Found my answer... YES, to both models... Good
Both have an option to leave the leader out on rewind.

Talk to me about "LCD bleed" if you do not mind... what exactly is it and what would i use the LCD for?
KEH is selling G1 w/ LCD bleed for $96...

LCD bleeding is either a fading or the digital display or leaking of the display. It can literally look like oil on water.

hmmm... and what information does the LCD display? Would I need the LCD for anything if I am just shooting away with a 28mm on autofocus/autoexposure? (like a big p+s)

This is what LCD bleed looks like. You can see part of the right LCD is black at the edges:

The G1 (and as far as I remember the G2 as well) has three LCD's - the in-finder main info display, and the film counter and left hand info display on the body. The latter is rather irrelevant (and I haven't seen a failed one so far), but if the main display in the finder fails, the camera loses much of its functionality - this is the only AE/meter display and the only distance meter display, so that its failure reduces the camera to either blind all auto P&S or all manual scale focus. Most common are partial counter failures at the bottom edge (as depicted above) - these are an aesthetic rather than an operational flaw. Even a total counter failure is pretty much survivable unless you are a low-volume consumer type shooter.

Who says the G90 is hard to focus on the Contax G1? It can even manage action shots!


83990010.JPG by kafe-pic, on Flickr

OK, I'll admit I don't have a 100% hit rate, but neither would I if I tried similar shots with the M4 and f5.6 DOF.

So we all know that the Contax G1+G2 viewfinders are by no means amazing in terms of size and clarity. I did notice that for use with the 21mm lens, there is a separate viewfinder. If I got a 50mm external viewfinder for use with the 45mm lens, would the auto focus point be accurate using it?

Do you have a VF in mind that has a crosshair or something similar in the middle? or would you just guestimate the AF point?

The biggest negatve I can see is that you would be giving up one of the few "focus confirmation" --I use the term VERY loosely-- of the Contax G: the distance scale in the viefinder. While it's far from being a good focusing tool, you can at least get a sense of whether you are in the neighborhood or not.

Interesting. I was thinking of, like, drawing in a crosshair or center dot on a Voigtlander viewfinder or something along those lines. Whatever maybe it's worth it to try.