Bad press...

[steamer]

That winder motor just invites you to run through some film.

 

[Ted Witcher]

I can only add to the chorus here in praise of the G2. I also own the 21, 28, 35, 45 and 90 mm G series lenses -- all of them super. I have long been mystified, as David H. is, about the "bad press" the G2 has gotten. It's one of those cameras you need to grow into, and when you do, things like the small viewfinder and the awkward manual focus just don't seem like big issues any more.

As for the AF mechanism, I don't find it any more unreliable than the ones I've used on Canon SLRs, and it certainly works just fine over 95% of the time. Recently I shot three rolls at an auto race, mostly quick grab shots, and got back just one frame that was out of focus. The focusing tip from rhogg is right on target. I use the AF lock button all the time to prefocus, and it cuts down on focus "hunting" hugely and makes the shutter lag negligible. For a handy guide to this, see http://www.botzilla.com/blog/archives/000378.html.

Great to hear from all of you who weren't bamboozled by "what everyone knows" about the G2.

Now I've read that blog. I would think that pressing the lock button would lock the focus in place wherever it may be parked at the moment you press. Then what happens after you "lock" it and press the shutter halfway? Is there further locking to be done? I'm not saying this doesn't work, I'm just trying to understand this procedure. I might add, though, that this does seem a bit counter-intuitive and an AF camera should not require two steps to focus... but if it does indeed work, I might consider re-acquiring the camera. I really had no other problems with it besides this.

 

[sircarl]

Once you lock it with the lock button, nothing further happens when you press the shutter halfway. In fact, there's no need to press the shutter halfway. You just take the picture. So it's just one step, quick and easy.

 

[Ted Witcher]

Wait a minute. It can't be that easy. I sold the camera over this issue. How did I miss this in the manual? (Or did I assume, as with all AF SLRs, that a halfway press on the shutter release does the trick?) Let me get this straight: I put the plane of focus in the patch and press the button on the back with my thumb and that's it. That's it?!

 

[sircarl]

Yup. Unfortunately, the manual doesn't tell you about this. It says this is the button you use to lock focus when you are using manual focus. But it works perfectly with auto focus too.

 

[rhogg]

The only thing I would add is the viewfinder does have focus confirmation information in it:

In AF a square block appears under the distance indicator indicating the distance the camera is focused at.

In MF your have the expanding horizontal bar graph that tells you which way to adjust focus and the focus distance on the right. Again there is only one box (on top of the arrow) when focus is confirmed.

Finally when the camera does not have focus, two black boxes at the extreame ends of the focus information line in the viewfinder flash.

Whether the camera takes a picture when it does not have focus depends I believe on your custom settings and what shooting mode you are in. (I would need to check the custom settings as I do not tend to change them). However I believe being in Continuous High mode will override the focus confirmation while Single mode requires focus confirmation.

CH does indeed burn film, and I rarely use it. The only type of photography where I find the G2 frustrating is sports/action photography. In this area the AF system is frustrating and I get a higher number of poorly focused/composed pictures. As a result I tend to use MF and zone focus to overcome this problem, The problem is likley my lack of understanding on how to properly use CAF and CH. More practice and film required I guess.