Contax S2 Review & What I HATE About This Camera

[@acmhc8]

Hi friend, I wanted to correct something for you on how to use the spot meter for this camera. The instruction manual is actually incorrect. I just tested the S2 spot meter vs. my sekonic L-758DR and they gave me identical readings. What does this mean? It means that the Contax S2 spot meter is reading 18% gray! It is not telling you which shutter speed you should use; it is telling you which shutter speed will put whatever you're pointing at 18% gray. If you shoot at that shutter speed a Caucasian skin tone you're going to have underexposure, generally, unless it's an artistic choice. I won't assume if you know how to use a spot meter or not, but this camera is amazing if you apply proper spot metering technique with it to understand the scene before choosing your shutter speed. Cheers!

[@branislavboba1699]

I love this camera. I've had a Leica M4-2, I've had a Contax 167MT (and many other cameras) and seriously believe the S2 is the best 35mm camera ever made. Including the spot meter which I think is perfect. You just have to know how metering works.

[@contaxpaulharrison942]

I really like my S2, I think you simply need to try a different approach use the zone system, and take a meter reading on an area that you know will give a correct reading or one that you know the zone for and apply the appropriate correction for it. Once you have set the aperture and shutter speed on the camera and know it is correct, it doesn't matter what the meter is doing when reframing just ignore it. You are always going to struggle with a completely manual camera in changeable light conditions anyway, it works in stable lighting and the meter reading only matters when you are setting up the aperture and shutter speed. An exposure lock is meaningless on a manual camera as the camera does not use the meter reading to control the aperture and shutter speed. The viewfinder on tis camera is stunning particularly with F1.4 lenses very positive confirmation when you are in focus. If you want a camera with more sophisticated metering but the same viewfinder try a Contax aria.

[@phedacbiet]

I will definitely need to try this method out. I love my S2.

[@throtol]

I have been thinking about getting this camera for my upcoming birthday. I already own a Contax iia, RTS and RX cameras plus a Yashica FX-3 Super. The RTS, RX and FX-3 use the CY lenses, so I can use them on all of my Kyocera family cameras. I am fond of mechanical cameras and titanium. Furthermore, I do not have to worry about lenses. A few months ago, I purchased two Contax N lenses that I use with an adapter for my Fujifilm camera. The colors are simply amazing. The downside is that the lenses are built to be automatic, so it is frustrating at times to maneuver the lenses. I will likely get the S2, but will probably first get the Contax N.

[@kelvinzyteng]

I think this camera meter is build for zone system. Maybe u can try to learn about zone system to get the right exposure. You can try this > fix either your shutter or aperture, find the area in your composition that u want it to be darkest with details (Zone 3 in zone system) take the reading with the in-camera spot meter (the in-camera spotmeter will take reading as the Zone 5), then set 2 stops under. For example, you fix ur aperture F/8, ur shutter read on the darkest shadow with details is 1/30, then you set ur shutter 2 stops down which is 1/125. Take the photo.

[@ashleyshearin3175]

I'm floored that it seems no one knows how to use this camera. You scan and read your scene with the spot meter then hit the depth of field preview button to turn it off. That's All you have to do! It does mention it in the manual and it is a tragedy for someone with so many viewers to malign such a precise and beautiful piece equipment that is dedicated to the purist. People do harm ranting about something they don't understand. Bob Dylan said best in " The times they are a changing".

[@voradorlinux]

Hi! I'm wondering what makes you believe the film advance lever is made out of plastic. My CONTAX S2 lever is made of cast metal. Maybe depends on when it was built? My serial number is 009175 and does not have the "60 Years" thing on the front of the camera. Also, I understand your frustration with the light meter but honestly this is the best light meter if you shoot Zone System! First ignore the blinking number as that's just the current selected shutter speed. Then using the meter is as easy as selecting the desired aperture, then measure the shadow's spot record the suggested shutter, then measure the highlight's spot record the suggested shutter. Then the actual shutter speed for the composition will be right in the middle or 1 stop down if delta is an odd number. For example, if you want to shoot your composition at f5.6 you measure the shadow spot for which you desire some texture, let's say it's 60. Then measure for the highlight in your composition for which you want detail, let's say it's 2000. Then, for that composition your shutter speed should be 250.

[@thijskennis8757]

Hahaha that joke at the end had me laughing out loud 😂 Subscribed!

[@_joka9]

11:50 this made my day hahaha + you made me buy 2 contax cameras since the last video.. now im looking at the s2b.... xD

[@OneYearWithFilmOnly]

Man you’re in trouble! There’s no turning back from Contax 🤣 which ones did you get ?

