New Panasonic pancake

One of my mostest favorite lenses ever is the ultra-compact and yet fast and very sharp Panasonic 20mm F:1.7 lens for the Micro Four Thirds system. This is an equivalent of a 40mm normal lens. And now they are coming out with a 28mm-equivalent lens, a 14mm F:2.5 pancake lens (because it's so flat). If this one is even close to the quality of the 20mm one, I shall definitely have it. The Panasonic GF1 with a pancake lens fits in a jeans pocket, and yet is a fast and full quality camera in most respects. (The one limitation being that if light gets really low, you'll need a camera with a bigger sensor.)

It's harder to make good wideangle lenses, but this is a rather slower lens (one stop slower), so I think there's hope it can be about as good as the 20mm.

For sure the size is amazing: even smaller than the 20mm, and only 55 grams! That's ridiculous.

I think a good walk-around gear would be a Pentax K-x or K-r with the outstanding and very compact 70mm F:2.4, and the Panasonic GF1 with the 14mm lens, in a pocket. The Pentax won't fit in a pocket, but you can sling it onto your back when using the wide-angle camera.

Why not use a zoom? Hard to say. There's a bit of snobbery to it, perhaps, but you do get extra zing to the pictures with a good prime lens, and they are much more compact. And there's a peculiar pleasure in composing to a fixed focal length, even as there's also much convenience in the instant composing with a zoom.

(I can't believe they haven't updated the GF1 yet. I hope they'll do something great with it, unlike with the G2, which was a pretty trivial update.)

The Panasonic GF1 camera and Lumix G 20mm f/1.7 ASPH. lens

The Panasonic GF1 camera and Lumix G 20mm f/1.7 ASPH. lens, article.
Every year, we get a little closer to a real "street camera".

Me, I'm still waffling: zoom or no zoom. I'm attracted by a compact, fast, and sharp lens like this 20mm promises to be. But on the other hand, when I'm out photographing, I find myself zooming constantly for different framing.
Back on the first hand though, if I only have the one lens and focal length, maybe I will only think in that view angle, and maybe even work more efficiently? Waffle waffle.

Blur on the 20mm (updated)

Just trying out some artiness with background blur on that 20mm lens I'm all about this week.
Normally you don't use a smallish sensor camera for good background blur (the GF1 as a Micro Four Thirds camera is in-between DSLR cameras and compacts with regards to this), but with a fast lens, you can get some if you try.

This lens has a pretty nice "bokeh", which is a fancy (japanese) word for the qualities of out-of-focus blur in photos. Some lenses (particularly zooms) gives it hard edges which is normally less aesthetic than smooth, soft blur.

Chris S said:

While the bokeh does look ok here it certainly doesn't get into the kind of creamy niceness you can get with a 70-200/2.8. It's hard to get anything at small focal lengths in the best of lenses. What aperture were these shot at? f/1.7? An improvement over a P&S I guess.

You're right, for really soft background, one needs a bigger format and preferably longer focal lengths.

Again, the MFT format is in-between in this aspect too. (Yes, this was F:1.7.)

"Were ya on yer belly for that grass shot"

Nope, that's one of the good things about live screen cams over DSLRs.

(Especially if the screen is hinged.) (Which it isn't on the GF1, sadly, maybe my only real misgiving about it.)

Yes, many new DSLRs have live screens too, but sadly their autofocus is *very* slow in this mode. So far Panasonic is the only company to have out cameras with live-screen autofocus which is pretty speedy.

Panasonic 20mm lens (40mm-equivalent)

I'm a little disappointed that Panasonic's new compact prime lens (non-zoom) Micro-Four-Thirds 20mm F:1.7 does not have stabilization (or the camera body). It would be nice, because otherwise it's a real damn pleasant lens, physically and optically. It's the equivalent of a 40mm lens in 35mm film terms, and very compact.
(And the lens with the Panasonic GF1 actually fits in my pants pocket. Although visibly. "Is that a GF1 in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?")

But even though I think no stabilization is just stupid these days, I can live without it if I have to, in this case. For one thing, the lens is sharp at full opening. For another thing I have found out that if I'm not too rushed, I can take a sharp picture at 1/15 of a second, with a 40mm-equivalent lens. I honestly did not think I could. I used to get the occasional shaken picture at 1/125.
Either the cameras and shutters have gotten better, or I have. I suspect both are true.

Lookit this picture. At 400ISO, 1/15 second, F:1.7, hand-held. The picture looks like there was much more light than it looked like in reality. That end of the corridor is very dark. (Oh, obviously that is not a flash which is reflected on the door, I didn't use flash.)
I did not sharpen the picture in the computer, in the interest of objectiveness.



