New Contax N bodies for 2003?

[my_photography]

Hi all,
This is my first post on the forum. Not sure if this is the correct place to post but, ....

I am not yet a Contax owner and am the process of getting a camera. From reading thru the threads posted here, it looks like I will most probably go for the N systems. Any news/ rumours if Contax is coming out with a new N this year? Though the current N1 is great, it is not in the league of its professional manual counterpart yet. I especaially hope to have 100% viewfinder (or is it not that important?) I do not wish to purchase N1 and realise a few months down the road that a newer and more advance N2 or Nx2, etc, is out. Anybody able to help on this?

 

[dormant]

There is currently no rumour floating around for a new film-based N offering. A new digital N camera is rumoured to be released at the end of the year though. It will come eventually, but I don't believe it will become available in 2003.

 

[ras]

Loke:

while "waiting for the unknown" for an indefinite time you are missing out on a lot of good photography. This is like waiting for the next computer. It's up to you, but you could be waiting for a long time. Also, I doubt whether there will be a hugely improved film N any time soon, since the half life of top cameras is at least 5 years, and Contax is hardly a fast changing camera line company in that respect. By the way, the N1 is an excellent camera and will serve you fine provided you are not into superfast action photography. For everyhting else, it works wonderfully and the lenses - still much more important than the body - are great too. Your choice, but you're missing out big time.

 

[my_photography]

Talking about lenses, the choice for N's are still not much as compare to its manual focus cousins, isn't it? Or should I look into the older manual focus system?

 

[kaisern]

>=20 >=20 >=20 > [Just curious about the new digital for N line is to be placed on top or = below > the existing ND? Brgds/Kaisern] >=20 >=20 >=20

 

[kaisern]

>=20 >=20 >=20 > [The N may never be as full range as MM/ME mount. The biggest difference= is > MM/ME has a lot of fixed focal lens and full range of zooms and with toda= y=B9s > advance CAD zoom lens the quality is achieving to a point that not necess= ary > to develop the entire range of fix/prime lenses =AD for marketing point of = view, > of course And only focus on those most use such as 100mm makro and 85mm o= r > 50mm lens. But this is personal opinion anyway. Regards, Kaisern] >=20 >=20 >=20

 

[jsmisc]

Makes sense.

 

[dormant]

Kaisern,

I'm just relaying the rumour from the N Digital forum. According to Simon Lamb, the new digital N will be priced at $1500 app. So it probably is marked as a junior model to ND, though in this fast-evolving digital market I don't know how much difference in terms of performance there may be between the ND and the new model. The most significant difference could be the cropping factor, as the ND is full-frame. Don't know yet whether the new digital N will be full-frame or not, but it seems unlikely given the price point.

 

[kaisern]

>=20 >=20 >=20 > [Thanks, I hope it will be a total replacement to ND with improve interfa= ce > and raw developer or Contax may simply ship a plug-in for use with Photos= hop > Kaisern.] >=20 >=20 >=20

 

[robgo2]

All that we can do is speculate, but it is doubtful that Contax will invest many resources in another N film camera, as the market is clearly moving towards digital capture. So, anyone wanting a film camera probably has little to gain by waiting for an N2.

The ND was fraught with problems. Let us hope that Contax can bring forth a better product in the future. I am a G2 and T2 user, but I aniticipate moving to digital eventually. As I am addicted to Zeiss glass, I would certainly like to remain with Contax.