[Leica] re: OT: philosophies, Contax G ...

[Godfrey DiGiorgi <ramarren@bayarea.net>]

The subject of this thread was moving further and further from the topic
being discussed, and now it's moved to possible flame material, so I'll
try not to ramble too much. I changed the subject to try to keep things
sensible.

> I know how you feel, B.D.  I made an observation on the Contax list
> that the G would appeal to users of P&S cameras as an upgrade, and was
> thoroughly flamed.  But for what it's worth, here's what David Alan
> Harvey had to say:
> 
> "In any group of working photographers, I usually look like the least
> professional, because I travel very light. I use a very sophisticated
> range-finder camera, a Leica M6, but to most people it looks like a
> point-and-shoot camera. And, for me, in fact, it is a
> point-and-shoot-small, simple, and I have it with me all the time."

The Contax G might appeal to users of P&S cameras as an "interchangeable
lens P&S" initially, but users who persevered in that perception of it
would rapidly become disillusioned and exasperated with it. It think this
happens rather often, judging from how many I see available on the used
marketplace. I own a Contax G2 kit which I acquired after I sold my
last Leica M. In a sense, I had a similar initial expectation and was
somewhat disappointed by it at first. I'd toyed with selling it as I
wasn't using it much. 

Using it to test the Hologon this past weekend has changed my perception
of it a lot. I've been shooting almost continuously with the Leica CL for
the past 4 weeks and grown very comfortable with it. Taking the Contax G2
out and refreshing my skills with it, I realize now what an excellent,
well thought out tool it is to work with. My mistake originally was a
combination of thinking about it as a grown-up PnS and again as a
different kind of Nikon FM (same mistake I made with the Leica Ms). I was
trying to use it like a PnS at first without thinking and that fails. I
then tried to use it mixing modes and features all the time, that failed
too. Then I started to think about how it would work best for me and found
that every control and feature, had its right place and purpose. I don't
need many of them very often, but they're there if I need them. 

Most of the time, I found myself using it as a manual focus camera with
aperture priority autoexposure. It's the same <focus, meter, frame,
expose> that I use with the Leica CL only the meter operation is to lock
the setting or to set an EV compensation factor. 

My biggest beef with it is that I wish the black version was available
when I bought it. The Titanium finish is a bit fancier than I prefer. In
that regard, the M6' looks are more appealing to me, again in black: it's
starker and simpler in appearance. 

Godfrey