<![CDATA[Serious Compacts - Featured Articles, Reviews & Posts]]> http://www.seriouscompacts.com/ News, rumors, tests, reviews, and other articles featured by our staff. en Wed, 22 May 2013 20:32:32 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.seriouscompacts.com/images/misc/rss.png <![CDATA[Serious Compacts - Featured Articles, Reviews & Posts]]> http://www.seriouscompacts.com/ New Nikon 1 Nikkor 32mm f/1.2 Announced http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/aminphoto/~3/K6zOrymmXTk/ Tue, 14 May 2013 16:14:30 GMT Nikon just introduced an interesting new portrait lens for the Nikon 1 system, a 32mm f/1.2 lens, offering an 86mm equivalent angle of view with... Nikon just introduced an interesting new portrait lens for the Nikon 1 system, a 32mm f/1.2 lens, offering an 86mm equivalent angle of view with depth of field control equal to that of an f/3.2 full frame lens. This is a premium lens with their silent wave autofocus, Nano Crystal Coat, manual focus override, metal barrel, and floating lens element design.

Available for pre-order at B&H in Black or Silver

]]> Amin Sabet http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/new-nikon-1-nikkor-32mm-f-1-2-announced-18630/ http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/new-nikon-1-nikkor-32mm-f-1-2-announced-18630/ <![CDATA[Featured Forum Post: 'EPM2 at the Dunes']]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/aminphoto/~3/VAE5ZhIhm9E/ Fri, 03 May 2013 03:44:40 GMT One of the areas I live close to is the Oceano Sand Dunes Preserve. It's a lovely place to go for a walk and take pictures. The dunes are one of my... One of the areas I live close to is the Oceano Sand Dunes Preserve. It's a lovely place to go for a walk and take pictures. The dunes are one of my muses -- I return frequently to test new ideas and try to get better. I find on every trip I make to this location I find new ideas to explore. In such an environment any camera will do really, although sand and wind can ruin a nice body or lens. So I always bring a windbreaker and never change lenses except when it's completely still. Thanks for looking!

Rider at the Dunes
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Life in the Dry Places
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Plant and Sand
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]]> Stan http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/featured-forum-post-epm2-dunes-18385/ http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/featured-forum-post-epm2-dunes-18385/ <![CDATA[The New Ricoh GR Announced and Available for Pre-Order ($797 at B&H)]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/aminphoto/~3/-x0c1tisYuo/ Wed, 17 Apr 2013 05:01:13 GMT Six short years ago, times were bleak for those of us who appreciated advanced, smaller cameras. So-called bridge cameras were a dying breed. The... Six short years ago, times were bleak for those of us who appreciated advanced, smaller cameras. So-called bridge cameras were a dying breed. The Canon Powershot G7 represented the treatment smaller cameras were getting. Gone were the fast lens and RAW capability of the G6. Those weren't needed in a smaller camera. Enthusiasts were expected to buy large, boxy DSLRs.

It was out of those dark times that Ricoh emerged bearing the torch for serious compact cameras. The Ricoh GX100 was pretty tiny, had a fast, f/2.4 (at the wide end), 24-70mm equivalent wide zoom, RAW capability, and excellent controls. Beside it stood the flagship compact GR Digital (GRD), proud descendant of the Ricoh GR1 line of film cameras.

In contrast to the GX100, the GRD was singular-minded. It was said that the GX100 was the Swiss army knife while the GRD was the razor. Anyone who has used a GRD will understand this analogy. Each GRD has featured an unusually sharp and well corrected, fast prime lens. Each GRD is immediately ready for use - no lens cap to remove, and no substantial delay waiting for the lens to extend. Lastly, each GRD has been very compact.

Ricoh evolved the GRD over time. By the third iteration, many of us were wondering how it could possibly be improved. The obvious answer was to use a larger sensor, but some wondered whether a large-sensor GRD would have to have too large a body, or whether it would be redundant given the Ricoh GXR and 28mm (equivalent) lens-sensor unit. Then Sony introduced the RX100, and we wondered if that excellent 1" sensor might find its way into a GR Digital 5.

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The new Ricoh GR


Today Pentax/Ricoh has announced the Ricoh GR. Taking a cue from Apple and Leica, Ricoh has eliminated the series number, and while they're at it, they've eliminated the descriptor "digital". Just as we have "the new iPad" and "the new Leica M", we now have
the new GR". Here are the basic specifications:

· 16.2MP APS-C Format CMOS Sensor
· GR ENGINE V Image Processor
· No Optical Low-pass Filter
· 18.3mm f/2.8 Lens (28mm Equivalent)
· 3.0" 1,230k-dot White Magic LCD Screen
· Full HD 1080p Video Capture
· ISO Range of 100-25600
· High Speed AF and 4 fps Burst Shooting
· Image Effects and Macro Mode
· Compact Magnesium Alloy Body


Times have sure changed since those six years ago when I started Serious Compacts. Unbelievably, we can now choose from amongst a wide array of compact digital cameras with large sensors and f/2.8 or faster fixed lenses. Including only the latest offerings, we have the Sony RX1 (full frame, 35mm f/2), Sigma DP1 Merrill cameras (APS-C, various focal lengths), Fuji X100s (APS-C, 35mm equivalent f/2), and Nikon Coolpix A (APS-C, 28mm equivalent f/2.8). Thus the new GR is being introduced with quite a bit of competition.

