I have not used other cameras extensively, but have to say that even with my weak eyes, MF on the GF1 is a breeze! Here is a shot of Guy at breakfast during our Salton Sea workshop. I was using the GF1 with a Konica 40mm f1.8 lens wide open. To focus manually, you simply push in the rear command wheel and the screen magnifies, focus to taste, shoot. I have to wear cheaters to read the restaurant menu, but wasn't bothering with them here -- the LCD is good enough even with my eyes. (FWIW, I borrowed the EVF a few mornings later, and it is even better for this type of shooting -- I now have one in the bag
.)
Oh, one last thing -- the little Konica 40 is NOT a laser wide open, in fact it more resembles an old Summarit. I use it for portraits because I LOVE the spherical aberrations, slight veiling flare and bokeh. Interestingly, these all go away by f4 and the lens becomes a relative laser -- best of both worlds in one, el-cheapo lens!
GF1, ISO 400, hand-held at 1/60th, Konica 40 at f1.8 in Chinese adapter, raw processed in C1, converted to B&W in CS. Here's the full frame:
Here's the crop. I focused on his glasses frame thinking that would be "close enough to his eye --- WRONG!: