6 Months with the Contax G1 

I almost cried at the beauty of this video man, its emotional and really highlights how special film is

This is the most beautiful video on the internet

RU-vid Film camera reviews don't get much better than this! Great camera, great images. You truly made it feel like the 90s/early noughties were with us again (aka Time Before Digital). Fabulous.

I purchased my G1 kit brand new in October of 2000. I am still in awe that it still works as well as it does despite surviving hurricanes and everything else I have thrown at it the past 24 years. Glad to see you having fun with yours. P.S. I have loooooong ago figured out the focus quirks and can hear when the focus is not quite right. Good Times!

Might be one of the best videos regarding film photography I’ve ever seen. I hope there’s more to come!

Damn, that intro hit me hard. Can't wait to see more videos from ya

Having been a pro for over 48 years ... the Contax G2 system was the best camera system hands down!

as a G1 user, you described the system accurately. as long you take your time and be mindful with the focus, the shots will 9/10 times focused. Great video btw! pls do post more!

The production quality of this video is right up there with GxAce. Excited to watch this channel grow.

That was gorgeous

it's my favorite camera. Got one a couple of years ago and I take it with me everywhere.

wow! what a wonderful video

Love my G1. Its 28mm and 45mm lenses feel sharper than my Leica Summicrons. Enjoy your channel.

I have a G1 I bought in 96, and (eventually) a full set of the primes. I love the camera, but with the advent of digital I dreamed they would make a digital back or body. What wound up happening is I waited for a digital mirrorless camera to appear, and I have adapted the lenses to be used on Sony Alpha bodies. 24 MP really will show the limitations of the lenses much more than 35mm did, but I love the sharp yet dreamy quality of the lenses. I often use them for my RU-vid channel on an A7S iii. The lens that was almost permanently attached to my G1 was the 21mm f2.8 Biogon. What an amazing lens. I even like the vignetting. The 16mm f8/f16 Hologon was a blast if very slow. The 45mm is an even better portrait lens than the 90mm. I never the softness some complained about with the 35mm f2 until using it on my Sony A7 The character of film you talk about, I see it as the difference in the way emulsion records light, different color science and response, and different gamma curves all baked into the product. I am missing black and white film, I think it's time to load up the G1. 💓

Bro! You are killing it! 💯 Seemingly came out of no where. Would love to see more content from you. Keep producing this fantastic work...wow! 🔥🔥🔥

wow, what a way to start a channel!

Before my Contax G1, I used a Canon Canonet QL17 G-III 35mm rangefinder with fixed 40mm normal lens. Great camera but I needed interchangeable lenses. I bought two Contax G1 bodies with the following lenses: Zeiss 90mm f/2.8 Sonnar Zeiss 45mm f/2 Planar Zeiss 28mm f/2.8 Biogon Zeiss 21mm f/2.8 Biogon My favorite three-lens combination 90/45/21mm. When I shoot landscape, I like to use my Contax G1 mounted with the 28mm lens, and pair it with a Fuji GSW III medium format rangefinder with a fixed 65mm f/5.6 wide-angle lens.

Amazing video!!

Ex-user of Contax G1 here. The Zeiss glass was amazing, but I hate the tiny viewfinder so I foolishly sold it for cheap (just about $800 for the body and the trinity of 28, 45, and 90). The price was skyrocketed since then. I should have waited a few years before selling it.

This is such a high quality production and the photos are wonderful as well. Definitely earned my subscription.

truly original and full of style...awesome watched twice real work

thank you for this beautiful video

Wow. What a magnificent video. I have been on the fence about getting a Contax G1. Years ago I purchased the lens with an adapter to my Fujifilm camera and the results are almost always magnificent. My only concern about purchasing the camera body is the age of it and the possibility of needing it serviced. I will probably find a couple of lenses to sell on ebay and with the proceeds go ahead with the G1.