[@_joka9]

@@OneYearWithFilmOnly RTS + 137 (but only because it had the 1.7/50 and another lens in the set, will probably sell the 137 again haha)

[@jordanbouwer8081]

I felt sorry for you that it didn't live up to your expectations in the simplest of ways. Liked the disco reference as well 😂.

[@JP1050x]

Great review... the best on KZbin! :D I recently picked up a S2, and it’s one of the nicest SLR’s I’ve ever used. Nikon F2 edges it out in build quality. The S2 film advance lever is definitely made out of metal though. It’s nice and solid, as with the rest of the camera.

[@coryblessman6773]

That meter would definitely be annoying to me. A fully mechanical 1/4000 shutter however is very appealing to me. I shoot with a Leica m3 which is also fully mechanical but I’m limited to 1/1000th. Depending on how much the s2 costs I would buy it and just shoot it without a battery. Is the FM2 mechanical as well??

[@bobbytoubtoub6606]

Bonjour... C'est pour ça que j'ai plutot choisi le CONTAX S2B... avec une mesure plus simple d'utilisation et moins de tatonnements, pour un résultat exceptionnel également 😉. J'ai moins aussi plusieurs boitiers CONTAX (ou YASHICA) dont le 137 MD, le 167 MT... et en Objectifs les CZ 25 f/2,5; 35f/2,8 ; 50 f/1,7 ; 85 f/2,8 ; 135 f/2,8 et le 180 f/2,8! Tous exceptionnels ... On se comprend je pense

[@echmiel]

Question for you on the light meter... I just picked up this camera last week. I realize the lights flicker a lot, but I seem to be getting up to 3 lights ALL flashing at once.. Did this ever occur to you? I am wondering if it's an issue with the metering system.. I thought one was supposed to be solid, with the singular flashing light depending on what your camera is metering. Sometimes I'll have two lights flashing side-by-side, and a 3rd flashing somewhere else on the scale. Great review by the way, thanks for posting this!

[@OneYearWithFilmOnly]

Yes mine was exactly the same. My guess is that the correct exposure is right in between 2 shutter speeds so both flickers. Then the third one I guess is the one set on the camera.

[@joaomachado8900]

You must be joking, oh man you must be joking. The camera is a joy!

[@JP1050x]

Great video. I really like my mechanical Kyocera branded (Cosina) Yashica FX3 2000. But, the Yashica is a little light for heavy Contax lenses.

[@argentique2.040]

Hahaha it looks like you won't be getting another one 😂 but I'd like a disco camera!! Thanks for this review 🙏

[@philmtx3fr]

And finally you are perhaps half an Italian with your hand but 100% French with your accent :)… and your wife is at 11:51 200% a pure wife of photographer/collector :))

[@almciver1863]

Great Video mate! Love my 139Q but have been looking at getting an S2 to upgrade primarily to get a faster shutter. The issues you describe with the spot meter though would drive me insane so i'm veering towards an Aria instead.

[@dougjarvis3824]

I have the s2 and love it, one of my personal favourites.

[@wahyuprasojo5148]

6:16 new street candy ofcourse 😁😁

[@KonradSarnowski]

Oh man, that was really entartaining video :D Loved those comedic moments XD

[@OneYearWithFilmOnly]

Thanks a lot! It was fun shooting this one 😂

[@coenw7497]

Just discoverd your channel and really enjoy it!

[@tomislavmiletic_]

Why Contax didn't go with + / o / - LED's in the viewfinder like Nikon FM2 is beyond me. Why Contax didn't go with combined spot AND centre weighted meter like Leica R 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 etc or Olympus OM 3 / 4 / 3Ti / 4Ti is beyond me. Maybe it was too complex thinking for Contax at that time. Thus they don't exist anymore. By the way, Olympus OM3Ti is also a full mechanical body, works fine without any batteries, has amazing metering capabilities, goes up to 1/2000 th/sec, and is also made from titanium. Sadly, it also suffers from being rare and extortionately expensive...

[@diwi7659]

Justement le Contax S2 me plaisait beaucoup par le fait de son design, son mécanisme et sa monture d'objectifs mais c'est vrai que les deux principaux défauts pour moi qui sont ce spot metter et le fait qu'il n'y ai pas d'indicateur d'ouverture de diaphragme dans le viseur ça décourage un peu... C'est vrai que Nikon FM2 est une bonne alternative pour un appareil mécanique mais Nikon FM3A est encore meilleur avec son hybridation et donc un mode aperture priorité... En tout cas bonne vidéo et intéressant avis! Fais un reviex sur toute ta collection ;)

[@OneYearWithFilmOnly]

Merci pour ton commentaire! Oui c’est dommage car il est presque parfait ce petit S2. J’ai du pain sur la planche si je dois faire une review de tous mes appareils 😅

[@marloncrutchfield1625]

GREAT VIDEO!!!! Lots of good information - I bought my copy - the meter doesn't work at all. I like that it doesn't work. Like my Leica M4 I doesn't have a meter neither does my Rolleiflex. Give yourself some time with the camera before you decide to cast it aside. JMHO

[@OneYearWithFilmOnly]

Glad you enjoyed it. True that without meter it’s a great camera

[@marcp.1752]

You're lucky if it still could being repaired, otherwise, use the Sunny-16 rule.