I used to think that if I had a "street camera" with just one lens and no zoom, it should have a 28mm lens or a 35mm. But I might just be coming around to Sally Mann's and Mike Johnston's position that there is something "Goldielocks" about a 40mm. It takes in the scene naturally. 50mm is a bit too long, it's a shame that it became the defacto "normal lens" for some reason or other, despite the diagonal of the 35mm format, 43mm, being closer to 40.

Micro Four Thirds size (updated)

Here's an example of the size savings of the Micro Four Thirds camera system. The Pentax K-x is a great camera, and one of the most compact DSLRs there are. Admirably compact in fact. But by all reports the new Olympus OM-D has all the quality in various ways of the Pentax, and may have quite better stabilization and low-light capability (the sensor is said to be a big step up for the system).  But if you fit it with a flat lens like Panasonic's 20mm or 14mm, it's still smaller than the K-x without a lens! and will fit in a large pocket. And while some of Olympus' excellent new prime (non-zoom) lenses are a little deeper, they are still exceedingly compact and light compared to traditional lenses, so you're really getting a system which bogs you down dramatically less.

(From camerasize.com)

Many professionals have started to use the M4/3 system, and that's even before the rather more capable and solid OM-D model hit the market. I think the system has a very interesting future for enthusiasts. Scratch that, already the present is very interesting, the future possibilities blows my likkle fragile maaahnd.

Below is a comparison which may actually come closer in terms of quality and capabilities, the Canon 60D and the OM-D. Look at that size difference! And the D60 is not a large camera for a mid-level DSLR.

... And if you go with the lens-compatible Olympus Pen Lite (about the same image quality, but less features and ruggedness), well...

Of course most of these gains are of course due to technological progress, which other makes may be able to replicate. But oddly and sadly none of the big makers (Canon, Nikon, Pentax) have so far shown much interest in the compact interchangeable-lens market, apart from a couple of efforts (Pentax Q and Nikon 1) which have sensors so small that serious photographers have trouble taking them, well, seriously. And for any of the big boys to join the M4/3 system is probably well too strongly against the corporate male-ego principles! It would be like Mercedes and BMW making compatible spare parts, oh the disgrace! 

Update: 

Thanks to Bruce who pointed out where to find the well-hidden feature of adding lenses... (tiny link at the bottom.)

OM-D and 60D with Normal lenses (roughly, 20mm 1.7 (40mm equivalent), and 50mm 1.8):

I like that the OM-D is only 400 grams, body-only. Not feather-weight, but still about half the weight of a middle-class DSLR. 

20mm lens part II, Revenge of the Sith

Sorry to mention the 20mm lens again, but I just like it, I like that something so good can also be so small and cute. It really is just a gorgeous little thing.

Shooting with a prime

From Cameralabs.com forums:

Gordon wrote in his review:
"Shooting with the GF1 and 20mm took us back to the Seventies and Eighties when we used manual 35mm SLRs with nothing more than a 50mm lens. Back then we didn’t miss a zoom, and it’s amazing how liberating it can still be today when you’ve become used-to adjusting your focal length."

Yes!
When you have a zoom, you love it. But when you use a prime, you find out how much attention you have used, apparently, in thinking about pictures in many different focal lengths at once. One can think much quicker with a prime.

Also I found out that I can take sharp pictures at 1/15 second with the GF1 and the 20mm pancake lens, even without stabilization! It surprised me. That and F:1.7 and ISO 800 goes a long way (even if ISO 1600 really should have been better on that camera).

Another GF1 review

DPReview reviews the Panasonic GF1. Now, they make verrrrrrrry long reviews with a billion details, so you can start with the conclusion, and then go to the first page if interested.
Like me, they like it and think it's one of the rare camera which makes photography fun again, as well as being capable of making very high quality pictures if used right.
"the GF1 is a camera that simply cries out to be used and, for this occasionally jaded user at least, puts the fun back into photography. [...] once you attach the wonderful 20mm F1.7 pancake it becomes something special; an unobtrusive creative tool that you can carry anywhere, and one that's capable of superb photographic results.
When I started using the GF1 I didn't think I'd use the 20mm F1.7 that much (too many years using zooms), but once attached I rarely took it off. The 40mm equivalent focal length is both restrictive and yet surprisingly liberating from a creative point of view, and took me back to my earliest days of photography using a Pentax Spotmatic with a single 50mm lens. And you can stick it on a wrist strap and basically carry it with you wherever you go."
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Samsung and Pentax compact SLRs (updated)

Samsung NX10, new format exchangeable-lens camera, which like Micro Four Thirds is mirror-less. And the format is bigger than M4/3. Might be interesting!


Talking about Samsung, right now you can get a super-zoom camera for $230. Man, that's cheap!


