Contax G2

Two years after the G1, Kyocera fixed the list. The shutter went to 1/6000 in aperture priority, the motor drive to four frames a second, the autofocus gained an active infrared channel alongside the passive one, a black finish arrived, and every G lens worked on it without modification — including the 35–70mm Vario-Sonnar, which came later and which no G1 can take. It launched at 2,250 dollars with the 45mm Planar and stayed in production until Kyocera stopped making cameras in 2005. What has happened since is the familiar story. Ken Rockwell put a used body at about 400 dollars in 2014. In 2025 The Phoblographer reported bodies selling on eBay for 1,800 to 2,500 dollars, black the most expensive, and linked the rise to celebrities seen with one, as with the T2.

The Zeiss G lenses, with fewer reasons to be annoyed than the G1 gives you. Faster autofocus, a faster shutter, and the whole lens range including the zoom. Moving subjects, within limits. Four frames a second and continuous autofocus put it somewhere no rangefinder goes. Wide apertures in bright light. By the sunny-16 rule, f/2 in full sun on ISO 100 film, or f/2.8 on ISO 200, wants about 1/8000. The 1/6000 top speed in aperture priority is a little under half a stop short, which negative film absorbs easily. Faster film in full sun needs a smaller aperture or an ND filter. Flash work. 1/200 sync is fast for a focal-plane shutter, and with the dedicated TLA 200 fitted the camera sets the sync speed itself, at 1/200 or slower. Manual film speed, ISO 6 to 6400 in third stops. Where it falls short: the 90mm can hunt before it settles at infinity. Low contrast, horizontal lines and glossy subjects defeat the autofocus. Manual focus is a distance dial, not a rangefinder. And it is now expensive enough that a body's repair history is worth asking about.

A known G2 fault. The display works, the winder runs, everything behaves — and the shutter does not open. Sometimes a few frames expose and then it stops again. In a Photrio thread with exactly these symptoms, the suspect named was the shutter-release switch, typically a bad contact. A related fault is broken gears in the shutter cocking mechanism, documented by awayrepairs, where the motor runs but the shutter is not cocked. Both are independent-technician work rather than a write-off.

Where it hunts matters. A white wall, a plain sky, horizontal lines only, very bright or glossy subjects, strong light near the frame: the G2 manual lists all of these as hard for the autofocus. In one Photrio thread an owner getting a lock only ten to twenty per cent of the time with the 45mm was pointed by other owners towards technique rather than a defect, and came to agree. What is not by design: the 90mm hunting toward infinity, taking three or four attempts to get there. An experienced owner in the same thread reports this with the 90mm and treats it as a known quirk.

Autofocus calibration is technician work. One owner on Photrio reports that Nippon Photo Clinic calibrated the focus and cured back-focusing. An adjustment rather than a fault. Custom Function 4 in the manual is not a focus calibration: it only locks the manual focus dial.

Check the two CR2 cells first. Then dirty lens-to-body contacts, or the pin in the mount sitting centred rather than to the left. One owner cured exactly this by moving the pin back to the left, and awayrepairs describes the same quick fix, though a proper repair means taking the camera apart.

Because it is not what you think it is. The manual focus dial sets a distance for the autofocus drive to go to. The distance shows on a scale in the finder. It is not a coupled rangefinder. By design.

The back-door foam gasket, perished. One owner on Photrio traced exactly this leak to the foam at the hinged end of the door. Pre-cut kits are sold. Home fix.

Not in the usual sense. There is no optical rangefinder in it. It is an autofocus camera with a zooming real-image finder, and understanding that removes a good deal of the disappointment.

Everything sounds right and nothing is exposed. Owners suspect a failing shutter-release switch; awayrepairs has also documented broken gears in the shutter cocking mechanism. Independent technician. Nippon Photo Clinic in New York comes up again and again when owners recommend a G2 repairer.

Same root as the G1: the autofocus measures outside the lens and never checks the result on film. Calibration is technician work, and one owner reports Nippon Photo Clinic curing back-focus this way. Adjustable rather than broken.

Start with power. The G2 drives a hybrid autofocus, a 1/6000 shutter and a four-frame motor from two CR2 lithium cells, so power is the first thing to rule out before blaming the electronics. Fit two new CR2s of the same brand and age; they are still easy to buy. If it is still dead, clean the contacts on the lens and in the mount and check that the pin in the mount has not stuck in the centre of its travel instead of at the left.

The G2 is not a quiet camera. The winder and the focus drive are both audible every frame, and that is normal. A grinding note, or a sound that changes from one frame to the next, is worth a technician's ear.

A streak starting at the hinge side of the door is the G2's foam gasket giving up. Kits are cut for this body and fitting one is an evening at home.

The repairer awayrepairs has written up G cameras arriving damaged by earlier repairers, including a G2 with a loose motherboard, wrong screws and broken gears. It is a real category of fault on this camera and it is why provenance is worth something. A G2 that has never been opened is a different proposition from one that has been round three benches.

Yes. Casual Photophile calls the idea that it cannot be fixed an internet myth. Kyocera no longer services it, but independent specialists who know the G2 repair the shutter, focus calibration and the winder, and awayrepairs has sourced replacement gears. The real limit is the electronics: a main board or processor that cannot be repaired takes the camera with it, as on any electronic body of its generation. Separately, a full overhaul can cost more than a spare body, which is a question of money rather than of whether the work can be done.

Titanium panels are not weather sealing. No sealing of any kind is documented for this camera.