Contax G2

If you’re looking for a well-built portable camera, the Contax G2 definitely meets that need. Unlike some cameras that seem like cheap plastic in your hands, this is solid even though it weighs under 2 pounds! The Contax G2 system is definitely one that’s aimed toward someone interested in better quality photography since ConTax makes a variety of lenses for the G2 including 16/8, 21/2.8, 28/2.8, 35/2.0, 45/2.0, and 90/2 – that’s 8 lenses! The only downside here, in my opinion, is that carrying so many lenses definitely takes away from the portability of this camera. They’re also a little awkward to put on and take off. For focus, the Contax G2 has an autofocus rangefinder with two different settings. The first setting is “active” and offers infrared light to improve low light focus abilities, especially in tight spaces.

The second setting is passive, really acting to finish the focus. Both manual focus and focus lock on the G2 work wonderfully. Pair this with a decent shutter speed ranging from 4 seconds to 1/4000, you can get some pretty nice exposures.

There’s also dial on the G2 camera that will let you adjust your stops in 1/3 increments. And thanks to the motorized film advance, you can take up to four images in one second – no chance that great shot will get away from you now.

For the user, the viewfinder on the Contax G2 is reasonable (a larger one would be nice) and includes a flash mark. You don’t need a heavy duty flash unit for the G2 either. The smaller ones work perfectly well and simply if you don’t want to haul around something larger. The images you can expect from the Contax G2 are very good, with well defined color and line, but I don’t recommend using this camera in a setting where you want to go unnoticed (like a wedding). It makes a lot of noise that could disrupt things.