Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/01/10

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Subject: [Leica] more on the GF-1, the finder, and a portrait of an artist
From: r.s.taylor at comcast.net (Richard Taylor)
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 2010 14:16:57 -0500
References: <9F07836ED74F1C42AA69DFBAF8A1E2F137850B2540@MBX1.asc.local> <416D29F0-B9C1-4A0D-9A8A-C6113682D23D@frozenlight.eu> <93D7E0DE-A562-4DA0-9017-2631D3F0B9F0@gmail.com> <p06230922c76e948087de@[10.0.1.7]>

Henning - How do you setup the camera to make the rear dial to do this?  

> It's quite easy to focus manually. With the latest software you can set it 
> to magnify the image with one press of the multifunction wheel...  


Regards, 

Dick



On Jan 09, 2010, at 3:38 PM, Henning Wulff wrote:

> It's quite easy to focus manually. With the latest software you can set it 
> to magnify the image with one press of the multifunction wheel, so you do 
> that when you focus and then touch the shutter button lightly to get back 
> to composing. It's really quite quick and smooth. You can do it fairly 
> decently with the back screen as well as the electronic viewfinder. The EV 
> is fairly coarse, so while focussing is actuall quite easy and possible, 
> it doesn't give you the confidence a higher resolution screen would give. 
> The coarseness of the screen might be related to the size of the 
> viewfinder, since the better viewfinder of the Olympus EP-2 is a lot 
> bigger, making the camera fairly clumsy in my opinion. Neither are as good 
> as the electronic viewfinder in the G1, so if you're mainly interested in 
> using an electronic viewfinder you're probably best off getting the G1, 
> which with lens isn't any bigger than the GF-1 with electronic viewfinder 
> in every dimension, and you get a better and integrated viewfinder and a 
> swiveling LCD.
> 
> I use the 20/1.7 (since October) mostly with the GF-1 with the VC 
> mini-28-35 finder, and sometimes Leica lenses from 35 on up. The shorter 
> lenses haven't produced satisfactory results, and now that I have the 20 
> haven't been as important.
> 
> I especially like the 50 ASPH; easy to focus, high speed and a good 
> portrait length without being too big. The 75/1.4 is also excellent, but 
> starts being a bit of a handful. The interesting thing is that as you stop 
> down, the view through the viewfinder doesn't get darker but the dof 
> increases.
> 
> 
> 
>> On Jan 9, 2010, at 10:20 AM, Nathan Wajsman wrote:
>> 
>>> Wonderful, Kyle. By coincidence, I received my GF-1 today and have 
>>> tested it a bit this afternoon, inside a bar and on the street. Very 
>>> pleasant indeed. I got it with the 1.7/20mm lens too, but I also have 
>>> the M-MFT adapter, so tomorrow I will test it with my M lenses.
>> 
>> 
>> this all sounds like a very attractive combination, especially with the 
>> Pana 20mm 1.7 lens. If you use it with the electronic viewfinder, 
>> adapter, and manual focus M lenses, how easy is focussing through the 
>> viewfinder? compared to the LCD screen ? Is focussing easy enough to 
>> attract people who care to frequently use their leica M lenses with 
>> manual focus?
>> 
>> thanks,
>> 
>> Steve
>> 
>> 
>>> 
>>> Cheers,
>>> Nathan
>>> 
>>> Nathan Wajsman
>>> Alicante, Spain
>>> http://www.frozenlight.eu
>>> http://www.greatpix.eu
>>> http://www.nathanfoto.com
>>> 
>>> Books: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/search?search=wajsman&x=0&y=0
>>> PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws
>>> Blog: http://www.fotocycle.dk/blog
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Jan 9, 2010, at 5:44 PM, Kyle Cassidy wrote:
>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 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
>>>> 
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Leica Users Group.
>>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Leica Users Group.
>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Leica Users Group.
>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> 
> -- 
> 
>   *            Henning J. Wulff
>  /|\      Wulff Photography & Design
> /###\   mailto:henningw at archiphoto.com
> |[ ]|     http://www.archiphoto.com
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information



In reply to: Message from kcassidy at asc.upenn.edu (Kyle Cassidy) ([Leica] more on the GF-1, the finder, and a portrait of an artist)
Message from photo at frozenlight.eu (Nathan Wajsman) ([Leica] more on the GF-1, the finder, and a portrait of an artist)
Message from steve.barbour at gmail.com (Steve Barbour) ([Leica] more on the GF-1, the finder, and a portrait of an artist)
Message from henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff) ([Leica] more on the GF-1, the finder, and a portrait of an artist)