[@lynays]

Such a good video!! @shotsbybelg 😊😊 congrats again!!

[@richardhale9664]

The S2 is really nice, but there is a couple of annoyances. It was an expensive premium camera when launched, yet it has a nasty plastic film window and the take up spool also has plastic notches. Then there is the metering system. Oh dear, the disco metering is just plain stupid. Nothing wrong with spot meter per se, just the way it is implemented. They could have used a separate meter button like on the Yashica FX3. The FX3 is by the way a very cheap and and nice alternative and you still get to use Zeiss lenses. I paid £15 plus £10 for new leatherette kit for mine. Any way back to the S2, I find the best way to use it is to throw away the batteries and use sunny 16 rule or a separate meter. It is after all supposed to be a purist camera! Incidentally the reason the shutter is so loud is because it goes to 1/4000 sec. requiring stronger springs and a vertical shutter. I personally would have preferred a slower top speed of 1/1000 sec. and a horizontal cloth shutter for a nicer experience, but one cannot deny that the fast shutter has its uses occasionally. Other quality alternatives are the FM2, as mentioned, but this still has a very loud shutter and feels like it was built in a tractor factory, Olympus OM1, Pentax MX (the best viewfinder IMO of these small mechanical SLRs) or any of the Fujica ST801,705 or 605 models. My personal favourite is the Fujica ST801n. If one has the funds a Leica R6 is very desirable but the lens range is limited and very expensive.

[@Eliehbk]

What’s wrong with a Nikon fm2n?

[@northof-62]

Spot metering isn't that bad if you make two readings; one of the highlights and one of the shadows and place your shot in the middle. I've had 100% keepers with this method. You don't have to meter every shot if you shoot similarly lit scenes in a session. So use the camera meter as a hand held spot meter is what I'm saying. I usually take a reading for the backlit scenes and another for the normally lit scenes. If it's overcast, you normally need to use the meter only once for most of the day, unless the weather is changing fast. Just remember to open up a couple of stops shooting into dark shadows. You'll soon get the feel of it.

[@VitalyporAmor]

Can not agree more, Sir! This metring system is a MUST for ZONE SYSTEM photographer. Just my 0.05$. Cheers!

[@northof-62]

@@VitalyporAmor agree on that!

[@rangganarkuv9392]

OMG!! This camera really awesome. I have never used this camera, but this really cool ☺️

[@fellowcitizen]

Haha subbed but why not remove the battery and shoot freehand?

[@OneYearWithFilmOnly]

hard to live without light meter for me

[@fellowcitizen]

@@OneYearWithFilmOnly fair enough :)

[@NicoManansala]

Hello, can you make tutorial how to replace the mirror on this camera.

[@jorgeestrada2672]

Lastima que esta marca no pudo integrarse al mundo de lo digital. Tenía mucha calidad.

[@philmtx3fr]

Well it seems you didn t choose the good model. The S2 is not as you say for people who wants simplicity… it s for people who knows the light and rather the zone system. With a spot system yo need to mesure highlights and low lights and then choose the good compromise for your picture. That’s all. True that it would have been better to have the choice (Leica R have this fonctionnality if you want to have good lenses too). But for those who can play with spot meter it s a jewel :). Note that Pentax at the beginning of the spotmatic when it was first presented it was with a spot metering… but when they decided to sold it several months after it was an average metering system :). Contax did the opposite some decades after. Now if you want a good Contax with a good metering system, the RTSII should be considered. It s not expensive, reliable and build like a tank.

[@SimonGarnier]

Sell your S2 and for the price of it, buy yourself two OM-1(n) cameras instead. I have two that I take with me every time I travel somewhere I won't be able to find batteries easily. One is equipped with a 50mm, the other with a 28mm, and I have no issue carrying both of them all day long. The meter is plenty accurate in regular lighting situations, the mechanics of the camera is buttery smooth, and having all the essential controls on the lens instead of being spread out between the lens and the body is a pure joy IMO.

