carol_christopher

<p>Offline drives are relatively cheap(er) these days, 500gb for about $150. I have 4 drives external to the laptop. I recently got a rootkit virus and had to format my laptop hard drive so I was glad that I had only the system on it. So I eventually back up everything on 4 different drives. One is usually attached to the laptop for immediate backup as soon as I download images. I also back up any film scans and processed photos at the end of each editing session. Second drive I put on the computer to back up the first drive regularily. Same third drive, less regularily. Finally fourth drive is off-premises, I switch it in and back up on it periodically.</p>

<p>The laptop itself has only the system and programs on it. A rootkit virus may compromise any file on the drive, so I don't trust the laptop drive ever. No .exe files are copied to the backup drives. I keep a backup of purchased software keys and my emails, but I don't back up any downloaded software, as it is not safe to use once the computer has been infected. The main thing to keep in mind is multiple failures can occur, and if they do, you want to have enough copies to assure that nothing irreplaceable will be lost. Hardrives can fail, fingers can delete, virus's can attack, and the system can go wacky whenever.</p>

<p>This is just for working at home. In the field or travelling the program needs to be modified so that it fits the scenario. If I don't have my laptop along, then the danger period is while the images only exist as a single copy on the cards. I am still working on solving this, one answer being one of these very small laptops to always have along. There are also special gadgets to download files to a portable drive, but they are still expensive and a pain to use while shooting.</p>

<p>The whole thing is kind of like using two condoms at once, you want to keep everything safe while not wrecking the experience! LOL.</p>

<p>Mallik, consider this. The Panasonic Lumix G1 is not the greatest camera in the world, as digitals go. But with adapters, you can use ALL your lenses on it. I don't know about the Olympus Pen-E yet, but I will probably buy one as soon as they get them here. For the same reason, that I can use my Nikon, and Leica lenses on it too. Just a thought, a camera purchase is very personal and you should make your decision based on your own photography. Good fortune to you.</p>

<p>Bill: Go to "Custom menu" page 5, set "SHOOT W/O LENS" to "ON."</p>

<p>Bill: You need to do two more things you haven't mentioned. You need to set the camera mode to "A" for aperture priority, on the top dial. And you need to go into the menue and set the camera to "work without lens attached." It should show you where in the book. Let us know how it turns out.</p>

<p>I believe this came from one person only. Perhaps he has a problem with his eyes or his jpeg viewer. I have shot thousands of jpegs with my M8. They do not appear to be any different than the DNG files that I had at the same time, or photos with my G1. As far as I can see, the jpeg file is fine.</p>

<p>OK, I figured out how to turn off the image preview during continuous shooting. So now I won't be confusing anyone. Cheers.</p>

<p>Alex et al:</p>

<p>Your questions are spot-on in regards to the question of "going digital." I too have gone through this, having resisted giving up film for many years.</p>

<p>I currently use a Leica M7, a Leica M8, a Lumix G1, a Leica R8 and a Bessa L. Since getting the G1, I am sad to say I have basically given up on film for the most part. I have adapters for the M and R Leica lenses I have for the G1, and they work quite well. It's not that film is better or worse. It is the ease of working with digital, going out to shoot with one or two cameras and a couple of lenses. When I get back I am able to work on the pictures at my convenience, right away if I want. My latest photobook is 11" x 13", and at that size I can see no difference between the M8 and the G1 for quality. The G1 works well in manual mode with a Leica lens on, and adapters are available for many camera types.</p>

<p>List here of adapters: <a href="http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dx428wg_10fdvsmtd7">http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dx428wg_10fdvsmtd7</a></p>

<p>The one thing that has been a disappointment for me on the G1 is it is a little slow to shoot. The startup time from cold, or even power save, is noticeable and sometimes a pain. But the worst thing is the 1 second hesitation between continuous shots while the viewfinder is frozen on the shot just taken. In other words, when shooting in continous mode, the finder is not useable! It also has trouble getting a focussing lock in dim light where the built-in focussing light is not adequete. The focussing itself seems pretty good most of the time.</p>

<p>The M8 does shoot about 1 shot per second, which is also slow but at least I can still follow the action in the viewfinder window. The M8 plugs up after 7 shots (raw + jpeg) so it is a pain too, as I have to wait while it saves to the card.</p>

<p>The other thing about the G1 is it has no system. About all you can buy is the extra telephoto lens, extra battery and case. Optex sells a battery for the G1 which is about 1/3 the price of Panasonic, the camera is battery hungry and so I use 3 batteries as a minimum.</p>

<p>Changing systems is a big thing, and I understand why anyone is nervous about doing it. Each camera requires cards (I use Sandisk Ducati Extreme III, 2 at 100 bucks each for each camera) and extra batteries. Plus digital photography does seem to open up whole new worlds for some reason.</p>

<p>But I still have film in the fridge, and my M7 is still used from time to time, mostly for old times sake though I must admit.</p>

<p>Good luck with you decision.</p>

<p>Cheers.</p>

<p>I have not had the same type of problem as you, so I cannot address the memory card failure problem. However, I can address the problem of lost photos through the failure of the device to recognize the card. In order to recover photos from a card that won't "mount" in the device, do the following:</p>

<p>1- Reformat the card. You HAVE to do this in order to get it recognized. But you need to do it in a device that doesn't overwrite the data. Most cameras won't. You can tell if a reformat only takes one or two seconds. This means that the camera is only clearing out the directories.<br>

2- Use a file recovery program such as RescuePro from Sandisk. This is available free with certain of their memory cards, or can be purchased on-line. This program will find all of your photos on the card once it is formatted. Fortunately, the formatting usually doesn't disturb the photos, but they can be overwritten if new ones are taken before recovery is done.</p>

