus at infinity, for ex&le. You would also use it to set the camera at the hyperfocal distance, so you would know in advance what would be in focus. In manual focus mode, you know the camera will fire, regardless of whether it thinks it is in focus. In general, I don't find I need to use MF very much, because the autofocus does a fine job. I've been shooting only the 35mm/2. Tomorrow I expect to receive my 90 from B&H, and I'll see whether anything changes with that lens, though I expect it will focus just as well as the 35 does.

Neil
 
I was also a bit annoyed with the lens returning to its original position and then refocusing before every shot, but my way around that is to push the focus button on the back of the camera with my thumb and hold it, then shoot as many pictures as I want before letting go. This helps if I want to grab some quick shots in succession with fixed focus.

-Mike
 
Juan and Austin, manual focus is very useful in dim light,evening or = night photos. Easy to get infinity for instance, which is beyond 14-15 = meters.Cheers,Esko
 
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