Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/02/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Totally agree with you, Mark. I took one of these little beasts with me to Burma as an M9 backup, but it ended up logging as many frames as the M9! Truly a delightful little camera with great lenses. http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/3708140154/photos I always loved the CL and the Olympus Pen, and the GF-1 is very much a CL + Pen hybrid brought into the 21st century. One of the most intriguing things to me is the concept of the lenses carrying around optical corrections in firmware. I've already gotten some firmware updates for my M4/3 lenses. I wonder what Barnack would have thought of being able to update lens designs with software? I used the Voigtlander adapter to mount M lenses, and it worked very well. Stick to 35mm and longer, though. I did not have very good results with 28mm and wider. -Jim On Feb 2, 2010, at 8:43 AM, Mark Pope wrote: > Having just taken delivery of a GF1 with 20 Pancake lens, my initial > thoughts are that I am going to get along famously with this camera. > Likes: > > - overall build quality > > - size - not too big, not too small. Perfect for Goldilocks :-) > > - ergonomics - it didn't take too long to suss out where everything was. > Why though does a camera need a 196-page manual (see below...) > > - optical quality - which is what really matters isn't it? The first few > prints that I have made are nice an sharp and the colour rendition is > excellent (according to Karin, whose colour vision is much, much better > than mine). > > - autofocus - the face-detection and follow-focus features work very well > indeed. > > Dislikes: > > - the battery/SD card door feels a bit flimsy. It spoils an otherwise > very nicely made camera. > > - vertical pictures are not auto-rotated when imported to Lightroom. I > subsequently discovered that this feature which is known as the 'direction > detection feature', isn't supported with the 20mm pancake lens. Not a > deal-breaker, but as I like to shoot portrait format quite a lot, it's an > annoyance. > > - more modes than you can shake a stick at. I think the camera was dipped > in Complicatonite. There are scene modes: 17 of them, plus the usual > Program, Aperture priority, Shutter Priority, manual, movie, intelligent > auto, two custom modes and one with an artist's pallette, which I have no > idea about. Then there are the flash modes (which I haven't looked at > yet). This little camera is very a la mode! In short, I think it, like > many other cameras of Japanese origin, is too complicated. Features have > been added for three reasons: first because the marketers think it's a > good idea, second because the opposition do it and third because they can. > > In terms of physical size, the body is roughly the same size as a Ricoh > GR1 (film compact) with the lens retracted. The 20mm lens is quite a big > lens and does add considerably to the bulk of the camera (it's not really > pocketable) but the balance is nice. > > For me, the biggest advantage of the GF1 is definitely the 4/3 sensor. > I've used it up to ISO 800 and produced some pleasing prints. Yes, they > are noisy, but whether the noise is acceptable is a personal thing. > > Overall, then I think it's a smashing piece of kit. I haven't tried an > optical finder yet: that's on its way thanks to Nathan. > Is it better than the GRD III? Probably. Whilst the Ricoh is now in its > third generation, I feel that the small sensor will still be a limiting > factor in its overall image quality. I have heard that Panasonic are due > to bring out a 14mm pancake lens, giving a field of view equivalent to a > 28mm. Now that will be an interesting combination! > > I hope you find this useful. Pictures to follow, probably when I post my > PAW on Friday. > > Best wishes > > > Mark > > Mark Pope, > Swindon, Wilts > UK > > Homepage http://www.monomagic.co.uk > Blog http://www.monomagic.co.uk/blog > Picture a week (2010) > http://www.monomagic.co.uk/index.php?gallery=paw/2010 > Picture a week (2009) > http://www.monomagic.co.uk/index.php?gallery=paw/2009 > (2008) http://www.monomagic.co.uk/index.php?gallery=paw/2008 > > > Steve Barbour wrote: >> I'm wondering with the recent interest in the Panasonic GF1 with the 20mm >> pancake lens and an external optical VF, has any used/compared this to >> the Ricoh GRD-III with its 28mm lens and the optional external >> viewfinder... >> I 'd be very interested to hear your thoughts, reactions, comparisons, >> appreciated, >> Steve >> _______________________________________________ >> 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