Leaning to the GF1

photographworks · #1 December 27th, 2009, 03:37 PM

I am taking the opportunity to introduce myself. First thing is that I don't have a 4/3 camera. I am currently shooting a Nikon D700 and a Nikon D60. I have used a couple of compacts, the one I enjoyed best being the Nikon P5100.

I use the D60 with a fixed 35mm AF-S f1.8 lens, and that is the smallest combination I have used thus far that gives me good image quality. I like the colors and tonal gradations from the D700 better than any camera I have ever owned, so in my own mind I have something against which to measure camera performance.

I am planning a longish trip and want to carry something smaller than the D60 - hence my interest here. At the moment I am leaning to the GF1. I was thinking about the 20mm lens but after seeing this shot from you Amin, the 7-14mm looks a good bet. Which camera did you use?

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Note from Amin: Moved this post from the "Welcome to mu-43.com" thread to its own thread here and added the thread title.

Amin Sabet · #2 December 27th, 2009, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by photographworks

I am taking the opportunity to introduce myself. First thing is that I don't have a 4/3 camera. I am currently shooting a Nikon D700 and a Nikon D60. I have used a couple of compacts, the one I enjoyed best being the Nikon P5100.

I use the D60 with a fixed 35mm AF-S f1.8 lens, and that is the smallest combination I have used thus far that gives me good image quality. I like the colors and tonal gradations from the D700 better than any camera I have ever owned, so in my own mind I have something against which to measure camera performance.

I am planning a longish trip and want to carry something smaller than the D60 - hence my interest here. At the moment I am leaning to the GF1. I was thinking about the 20mm lens but after seeing this shot from you Amin, the 7-14mm looks a good bet. Which camera did you use?

Hi Photographworks, and welcome to mu-43! I previously had a Nikon D700 kit and D5000 with AFS 35/1.8. I ended up selling them after I got my

gear. To be sure, the D700 image quality was superior, and the D5000 image quality was also better than that of the

bodies, but I valued the smaller size and lighter weight of the

kit, and the image quality was good enough that didn't find justification for maintaining two systems. To answer your question, I used the GH1 for that shot but find image quality to be in the same ballpark with my G1.

While both are very good lenses, I find that I prefer the image quality from the Lumix 20/1.7 to that of the AFS 35/1.8, the latter producing bokeh with color fringing (partially addressed by Capture NX2) and more harsh characteristics in my experience. On the other hand, I really liked the AFS 10-24, which was a better performer with a greater focal length range than the Lumix 7-14. The Lumix is much smaller, though, and goes a bit wider, especially in 16:9 mode on the GH1, which is the only

that maintains the diagonal angle of view in 16:9.

photographworks · #3 December 28th, 2009, 03:28 PM

Amin,

Thank you for your reply.

This is really helping me - and I hope as and when I take the plunge, I can give something back.

Question: When you said images form the G1 "are in the same ballpark" as those from the GI - how big is the 'ballpark'?

Amin Sabet · #4 December 28th, 2009, 04:18 PM

Glad to be of help! I would say that the ballpark is small indeed. The difference in image quality between the G1 and GH1 is a controversial thing, but it's not enough of a difference to warrant much argument. I believe that the better high ISO performance of the GH1 is mostly due to on-chip noise reduction, baked irreversibly into the RAW. Whatever the reason, GH1 files are a little cleaner at high ISO than G1 files, and there does not appear to be much of a sacrfice in terms of detail. Some claim that even at low ISO, the GH1 files have better image quality, but I don't see it. The GH1 files are prone to banding, though, more so than the G1 files. Therefore, I think image quality isn't better with one camera or the other. They each have their own image challenges.

16:9 aspect ratio is a special case, where the GH1 has a slight image quality advantage because it uses more sensor area than the other

bodies at this aspect ratio.

photographworks · #5 December 28th, 2009, 05:20 PM

What was the ISO and what were the other settings for your shot of the woods?

Amin Sabet · #6 December 28th, 2009, 06:17 PM

ISO 100, f/7.1, 1/100s

eolake · #7 December 28th, 2009, 06:57 PM

What you'll sacrifice mostly is the high-ISO performance of the D700. With the current M4/3's, I think you don't wanna go higher than 800, sadly.

But I love them, especially the GF1. It just feels so good and is so responsive.
The same for the wonderful 20mm lens, so sharp, compact, and fast.

I also have a G1, though, and it's nice to have the tiltable screen.
And I do use zoom all the time when I use one.
So, I'd say for flexibility, the G1 with kit zoom. For speed and simplicity and compactness, the GF1 with the 20mm.

eolake · #8 December 28th, 2009, 06:59 PM

Amin, you really got rid of that great kit? I can't get myself to get rid of any decent camera, I won't even tell you how many I have!!
(But then I don't smoke or drink or go out with loose, uh, pants.)

Amin Sabet · #9 December 30th, 2009, 05:23 PM

I did indeed. The D700 was the most capable camera I have owned, but I just didn't have that connection with it. I think it was the size/weight (noticeably heavier than the Canon 5D, which was my main camera prior to that), and it didn't help that my favorite lens (85/1.4) had some heft as well.

eolake · #10 December 30th, 2009, 05:33 PM

Yes, I understand. Patrick from NeutralDay has talked about Connection too, and there's something to it. (Not a bad site his.)
And I have abstained from getting the D700 for the same reason. The 5D is as large as I'm willing to carry, and that's not even for walk-around.