I am not sure if I am drifting off somewhere I should not be, whether I am exploring or just wasting my time. Well, anyway, I think time spent taking pictures is always a good time.
We went on a little trip to the Japanese seaside this weekend. Since I have accumulated a good handful of Contax G Lenses for our Contax G to Leica M conversions I thought why not give the native G system a try and bought one G1 body… and another G1 body. I realised that I am having so much fun shooting with it and since normally the cost of multiple bodies is prohibitive (but with the G system no longer) so I thought I’d try something different and loaded one body with black and white film, the other with colour, added a 28 and 45 lens and off we go with both.
I have not been a big fan of mixing black and white and colour in my mind, but the nice thing about playing is not being serious enough to set yourself any tough limitations… and it was hardly confusing at all. Since I have a distinct physical object to reach for with each film choice, this way of working is not making things complicated at all. Quite the contrary, it makes you look at the scene and reach for the thick or thin brush, depending on how you want to capture it. I don’t think I have taken the same scene with black and white and colour. For each its own.
As for the G1 — no, a Leica it isn’t, but a very portable and highly usable picture taking machine with excellent optics. And affordable at that. Let’s play!
I’m not a huge fan of mixing B&W and color either. But the other thing you can do with two bodies is take fine-grained color film in one, then high-speed grainy color film in the other.
Contax G1/G2s are very affordable these days, and they’re a good, quick, easy camera but the viewfinder seems so tiny when you’re used to looking through a Leica finder.
I suppose the trick is to not take them as Leicas and for what they are. They do a lot of things very well, plus the price issue (you can get the whole outfit with lenses for the price of a ‘cheap’ Leica lens).
The viewfinder is different because it is more SLR like than RF. It zooms depending on the lens and there are no framelines (and thus no “outside of the frame” to view).
Anyway, diversity is good for the mind and here is to another option.
Dirk, you should consider posting some of the photos related to these camera posts. They’d make the reviews more informative and colourful.
like your site, sorry if this in not a suitable thing, but I am looking for a camera club in Tokyo for foreign folks. any ideas?
Thanks,
PAL
Hey!
I just stumbled upon your website. Very cool!
Just read your post on mixing black and white and color. I have been doing this myself for quite sometime and just had a gallery show at Soho Photo in New York this past fall (October 2008).
You can see the images here: http://www.luxe64.com/Galleries/ImagesAlone/index.html
I used a Leica M7 (color mainly) and a Contax G2 (B&W). Japan is an amazing country with some great people.
Be Well,
Dave
Nice set of images Dave. As you have shown there does not seem anything fundamentally wrong with combining b/w and color. Although I feel that the black and white could do with some more power, perhaps higher contrast, as they seem ever so slightly haphazard alongside the colour shots. The colour ones stay on my mind, the black and whites don’t, wonder why that is. Might be worth trying Minicopy to add some energy. Just my impression of course.
Hey Dirk, I was curious what you thought of the autofocus and film advance sounds on the G1. I’ve heard mixed things about it. I’m thinking of buying one, but don’t have a solid feel for this aspect.
Hi Jon, thanks for stopping by and the comment. The problem with judging these sounds is that most of the time the camera will be close to your ear and thus seems very noisy. The winder is the exactly same like on the Hexar RF. I don’t find it that noisy. The AF is not so loud at all, although of course there is mechanical noise because there is a coupling and the camera drives the lens backwards and forwards. It’s not like a Canon EF lens with USM. I noticed that the noise gets more with the longer lenses (greater distance I suppose), but all within reason.
If you want one please contact me. I have a very good source for quality bodies and lenses at a good price.
Rock on Dirk, thanks! I just shot you an email. I’m fine with Arc Drive noise as long as it’s not too bad.I’ve heard the G2 and felt that was totally acceptable, but I hear the G1 is louder. You have a fantastic thing going here man.
Someone is using your picture at ebay:
http://www.ebay.de/itm/321457296465