<p>Hope this is of use.</p>

Lumix G1, Leica 60mm macro 1:1<div></div>

<p>The camera takes on an entire different form when using the adapter. One thing this has done is that it opens up a lot of lenses to use on a digital body. This is the G1, adapter, macro adapter and macro lens on the mono.</p><div></div>

<p>One more, other side.</p><div></div>

<p>I will post a couple of pictures I just shot using the G1 and the 60mm leica macro at 1:1. Nothing spectacular, but hopefully will give you some more idea.</p><div></div>

<p>Buy an adapter for any other camera system ie Nikon, Canon etc. List here:<br>

<a href="http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dx428wg_10fdvsmtd7">http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dx428wg_10fdvsmtd7</a></p>

<p>Macro lenses for manual film cameras are cheap as dirt, and work great on the G1. A 50mm is good, because the G1 makes it a 100mm, which gives a nice working distance. I am using a Leica 60mm R lens on my G1. The kit lenses aren't great, the longer one being the worst. The little one is ok for pictures of the grandkids etc. but I am not impressed for serious photography. Cheers.</p>

<p>Rotating a shot does not change the picture data in any way. It simply changes the camera orientation indicator in the EXIF data, in other words, it changes the way Windoze displays it. The picture file stays the same.</p>

<p>The Bantam was my first camera, over 50 years ago. Today I have that one, plus one more I bought on ebay. They are not worth much, mostly because the film, while available, is harder to get and have processed. Plus 8 exposures doesn't go far these days.</p>

<p>That said, there is no reason why you couldn't order a few rolls, shoot them and then get them processed.</p>

<p>There is a more valuable model, the Kodak Bantam Special, which was really a totally different camera. It commands higher prices, due to it's rarity and "art deco" design by Walter Teague in 1936.</p>

<p>I too tried to code a couple of lenses, without success. I gave up as it did not seem to buy me anything at the time. The coding puts the lens parameters into EXIF, but the exposure details will be there without the coding, say for HDR picture software.<br>

Another thing the camera uses the coding for other than EXIF data is to determine the minimum shutter speed for it to use. If it knows the lens is, say, 35mm, then it reduces the shutter speed only to 1/35 before it begins to increase the ISO. This is useful when handholding in low light as it is hard to spot when the shutter speed gets too low.<br>

I have not used IR filters because, for one thing, when then switching to any lens without the IR filter on it, you need to also go into the SET menu and change it to "no IR filter." This slows lens changes considerably and I have not seen any need to use IR filters anyway.</p>

 

<p>I now have the adapter for the R lenses, the M lens adapter is on its way. But the R lenses have made a world of difference! I was not impressed by the little kit zoom. The crop factor is a bit of a pain, I am using my 19mm for a 38mm on the G1.But the pictures are a lot better, still not M8 but very acceptable. I am anxious to see results from the 15mm on the G1 once I get the proper adapter. They sent me an EOS by mistake, but very helpful in getting it sorted out. I have EOS lenses, but they have no aperture ring, so they have to be used wide open.</p>

<p>I have not had any problems printing directly from M8 jpeg files. I do some post processing, but I haven't needed to in order to get acceptable prints. It does sound like printer or printer driver software.<br>

Cheers.</p>

<p>Alex et al, OK. The G1 is selling here in Vancouver at London Drugs for $749 CDN with kit lens. The CDN dollar is high right now to US, at about .90. It was better a month ago. That is about $675 US which is a very good price in comparisons I made before I purchased. As well, they provide 15 days no questions asked returns. I waited until I had tested it extensively before I decided to keep it, and order the adapters for my M and R lenses. So at that price, even if there are fees and air shipping, it still works out to be a pretty fair deal. I have thought of just putting them in my ebay store, and if anyone buys just drive over and pick one up. But I don't know how long they will keep that price, it could change.<br>

If you are on the west coast of BC, we would be happy to meet and do some shooting.</p>

 

<p>Alex, I am sorry to hear about your frustrating experience with purchasing this camera in Japan. All I can offer is that I can help you purchase a camera here in Canada. I can assist in this if you would like to email me directly.</p>

<p>There is a language sub-menu in the setup menu. It has 4 language choices: English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. This may be the "Canada" version.</p>

<p>John, I don't normally do sideways, but here goes:</p>

<p>Of course, I get your point, and I am not comparing the M8 to the old Kodak in any way. But who gives a rat's a** if the M Leica is a compact camera or not, it is what it is.</p><div></div>

<p>I have always considered my Kodak Medalist a BIG camera, which it is, but was surprised to see the M8 profile not much smaller. In fact, I was trying to show how much BIGGER the Kodak was than the M8, but got fooled big time. So I have to agree, the Leica M series (late) are not all that compact.</p><div></div>

<p>This is a very comprenhensive and complete review Josh, thank you very much. I am getting rather used to shooting with the G1, so much so that I need to get out the M8 and M7 and blow the dust off them! LOL. This is the one problem, it is taking me away from shooting Leica.</p>

<p>However, I have ordered an M and an R adapter, they should be on their way here from China as I write this. I expect them in about 1 week. Once I get them, I will hopefully be able to determine if the G1 is, indeed, a poor man's M8. Can it fulfill a role as another digital body working with the M8, or (God forbid) will it replace the M8 once I get used to using the Leica glass.</p>

<p>Your review has calmed my nerves somewhat from the expense of the adapters ($85 US each) and I will be able to report more on their quality once I have used them.</p>

<p>Thank you and warmest regards.</p>

<p>Yikes! Sorry about the double post. I renamed a .jpg to .dng and it didn't seem to do anything any different either. ???</p>

<p>CC</p>