Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Panasonic G1 - Show stopper  (Read 2452 times)

neil74

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 25
Panasonic G1 - Show stopper
« on: February 12, 2009, 07:07:14 am »

I had decided to get one of these and went to the shop for a play today, after a few minutes I was very impressed and was about to buy when I decided to test the manual focus...

I knew that the MF was fly by wire and had no problem wth that as I assumed that like every other fbw system I had tried that the focus distance was displayed on the screen.  It's not, yes you get a nice magnified view but that is not good enough for me.

I left the shop really disappointed what a shame.  My search for a compact landscape companion continues..
Logged

Dale_Cotton2

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 109
    • http://daystarvisions.com
Panasonic G1 - Show stopper
« Reply #1 on: February 12, 2009, 09:01:56 am »

Neil: good catch! Amazing that we can read a dozen reviews on the Internet and there's still something like that lurking in the wings. Of course, each of us is going to have a different shopping list of make/break features. In my case the problem is that I need above-average high ISO capability, and the G1's noise levels sky-rocket at ISOs above 1000 or so. I'd also much prefer sensor-based IS. Like you, the G1 is a camera I really wanted to buy.

Nevertheless, the amazing thing for me is just how close to perfect Panny got this camera on the first try.
Logged

neil74

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 25
Panasonic G1 - Show stopper
« Reply #2 on: February 12, 2009, 10:51:26 am »

Quote from: Dale_Cotton2
Neil: good catch! Amazing that we can read a dozen reviews on the Internet and there's still something like that lurking in the wings. Of course, each of us is going to have a different shopping list of make/break features. In my case the problem is that I need above-average high ISO capability, and the G1's noise levels sky-rocket at ISOs above 1000 or so. I'd also much prefer sensor-based IS. Like you, the G1 is a camera I really wanted to buy.

Nevertheless, the amazing thing for me is just how close to perfect Panny got this camera on the first try.

I already have a couple of D700's in my Nikon kit so high iso is not a priority.

I am still tempted by the G1 I'll admit, I was all set to get a D90 16-85 combo but in the UK that was over a £1000 and I do not really want to spend that much on another crop sensor Nikon, I can smell a D700x later this year and will be all over it like a rash if it does appear.  Sorry I'm rambling back to the G1, with cashback the kit is £439 here in the UK which is great value really.  Looking at the lenses due out this year on micro 4/3 none have a distance scale so maybe a firmware solution is possible?  I understand that the data is available so in theory it could happen.
Logged

Dale_Cotton2

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 109
    • http://daystarvisions.com
Panasonic G1 - Show stopper
« Reply #3 on: February 12, 2009, 11:36:59 am »

Quote from: neil74
I already have a couple of D700's in my Nikon kit so high iso is not a priority.
I'll say!

Quote from: neil74
Looking at the lenses due out this year on micro 4/3 none have a distance scale so maybe a firmware solution is possible?  I understand that the data is available so in theory it could happen.
Panasonic has a distance scale on the LX1 I've owned for several years now; so they certainly know how to do it. It might be they felt the visual scale was redundant on top of the magnification feature. Or there might have been some technical conflict that prevented implementing both. But it also occurs to me that they might not be able to implement it when the G1 is used with legacy 4/3rds lenses so they decided to leave it out all together, rather than have yet another caveat in the manual and associated user complaints. It could even be that the scale feature is right there in the current firmware but disabled for any of the above reasons. In that case it could be restored via hacking, even if Panasonic doesn't want to budge (which I suspect would be the case.)

Incidentally, there is rumour that Olympus will announce its own micro 4/3rds camera at the PMA trade show later this month. It's also conceivable that Panasonic would announce the G1 version with video. My guess is that it's still unlikely the new model would have your distance scale, but who knows? (When I say "announce" in both cases, that covers everything from showing a non-working prototype that won't be ready for six months to having the camera on the production line and ready to ship to distributors.)
Logged

DarkPenguin

  • Guest
Panasonic G1 - Show stopper
« Reply #4 on: February 12, 2009, 01:39:01 pm »

I'm not sure how CD AF works.  Does the camera actually know the distance?

So far I like my G1.  Haven't had it very long, tho.
Logged

ejmartin

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 575
Panasonic G1 - Show stopper
« Reply #5 on: February 12, 2009, 02:12:26 pm »

In what seems like a long time ago, I started in photography with a Panasonic FZ20, which had manual focus and an EVF.  The best way I found to manual focus was to look for the point where the image "sparkled" at the point of focus.  The "sparkling" is actually moire caused by the grid sampling of the EVF.  It's much the same technique as is used in Bart van der Wolf's method for focus micro-adjust on DSLR's, which I've found is the most accurate method for focus adjust on my DSLR's that have this feature.

Logged
emil
Pages: [1]   Go Up