Finally got my new G1 - lots of questions...

I finally got my blue G1 after all the waiting, unfortunately I have no internet access (or even a computer) right now so its been impossible for me to come online and check out the forums to see what people have been saying, my first impressions are all positive, I love using the camera.

There are a couple of things that confuse me though and I'm hoping a few of you guys can help with the answers, bearing in mind that I'm new to photography, and this is the only "big sensor" camera I've owned (I used to have a Canon G9).

At the moment the viewfinder \ lcd does not seem to automatically preview the expected exposure given the chosen shutter speed \ aperture or iso settings - am I doing something wrong here?

With the G9 I'm really used to seeing the actual live image update on the LCD to show you what to expect before you take the photo, I'm aware that in full manual mode the G1 has a little exposure guide \ chart at the bottom - which is helpful but shooting in shutter speed or aperture priority doesn't seem to do the same thing, take long exposures for example.. I might set it to 1 or 2 seconds.. I can see the camera automatically choosing a small aperture and a low iso to try and compensate for it..thats fine- but on too many occasions I've taken what I thought would be a reasonably exposed image yet the final picture is just solid white.

I know these are real beginner questions, sorry about that I guess I just assumed the camera would work similarly to my old camera - I've read the manual but didn't see the answer and haven't really got time at the moment to play with all the buttons.

I have about a 100 other G1 related questions that I don't have time to ask or search for right now - but any help on this issue would be really appreciated, anyway back to work now

the LCD/EVF preview is a known problem. there are workarounds, but it is just not how it "should" be.
here is a long thread that is dealing with this problem:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1033&message=30020749

all G1-users hope for a soon FW-update, because of this.

Unfortunately I don't have time (at work right now) to read that mammoth thread, but I thought that issue was to do with light metering?, I'm not even talking about pushing the shutter half down, or re-framing the picture - right off the bat with any ordinary photo the aperture, shutter and iso aren't reflected in the viewfinder - surely that's not right?

yes, even if you half-press shutter, the display doesn't show you the final preview.

i don't own a G1 yet (will be getting mine next week), but from what i have tested, you have to press preview button too, to actually get a preview of what the final exposure will be looking like.

what's the preview button?

Alkan said:

I finally got my blue G1 after all the waiting, unfortunately I have
no internet access (or even a computer) right now so its been
impossible for me to come online and check out the forums to see what
people have been saying, my first impressions are all positive, I
love using the camera.

Click to expand...

It will grow on you even more. Too bad it doesn't fit in my pocket and I am having a tough time finding jeans with a big enough pocket ;-).

Alkan said:

There are a couple of things that confuse me though and I'm hoping a
few of you guys can help with the answers, bearing in mind that I'm
new to photography, and this is the only "big sensor" camera I've
owned (I used to have a Canon G9).

Click to expand...

You are in for some fun... Welcome!

Alkan said:

At the moment the viewfinder \ lcd does not seem to automatically
preview the expected exposure given the chosen shutter speed \
aperture or iso settings - am I doing something wrong here?

Click to expand...

That is because for the really fast EVF updates to occur and the fast contrast-detect focus to operate properly, the aperture and ISO are wide open. On top of that the shutter is (I believe) out of the way. During framing the sensor is being used as a video feed with an electronic shutter. All focusing all the time on the G1 is performed in this wide-open mode, then when the final picture is taken, the camera applies the selected settings, takes the image, then returns to the framing mode.

You will see a big difference when you set the camera to have aperture preview turned on (trashcan button) in refresh rates. Then you can understand the penalty for having EVF + accurate preview. Believe me, I don't think having accurate preview (WYSIWYG) is necessary for framing a shot. I personally would rather have the fast refresh as the camera is right now.

Alkan said:

With the G9 I'm really used to seeing the actual live image update on
the LCD to show you what to expect before you take the photo, I'm
aware that in full manual mode the G1 has a little exposure guide \
chart at the bottom - which is helpful but shooting in shutter speed
or aperture priority doesn't seem to do the same thing, take long
exposures for example.. I might set it to 1 or 2 seconds.. I can see
the camera automatically choosing a small aperture and a low iso to
try and compensate for it..thats fine- but on too many occasions
I've taken what I thought would be a reasonably exposed image yet the
final picture is just solid white.