In other camera news, DPreview has posted a highly positive review of Pentax' very compact and economical K-x model. Which I think is kewl, because CaNikon needs the competition, and because I used to use Pentax, and because I like compact cameras.
The K-x is indeed super-compact, actually barely larger than the Panasonic G1, which is a smaller-format camera. And pretty cheap too, £550 in the UK, and typically much cheaper in the US, $560. And I think it's the only camera which has stabilization (though not the best on the market) even if you use it with a pancake (compact) lens, of which Pentax has more than anybody else.
Despite the size, it's no kids' camera, it will shoot almost 5 frames per second and has ISO settings up to 6400, and not just for show either. Impressive.

Update: DPReview has samples, I think the 1600 ISO ones are nice, certainly tons better than the M4/3 cameras', and impressive for such a tiny camera.

From the review:
Lining the K-x up against its most direct competitors makes it apparent just how compact it is. It's noticeably smaller than the Canon EOS 500D and Nikon D5000 and, especially in combination with Pentax' 40mm pancake lens, makes a very compact package that is very well suited for traveling.

Remarkable, I did not think they could make a DSLR smaller than the 500D.

If I were Pentax, I'd (also) sell the camera in a kit with one of the pancake (very small) lenses, for instance the DA 21mm (32mm-equivalent). Just to make a point about the super-compact-ness. To get top-of-the-class performance in a package this compact really is something they should point out.
And I think the 21mm lens goes well with the DA 70mm 2.4 lens, which is barely larger than the 20mm, I have never seen anything like that in a 105mm-e lens.




Update Nov 2011: I now have the K-x, as well as the K-r and the K-5. They are all outstanding cameras, and whereas I am a bit lukewarm about the Pentax 18-135mm zoom (a bit soft at the edges), these prime lenses are fantastic, compact and dead-sharp.

Panasonic GH2

I said a couple days ago: "(I can't believe they haven't updated the GF1 yet. I hope they'll do something great with it, unlike with the G2, which was a pretty trivial update.)"

 Well, how about that. No GF2 yet, but there's a GH2, and it has just what I was looking for: (at least claims of) super-fast handling and autofocus (they say it's faster than a good DSLR!), and much-improved high-ISO performance.
It would surprise me if these are not real, and if they don't also make it into the next-gen GF camera. Kewl.

Update: Yes, it is super-fast, but it depends on the lens. The 14-140mm lens is designed to be extra fast. The older 20mm lens is much slower in focusing.

Olympus PEN E-PL1

Olympus has released a new Micro Four Thirds camera, it's slightly smaller and cheaper than the E-P1.
It could be interesting with the Panasonic supercompact lens 20mm F:1.7, adding the missing image stabilization to the latter, and being more compact yet than the Panasonic GF1, though maybe not a lot in practice.
Here's a practical round-up page for the camera.

Wet and Windy

That Ian Lloyd-Graham is a good photographer, but boy, he's unlucky with the weather!



Photos from Brighton, UK, with Panasonic GF1 and 20mm lens (40mm-equivalent).

How light changes things

Under the 20mm lens post below, somebody commented on the nice black door.
And the thing is, it's hard to see on that photo, but actually it's a dark blue door.

On the outside and from new, it is a very dark green, so dark that it has to be good light for people not to mistake that for black too.
But I painted the inside blue to match all the other doors in the apartment, when I painted those. It's a gorgeous, deep color.
(And really I don't think that any of the doors, including this one (the front door) are actually even real wood. But they have the texture, and it shows through the paint in a very pleasing way.)

How the light is changes the way things look and feel to an amazing degree. Just look at these two pictures, with and without flash... you wouldn't believe it's the same door.




Here's the outside of the door:



And below, with the flash on. (That's why pros tend to use indirect light: the flash on the camera flattens things out in a generally un-pleasing way.)



And closed, seen from the outside: Today is a nice, bright day, so you can see the deep green color. In just a bit dimmer light, people tend to think it's a black door. Again, light changes things much more than one would believe.

Market Hall today

-----
Panasonic GF1 with 20mm F:1.7 at 5.6, 1/320 second.

I'd brought it in my thigh pocket.
This is an excellent lens, see all that detail.

Amazingly, the ghost is just the reflection of the yellow lamp in the window I'm shooting through! They must clean the hell out of that window, it's totally invisible.

All on auto, except I had to point the autofocus past the central lamp.
Also, for some odd reason this camera, on Program mode, tends to favour really big apertures, even when the shutter speeds are into the hundreds, dunno why. I think it had selected 2.4 and 1/800 sec or so. Silly. So I set it to aperture priority to get the depth of field. (Although actually with the smallish format and the wide-ish lens, even 2.8 would have sufficed, I think.)

Rain and darkness

Me and Laurie Jeffery was having a little net-chat, and I mentioned that right now, at about 4 in the afternoon, it was already quite dark, and the rain made it quite atmospheric too. He told me to blog it. I said I had nothing interesting to say about it off-hand. So he told me to tell you that he made me do it. Hereby done.

