Panasonic Lumix GF1 Tips

More of a reminder to myself rather than a blog, might be useful to other GF1 owners as well:

Settings

Aspect Ratio - set to 4:3 as it retains the most pixels (the aspect ratio of the GF1 sensor is 4:3), other modes e.g. 3:2 and 16:9 crop pixels.

Auto ISO - set to max ISO800 or in a pinch ISO1600 (really pushing the boundaries)

AF Mode - call it habit or whatever, I tend to use the GF1 in single AF mode (the rectangle with a large black square). The most predictable mode in terms of locking on a subject.

Film Mode - typically have this set to DYNAMIC for both colour and also B&W as a personal preference.

Mode Dial - primarily use the A mode (aperture priority). Flick the thumbwheel right and left to set the aperture to control depth of field.

Shoot w/o Lens - as I sometimes use Nikon lenses on the GF1 (with an adapter), set to ON.

Video - since I only have the 20mm lens right now, I have CONTINUOUS AF set as OFF and if I want to AF, I would set the AF target and half press the shutter release button. As most users of the GF1 would know, you can activate video recording using the "motion picture button" or using the "Motion Picture P mode". I would recommend the latter method most of the time as you would have full control of aperture and exposure compensation. Preferred focussing mode is MF.

Others

Carrying the GF1 - my personal preference is to use a wrist strap vs a shoulder strap for the GF1 and treat the camera more like a large point and shoot (since it doesnt have a builtin viewfinder anyway), makes the grip that much more secure.

GF1 Grip - I dont have large hands but the GF1 grip seems small and slippery for me - what I did was to gaffer most of the grippable areas of the camera to enhance the grip. About a 8inch roll of gaffer table should suffice. I cant understand pp who pay good money for ready made "leatherette" stickers when good ol gaffer tape would do..

GF1 Flash - I didnt want to buy too many accessories for the GF1, therefore I reused my Nikon flashes for the camera e.g. if you decide to use flash using a SB-22s, just set to M mode on the GF1 and use the setting of  1/125 and an aperture of f.6 and set the flash accordingly. Works for me. One tip if you use the onboard flash - set the ISO a bit higher e.g. ISO 400-800 to boost the flash range.

GF1 Bag - The GF1 with a 20mm is small enough and light enough (442g) that it fits in a small backpack or a ladies handbag without any problems. I think if you want a dedicated bag for just the GF1 and the 20mm, a Lowepro Apex 60AW would be a good choice. Due to the fact that I cant find this bag around in stores, I decided to use an old Hedgren shoulder bag that I had lying around. Slightly padded and very non-descript. You get the picture.

Crumpler 6 Million Dollar Home camera bag

Not a good month for me, so decided to engage in some retail therapy and get a replacement for my old Lowepro Stealth Reporter 200AW.

Crumpler had recently updated their range of bags to incorporate what they call a "silencer" which fixed one of my pet peeves - the sound of velcro riiipping when I opened their bags (one of the reasons why I sold off my Budgie Smuggler years back. The silencer design uses a piece of ballistic nylon to cover the velcro when moments of silence are required.. e.g. when you are sneaking in the forest to take a shot of a bird and need to pull out your camera.

After much agonizing about whether to get the smaller 5 Million Dollar bag or the larger 6 Million, I decided to get the Crumpler 6 Million Dollar Home bag since it came with a shoulder pad AND it allowed me to fit in a netbook if I chose to to. In terms of color, I was deliberating between the dark brown bag or the black one.. in the end I went with black as I thought the cool green inserts looked better than the traditional Crumpler powder blue.

So, what are my thoughts about the bag.. well, nothing bad to say actually. It allows me to carry the two main configurations that I use - the street shooter/travelling configuration of a DSLR body and a small prime plus a wide angle on the side and a small tabletop tripod and flash in the other pouch or the birder configuration of a DSLR body and my 80-400mm lens. In my opinion, it is too large for rangefinder style micro 4/3s cameras like the Panasonic GF1 and the Oly EP series - the 4 or 5 million dollar home would be better bets. However, it is a pretty good fit for a GH1 with a couple of lenses.

