Contax s2b manual

While this camera along with my favorite lens of all-time, the Zeiss Distagon 28mm f2. This ultimately led me to put it in storage and later gift it to a friend as their first 35mm camera. With the Contax S2, I was seeking a more robust and reliable camera with no frills to use my Contax lenses on.

At the time of purchase, my M6 was my go to camera and I was hoping to find a camera that was very similar in function to use my Contax lenses on. The first time I picked up the camera it gave me a reassuring feeling that it could endure anything. The titanium build was solid, yet light.

The Contax S2 feels really nice in the hands. The camera has a smooth design to it, avoiding rigid edges and controls. This makes the S2 a very aesthetically pleasing camera. The weight seems evenly distributed and balances really well with the 28mm and 50mm lenses. In regards to size, the camera is actually quite small and very similar in size to the Leica M6. It is actually slightly lighter and smaller but the lenses are SLR lenses so the M6 setup ends up being much narrower in reality than the S2.

If you want to have a compact setup with the Contax S2, the pancake Carl Zeiss 45mm f2. Overall, my first impressions were good. But most importantly, it comes with a reasonable price tag. Contax S2, Carl Zeiss 28mm f2. Everything seems to be in the right place on the Contax S2. ISO dial is on the rewind crank and very easy to adjust in practice and stays locked in place nicely while shooting to prevent accidental changes in ISO.

This, I would call it stiffness, does not translate well in the shutter speed dial. The shutter speed dial has a nice tactile grip for rotating speeds, but the dial is just too dang stiff for my liking. This could have just been on my camera, but it was the only gripe that I had with the camera in terms of handling. Other than the rather tight shutter speed dial, handling of the S2 is near perfect and the camera has a tendency to fade away in use. The viewfinder displays shutter speeds on the right side of the frame, and that is it.

The set speed flashes quite obnoxiously while the spot meter reading is solid. It does not display the set aperture which I actually found rather annoying, just as I did in my Leica M6. But it does show the shutter speeds so it has that advantage over the M6.

Overall, I have conflicting feelings about the viewfinder. The Contax S2 meter is extremely accurate and is quite hard to trick due to the very narrow spot meter. If a bad exposure is made with this camera it is more likely due to user error than a poor reading from the spot meter. The meter has a tendency to over expose half a stop or so at least mine does which is a pleasing fault as it is somewhat of a safety blanket due to over exposing film being much more salvageable than underexposed film.

The Contax S2 shutter is loud. Very very loud. And it has a slight ring to it after an exposure is taken. I tried to dampen it and actually consulted some friends who work as camera repair techs and they said there is little that could be done to soften the after-shutter ring.

If being discrete is your goal, the S2 is not for you. If you shoot landscapes or portraiture, the S2 is much more suited for that as opposed to street photography. This is a pretty awesome feature to have in my opinion. It allowed me to be able to shoot wide open during the day with no need for an ND filter. I imagine that the combination of the S2 with the 50mm f1. The focusing is nice and easy due to the clarity of the viewfinder and the Contax S2 has an interchangeable focusing screen design with the choice of either 45 degree split image prism, a grid, or a matte focusing screen.

Contax S2, Carl Zeiss 50mm f1. This is one of the weak points of the camera. As I stated above, the shutter is very loud and thus the camera shake can affect taking photos on a tripod. In most SLR cameras this would not be a problem since you can just engage the mirror lock-up after composing and that completely solves the problem.

I personally think that this is a very useful tool and should be considered mandatory for any SLR. Double exposures can be done via the lever on under the film advance. Both the S2 and S2b were discontinued by Contax in From Camera-wiki.

Jump to: navigation , search. Hidden category: Image by Vincent Li. Interesting camera to say the least. Peter Wrote: "The 25 is discontinued here in the states. And as it has already been discussed in other forums, quite a lot of factors in technology, industry and market seem to somewhat point in that direction over the next number of years. This lens has gained a tremendous reputation as probably the best SLR wide angle in the market.

It might be a matter more of development and letting the best lens win than any managementwise or financial conspiracy. The Consumers voted. Kind regards, Jakob. It's pity, that people who come to see review only read the one that complains the noise I love my Contax S2b, including its shutter sound.

I don't know if the sound I hear and Peter hears as "Guillotin noise" are the same or not. At least mine, though it was "shock" for ther first time to hear all mechanical shutter sound of S2b, it doesn't take so much attention while I'm taking photo with it in real life. Maybe some or all? Denial is the first stage. Eventually acceptance. Muchan I like Contax gear too but the numbers don't add up. Money talks and I know us loyal users do too but no one will listen when the final decisions are made.

Like I said I see it as no accident that Contax is following the trends of it's competition. A major mistake in the long run!!!

How popular would Contax be if they became, in the near future, the sole maker of a fully manual slr of S2 caliber?

The only supplier of a great camera. Instead of the maker of same type of camera i. But wall street tunnel vision shirts don't look ahead. Stockholders scream profits NOW!

Muchan if the noise is not offensive to you, great. It is to me. Yet, the merits of camera forced me to see if I could correct what I 'personally' don't like about it. I can via Contax's Repeair Dept. Like I said I hope the dealers I spoke with are misinformed but the 25 is vanishing and so are available bodies at BH.

Look at BH's website and see for yourself. It is as good a store as any to get a gauge on what is happening overall. Prove me wrong. I'd like you too! I like these gems too. Take care. Wat are you talking, Peter? S2 is "silver" color titanium body with built in TTL spot meter, and S2b is black finished titanium body with built in TTL center-weighted meter, and that is the only difference of the two models.

For that reason, most of owners get this model as the solid back-up camera of Contax system. But there are also people called "S2 gangs" who consider it as the main SLR camera for their photography. With modern cameras, there are many many ways of metering and setting the exposure, but ultimately, everything about exposure can be reduced to "choosing the right aperture and right shutter speed".

Just bought myself an S2 today. I was after a solid, reliable, manual camera that I could take mountain walking and I had opted for a Rollei 35S due to it's Ziess lens and compact size. Bought one, received it, wasn't impressed with the condition especially for the money I paid so I sent it back. It arrived this morning in the original box. The camera is mint except for a tiny bit of leather on the rear 'film flap' which has bubbled at the edge slightly I was told about that before buying.

I'm extreemly impressed by the build quality, it is superb. It's not a heavy camera, but it feels so solid, like you could use it as a small lump hammer don't worry, I won't!!

My shutter makes the 'guilotine' noise, but I like it, it sounds like it should make that noise. Maybe it'll startle a grizzly bear one day and I'll get eaten, but at least the camera is tough enough to survive.

If you don't need the faster lenses, I would also consider the Tessar 45mm 2. Very compact and I think by most accounts a wonderful lens. I would be interested in what others think of this lens.

The camera was intended as a 'purist' model for use by customers who were experienced photographers. It is unusual among modern 35mm cameras in that the light meter was designed as a spot meter, without center-weighted or matrix metering options. The use of only a spot meter required some knowledge and expertise by the owner for accurate exposures. In response to customer demands for an S2 with a more versatile light meter, Contax introduced the S2b in , which was sold concurrently with the S2.