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Which Contax System suits best to your needs

John,

before you look at the different Minolta models you should first think about what you want to shoot, what you can not do with your current G-system.

There must be a reason why you want to add a second camera system. It does not matter whether this is Minolta or Contax SLR. Is it just a bad feeling with the viewfinder not getting sharp compared to an SLR, is it the tele lens you are missing or something else?

As long as you do not do this kind of research for yourself you will end up in buying something, which will not last very long. After you summarized for yourself the main criteria why you want to move to SLR, we are able to help you to find the most appropriate system for you.

Most of us have also other brandnames that we are using i.e. Minolta, Nikon, Leica or Canon. Since we all know the advantages of Zeiss lenses and others, we can then give you the pro and cons to the specific system.

I moved this thread to the topic "why Contax/which contax system for your needs". This would be the appropriate place to discus this further and you will find more attention in this thread for your questions.

dirk
 
Thanks Dirk,
I have read through the thread you moved my messages to and found it very interesting, also your summary of the Contax systems.
My reasons for wanting to take on a reflex system
again are that:
1). I would like a good zoom lens. I don't like the zoom for the Contax G and I wish they would bring out a longer one with faster apertures although I can appreciate that such a lens could well be to large to be practicable on the body.
2). I want to do macro and copying photography.
3). I want to be able to use longer lenses.
4). I want to be able to use polarising and grad grey filters more easily.
I still appreciate the virtues of my G2 and I am also considering as an alternative to going relex, buying another body to keep attached to the 90mm.
I am not yet ready to go digital nor to expand into the N system. Although it looks attractive,I cannot yet afford it since I want to keep my G system and I do like light weight small cameras- but I also like them to be excellent quality like Contax/Zeiss.
Hmmm... dilemmas.
Best wishes and thanks for a great and helpful site
John
 
...o.k., looking at your criteria autofocus is not important to you. I would recommend to take a non-contax-camera of one of your friends and shoot some comparison pictures against your G-system (same film, slides only, same lens, same lab, tripod) If you do not miss in the results the Zeiss characteristic, then you should go for the system with the best price/performance ratio. The godfeeling plays also a major role here. Used prices are really cheap compared to Zeiss, but nobody wants to buy it back in 6 months... The more technically advanced a system is, the more drops the 2nd hand price afterwards.

If you do miss the Zeiss image quality, then you should look at some used lenses and bodies of the manual focus system of Zeiss. They are pretty cheap currently. BUT the longer lenses are still expensive.

Personally, I would not invest in C/Y mount lenses in the moment as long as it is not sure whether they continue the line. The N-system is there on the safe side, BUT bulky and expensive. There will come some new N-lenses with aperture 2.8 and wider soon, but they will be expensive. N24-85 is also expensive, but you have 4 Zeiss lenses with the most used focal lenghts (85/50/28/25)in one barrel, which makes it look cheap.

dirk
 
Hi Till and John, I purchased the Dynax 9 and the 24-85 in March 1999. after one and a half year of use, I still like the 9 very much. The 9 deserves to use with the best possible lens(28-70G). The perfect match of Dynax 9 and thf 28-80G is better than the best .(for myself) The 28-80G is twice heavier and bigger than the 24-85i. It balance very well with the powerful Maxxum 9. After I got the 28-80G, the 24-85i is only used with my Dynax 7--for snap shots.
Minolta makes its own G lenses. The circular aperture and other G lens features help produce a UNIQUE "soft" and natural defocusing effect while mainting good high light detail and sharpness. At widest setting, the circular aperture(9 blades) help smooth out-of-focus area of a scene. From experience, I noticed that this unique defocusing effect blur background of my bird photography evenly and produce very pheasant color(espcially when use long focal lenses). My wife and sisters in law always demand I to use the Minolta to take their pictures; The reason We think because of the slightly soft effect help produce the beautiful portraits.
I only have two Contax G lenses for my G1. The 35 and the 90 are great lenses. They are beautifully made, feather weight, very sharp and nice contrast. Both of the 35 and 90 has high contrast and rich tonality. Most of the pictures I took from these two lenses --kind of like added or enhanced contrastt and have extra warmth. They produce most accurate color while maintaining excellent detail and sharpness. The G system is a good little boutique point and shoot system. I use it mostly for as a back up. It is very important that you don't buy any Contax things from the Grey market. Some G cameras left the factory with bad data stored in their focusing chips which can cause af- focus problems. This focus porblem can be fixed by only sending the camera back to Contax for warranty repair--Otherwise will cause you a fortune to solve the focus problem. I have the G1 for one year aand I have sent it to Contax for recalibrate twice already.
Nowaday, the difference between top-quality zoom lens and top-quality fixed focal length lens is only slight and will only possibly be detected should you enlarge to a massive print size. I display my good pitures (11x14) at the long hallway of my apt. Some of these were taken by Minolta, Canon,Contax G1 and some were taken by my Contax 645. Almost no one can distinguish which one is by which camera.(they are my photography friends.) To me , the camera body is very important. N1 And G1 or G2 are too slow in auto focus. They are as slow as my 15 years old freind ,Canon Ellan I. You need to decide what kind of pictures you want to do. Wildlife, sport and any other fast action activities are not good for any existent Contax cameras--You need to look for Canon ,Minolta or Nikon.

The comparison of Canon ,Canon and Minolta is not a head to head test. Each brand has its own merit.
 
Thanks Wai Lee. I wonder if the focus problem is exclusive to the G1. I haven't (fingers crossed) had any problems with the G2 like that.
I'm obviously going to have to take the plunge one way or the other soon. It might be easier to do nothing! and stick with what I have. I also like my medium format but there are some things I cannot at the moment do.
I'm taking on everybody's very helpful advice and when I do decide I'll let you all know what the decision is and hope it's the right one!
John
 
"It is very important that you don't buy any Contax things from the Grey market. Some G cameras left the factory with bad data stored in their focusing chips which can cause af- focus problems. This focus porblem can be fixed by only sending the camera back to Contax for warranty repair--Otherwise will cause you a fortune to solve the focus problem."

Dear Wai,

somebody must have made a joke with you telling you this story. The difference between grey marekt and non-grey market is only by whom it is imported in your local country not whether it is accurately calibrated or not. If it is not imported by the official Contax representation, it is called grey market. Quality and features are the same worldwide, because there is only one production in one factory for Contax/Zeiss. And I do not think that Contax is risking its reputation by selling under the table defect equipment. The market for Contax products is to small for this.

There are many different criteria which are influencing the final output of a system. Starting from the photographer over the lens, the film, the developpment til the final print. If not every step is made with utmost knowledge, you will not see the difference between 35mm and medium format or between 2 different 35mm systems.

dirk
 
dear am michaela:

i have posted some fotos on pbase for your consideration (using the nx and 24/85 vario-sonnar).

http://www.pbase.com/jsu

which image do you prefer? the diehards on the peak swear by f8 but i like the flareouts of the f22 images (the first half of the folder). otherwise they would be mundane images from the peak.
 
Hi Jack,

nice shots. I was last time in November in HK. I am missing this georgous skyline. We should organize one day a Contaxinfo.com Meeting in HK. Definitely worth to visit, not only for shootings...

dirk
 
Hi Jack,

The HK skyline pictures are good ones. Thanks for posting...the last time I was there was in '92.

When I was taking pictures at Vegas, I was using f/8 since I didn't have a tripod with me. The flareouts are great but sometimes they can be annoying when overdone or getting predictable.

So, how do you like the handling of the nx with the 24-85mm? Does it feel awkward since the 24-85 is quite huge (82mm)?
 
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