GH2 Dealing Manual Focus On The Lumix 20mm

[Bruce Foreman]

Bruce:

I know you've used the lumix 20mm F/1.7 in the past.

How have you dealt with manual focus with that lens?
Any recommended methods?

Thanks!

Steve

I still have it and use it whenever I need a very compact "fast" somewhat normal lens.

First off, it's even more "loose" fly by wire than most of the other lenses, just doesn't "feel right" when you grab the focus ring and "go to work". Nonetheless it's not too bad if you "slow down". I have the MF ASSIST set to ON so as soon as I start turning the ring (in MF mode) the magnified view "kicks in". This lets me "nail" focus fairly easily and I "let go" the ring and touch lightly on the shutter button to get rid of the magnified view. Then I can press the shutter botton to start video recording if in "motion picture" mode, or to take a still if in one of the still modes.

I used to use MF ASSIST to "touch up" autofocus but if you let go the shutter button to "clear the finder" it autofocuses again as soon as you start pressing it, so it seemed counter productive to me.

But back to your question, I guess I just "deal with it". I like the lens and I like the results I get with it so I put up with the way manual focus works on it. I use it with 3 cameras, the GH3, GX1, and Olympus OMD E-M5.

 

[Steve_Karl]

Thanks Bruce.

 

[Brandon Rice]

Thanks Bruce. I recently picked the lens up, and have had a tough time learning how to focus. I should set the focus assist to on as well.