New G1

[mtwo]

Hi Folks, I'm new here. Just joined yesterday after seeing a post on another forum refer to this one. I normally post and lurk on DPReview but their Panasonic forum is full of stuff on cameras in which I have no interest. I am a Nikon user and I have been involved with photography since I was a kid and that was a long time ago.

I received my G1 today with the kit lens and have ordered a LeicaM to micro 4/3 adapter which is not here yet. I am wading through the camera set up and find it somewhat disjointed. The menu items contain inappropriate things in some of the categories in my estimation but the menu structure is what it is so we will deal with it. I am an Aperature priority shooter for most of what I do, so I am curious. Do any of you who are more famailiar with the camera than I have some favorite settings or some tips on setting which I should be aware of?

Any hints appreciated. Thanks, John

 

[Cindy Flood]

Hi John,
Welcome to the forum.
I'm a Nikon/G1/Leica M shooter, too. I use the two kit lenses (rarely), Olympus 50 macro f/2, Leica M and Olympus Pen F lenses on mine. I also sometimes use Nikon lenses and even Mamiya M645 and Leica R.
I prefer the manual focus lenses unless I am in a situation where I need AF for action.
I keep my G1 on A mode and MF most of the time. Driver mode is set to single. I shoot RAW. I moved the histogram down to the lower right hand corner for display. Shoot w/o lens is set to On in Custom menu. I keep MF assist OFF. You can play with it and see how you like it for AF lenses. For MF lenses follow the instructions on page 72 of the PDF manual under MF ASSIST. Hope this helps.

 

[Terry]

Welcome,

If you are shooting jpegs, with Panasonic you are best off turning the noise reduction to the lowest setting. This retains more detail.

The good news on the menus is that you really don't need to use them very often. You can get to essentially all of your shooting needs through dedicated buttons or using the quick menu button.

Just tell us where you get stuck and we've probably been there and can help out.

 

[mtwo]

Thanks folks, I mostly shoot raw + Jpg in order to have something quick to send off or to post on line. It grows late here and I am going to put the manual down and go water my tomato plants. John

 

[edslaughter]

How do you adjust the noise reduction? I'm probably being really obtuse, but there is no entry for it in the manual's index and I don't see it rooting around in the menus.

Thanks.

 

[Terry]

How do you adjust the noise reduction? I'm probably being really obtuse, but there is no entry for it in the manual's index and I don't see it rooting around in the menus.

Thanks.

top of camera - film mode button

you can change contrast, sharpness, saturation and noise reduction

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Thanks folks, I mostly shoot raw + Jpg in order to have something quick to send off or to post on line. It grows late here and I am going to put the manual down and go water my tomato plants. John

John your making the male population look bad , we never read the freaking manual.:ROTFL::ROTFL::ROTFL:

Just joking and welcome to the forum. I always try to welcome everyone here in the threads but we have been pretty busy signing folks up lately so to all of them welcome as well. We like to have fun so we do kick the puck around the ring sometimes. Have fun and there is a wealth of knowledge here on the G1 and many members love to help out.

 

[monza]

My manual is still shrink wrapped and I've had the camera since November.

 

[Cindy Flood]

My manual is still shrink wrapped and I've had the camera since November.

:ROTFL::ROTFL::ROTFL:

When I get new gear, I download the PDF of the manual into a folder that I keep just for manuals. It is so much easier to look up info in a PDF file than it is to go thumbing through a paper manual.

 

[monza]

That's a great idea. And then if I email it to myself, it's always available in Gmail no matter where I am.

All the great ideas I get originate from women, of course.

 

[Terry]

:ROTFL::ROTFL::ROTFL:

When I get new gear, I download the PDF of the manual into a folder that I keep just for manuals. It is so much easier to look up info in a PDF file than it is to go thumbing through a paper manual.

I'm with you Cindy.... hopefully I start to control myself and don't fill my whole hard drive with them.

 

[Y.B.Hudson III]

manuals what manuals? We don't need no stinkin' manuals...