The padding is adequate, and typical of many other good camera bags out there, there are many handy pockets to store a small notepad and memory cards. It is missing some features I like on my SR200 - namely, the belt loop, tripod straps and the waterproof cover - I have to say so that I have never used any of these features on my SR200. Practicality, however, isnt the reason why people buy Crumplers, there are other bags out in the market that have more fetaures, have better weatherproofing, better strap.... people buy Crumpler bags because of the coolness factor and I think that this bag looks way cooler than my old Lowepro...

Burmese food at Peninsula Plaza

Since my 2 cube mates in the office are Burmese, we often make a trip to the Burmese food capital of Singapore, namely, Peninsula Plaza once in a while during lunch. One of my favorite foods is Shan noodles. Apparently, the Shan people stay near the border of Myanmar and Vietnam so the noodles taste similar to dry Vietnamese rice noodles. The major difference as far as I can tell is the type of fish sauce that is used and the fact that Shan noodles don't taste as bland. Worthy of a try next time you are in the area.

Nokia N82

Been using this phone for the past 5 months. Tough tough time to get used to it after using a Sony Ericsson for so long. For the longest time, I couldnt get to grips to locking the keypad, why can't these phone manufacturers standardize these keystrokes?

Anyway, the phone is a cracker in some areas - the camera especially is most possibly the best in the market now and the browser is really good for browsing and reading web feeds - and a dud in some areas - the keypad is really uncomfortable to use due to the narrow keys and the GPS takes ages to acquire a satellite signal.

When I bought the phone, the initial plan was to use it for a while and switch to something else quickly. But from the looks of it, this phone is a keeper. Its not a perfect package by all means but it does the job of a phone well and with the camera being as good as it is, I can use it as my everyday camera.

Sony Ericsson phone video taking capabilities

The ability for my phone to take good videos is important to me since I am not one to lug around a huge videocam. Good enough for me is AT LEAST QVGA resolution although this is pretty archaeic compared to the megapixel war manufacturers are fighting. My fav phone brand - Sony Ericsson seems to be embarrassed about their phone video recording capabilities. From the website, there are no specs to indicate the resolution or FPS video specs for their phones. Compared to Nokia, which has a rash of VGA capable phones (N93, 95 etc), SE is really far behind.

I have compiled a selected list of phones (current and future as of April 2008) and their video recording specs. Please help me with your comments if I make a few mistakes here or if I have left your phone out..

QCIF (quarter CIF - 176x144, a truly pathetic resolution that can only record stamp sized videoclips)
- K800i/K810i
- K750i
- most other phones not listed otherwise

QVGA (320x240)
- K850i
- K660i
- W890i
- W910i
- P1i
- C902
- C702

VGA (640x480)
- Xperia X1

Life with a Honda Civic

The first drive back home with this car was ok. Salesman gave the usual walkthru at Kah Motors Ubi, I got into the car and made the long drive back to the west. Car felt good.

But little by little, the bumpy suspension, squeaky brakes, misaligned steering, "clacking" windshield wiper rubber, windows which got stuck while winding up and the pong whenever the AC starts up in the morning started to get to me. All within the first month of ownership.

I have always wanted a Honda Civic way back in the late eighties when I drove a friends fourth gen hatch. The rear opening window was a great idea and the nice ride and great 1.6L engine (this was before VTEC) was smooth and zippy.

Unfortunately, this 8th gen Civic gave me all sorts of niggling reasons to get rid of it.

5 months on, the suspension has softened and I am getting quite fond of the smooth and powerful engine. But I have a sneaking feeling I will get rid of this car before long. VW Passat seems a logical choice. VW GTI still calling for me...

Naim and B&W

Naim 5i/CD5i + B&W 705s on Target stands (lead filled). Using standard Naim interconnects with 3m NACA5. "Rack" is an Ikea filing cabinet :p.

Been living for this set for more than 2 yrs now. Dunno if its my ears but its sounding tired to me. Maybe its just "hifi-degradation" - your own set will always stagnate in terms of the absolute sound experience while your mate's (or dealer's) set will nearly ALWAYS sound better or just plain different. I had some initial reservations about the bass from the 705s, but after loosening up, the bass is alright with a sweet mid-range. However I have been hoping for floorstanders for some time for a really powerful sound. I find that this combo sounds best on instruments and on faster pieces of music.

Hope the new place will have space for me to space out the speakers more - to about 6ft apart. It would be great to get a real cabinet and move the equipment to one side also with a carpet in the middle, should help with the sound somewhat. What I really want though is this - Chords with 800 series B&W...