GF1 user tips to share (not gear)

[bradhusick]

I thought that since several of us now have GF1 cameras, we could share our favorite tips on using the camera, settings, etc. This could extend to the other Panasonic micro-4/3rds cameras too. Jack posted a tip he got from Terry on a setting for nice black & white JPEGs from the GF1 - perhaps you could repost here. There are other threads underway for gear (cases, viewfinders, straps, etc.) so let's use this one for camera setting kinds of tips.

-Brad

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Great idea Brad and glad you started this. Several new users coming on board including myself hopefully soon and getting it set-up is something I would love to hear about. My guess Bob and Jack are sitting at there desk right now playing with the menu items. LOL

 

[Terry]

Brad,
Well Cindy tried to implement the Jack/Terry B&W tip and it doesn't work for manual lenses and someone just emailed me that you lose manual controls. So, I will play with it some more and come back with tips later today. I need to get to work to pay for my toys.

 

[Diane B]

If you like to use direct AF (moving the AF area around within screen/EVF for offcenter AF without recomposing) but don't want to lose the 4 way buttons function, click on left 4 way and then immediately the bottom 4 way. It will revert to normal funtion after the shot.

 

[Diane B]

For those coming from DSLRs that have liked separating AF from shutter button (I have long used * button for AF and shutter button for metering on my Canons), it isn't quite the same, but I've found it useful to put my AF on my AE/AF button. I also lock the AF on mine and can recompose without losing focus--you can refocus with another click on AF and then use shutter or AF button. You can also just hold the AF button (as I do on my Canons) which allows you to refocus faster if need be but still hold the focus while recomposing.

 

[Greg Seitz]

Here's a few that I find handy:

You can have the camera instantly zoom into the area under focus after taking the shot by setting up the Auto Review options to Review: Off, Zoom: 3 secs. The down side is you have to hit play if you want to see the whole scene. I like it since I can confirm focus instantly this way.

Another one is to turn off the Exposure meter in the Custom Menu. While it's cute a couple of times to see the exposure meter pop up when you change Aperture or Shutter speed, it gets annoying real quick so I've turned it off.

Set up your AF/AE lock button to lock focus (AF) and to hold that focus so you can release the button and retain hold by setting AF/AE Lock Hold to on. Not quite the same behavior as you can get with Canon or Nikon by assigning auto focus to the AF button and decoupling the shutter but it's close. Also, once in this mode you can focus on some object at a specific distance and then use the camera as if you had set the distance on a manual focus lens and just fire away as needed.

If you want a brighter display set up the LCD Mode in the Setup to the little [*] icon. I think it consumes a bit more power but the display definitely brightens up over the default.

Set your function button to show grid lines as a quick way to toggle them off and on.

Assign one of your custom function settings C1 or C2 to be used for manual focusing by setting your usual settings and turning on Direct AF Area so you can simply scroll the focus point around without having to do the left/down button presses when you are not in this mode.

Oh, and one more. Not a setting but if you want a really cheap and nice hand strap pick up one for the Nintendo Wii for a buck. Here's the link:

http://store.nintendo.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=117709&storeId=10001