[@OneYearWithFilmOnly]

I would if I wasn’t married to my Zeiss glass, and my wife 🤣

[@rajs4719]

Great video man

[@memonk11]

It doesn’t “change you exposure”. It’s manual. You change it. And knowing where to take your reading is photography 101.

[@JBubbs]

Nikon F3/T also has plastic film advance lever, so it's not that exotic for a premium pro body, but ommiting the badly implemented spot meter the most annoying is that utterly wrong control design concept in which Contax was so persistent throughout all these years. Shutter speed dial on the left is a no-no, it has ZERO advantages. I got myself a Planar 50 mm 1.4 and I'm going to buy Aria to try it with film - fortunately Aria has aperture priority, and flexible selection of metering modes, so possibly I will forgive some riddiculous design trademarks of Contax;)

[@muffemod]

10/10 review merci!

[@analogjxxk7427]

Congrats on the 30k! @analogjxxk

[@pdiseris]

Solution, take out the battery and use sunny 16 rule.

[@mugreGTv6]

Just use the camera without batteries and use sunny16 rule :P

[@ΙωάννηςΠοδάρας]

Nice!

[@photobobo]

What's the problem? You knew that it had a spot meter when you bought it. You could had got the S2b instead.

[@zeppelin495]

you are the french guy cooking of photography

[@normanfairbrass7275]

S2b ?

[@danielwoo5499]

LOL very nice and funny video

[@OneYearWithFilmOnly]

Thanks 😊

[@CarlosBaselga]

Nice and trusty 35mm SLR. @cralisare 👈

[@emilyjakes6512]

“It’s a lot of trial and error... mostly error” 😂 Excellent review! IG: @emjonfilm 📸

[@RocketC0ck]

Really good looking camera! Your style to present this piece of tech is really entertaining! @analog_input

[@Johan-vw2te]

Here we go! @coldstored

[@philmtx3fr]

You say the view finder is almost as good as you Nikon f2… well not so difficult for a camera 20 years more recent :)

[@aflahmahesaagni8055]

Looks like a great camera! Anyway, congratulations on hitting 30k followers on Instagram! IG: @randomshot.s

[@annebrissot6125]

Only tried Minolta cameras so far but can't wait to try new ones!! IG: anne.brsst

[@jimjimhuerta]

Dig it! @jimjimhurta

[@kamop11]

Love a good mechanical camera @ponytailboiii

[@basschurink]

@basshootsfilm 👍

[@terencemorrissey4413]

Do I see some cat hairs?

[@tiesloeffen242]

Never tried a contax camera before, but I've heard some amazing things about them!! @tiesloeffen

[@baltimore972]

Nice review 👍🏽 IG : @AaronBaltimore

[@xipishi]

hahahahh, good cover.

[@kirkcharlebois8203]

Would love to shoot with this camera! IG @kirkcphoto & @kirkcfilm

[@manuberbegal5867]

IG: @manuberbegal

[@scracha1]

@35mmPelicula

[@aless564]

loved the video. @_pradaboynine

[@froidwitty5220]

Excellent review! IG: @froid_witty

[@Fatiimaaaaa]

I love this camera! I've tried this one once and I loved it so much! Great design too! Instagram: @fatimamouafik

[@MichaStiller]

Never touched a Contax... @casademicha

[@glennwarner1200]

Gwarnerphoto

[@sadikjamaledit]

Always wanted to try it. @sadikjamal

[@joyduarte1634]

I'd love to own one of these someday! Great review IG: @joy_duarte

[@SECONDARYscheme]

Nice video. @aaronm.jpg

[@mckl1791]

Nice one. @mckldplmt

[@MrLucaeLuca]

@filmshootersgroup

[@Alvaro93pb]

Just for the lenses is worth it IG: @_picsfrommars

[@ericgonzales6203]

@e_wreckg - instagram 17 rolls of film!

[@craftedcine]

@naghibernardphotographer

[@erioneri2366]

Do you wanna sell it to me? :)

[@OneYearWithFilmOnly]

Sure! DM me on insta

[@germandubliner9009]

IG: Germandubliner This film advance lever is almost that bad like the speed dial ring of the new Leica MP!! Plastic, no thanks 👎🏻

[@maxencelemoine4190]

Thanks for this review (ig : lemoimax_35mm)

[@AndreaBianchiiaia]

I’d love to try this camera! @andreaiaia

[@Viajedelser]

I would love this body with 35mm. Ig: up_indaclouds

[@wahyuprasojo5148]

ahahaha those lm is so sucks

[@jordanbouwer8081]

@abookofsquares

[@butapioka]

Wish I had the money to buy a contax @entahdoe is my Instagram handle huhu

[@joshuafontarum874]

this camera seems great! :) Ig: iram.dump