I haven’t taken many action shots with my Contax G2 but this was one of the few that I ever took. (I did photograph a Polo match with a wide angle 21mm and a couple with the 90) in slow Fujichrome Velvia 50.
I was very pleased with this, as it was taken with the 90mm Sonnar T* at I think f11 on Kodak Ektachrome E100VS.
The 90mm Sonnar is probably the poorest lens in the Contax G lineup, the sole reason being the really poor AF on it. It simply is very inconsistent and is generally all over the place.
Try portraits at f2.8 with it and 9 times out of 10 you’d have wasted a precious frame. It has to be the most frustrating lens I have ever used. In theory it should be perfect as it’s a classic portrait lens, and a Zeiss G.
But with some patience, when it actually behaves itself and nails the focus you can get some very pleasing photos with it.
This was one such example, I shot two frames of these lads taking a dip in the Upper Jhelum Canal, one with the 45mm Planar and the other with this, with both I managed to capture the boys in mid flight, but this was perfect – I nailed him. If I had had shot at f8 I reckon I’d have frozen him even more, without a hint of motion blur. I shot at f11 to be safe as I didn’t want to risk a wasted frame with this dratted lens. The very very bright light gave me a very fast shutter speed, even at f11 to capture motion and have everything in focus.
It was hot hot day with 100’F temperatures, so I too took a dip and was hanging around with my Contax, just looking for something to photograph when I saw these boys and knew I’d be able to get something nice.
Contax G2, Carl Zeiss 90mm T* f2.8 @ f11, Kodak Ektachrome E100vs, July 2007
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Andrew on Mid Flight on a Hot Summers Day with The Contax G2 90mm Sonnar T* and Ektachome E100vs – A One Shot Story
Comment posted: 25/02/2026
I was out at my vintage car club lunch today, and took along my newest acquisition- a much maligned Nikon 1 series J5 with its 10-30mm power zoom lens. And I am… astonished! I knew that the autofocus was fast, but it’s mind bogglingly so. All you have to do is tap the screen where you want it to expose and focus and the picture is taken in 1-2 10ths of a second. And always exactly in focus. I’ve never had a camera do that. And the resulting pictures are lovely. There is more noise than you would get from a larger sensor, but the noise looks like film grain and isn’t objectionable at all.
But, and there always is a but, I had to try 3 examples of the lens in order to find one which worked ok- the others had decentering issues and awful coma and astigmatism. And just about every other lens type for this camera (including the 10-30 manual zoom) is now dead with a failed aperture motor gear- or if it isn’t dead it shortly will be!
So, I can’t recommend the camera unless you have the patience to try several before you buy, but if you want astonishing autofocus, this is it!