Pen-F front dial could be breath of fresh air for RAW shooters

Reading comments, I got the impression that the front dial on the PEN F would literally not work in RAW mode, but that is completely wrong!

Reading the manual, the Pen-F front dial starts to look way more exciting. If the camera is set to output only RAW, that's what it will carry on doing in the straight up setting. But, if you flick it to B&W etc it just changes to RAW+JPG.

I want to shoot RAW most if the time, but sometimes I know I want something in B&W and to switch in a second and have all of the extra control, then switch back straight away. I can see using that. Could imagine doing the same for color film modes, too.

Seems like a lot of fun to have such quick access to creative settings but not lose any flexibility or get stuck with tons of useless jpgs for majority of shots.

Makes sense to me!

RTFM! Now you've done it! Thanks for the interesting insight. Externalizing (demenuizing?) controls like that is indeed a breath of fresh air.
--
~~~ Kim

Yes! That is quite an interesting feature!

Funny you should notice that, as I was in the dark the Art filters work the same way so long as the camera is set to RAW when they're selected. I missed it for awhile because I had "Don't import suspected duplicates" selected in Lightroom so it was only importing a single copy (images have identical frame #s) and it wasn't until I realized the total frame weren't matching with my backup that I had my "a-ha" moment. Deselecting the option in Lighroom gave me all the copies.

I'm not in the market for the Pen F but I should think Pen fans would be over the moon to get one. It looks like a gem.

Cheers,

Rick

Definitely not for me. Never use any kind of filter on any camera that I own.

Hi

I usually shoot in RAW only and I can see myself using the feature occasionally for sure. I have a load of film emulations I use in Lightroom, and usually stick to the same ones, so having something in camera might be useful.

I don't see much of an advantage.

Pretty much anything you can do with those modes, you can do in post.

You can already set the EVF to display B&W, even if you're shooting RAW.

It's a frill, a nod to the original Pens.

I was thinking about this last night. On the EM-1 set to RAW and then flipping over to ART gives you the RAW plus the ART selected JPG.

Now, let's take this one step further. In my film days, I loved shooting B&W and saturated chromes. Would it be great if you could do RAW plus a number of JPGs processed to my liking as per the colour wheel. It would be like shooting RAW plus ART bracket, but customized for me.

Yes, I know I can do all of this in post and that's why I shoot RAW exclusively and have the Nik filter set. Having my favorite outputs in JPG would make life a lot after and with the remote app, I can download and publish anywhere pretty much on the spot.

Just moving over to m43, I have been using my local camera store's demo EM-1 for the last month until they get one in stock (the have lots of silver - I used to work there part time so they know me well). So, now with the PEN-F on the near horizon, I just may go that route instead.

nickhello66 said:

Reading comments, I got the impression that the front dial on the PEN F would literally not work in RAW mode, but that is completely wrong!

Reading the manual, the Pen-F front dial starts to look way more exciting. If the camera is set to output only RAW, that's what it will carry on doing in the straight up setting. But, if you flick it to B&W etc it just changes to RAW+JPG.

I want to shoot RAW most if the time, but sometimes I know I want something in B&W and to switch in a second and have all of the extra control, then switch back straight away. I can see using that. Could imagine doing the same for color film modes, too.

Seems like a lot of fun to have such quick access to creative settings but not lose any flexibility or get stuck with tons of useless jpgs for majority of shots.

Makes sense to me!

Click to expand...

You can accomplish the same thing with Panasonic's 5 custom settings on the mode dial, creating custom settings groups to make the camera behave exactly as you want. I have one set for low-light manual operation with flash, one "panic" set for all-auto, and a shutter-priority set for low-light ambient-only.

I worry the PEN's dial will be prone to accidental turning and/or rub against a knuckle.

Jacques Cornell said:

nickhello66 said:

Reading comments, I got the impression that the front dial on the PEN F would literally not work in RAW mode, but that is completely wrong!

Reading the manual, the Pen-F front dial starts to look way more exciting. If the camera is set to output only RAW, that's what it will carry on doing in the straight up setting. But, if you flick it to B&W etc it just changes to RAW+JPG.

I want to shoot RAW most if the time, but sometimes I know I want something in B&W and to switch in a second and have all of the extra control, then switch back straight away. I can see using that. Could imagine doing the same for color film modes, too.

Seems like a lot of fun to have such quick access to creative settings but not lose any flexibility or get stuck with tons of useless jpgs for majority of shots.

Makes sense to me!

Click to expand...

You can accomplish the same thing with Panasonic's 5 custom settings on the mode dial, creating custom settings groups to make the camera behave exactly as you want. I have one set for low-light manual operation with flash, one "panic" set for all-auto, and a shutter-priority set for low-light ambient-only.

Click to expand...

Problem I have is that I forget which C mode is which, especially with all that C3-1 crap.

Personally, I think the mode dial is anachronistic and should be redefined, it should be replaced with a lockable dial which cycles through your modes sequentially including your own 'named' custom modes. Why can't I have ten custom modes? Then I could use the mode dial as an art dial too!

In fact, split the dial in two, top and bottom (or front and back) with a lock. Bottom dial sets the exposure mode, e.g A/S/M/P/iA. The top dial sets the user mode, e.g BW, color, art etc

Mistajolly said:

Problem I have is that I forget which C mode is which, especially with all that C3-1 crap.

Click to expand...

I was also having that problem..

I ended up making a template using a text editor and then exporting it as a jpg to the GM5.

Once in the GM5 I set the jpg to be protected and it's always there as the first pic on the SD card.

To quickly see your C settings just press the play button and press the 'right direction' button/arrow and there it is...


Note - settings are example only!

That's a good idea, a lot easier if you could name the presets though!