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Sean's Review On the GF1 is Now Up

barjohn

New member
Overall an excellent review, well balanced with interspersed comparison's the the Leica X1. He seemed to be favorably impressed with the camera and the 20mm lens. He didn't have any other lenses to test.
 
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Vivek

Guest
Who cares? It is of interest only to those who subscribe and wouldn't that be better admired in a Sean forum?
 
I subscribed last month--it's a pretty good site. Will go check out the review, though I already quite like the camera.

EDIT: pretty interesting review! For the unsubscribed, he gives a nice gloss on how contrast-detect AF is tied to sensor frame rate, and that this sensor gets 60 frames per second, making the fast AF possible. He complains about the lack of any distance scale (I couldn't agree more--surely this can be implemented in firmware somehow?) but really loves the general handling and IQ. He goes out of his way, uncharacteristically, to praise the out-of-focus areas of the 20mm.

Definitely worth a read, for those considering a subscription.
 
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ptomsu

Workshop Member
I had subscribed and must say I did not renew, as I did find the tests very boring and not telling me what I needed for decisions in a brief and effective way.

So I no longer care about his findings - anyway good luck to him and his fan community of course!
 

Terry

New member
I thought it was a good read. The work he is doing on sensor refresh (frame) rates vs. AF speed is interesting and goes hand in hand with what was written by Imaging Resource in their GH1/GF1 reviews (the video section). Looks like it is going to take a new crop of APS-c sensors to approach the AF speeds of m4/3 - or Panny's AF algorithms.
 
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Vivek

Guest
Looks like it is going to take a new crop of APS-c sensors to approach the AF speeds of m4/3 - or Panny's AF algorithms.

Could you or someone show that is the case (ie in comparison to an existing DSLR)?

Just today someone posted why he went to an E-30 from m4/3rds:

http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11972

Try as I might, the G1-20/1.7 is slower than any manual focus lenses (20/1.7 in the AFS mode). I don't even have to take a Nikon D300 to check for AF speeds, even D40x with one cross sensor does very well.
 

Terry

New member
I'm sorry Vivek, my post wasn't clear. My fault.

What I am comparing to is the speed of CDAF on m4/3 with the CDAF in live view on a DSLR. Both the the X1 and the new Ricoh are live view cameras using APS-c sensor. The refresh rate (frame rate) on these sensors is much slower than the sensors used in m4/3. So, what Sean is finding is that there is a practical limit to how fast these two new cameras will be able to focus and that it will take a new crop of sensors to get faster CDAF off an APS-c sensor.

Here is part of the discussion. The rest is in his review. Start reading around post #213

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-x1-forum/105808-sean-reids-x1-part-2-review-6.html

This is a bit from Imaging-Resource about the development of AF for m4/3 (at least by Panny)

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/DMCGF1/DMCGF1VIDEO.HTM

That being said, the 20mm is the slowest of all the Panny lenses to AF and this has to do with the larger heavier elements being rotated on the 20 vs. the other internal focus lenses. When my GF1 comes back this week I would be happy to make a video for you of the difference between the AF on the 14-140 vs. the 20mm. The 14-140 is astonishingly fast.

I hope this helps clarify my bad post.
 
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madmaxmedia

New member
I would love to see that vid of AF comparisons- thanks! I have used both Panasonic kit zooms, so curious about the 20mm.
 
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Vivek

Guest
Terry, The video should be useful. Thanks.

After seeing Kevin's lens parade video, I think the video feature has immense value for such demonstrations.
 

s.agar

Member
Thanks for referring to the links.

Although never having considered video options of still cameras, the idea started to become interesting.

In fact I made a few trials last night with GF1 and 5DII. It seems to work fine. Who knows, it may be necessary one day while on a still photo tour.

Trying the 14-45mm kit lens and the 20/1.7, I have noted that the kit lens AF is faster and quieter, as in the case of still photograps as well. This had been the only dislike for the 20/1.7, because before buying (after reading the dpreview.com) I was expecting even a better performance in this regard. In fact in all areas, but now I value the kit lens even more. 20/1.7 is for night street shots for me.

Back to Sean's review of the GF1, unfortunately Sean requires subscription. I was a member at one time but didn't renew.

Seyhun


I'm sorry Vivek, my post wasn't clear. My fault.

What I am comparing to is the speed of CDAF on m4/3 with the CDAF in live view on a DSLR. Both the the X1 and the new Ricoh are live view cameras using APS-c sensor. The refresh rate (frame rate) on these sensors is much slower than the sensors used in m4/3. So, what Sean is finding is that there is a practical limit to how fast these two new cameras will be able to focus and that it will take a new crop of sensors to get faster CDAF off an APS-c sensor.

Here is part of the discussion. The rest is in his review. Start reading around post #213

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-x1-forum/105808-sean-reids-x1-part-2-review-6.html

This is a bit from Imaging-Resource about the development of AF for m4/3 (at least by Panny)

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/DMCGF1/DMCGF1VIDEO.HTM

That being said, the 20mm is the slowest of all the Panny lenses to AF and this has to do with the larger heavier elements being rotated on the 20 vs. the other internal focus lenses. When my GF1 comes back this week I would be happy to make a video for you of the difference between the AF on the 14-140 vs. the 20mm. The 14-140 is astonishingly fast.

I hope this helps clarify my bad post.
 

kevinparis

Member
vivek.... my lens parade video is not the kind of video you get with a GH-1...Mine was shot frame by frame on a Oly 510 as jpg and only turned into moving pictures in a video editing package

Terrys video will be a proper 30 fps video showing things happening in real time

K

K
 
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Vivek

Guest
What do i know. Things moved, Kevin.:D

(better than the blendtech, btw)
 

peterb

Member
Funny....the reaction to a Reid review of a similar camera on another forum was utterly apoplectic. Here there's just a Baker's dozen. (Plus one more...me.)
 
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