CONTAX REVIEW

MORE THAN A BLIND DATE
A Few Weeks with the Contax G1

by Eric Bohman

As a longtime devotee of Leica's M cameras, I must confess that I was predisposed to dislike the jazzy new G1. Pretty -- maybe too pretty. You can see the Porsche Design folks' fingerprints all over this lovely machine. Delightful to the eye, pleasing in the hand -- my beloved M2 looks rather like sensible oxfords by comparison! And all those frills and flounces -- auto-focus, auto- bracketing, auto-exposure, auto-advance and -rewind... .

We tried-and-true Leica people like to emphasize fundamentals- -the viewfinder, the decisive moment, the all-but-silent finish of the shutter. And here the fetching G1 seems a bit vulnerable at first blush on several counts. The viewfinder is rather squinty -- barely more than one-half life-size covering about ninety per cent of the actual image field. And of course Leica aficionados have learned to love all that elbow room outside the bright-line of the current lens -- the better to compose with, the better to prepare for the action just outside the range of the lens. Still, the G1 has an allure of its own: die-hard SLR users, in particular, will find in its viewfinder what they always missed in the Leica M -- an almost full frame view of just what the lens "sees". As a result, thousands of photographers are rediscovering -- and debating -- the virtues of the rangefinder camera, both its classic Leica version and its ingenue Contax reincarnation.

Leica M veterans may also find the auto-focus "delay" or hesitation of the G1 disconcerting -- at least at first. If you simply pull the G1 up to your eye to grab a quick shot and punch the shutter button, you may wonder where the "decisive moment" went during the half-second or so it takes for the micro-motor to focus the lens before the shutter starts to open. Yet the technical wizards at Kyocera have done much to compensate for this shortcoming. Pre-focussing in the single-exposure mode with a light touch on the shutter button will lock in the focus and exposure and also ensure that further pressure on the release will trigger an immediate shutter for stationary subjects. For moving subjects, the G1 is best employed in the continuous mode where a touch of the shutter release begins focussing that will track the targeted object. The final stab of the button will then bring not only instantaneous exposure but also a better-focussed one, likely, than you could manage yourself without autofocus. It's not as sophisticated and predictive a system as the best cutting-edge Nikon or Canon, mind you, but the G1 is not designed for optimal coverage of Formula 1 races or birds in flight. For classic street photo-journalism, for lively travel photography -- or for catching the year-old daughter or grandson scooting across the carpet -- the G1 can work marvels that, alas, the old manual-focus favorite might miss!

While we're giving the devils of automation their due, I have to admit that the G1's auto-bracketing capability is a godsend in many circumstances. Set on continuous with this program actuated, the G1 will swiftly take three exposures a half or a full stop apart -- the cheapest "picture insurance" there is, as experts rightly remind us again and again.

Finally -- "you know what?" as my teen-aged son likes to say -- let's talk about the most important fundamental of all. The lenses of the G1 may be made in Japan but they are true creations of Carl Zeiss in every essential respect: resolution, contrast, tonal range and color rendition that are absolutely, unequivocally top-drawer. To put it simply, this camera is an aesthetic and ergonomic triumph, capable of world-class images. Am I ready to forsake my Leica M? Well...no. But I want a G1. Is there such a thing as photographic bigamy?