jtcedinburgh
New Member
Hi everyone.
Having now had the 35/2 for a couple of months and used it exclusively to shoot the candids for some friends' wedding, I thought I'd report back.
In brief: this lens has suffered a number of criticisms which my findings disagree with.
I've now put a few films through the camera with this lens, and I'd say that qualitatively it is a very fine photographic lens - easily among the best lenses I've used. The extra speed over my 28/2.8 is useful, and despite a few people stating otherwise, I have not found the bokeh (out of focus rendition) to be anything less than pleasant.
One of the nice things about this lens is its size - being a small lens, it makes the G2 much more suitable to carry about with me when photography isn't my primary objective. In this respect it's like a big compact, and even with a B&W SMC filter on the front it is still pretty compact, certainly more so than the 45/2.
One limitation is its minimum aperture - I wish it stopped down a little more - f16 is not enough in my opinion. This is a flaw that is also shared with the lenses in my 'other' system - the Mamiya 7 - although in that system it's more of an issue due to increased focal lengths.
One of the beauties of using the Contax G2 is the way it marries inherent balance with a low vibration shutter. This means that invariably I get more 'sharp' shots when handholding over an SLR. The 35/2 doesn't dissapoint - though its the smallest of the G2 lenses that I own (28/35/45/90) I don't find that it affects the balance, and the extra stop can make all the difference.
I've not done any conclusive testing - I generally don't - if it looks good it is good in my book - but I'd guess that for all reasonable purposes the 35/2 is as good as any camera lens when handheld; mount it on a tripod with an RRS plate and a good ballhead and you might notice a difference between it and the 45/2, I don't know - I think we'd be talking gilded lillies
Verdict: well worth the money. My lens was s/h but mint, and though I had the 28/2.8, I wanted a faster wide-angle for those occasions when only one lens would be used - e.g. the friends' wedding.
John
Having now had the 35/2 for a couple of months and used it exclusively to shoot the candids for some friends' wedding, I thought I'd report back.
In brief: this lens has suffered a number of criticisms which my findings disagree with.
I've now put a few films through the camera with this lens, and I'd say that qualitatively it is a very fine photographic lens - easily among the best lenses I've used. The extra speed over my 28/2.8 is useful, and despite a few people stating otherwise, I have not found the bokeh (out of focus rendition) to be anything less than pleasant.
One of the nice things about this lens is its size - being a small lens, it makes the G2 much more suitable to carry about with me when photography isn't my primary objective. In this respect it's like a big compact, and even with a B&W SMC filter on the front it is still pretty compact, certainly more so than the 45/2.
One limitation is its minimum aperture - I wish it stopped down a little more - f16 is not enough in my opinion. This is a flaw that is also shared with the lenses in my 'other' system - the Mamiya 7 - although in that system it's more of an issue due to increased focal lengths.
One of the beauties of using the Contax G2 is the way it marries inherent balance with a low vibration shutter. This means that invariably I get more 'sharp' shots when handholding over an SLR. The 35/2 doesn't dissapoint - though its the smallest of the G2 lenses that I own (28/35/45/90) I don't find that it affects the balance, and the extra stop can make all the difference.
I've not done any conclusive testing - I generally don't - if it looks good it is good in my book - but I'd guess that for all reasonable purposes the 35/2 is as good as any camera lens when handheld; mount it on a tripod with an RRS plate and a good ballhead and you might notice a difference between it and the 45/2, I don't know - I think we'd be talking gilded lillies
Verdict: well worth the money. My lens was s/h but mint, and though I had the 28/2.8, I wanted a faster wide-angle for those occasions when only one lens would be used - e.g. the friends' wedding.
John