I'm quite pleased with the photo though.

(Panasonic GF1, 20mm F:1.7, full opening.)

I love the speed you can do things with these days. From idea to publication in 8 minutes! This is power (article I wrote ten years ago).

Xmas Snow, photos from today

------------
Technique: much as I love the Panasonic GF1 with the sharp and compact 20mm lens (40mm-e), these were taken with the G1 with the kit zoom. The kit zoom is sharp, also compact and flexible, and is stabilized. Also, the tiltable screen on the G1 is very helpful in changing the height of your viewpoint, both above your head, and all the way to the ground without having to lie down in mud or snow. I find this camera is my "default" camera for flexible all-round shooting.

Pana GF1

The Panasonic GF1 looks very promising quality-wise, especially for such a compact camera, look at this for the 20mm (40mm equivalent) at F:8, at this for the same tiny lens at F:1.7 (wow), and at this for the camera's ISO 1600 performance. (At those pages, click for big pic.)

Images overview. Camera overview.

Admitedly I wish it had in-body stabilization and a hinged screen, but apart from that, it looks like one of the best combinations we've seen yet of high quality and compact size, for street and travel use. (With the little lens it fits in a big jacket pocket or a small purse.)
It's the same size as the Olympus EP-1, but the autofocus is much more on the ball than with the Oly.

DPreview looks at the OM-D

The new Olympus OM-D continues to get praise. Bert found DPreview's review of it.

The E-M5 sets a new benchmark for Micro Four Thirds images, thanks to a modern sensor and Olympus' excellent JPEG engine. It continues to produce good results in lower light than was previously practical and produces attractive output in all but the most challenging of situations. The combination of its small body and the small lenses available for it (specifically the Panasonic 20mm F1.7 and Olympus 45mm F1.8) mean it's a camera we found ourselves taking everywhere, without any concerns that we were having to make undue compromises on image quality.
[...] If you're absolutely unwilling to compromise on image quality then spending twice the money and moving up to the bulk of a full-frame is the only way of gaining a significant step up from the E-M5.

Well done for the tiltable screen. And it's a touch-screen, with the ability to let you touch the subject on the screen, and in a split second the camera focuses and shoots. Probably the fastest and most intuitive focusing system invented. (I've tried it on the Panasonic GH2.)


I wonder why the kit lens is so huge? It seem incongruous. OK, it is weather-sealed like the camera, but still. So far, it seems that if one really wants to optimize the camera's compactness, prime lenses are the way to go.
Like Bert also said to me, something like: there are already amazing lenses for the M4/3 platform, and with this new distinctly semi-pro camera having arrived, we can probably look forward to much more of those. 

Valley tree, October (updated twice)

Here's a couple pictures I took today. (I have more to post later, I think.) I was out in the Valley getting the town's best burger, and walked home. I'd put the compactish GF1 camera in my bag, and good thing too, with all the autumn colors I'd have kicked myself if I hadn't brought a camera.


Panasonic GF1 with 20mm F:1.7. (The combo weighs less than a pound.)
This came out more powerful than I'd dared hope for.
Part of it is that (due to the sky) I used auto-bracketing, and selected a lighter version than the otherwise perfectly serviceable auto setting had chosen. More light in the picture, see.

Update:
Here's another pic from today. I liked the funny juxtaposition of this grey environment and those brightly colored bits.



Update:
TC [Girl] said:
I really like the contrasts of the brick wall vs. the colors, like you mention (and thanks for including that. That helps a great deal to interpret/confirm what you are trying to show in the picture...for amateurs like myself. :-) The pic looks like a B/W pic...with just those few bits colored in.

Thanks, dear.

It is funny, once I get into "picture mode" I see pictures everywhere. I was just walking home, a bit bushed, so I kept putting the camera in my closed pocket on my thigh (The GF1 with this lens is just small enough for a large pocket), and then I had to take it out again several times on the way. The grey picture was very close to home, well after I'd decided I was burned out creatively for the day.

Panasonic G1 good deal

Panasonic has introduced the Lumix G2 model, and while it's getting good reviews, it's clear that the only really significant upgrade is that it now does video. So, if you don't need video, right now you can get, in the US at least, the Lumix G1 at a very affordable price. I still use mine as my go-to all-round camera. It's more compact than a DSLR camera (like Canon Rebel), and offers similar image quality and handling. The exception is that the low-light capabilities are limited, compared to bigger cameras. But at this price it's warmly recommended.

The G1's brother, the GF-1 (not yet in a 2.0 version) fits in a large pocket if fit with the excellent compact 20mm 1.7 lens. The G1 does not. But I would say that the G1 is about as compact and light as you'll get, and still get the good handling and flexibility of a full sized, semi-professional camera. It's about the perfect walk-around and vacation camera for the serious amateur.