Wednesday 14 July 2010

Request for decoupling shutter release from autofocus on Panasonic Lumix GF-1

Dear Panasonic,

Being an amateur photographer, I love the AF-ON button on my Nikon D300. When activated (by default it is not active), this button decouples autofocus from the shutter release button, making focus and shutter release two separate functions. In other words, pressing the shutter release button does not focus the lens.

Looking for a compact camera with high picture quality, I recently bought the Panasonic Lumix GF-1 micro four thirds camera. Overall, I am very pleased with the camera, but I really miss the ability to decouple autofocus from the shutter release button.

The best alternative I've found, is to configure the AF/AE-lock button on page 2 in the custom menu by setting "AF/AE LOCK" to "AF", and "AF/AE LOCK HOLD" to "ON". This way, I can lock focus with the AF/AE-lock button so that the shutter release does not focus when pressed. However, when the shutter has been released (and a picture taken), focus remains locked and I have to press the AF/AE-lock button once more to release focus, and yet once more to refocus and lock it again (if I don't lock it, the shutter release button will cause the camera to autofocus, which I don't want).

What I would like, is the ability to deactivate autofocus on the shutter release button (decouple it), for example with a setting "SHUTTER AUTOFOCUS" that could be "ALWAYS ON" or "ALWAYS OFF". Then, I could get my desired functionality by activating AF on the AF/AE-lock button, and deactivate the annyoing AF/AE LOCK HOLD setting.

This way, life becomes a little easier as 1) I don't have wait for the camera to focus every time I want to take a picture, and 2) don't have to release the focus lock before refocusing between pictures. In a discussion on the DPReview forum, Barry McLaurin mentions a few other advantages of using the AF-ON button.

I believe that this could be achieved by a firmware update to the camera body (I currently have version 1.2), and hereby ask you to consider my suggestion for a future firmware update.

An upgrade like this would make the GF-1 an even better camera.



Kind regards,
Asbjørn Floden