[Leica] more on the GF-1, the finder, and a portrait of an artist

[kcassidy at asc.upenn.edu (Kyle Cassidy)]

I'm finding the GF-1 with the 20mm f 1.7 an awesome ... really, substitute 
for what I used to use my Leica for. Though it gets noisy at 400 asa, the 
lens is fast enough and sharp enough that I'm finding it not difficult to 
shoot in relatively low light situations at 100 or 200 ASA and for 
on-the-fly portraits, it's been fabulous -- two photos of the painter John 
Ennis (www.johnennis.com)

http://www.kylecassidy.com/lj/2010/john-ennis-1.jpg
http://www.kylecassidy.com/lj/2010/john-ennis-2.jpg

I really like having JUST A CAMERA in my _pocket_. It seems when I leave the 
house with the Leica d700 I'm always thinking "well, I need to take the 85 
1.8 because it's an awesome lens. but it's too telephoto for a lot of stuff, 
so i'd better take a mid range zoom. Oh, and heck, the room might be 
crowded, so I'd better bring the fisheye, cause it's small and all. Heck, if 
I'm bringing that I should bring a flash, and I can't bring the flash 
without the cable, because on camera flash blows......" and now my back 
hurts.

The electronic viewfinder (i wanted to do a macro through the lens but it's 
not in the cards) isn't a gimic -- its really useful. I MUCH MUCH MUCH 
prefer shooting through a viewfinder to using the screen on the back of the 
camera, i'd consider the finder part of the camera (i.e. don't get one 
without the other). it's a low resolution LCD but it's fine for composing, 
you know what the scene looks like (if you forget, just open your other 
eye). i don't think an optical finder will work nearly as well, because you 
have your exposure and FOCUS info in the electronic finder as well and you 
needs that. you can also change the angle of the finder and look straight 
down into it if you'd like, useful for shooting straight up or around 
corners (you can totally hold the camera around a corner and look through 
the finder -- i don't know why you would, but you can).

it's surprisingly loud. the shutter goes off with a "CLICK" you can feel, 
seriously, it's like a tiny mousetrap went off inside the camera. by default 
focus is also acknowledged by a chirp (you can turn off sounds).

and it's FAST, like a lot faster than i can wind and shoot a leica (you can 
probably kick it's butt with a rapidwinder, but you won't accidentally stab 
yourself in the leg with this one. This really is the digital LikaLeica I've 
been waiting for.  It just needs a couple of stickers.


I am totally listening to Led Zeppelin IV right now.

kc