Reversing Regrets… A New Short Series: Contax G1.

Reversing Regrets… A New Short Series: Contax G1

Hamish Gill was right. I proposed to him by email that my recent effort to sell off gear and replace it with a better alternative (Exhibit A and B) might be called reverse GAS… or even more laughably sensible GAS. To which he replied…

Yeah… He is right. GAS is GAS. It just takes different forms.

Another form of GAS for me is reversing regrets. There are new examples that I will be writing about shortly. But the first obvious instance I can think of was the Contax G1. Round 1 was a success. I even wrote a glowing post about it for KEH.

So if I liked the system so much why did I sell them? I am glad I imagined you asked.

Simple. I was wrong.

An issue that I used to have is something that my wife has helped me with. This notion that I cannot have this and that. Or that in order to justify this I must get rid of that. My wife got wind of this and basically said stop it. So I have.

This was related to my purchase of another Contax camera, the T2.

As I pointed out in this video…

…I mistakenly thought I would not need the G cameras since I had the T2.

Nonsense.

Fast forward to today and I do not have the G2 or the T2. But I have the G1.

The reason is simple. Similar to my recent posts about gear consolidation it is the best of all of those cameras.

• AF is as accurate as the G2 and T2.
• Exposure is as accurate as the G2 and T2.
• Looks as good as either to my eye.
• Has interchangeable lenses like the G2.
• Costs many hundreds less than the others.

Sidebar: I sold off the Contax T2 for the same reason I let go of the Leica Q years ago. Way too precious to comfortably use as intended. A carry about camera. Especially when there were more reasonably priced options.

That is pretty much it. This is a short one. No poetic prose. For more thoughts on the cameras mentioned I recommend following the links. Same goes for sample images.

My point? If forced to…

Do not be afraid to admit when you are wrong.

And here is another.

Unlike many mistakes in life with gear you can go back and undo it.

Move pride aside and go do it.

Life is too short.

Happy capturing.

-ELW