jmooney
Guy with a camera
Hi All,
Quick question about the G1 before I delve into reading everything on the web about it:
Does it have some sort of focus indicatior in the VF? eg - the little green dot that Nikons have to confirm focus - and if so does it work with adapted manual focus lenses?
Thanks and take care,
Jim
Quick question about the G1 before I delve into reading everything on the web about it:
Does it have some sort of focus indicatior in the VF? eg - the little green dot that Nikons have to confirm focus - and if so does it work with adapted manual focus lenses?
Thanks and take care,
Jim
Tuolumne
Veteran
Nothing to confirm focus except a sharp image. In manual focus mode you can get a highly magnified image on the EVF to help you focus. It is a two button push and easy to do by feel once you get the hang of it. Lightly pressing the shutter returns you to normal full-field view in the EVF.
/T
/T
Yes, no need for it. Two levels of magnification.
250swb
Well-known
The image becomes very sharp on the G1's EVF when in focus, far moreso than an OVF without a focusing method on a digital camera. So focusing a standard lens (50mm and up) is easy on the G1. As the other guys have said, if it isn't so easy (with for instance wider lenses or for critical macro work) the magnification function of the G1 works very easily in practice. If you use Olympus ZD lenses (with adapter) the focusing magnification is automatic.
Steve
Steve
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JoeV
Thin Air, Bright Sun
For those who desire to use the G1 like a manual rangefinder in the genre of street photography, there are noticeable differences, but in most circumstances there are workarounds.
Prefocusing: Manual lenses can be prefocused for a target area; when the subject walks into the target area one need only place the camera up to one's face and release the shutter. This is a common strategy for stealth and quickness of shooting with mechanical cameras. With the G1 there are two problems: 1)The kit lens has no focus distance or DOF scales, or a hard mechanical infinity stop; 2)You can't pre-autofocus on a target area, release pressure on the shutter button, and wait for the subject to walk into the target area, as the camera reacquires autofocus when you half-press the shutter button once again.
The solution to this is to set the rotary focus selector switch to "MF," then use the manual focus ring on the front of the kit lens. Which brings up another problem:
Focus zoom: This has been touted as a great advancement in being able to visually confirm proper focus; it is when dealing with static objects, but for the dynamics of street photography it's too slow, as it requires a two-button push. You might as well go with autofocus, as it would take less time with the camera up to your face, waiting for the camera to acquire focus, then to do it manually with the zoom. The biggest problem with the focus zoom is that you lose the "big picture" in the EVF, and hence the sense of composition is lost.
My solution? Simple: turn the focus zoom feature off. Yes, that's right, turn it off. The EVF is clear enough that it can be used for focus confirmation every bit as accurate as SLR focusing on a ground glass; even better in low light, due to the EVF gain-up effect.
Using these two methods (MF mode and no focus zoom) enables a G1 user to pre-focus on a target area ahead of time (focus on an object in that target area, at the same approxiamate distance as you anticipate the subject being at,) or at a target distance ahead of time; wait for the subject to walk into the target area, then bring the camera up to one's face, compose, and release the shutter. Or use the LCD at waist-level for even more stealth.
Once in manual focus mode the lens remains at its prefixed focus distance until you turn the focus ring, regardless of whether the shutter button is half-pressed or not. So you can prefix focus and then walk around stalking your subject, knowing that focus is fixed ahead of time. The only cavaet to this method is that if you cycle the camera's power off and on (or it goes into power save mode,) your prefixed focus distance is lost, as the camera cycles the lens to figure out where it's at upon power-up.
Of course, I'm referring to the kit lens; with adapted manual lenses you have the same methodology, with the added benefit of a manual focus and DOF scale, and no effect upon cycling the camera's power.
~Joe
Edit (the new "PS"): Though the kit lens lacks DOF scales, the extra depth of field of the u4/3 format, due to the smaller format size, compared to 35mm, permitting lenses of shorter focal length, gives you extra latitude in estimating focus manually.
Prefocusing: Manual lenses can be prefocused for a target area; when the subject walks into the target area one need only place the camera up to one's face and release the shutter. This is a common strategy for stealth and quickness of shooting with mechanical cameras. With the G1 there are two problems: 1)The kit lens has no focus distance or DOF scales, or a hard mechanical infinity stop; 2)You can't pre-autofocus on a target area, release pressure on the shutter button, and wait for the subject to walk into the target area, as the camera reacquires autofocus when you half-press the shutter button once again.
The solution to this is to set the rotary focus selector switch to "MF," then use the manual focus ring on the front of the kit lens. Which brings up another problem:
Focus zoom: This has been touted as a great advancement in being able to visually confirm proper focus; it is when dealing with static objects, but for the dynamics of street photography it's too slow, as it requires a two-button push. You might as well go with autofocus, as it would take less time with the camera up to your face, waiting for the camera to acquire focus, then to do it manually with the zoom. The biggest problem with the focus zoom is that you lose the "big picture" in the EVF, and hence the sense of composition is lost.
My solution? Simple: turn the focus zoom feature off. Yes, that's right, turn it off. The EVF is clear enough that it can be used for focus confirmation every bit as accurate as SLR focusing on a ground glass; even better in low light, due to the EVF gain-up effect.
Using these two methods (MF mode and no focus zoom) enables a G1 user to pre-focus on a target area ahead of time (focus on an object in that target area, at the same approxiamate distance as you anticipate the subject being at,) or at a target distance ahead of time; wait for the subject to walk into the target area, then bring the camera up to one's face, compose, and release the shutter. Or use the LCD at waist-level for even more stealth.
Once in manual focus mode the lens remains at its prefixed focus distance until you turn the focus ring, regardless of whether the shutter button is half-pressed or not. So you can prefix focus and then walk around stalking your subject, knowing that focus is fixed ahead of time. The only cavaet to this method is that if you cycle the camera's power off and on (or it goes into power save mode,) your prefixed focus distance is lost, as the camera cycles the lens to figure out where it's at upon power-up.
Of course, I'm referring to the kit lens; with adapted manual lenses you have the same methodology, with the added benefit of a manual focus and DOF scale, and no effect upon cycling the camera's power.
~Joe
Edit (the new "PS"): Though the kit lens lacks DOF scales, the extra depth of field of the u4/3 format, due to the smaller format size, compared to 35mm, permitting lenses of shorter focal length, gives you extra latitude in estimating focus manually.
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