Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/01/11

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Subject: [Leica] more on the GF-1, the finder, and a portrait of an artist
From: steve.barbour at gmail.com (Steve Barbour)
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2010 09:13:12 -0800
References: <9F07836ED74F1C42AA69DFBAF8A1E2F137850B2540@MBX1.asc.local> <416D29F0-B9C1-4A0D-9A8A-C6113682D23D@frozenlight.eu> <93D7E0DE-A562-4DA0-9017-2631D3F0B9F0@gmail.com> <p06230922c76e948087de@[10.0.1.7]> <717297.5435.qm@web45202.mail.sp1.yahoo.com> <A9190637-E41D-4A69-97E7-0FE9FD6AA2B8@comcast.net>

On Jan 11, 2010, at 7:16 AM, Richard Taylor wrote:

> Joe - I know you were asking Henning, but since I have both, I thought I'd 
> comment as well.  I got the GF-1 specifically so I could use an optical 
> finder with the Lumix 20mm pancake lens.  It's a great combination.  You 
> can't easily use an optical finder on the G-1.  I use the G-1 with my 
> Leica lenses, use the EVF for focus and framing, and open my left eye to 
> decide the moment of exposure. 
> 
> They're both great cameras but enough different in use to have both.


so GF1, Pana 20/1.7, optical VF, sounds wonderful...assume only for auto 
focus...


do you use any Leica M lenses with manual focus? what's best in that 
situation?  where did you get the optical VF,  

Dick...?  which one? 


thanks,


Steve
> 
> Regards, 
> 
> Dick
> 
> 
> 
> On Jan 11, 2010, at 7:15 AM, joe leung wrote:
> 
>> Dear Henning,
>> 
>> I have the G1 and love it's EVF. Is GF1 so much better than the G1 as to 
>> warrant trading up?
>> 
>> Best Regards,
>> Joe Leung
>> (Still in Hong Kong)
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> ________________________________
>> From: Henning Wulff <henningw at archiphoto.com>
>> To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
>> Sent: Sun, January 10, 2010 4:38:55 AM
>> Subject: Re: [Leica] more on the GF-1, the finder, and a portrait of an 
>> artist
>> 
>> 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
>> 
>> 
>> 
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>> _______________________________________________
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> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information



Replies: Reply from henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff) ([Leica] more on the GF-1, the finder, and a portrait of an artist)
Reply from r.s.taylor at comcast.net (Richard Taylor) ([Leica] more on the GF-1, the finder, and a portrait of an artist)
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)
Message from olivegm3 at yahoo.ca (joe leung) ([Leica] more on the GF-1, the finder, and a portrait of an artist)
Message from r.s.taylor at comcast.net (Richard Taylor) ([Leica] more on the GF-1, the finder, and a portrait of an artist)