Scenes Seen/Vintage Digital: Panasonic DMC GF1 – 20mm f/1.7.

I say vintage digital in the title since a camera from 2009. But here is the thing. This camera does not feel… old.

I have other “vintage’ digital cameras that are capable image capturing devices. But you feel their age. Some take a month to write to the memory card. Some take a week to focus. While comforting to an old timer some feel decidely brick like in hand. Some require old timey CF cards and some cards that are quite obscure. Some have bits that have fallen off. But all is forgiven in the spirit of low price and nostalgia.

The GF1 and 20mm definitely tick off the low price box, but in the best of ways there is little nostalgia to be had. This camera does not feel old. For starters there is the speed of it. While not records pace by any stretch I do not feel myself waiting for the camera to catch up to me either. The only tell is having to wait a bit after a long burst to start up again. But seeing as this is a single shot stills solution mostly that is not an issue.

Power up.
Focus acquisition.
Shutter response.

Aim the thing in a general direction from the hip, press the shutter, and if you come anywhere close to getting the subject in the frame you probably have a decent image.

And the lens. It is a little marvel. I went on for a bit gushing over the 50mm full frame equivalent GXR module’s lens. Well, I put this lens in the same category. In the past I feel I have been lied to. Was told that it was slow to focus and was soft wide open. This has not been my experience at all. That this was accomplished with an f/1.7 lens barely larger than the same company’s 14mm f/2.5 model is impressive. I really wish I had tried this lens sooner.

This new-ish feel applies to the build as well. Most any camera with some age on it shows some signs of wear. Could be an odd scuff or a loose feeling dial or the like. But not here. This camera looks and feels like it just came out of the box new. Not a mark on it and tight as a drum. A camera that was released in 2009.

I mentioned in my last post about this pairing that I would make a post about how I shoot with this camera and what I do in LR. Well, here is the abridged version.

Scene burst.

This is for when I see a scene while on the move and want to spray while trying to grab something interesting.

1/1000s or so shutter speed.
Burst mode.
AF for cameras that can keep up. Infinity for cameras that cannot.

I use a memory preset slot one on any of my cameras usually. But that is not necessary with the GF1 since everything I need to adjust can be done quickly on the body. Turn mode dial to A and flick the lever around the mode dial to burst.

So even though I did save this to memory slot one, I do not use it.

Everyday.

My most common use case. Aperture priority wide open. Auto ISO with the ISO limit set to the highest the camera can tolerate.

Mono.

Usually, I set this to memory slot two with a JPEG B&W filter. But RAW files are the way to go with the GF1 so I just keep to everyday mode above and convert to B&W in post if the mood strikes.

Lightroom.

As usual I stay to slightly tweaking exposure, WB, shadows, and such to taste. If I go above 800 ISO I will also hit the image with the AI Denoise stick. That is it.

On to the images. Or scenes seen during a quick food run.