Click to expand...

I am used to the accurate preview as well, but try the aperture preview button to see what you are really getting before taking a shot if you are trying to pull something fancy. I think these scenarios are not often encountered, but when they are, you want them easy. I wish there were a menu option which would stick the camera into a P&S preview mode and sacrifice update rates for WYSIWYG.

Alkan said:

I know these are real beginner questions, sorry about that I guess I
just assumed the camera would work similarly to my old camera - I've
read the manual but didn't see the answer and haven't really got time
at the moment to play with all the buttons.

I have about a 100 other G1 related questions that I don't have time
to ask or search for right now - but any help on this issue would be
really appreciated, anyway back to work now

Click to expand...

Keep going, will try to help.

--
My pictures...
http://12.168.34.68/photos/default.asp
http://www.markwyman.com/photos/default.asp

I don't believe this is true. The only time it doesn't show the actual preview automatically that I'm aware of is when you half press the shutter AND REFRAME THE IMAGE. I do own a G1.

oluv said:

yes, even if you half-press shutter, the display doesn't show you the
final preview.
i don't own a G1 yet (will be getting mine next week), but from what
i have tested, you have to press preview button too, to actually get
a preview of what the final exposure will be looking like.

Click to expand...

I have skimmed through the threads referred to, having suffered from the same problem. I understand the workaround and find it really difficult to balance keeping the shutter half pressed, while pressing the trashcan/aperture button. I can only make it work about 50% of the time.

I think I can achieve what I want by focussing on an area by keeping the shutter button half pressed and the AE/AF button locked (after having set the AE/AF lock to AE) and then moving to the area to be taken. In this mode, neither the LCD or histogram will reflect what you're going to take - which is really strange, I think. If it was correctly (WYSIWYG) displayed, then, as has been mentioned, you might not be able to see what you're taking properly, so I suppose this could be seen as a benefit.

It's dark here now, so I will have to experiment tomorrow to confirm this.

liquidsquid said:

You will see a big difference when you set the camera to have
aperture preview turned on (trashcan button) in refresh rates. Then
you can understand the penalty for having EVF + accurate preview.

Click to expand...

My FZ50 manages it just fine, with a teeny tiny sensor and a far more primitive processor.

I have said it before: for this much money, you should not have to "workaround" anything. Panasonic should fix this problem, post- haste. At least, before I put my money down.
--
P O G O W A S R I G HT !

You need to go into the menus and turn the hold feature on for both preview and AE lock, then you don't have to do convoluted finger-twister. Then it is a matter of order:

Point camera at target, press AE lock, Press Trashcan, fire away.

AE lock sticks between shots so you can take more than one at the desired AF/AE. I think that is the point in why it isn't a single half-press actuation, it is set up to do panoramas and pre-focus for speed (example, sports. Focus on goal, leave camera on tripod with remote, fire away without needing to wait for focus lock).

-Mark
--
My pictures...
http://12.168.34.68/photos/default.asp
http://www.markwyman.com/photos/default.asp

It may, for the scenarios you use it for right now, but shot to shot time of this camera considering the contrast-detect speed is amazing, and once you try it... you will be spoiled.

And it does work just fine, it is rare if ever I lock on subject with half-press and re-frame before I had this camera and had that functionality available to me.

The manual focus is SO good on this cam, that I am apt to frame something that critical just using manual focus, such as a macro shot, so there is even less incentive to use the half-press re-frame method.

It is just a matter of getting used to doing the same thing in a different fashion.

With that said, it should be a menu option/firmware upgrade to support that functionality if this camera is truly aimed at people moving over from a P&S camera.

-Mark

--
My pictures...
http://12.168.34.68/photos/default.asp
http://www.markwyman.com/photos/default.asp

Guys, I lost track of my own thread - sorry about that.

Really appreciate the help, I'll give this a go tonight - thanks a lot.