We came for the cherry blossoms, which on this dreary day were still quite stunning. But on the way back to the car I noticed that the bocce courts, which before had been overrun by children, were now being used as they should, by elderly men of Italian descent (typically), playing this simple game of lawn bowling. The simple games, of course, are often the most intriguing, and a good way to pass the afternoon.
After weeks of shooting with the new Pentax K-01, I thought that I’d give the Panasonic GH2 a little workout. I handed the K-01 to my sister-in-law to play with. By the by, she’s an artist and a very visual and creative person; she made no comment about the camera, either how it looks or how it operated (I set it to P mode for her). Is it possible that the K-01, as controversial as it is among the pixelscenti is much more anonymous among the masses?
In any case, the GH2 spent the afternoon mated to the Super Takumar 50mm F1.4, very often wide open, and very often with an ND. Just playing around really.
Regarding Pentax manual focus lenses, I think that I prefer the GH2 over the K-01. Yes the K-01 has focus peaking, but I have found that you need to zoom anyway to ensure critical focus, so ultimately the GH2 zoom to focus is just as useful. Additionally, I find the GH2’s combination of metering, adjustable histogram, and exposure preview to be much more useful than the K-01’s metering. Ironic then, that the Panasonic is still better than the Pentax at using old Pentax lenses.
This overcast day was also a reminder of how good the GH2 is. No, it doesn’t have the dynamic range of the K-01, and there’s some noise viewable at 100% at base ISO. But the EVF is full of useful information, the controls (while less solid feeling) are eminently usable, and the image quality is pretty damn good. Seriously, if you can’t take a good photo with the GH2, don’t blame the camera.