Nowadays it is deemed important for cameras to have a distinct target market. Entry level, amateur, semi-pro and professional cameras are slotted into most manufacturers ranges. Yet in the dim and not so distant past things were very different. In the sixties and early seventies cameras were merely "good" or "not-so-good". Many models much as the Leica M and Pentax Spotmatic series were popular with professional and amateur alike.
Such, today, is the status of the Contax S2 and S2b. They lack many of the defining features of a modern professional 35mm SLR such as winder connections, viewfinder indication of aperture and adjustable dioptre viewfinder - but equally are much too expensive for the amateur tag.
There are other contradictions too. While in some ways the S2 build quality is exemplary, in others it is downright clunky. At first sight the S2 is a vision to behold, tastefully styled with typically Contax chunky prism, and finished in what can only be described as sandblasted titanium and beautiful grainy black leather.
If anything the S2b is even easier to fall for with its deep blue-black gunmetal finish. The only other difference between the models is that the S2 is equipped with spot metering only, while the S2b has centre weighted only.
On the left side of the prism everything fits and works perfectly. The 12-6400 ISO film speed dial has a simple and effective safety lock, and clicks with great precision between each 1/3 stop increment - it also overhangs the body by the perfect amount, and has a fluted rubber rim. Atop this is a solidly-machined rewind crank that inspires confidence. Just below it on the front of the camera is the requisite PC socket.
On the right-hand side of the prism and lens mount, alas, things are a little less together. The film advance lever is well designed and made of tough-looking cast alloy. It makes an annoying ratchetty noise when used, but is otherwise very positive. Set below it is a fiddly and decidedly un-positive multi exposure lever that must be held with the tip of your fingernail while advancing the film advance lever. Is this to make its accidently use almost impossible?
The shutter speed dial is reminiscent of mechanical Contax-mount Yashica controls, and positive if a little stiff. Speeds are clearly marked and there is a good serrated rubber edge. The speeds increase in an anti-clockwise direction, but it takes very little time to adjust to this minor eccentricity in practice.
A more serious drawback is that the dial is set well back from the front edge of the top plate. This means that your finger must curl round the shutter release to turn it without moving the camera from your eye - which makes it all too easy to actuate the concentric shutter lock and results in the odd missed shot. I must also say that the mirror makes a rather sharp clank, perhaps a shade too like an old Praktica for comfort. My main gripe, however, is reserved for the depth of field preview plunger - although we should be thankful that it at least has one - which is sharp, plastic, and protrudes to the right from the base of the lens throat. This means that when holding the camera it is almost guaranteed to make contact with a stray finger, and if you do touch it, you find it has a sharp recoil action when the shutter is fired - most uncomfortable.
The viewfinder is large and entirely suitable for spectacle wearers. The screen is grainy, sacfrificing a little brightness to give superior indication of depth of field. Exposure is adjusted according to a slightly tricky display of red-illuminated constant and flashing shutter speeds down the side of the viewfinder, more similar to that used on the manual over-ride on many 1980s automatic SLRs than to a dedicated manual camera. This makes exposure adjustment rather laborious, especially with no aperture indication in the finder.
Both models were tested with the same Carl Zeiss 35-70mm f3.4 Vario Sonnar. It showed excellent qualities of sharpness, contrast, geometry and colour correction - and astounding freedom from flare even with the sun in the frame. It is a beautifully built lens, not small, but with a constant maximum aperture and optical quality to match a fixed focal length standard lens.
As expected, careful use of the S2's spotmetering provided accurate results allowing good control of shadow detail, while deliberate careless use of the S2b's centre weighted metering showed the usual under exposure of shaded areas. When used with care - keeping bright sky and specular reflections out of the frame - the S2b turned in equally accurate results. Remember, lack of care with spot metering can also produce erroneous exposures.
Ergonomic flaws aside, there is much to commend in the purely mechanical S2 and S2b. Shutter speeds run from a second and Bulb right up to 1/4,000 - much better than messing with ND filters! The flash sync speed is a very handy 1/250, and there is a conventionally threaded cable release socket - a rarity these days. Use of plastic in construction has been kept to an absolute minimum, and the camera looks the part, which for the better part of �2,000 ($3,000) with a lens, it should.
These will never be cameras that are quick to use, but for the photographer hankering the robust, reliable and accurate, with access to a selection of top notch optics and a traditional layout, they can be recommended.
A redesigned S2 with the stop-down plunger changed, damped mirror action and quiet wind-on, better viewfinder information and a winder option would, for me, be close to 35mm SLR nirvana.