 

[Terry]

manuals what manuals? We don't need no stinkin' manuals...

I challenge you on the E-P1 to get all the right settings without using either the manual or the online forum of all the people that had to figure it out.

The M8 needs no manual. The E-P1 does.

 

[Y.B.Hudson III]

I best avoid that one

 

[pellicle]

Hi

...I am a Nikon user and I have been involved with photography since I was a kid and that was a long time ago.
...
I received my G1 today with the kit lens and have ordered a LeicaM to micro 4/3 adapter which is not here yet.

and yet you ordered the Leica adaptor?

I am wading through the camera set up and find it somewhat disjointed.

well ... if you're using the camera with manual lenses then just pick Av on the camera, select shoot with lens off in the menus and you're away.

I sometimes pick Manual so I can set the shutter speed myself. If lighting is not changing I can take a quick few samples of exposure and then not have to worry about metering issues (which have been quite good on the G1 in my experience) ... like all black or all white clothes.

I normally use RAW and then strip out the embedded JPG using dcraw. If its a snapshot then the size of that is fine, and if I'm wanting to do more than I convert the RAW using dcraw -T -4 if I'm going to tweak it in photoshop
or convert with photomatix and do gentle tone mapping.

This gives me more "film like" results Eg




and




tone mapping doesn't have to be a wild and white knuckled ride to be a useful tool

Any hints appreciated. Thanks, John

done deal ;-)


have fun

 

[hot]

manuals what manuals? We don't need no stinkin' manuals...

Manuals are important! (for reading at WC)

I'll buy a camera after I have studied (original) manual 100x. I hate previews & reviews of cameras ... a lot of (payed) blahblah

 

[jsparks]

I also got a G1 and joined this forum recently (I have been lurking for a while). My other main camera is a Sony A900 which I've had since soon after they came out. I was wondering if anyone has found camera JPEG settings that make the histogram more useful for RAW mode (like some have done with the Sony A900 and posted to the Sony forum).

I have tried to set the film mode with the lowest contrast and that does seem to help make the highlight warning a better match for RAW, but I don't know if I really got the lowest contrast setting (I think I'm using "smooth" with the contrast turned all the way down). Does anyone something better?

John

 

[RonSmith]

Welcome John.

I take it that you have Lecia lenses that you plan on using with your new G1. That is precisely why I bought the G1 about two months ago. Although I have been shooting with Canon DSLRs for the past five years, I refused to part with my Leica equipment, which consists of an M3 and M6 and lenses ranging from 21mm to 135mm.

I kept dreaming of getting an M8 ... perhaps when both my sons are finished with college ... but when I learned of the G1 and its adaptability, I ordered one and have been having a blast with it.

I won't say that the G1/Leica is the finest piece of photographic kit ever created, but I find myself carrying it and using it ... much like I did back in the day with my M6 ... and getting photographs that I would not have taken for lack of a camera on me.

By the way, the 14-45 kit lens is surprisingly good!

Here's my current kit ...

 

[Cindy Flood]

Welcome John.

I take it that you have Lecia lenses that you plan on using with your new G1. That is precisely why I bought the G1 about two months ago. Although I have been shooting with Canon DSLRs for the past five years, I refused to part with my Leica equipment, which consists of an M3 and M6 and lenses ranging from 21mm to 135mm.

I kept dreaming of getting an M8 ... perhaps when both my sons are finished with college ... but when I learned of the G1 and its adaptability, I ordered one and have been having a blast with it.

I won't say that the G1/Leica is the finest piece of photographic kit ever created, but I find myself carrying it and using it ... much like I did back in the day with my M6 ... and getting photographs that I would not have taken for lack of a camera on me.

By the way, the 14-45 kit lens is surprisingly good!

Here's my current kit ...

Ron, That is a beautiful kit!

 

[RonSmith]

Ron, That is a beautiful kit!

Thanks Cindy!

It's SO good to be making pictures with them again.

Might even start using the M6 again.