Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/05/11

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

Subject: [Leica] Panasonic G1/Leica 28 mm Summicron
From: r.s.taylor_post at comcast.net (Richard Taylor)
Date: Mon, 11 May 2009 12:15:20 -0400
References: <F6FD67B4-69E9-45D1-8033-4041F6AA4558@comcast.net> <93BA42F3-9223-4578-9418-4ED65768B13B@ralgo.nl>

Thanks Bruce.  I was impressed how well the restaurant shots worked,  
too, especially since I was working at f2.0 between 1/15th and 1/6th  
of a second.  The camera is really easy to hold steady.

The outdoor shots need more processing.  I wanted to show the LUG what  
the pictures looked like straight from the camera.

Boy, re-reading my post reminds me how rushed I was this morning.  :-)


On May 11, 2009, at 10:24 AM, bruce golding wrote:

> thanx for the review, dick.
>
> shots look real good, especially inside.
>
> b.
>
> On 11-mei-2009, at 15:02, Richard S. Taylor wrote:
>
>> I bought a Panasonic G1 and M-4/3rds adapter last week and thought  
>> you would be interested in an initial user's report.  Six of the  
>> photos I took with this combination can be found at:
>>
>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/rtaylor/PICKS/panasonic+G1/
>> or
>> http://tinyurl.com/o7fnbg
>>
>> Since I expect to travel to Japan for the first time this summer, I  
>> wanted a small, lightweight, travel camera with a reasonable sensor  
>> size and capable of producing really nice results.  I think I've  
>> found it.
>>
>> Some initial impressions:
>>
>> * The EVF works fine for manually focussing and framing in dim  
>> light and bright without invoking the magnified view down to about  
>> f4.0.  Smaller than that I needed to magnify the view.  Since (I  
>> read) it runs at 60 Hz in bright light the finder has no more delay  
>> than a typical DSLR and with the usual anticipation I found I could  
>> catch the peak of the action pretty reliably.  I dim light (and at  
>> very small apertures) it slows to 15 Hz and I quickly learned to  
>> slide the camera slight to the right and use my left eye to catch  
>> the action.  This works really well and is better, IMO, than  
>> putting an optical finder on the top of the camera.
>>
>> * It quickly became apparent that a couple of firmware changes  
>> would be nice to have:
>>      - One-button selection of the magnified view (it now takes two)
>>      - An option to have a magnified spot in the center of the field with
>>        an option to have it on all the time.
>>
>> * On my camera, anyway, the front dial exposure compensation  
>> function in Aperture Exposure mode cannot be turned off.  This led  
>> to some heavy confusion until I realized what was happening.  This  
>> does not happen in Programmed Exposure mode and once I switched to  
>> it my exposures became consistent.  If anyone knows of a menu  
>> setting change I could make to fix this, please let me know.
>>
>> * The indoor shots were taken at ISO 400 (1st shot) and 800 (latter  
>> two) in a very dark French restaurant.  It sure looks to me that  
>> ISO 800 is nicely usable.  The outdoor shots were at ISO 200.  The  
>> posted pictures were shot in RAW, converted to DNG and processed in  
>> Lightroom with only exposure (to fix the exposure compensation  
>> errors noted above).  They all look a little pastel for my taste  
>> and I will probably boost both contrast and saturation in my  
>> workflow on output from this camera.  I didn't try higher than  
>> 800.  (The food was too good and I got distracted.)
>>
>> * All these were taken with the 28 Summicron except the Nobska  
>> photo which was taken with the new rangefinder focussing Cosina 15  
>> mm.
>>
>> * The few photos I took with the 14-45 kit lens look pretty nice,  
>> too, but I hardly spent any time with it and can't really comment  
>> beyond that.
>>
>> That's it for now.   More later, I expect.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Dick
>> off-list comments to r.s.taylor at comcast dot net please.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> 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



In reply to: Message from r.s.taylor_post at comcast.net (Richard S. Taylor) ([Leica] Panasonic G1/Leica 28 mm Summicron)
Message from leica at ralgo.nl (bruce golding) ([Leica] Panasonic G1/Leica 28 mm Summicron)