Yesterday I went out to the Welcombe Hills near Stratford upon Avon. I took the M9 with voigtlander 35mm f1.7 and 75mm f2.5 lenses. I also took my Panasonic GF1 as a "teleconverter" for the 75mm lens.
Leica users will be well aware that the "limit" for telephoto options is 135mm. If you need something longer then the alternative is to either crop the image, or use another camera. Knowing the area I realised I would need a longer lens than a 75mm, my current upper limit for the Leica, so decided to try the GF1 to give me an 150mm (35mm equivalent)
While the results were fine, using the GF1 with the 75mm lens made me realise just how bad the GF1 bolt on electronic viewfinder is. Since the weather was fine and sunny I was using the lens on F8 most of the day. Even with the magnification of the manual focus assist I was unable to focus the lens accurately unless I opened up the aperture to f2.5, focused and then moved the aperture ring back again. A fiddly, slow process. In this respect I miss the Olympus E-P2 with its excellent EVF. However the amount of button pushing that is involved in using the E-P2 for manual focus cancels out the EVF advantage and results in a slow fiddly process also.
The Leica/GF1 combination is one I like in terms of weight, but find difficult in terms of use. I have more alternatives that I'm going to try. One is to use the GH1 instead of the GF1. Another is to use the Samsung NX10 fitted with the 50-200 zoom, though this is a heavier option. I've toyed with the option of getting a longer lens for the Leica. The 135mm alternatives are heavy and large however.
Words and Pictures - D
