Having read reviews here, and online, I'm convincing myself to get a GF1!

Coming from a Can(n – SFB!!)on ixus 85i it'll be a nice upgrade, but I'm unclear on the ideal lens for me.
I see the fixed 20mm lens is 'better quality', but lacks the versatility of the 14-45mm lens. Also, the 20mm doesn't have IS, which the other does.

Can owners of the GF1 discuss their lens choices, and give me advice?

I like to take pics of everything from portraits, bikes, and countryside….!!

DrP

He this is turning into the GF1 forum 🙂

If I was going to get one lens, it would be the 20mm. The IQ on both is fantastic though, it's just that with the 20m it's so compact and unobtrusive. The 14-45 is also really good though.

You can easily crop pics pretty heavily from the 20mm to 'zoom in' so it's not as much of an issue as you might think. Lots of people report they quite like the 'pure' experience of having to frame shots by walking closer or further away anyway.

The 14-45 is a fair bit 'slower' (ie max aperture is 3.5 rather than 1.7) but this is made up for slightly by having the IS. This means you can get away with a slower shutter speed without shake, to make up for lower light conditions (instead of using a faster aperture).

Having said you should get the 20mm, with the £50 cashback at the mo you can get the 14-45 kit for under £500, AND get a 3 year warranty.

Or the kit with both for £720 😉

Here's one taken with the 14-45

this is turning into the GF1 forum

Tell me about it!
I can get the 14-45 for £489 or the 20mm for about £100 more, or both for £689…..(all post cashback) Argh – too much!

I know the 20mm is 'better', but I do like the versatility of the zoom lens.
Oh dear – what to do!

Come on then – one lens, which one…..?

DrP

Both! 😉

(or 20mm if you really have to pick one)

£689 for both is a damn good price though? Lots of people paid almost the same for just the GF1 and 20mm!

I just use the 20mm, nice and compact and produces brilliant images.

GF1 fanbois love in – you have nothing to lose but a hill of cash 🙂

Ok – not £689 for both – £719…. :-/

Swings me towards a single lens option really. Might go for the cheaper 14-45, then wait until price drops for the 20mm fixed – good idea?

…you have nothing to lose but a hill of cash…

Useful comment there simon! Any more to add?

DrP

Useful comment there simon! Any more to add?

is it not useful to point out you're paying well over the odds for a fashion item (lovely though it may be)?

Not really fashion is it though?
Fashion would be paying £60 extra for the same camera as yours, but with a red stripe.

This is buying a camera with an SLR sized sensor, in a slightly bigger than compact body.
In order to do that you have to re-engineer the inners, and the fact that it's new involves a price premium too.

Put it another way, show me a similar camera that 'isn't fashion' but is cheaper. That would be useful.

DrP

simon – stop trolling – it's really very tedious. If you don't have any useful contribution to the thread then please don't bother.

I use the 20mm f/1.7 and a 50mm f/1.4 Canon FD lens which with the adaptor cost £100.

This is buying a camera with an SLR sized sensor, in a slightly bigger than compact body.
In order to do that you have to re-engineer the inners, and the fact that it's new involves a price premium too.

no, even knowlegable pundits like Thom Hogan agree it's overpriced. It's not necessarily bad, if you can afford it you can jump in while it has the caché of novelty, but the other manufacturers will soon join in with better specs and the prices will tumble

If you don't have any useful contribution to the thread then please don't bother.

it's a free forum, we can all chip in as we see fit 🙂

[edit]

stop trolling

it's not trolling if I believe what I say and consider it relevant

it's a free forum, we can all chip in as we see fit

Yeah we can it's just that lots of people find you repeating the same nonsense pretty dull. Again, you spent most of the other thread explaining why the GF1 must be rubbish as it can only do 3fps – then you actually had a go and decided you want one.

Now you say it's too expensive – obviously not to the people who don't think it is. You repeating it over and over again doesn't make it any more true. Did the OP even ask for comments on the price/vfm of the GF1?

no, even knowlegable pundits like Thom Hogan agree it's overpriced.

Oh well it must be true then.

Again, you spent most of the other thread explaining why the GF1 must be rubbish as it can only do 3fps – then you actually had a go and decided you want one.

what I was actually saying was that they weren't trying as hard as they might. And that I loved the feel of it, and wanted one, but only to about £300 not the outrageous retail asked.

Yeah we can it's just that lots of people find you repeating the same nonsense pretty dull

well, thankfully, as is plain from many, many posters' contributions, dullness does not exclude participation 🙂

I've the 20mm, its an incredibly sharp little package and like grumm says its easy to crop as the quality is so good, hang on you're a proper doctor now, just buy them all! 😀

…just buy them all….

Hmm, a proper doctor with a proper wife on maternity leave with a proper 'ickle baby!

I want something nice to snap the baby with!

DrP

then you need the 20mm as its capable of both this:

(this was a hand held snap out of a window and the buildings along the bottom, with the ariels are bloody miles away!) oh if you select "open in new tab/window" then you can zoom in to see the ariels…

and this

(was a moldy old orange I found and put wobbly eyes on, like you do)

the 20mm is perfect for shots of kids too, this is about 100% cropped:

get the 20mm you won't be sorry then decide on a zoomy lens when you feel the NEED!

richpips – where did you source those bits?

DrP

Haven't read all the replies above so excuse if I am duplicating anything but you will probably see that with 1.7 maximum aperture and only 20mm focal length you won't need IS in the vast majority of situations.

If you do have the budget for the 20mm one then you might as well go to mathers of lancashire and get the kit with both lenses as currently Panasonic has a 50£ rebate on the camera. That will bring the camera with both lenses down to 700 and a bit. Then you play with both lenses and decide which one you want to keep – though I guess you will want to keep both.

richpips – where did you source those bits?

Ebay for the 4/3rds-FD adaptor (via poland).

The Olympus EPL1 is out and should be pricing cheaper than both the GF1 and PEN – if you can wait for the price to settle.

I want something nice to snap the baby with!

In this country there's a bad pun in that.

I got a Canon FD adaptor off ebay from Hong Kong for £20 delivered which works fine. Got a Canon FD 50mm 1.8 which is really nice – a 135 2.5 and a 58mm 2 are on the way as well 🙂

do the adaptors support autofocus or aperture ?

some do, cheaper ones don't.

DrP

do the adaptors support autofocus or aperture ?

Haven't we been over this already? Canon FD lenses are almost all manual anyway.