Knocking on heaven´s door..
June 9, 2008
Panasonic LX2, f2.8, 1/30, 6,3mm, iso800, B&W JPEG Processed in PS
Back to my LX2… Shot handheld in quite low light,(plus I was trying to focus with the lens as close as possible to the fence), so much that I couldn´t get the camera to focus (it´s the first time I encountered this problem), so I manual focused this one. The panny has a nice way of enabling you to manual focus: Toghether with the focus scale (in meters or feet and that is also a very clever DOF indicator), you get an enlargement of the screen for critical focus, but there are two types of MF assist:
- The center area of the picture is enlarged, so you can focus considering the overall composition of the picture:
Use the joystick up/down positions for focusing, (see DOF indicator in the bar)
- The whole picture is enlarged, so you can fully zoom on just a portion of the image to ensure critical focus.
In both cases, the selected focus area can be shifted in any direction so you can choose which point of the overall image you wish to place your focus in:
Use the 4 way controller to move the focus area to any wished point in the image
Needless to say that the MF assist can be completely turned off to make composition easier. All in all, a very nice and straightforward way of using manual focus, in my opinion. The DOF bar is really cool, and considering the enormeous depth of field this camera produces, it really speeds things up when shooting in the street. A real joy!!
LX2,taking it a day at a time.. 
Great photograph. And the textures look great in B&W.
Like the composition and textures.
Also very interesting to know how manual focus works on the LX2, this is indeed a good implementation and seems better than the Ricohs I use.
Indeed, I almost only use manual focus now, since it so nicely integrated in my camera (focus wheel combined with the same scale on screen and a 5 times magnification of the image). Your picture is a good example of a offset primary subject and behind it vertical lines where the camera would like to focus! So a good decision to manually focus, eventhough it was first due to not being able to autofocus…) Sometimes the tools forces you to do something different than your usual workflow and that’s not always a bad thing.
Did I say I like the pcture yet?
regards
ronald
Morning my loyal friends!!
Yes, Bokeh exists in smallsensorland…It is allways challenging to achieve it, but rewarding it is..I find the out of focus areas of this lens quite pleasing actually..(though I am no “Bokeh Doctor”).
Regarding the manual focus in the Panny, it is great to use, but I believe “snap focus” in the Ricohs must be a nice implementation too. Incidentally, even when this picture is not a good example due to handholding, I am getting the sharpest results by using MF and the DOF scale, really nice the Leica lens..
Best, Erik.
The snap focus on the Ricohs is great and a feature I really miss on the LC1. Just so simple and fast to use.
The MF while better on the GRD II and with a DOF scale is not too well implemented but then most of the time I use AF and the AF on the GRD II is very precise although it can be slower then the GRD I or GX100 at times.
Really awesome pic. LOVE the composition. Especailly how blurred the background his and the foreground is so focused.