Great video! What surprised me the most was the quality of those scans! The colors look really nice and similar to what i get when printing in the darkroom (but yours are better 😅). Usually everyone scans look super weird, with a bunch of color crossover and weird gama, and i have huge difficulty making scans with colors I’m happy with, in the darkroom you set the white balance and every tone is smooth and falls where it should. I’ve scanned with a sony a7ii and a nikon coolscan 4000, with either vuescan and nlp, and neither gave me good results sadly. Would love to know how you do it, if you’d be alright sharing it, of course

awesome first video!

so well made, love it! also really lovely photos, portra 400 never gets old

Beautiful colors! Eye! The G2 stole the show back in the day. Legend has it the 45mm was a gift from the photo gods. All this film photography is making me want to break out my Leica 😮😊 but first my Olympus om-4 with the 50mm. Your video was awesome pity about the out of focus two rolls. That's why manual focus is King!

Go-to Setup here - G1 & 35/2 Planar.

fantastic video! Film truly is amazing! Agree!

Beautiful video and photos, love that this is from Vancouver

I have to say wonderful video! Really great story and shooting :)

Beautiful video!!! I recently got a G1 with a 35mm, since I only wanted to have 1 lens, and I love it so far.

Great Video!! keep it up... i happen to have a Black G2 and a GA645wi as well ;)

This is amazing

This is a really engaging video - I beg you cover more Contax G stuff, you've got a really good way of presenting your videos. I had a G1 recently for a few months and I really loved it but I had a hard time adjusting to the viewfinder. Shots were in focus and I actually really liked the focus distance scale thing, but I really didn't enjoy the dim, tiny VF. Another gripe - and I'm sure it was just user error - but I found that when half-pressing the shutter button I'd frequently take the shot haha Obviously my error but it just seemed a little sensitive when in loud, hectic, and busy environments. I hear people say they made the G2 VF bigger and brighter and added the focus button to the back of the camera so I've been keen to look into that. Finally, I'd love to see you cover the G system lenses - i never got to try the 90mm and 85mm is my usual go-to focal length. I also have an obsession with the T3 so anything on that in the future would be cool.

Wish you went in depth about how to read the focus meter.

wow, what a great video!

Hello, Mr. Behavior. These cameras sell for $550-600 on eBay right now. You have probably increased that by 25% or so. 😏 I have a couple of Legendary Rangefinders ®. I like them, and get excellent results with them. I prefer SLRs though, because of the manual focus screens with split prisms. That said, I am not sure that your view of the transition to digital is correct. The first digicams were point-and-shoot cameras, like many film cameras before them. Early DSLRs were really not more complicated, nor that different from late film SLRs. Anyway, I was out with a Nikon FM and 55mm f1.2 today. The simplicity is wonderful.

Amazing I love this!

i had one around the mid 2000's when it was cheaper, a range finder style camera that you have to slow down with and make sure is focusing correct just isnt what a range finder is all about. i loved the build, the lenses but hated everything else especially the viewfinder

Richard's face!!!! LOL!!!!!!

Pls post more sir.

haha I was just using my contax g1 today I love it I'm never getting rid of it

Very wise advice on the focus. S…l…o…w..D…o…w…n… Would have loved to see some other film stocks in this video, but all in all a great review!

Is there any other differences between the green and silver label other than more lens compatibility? I bought a silver label one with 100$ cheaper price than the green one

this is AMAZING video!!! auto subscribed and follow IG!!!

Such good video. Got an instant subscribe from me.

I've started a Popular Behaviour IG account. Will be posting photos from this video and more as we go. instagram.com/popularbehaviour

Great video. I want to get this camera too, but I was wondering if the viewfinder isn’t too small for me with glasses.

wow very nice, i love the way to share images. what lens do you use in g1?

What filter do you used on Contax?

Too dramatic. Nothing got thrown away. Just the film is replaced with digital sensor.

3:22 (the colors you can get out of this camera are incredible) dude, its a film camera!!!! what if im using black and white film?? this sounds like a whatever review from chat gpt

!!!

The portra 400's color is stunning!!! Which machine did you use to scan this film?