How does the GR distinguish itself from the pack? To begin with, it's the smallest large sensor compact around. Here are some cameras many of us are familiar with, ranked according to volume (in cubic cm):

· Sigma DP1M: 521
· Sony RX1: 516
· Fuji X100S: 507
· Canon G15: 325
· Nikon Coolpix A: 288
· Ricoh GR: 248
· Sony RX100: 212

It's also the lightest large sensor compact. Here are those same cameras with weights indicated in grams:

· Sigma DP1M: 388
· Sony RX1: 482
· Fuji X100S: 445
· Canon G15: 352
· Nikon Coolpix A: 299
· Ricoh GR: 249
· Sony RX100: 240

Furthermore, it is being priced lower than it's closest competitor by a fair margin. While the Coolpix A is selling for ~$1100 street, the new GR is available for pre-order for $799.

So we have smaller, lighter, and less expensive. Those of us who have used Ricoh GRD cameras in the past don't look to the Ricoh GR line for low pricing, however. We look for a small camera with an amazing lens, amazing controls, and a premium build.

I haven't used the GR yet, but I can tell you the folks at Pentax-Ricoh are pretty excited about this camera. The new GR lens, an 18.3mm (28mm equivalent) f/2.8 lens was specifically designed for low distortion, flare resistance, low chromatic aberration, and beautiful bokeh. The design uses 7 elements in 5 groups with 2 aspherical elements and a 9-bladed iris.

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Lens performance is said to be superior to that of the GRD IV, and paired with the AA filter-less 16MP sensor, Ricoh feels that the new GR will deliver substantially better image quality than the competition. The GR includes a "Crop to 35mm" shooting mode for photography with a 35mm equivalent angle of view, an interesting new take on "digital zoom".

Ricoh has specifically set its sights on the Coolpix A. Word is that compared to it's Nikon peer, the new GR will have significantly faster AF, somewhat better battery life, 1/4000s max shutter speed vs 1/2000s, a fully magnesium body (vs aluminum front/back cover and magnesium top), and the availability of a 21mm wide conversion lens.

As with previous GR models, Ricoh is promising great quickness with an activation time of approximately 1 second, 4fps continuous shooting in RAW (up to 4 frames) or JPEG (up to 999 frames), and fast autofocus (approximately 0.2s at 3m).

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From what I could gather, the new GR retains the superb ergonomics and controls of the GRD IV.
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In case it isn't obvious, I've been a fan of the GRD line for years now, and I can't wait to check out the new Ricoh GR in person. I'm hoping Ray will do a hands on soon for SeriousCompacts. I know he liked the Coolpix A, and it'll be interesting to hear how he thinks the new GR compares.

Ricoh GR pre-order link again for those interested: Ricoh GR Digital Camera 175743 B&H Photo Video

For comprehensive coverage of the GR release including links to the press release parade, various previews, and reactions around the web, I recommend keeping your eye on our friends over at 1001 Noisy Cameras, also known by most of the popular camera news/rumors sites out there as "the main source".
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]]> Amin Sabet http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/new-ricoh-gr-announced-available-pre-order-%24797-b-h-18057/ http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/new-ricoh-gr-announced-available-pre-order-%24797-b-h-18057/ Sony RX1 and Fuji X100s - A Comparison (long!) http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/aminphoto/~3/v4qLF0fEVYQ/ Sun, 14 Apr 2013 14:03:31 GMT I've been shooting with the Sony RX1 (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/891105-REG/Sony_dscrx1_DSC_RX1_Full_Frame_Point.html) for about a month... I've been shooting with the Sony RX1 for about a month now and the Fuji X100s for a little over a week. I got up to speed with the X100s quickly since I've had plenty of experience with the X100 and X-Pro. I had both cameras with me during a busy weekend of shooting in New York City last week (along with the Nikon Coolpix A), and both have gotten plenty of work. I've written some about the RX1 here and the X100s on the Xspot forum, but I'd promised to do some sort of comparison between the two since they're somewhat similar by virtue of both being fixed lens 35mm (or equivalent) focal lengths with f2.0 lenses. While I question whether these two cameras will be directly competing for very many potential buyers, there are a lot of similarities and differences worth understanding for those who might be considering either.


NYC RX1-26-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr


NYC X100s-26 by ramboorider1, on Flickr

Lens / Sensor / Output - The RX1 has an incredibly nice Zeiss f2.0 lens mated to one of the best full frame 24mp sensors in existence (at least for this now - something better is sure to come out any day now...). The X100s has a very nice but not quite in the same league Fuji f2.0 lens mated to a 16mp APS X-trans sensor that some love and some hate. I personally love it but many who pixel peep and shoot raw with it have issues with the raw conversions and some even have issues with the jpegs and how they're sharpened and the level of detail. While that's a matter of personal taste, I don't think anyone has ever had a negative thing to say about the RX1 sensor - rated highly by all the technical reviews, incredible files to work with. IMO the RX1 sensor is as good as anything you've read about it. I'm also personally VERY happy with the Fuji X-Trans sensor - I have largely the same sensor in my X-Pro and I tend to shoot jpegs most of the time with the Fuji cameras. Not because I'm in any way DIS-satisfied with the raw files, but because the Fuji jpegs are sublime, there's plenty of latitude for further processing in most of their film simulation modes, their NR algorithms are very very good, and I've just never been able to top them by processing the raw files myself. I think of the Fujis as similar to film cameras where I choose the film and manipulate the results a bit in processing, but mostly get what the camera produces. So in terms of output, its partially a matter of taste rather than numbers, but IMHO the Fuji is excellent and the RX1 is a lot better than that. Is it enough to matter? For pixels peepers, maybe a lot of the time it does. For someone like me who doesn't pixel peep but appreciates files that are easy to work with, it matters a lot at the margins of challenging light and a little in decent to good light. As you'll see from the images peppered throughout this post (always paired with the RX1 first, then X100s), there's no real difference at web sizes for most of the images I've shown, and in good light, the differences would be really hard to see for any but the most extreme pixel peepers. But at larger displays or large prints of low light images, there's notably better and cleaner detail with the RX1. In some cases its more visible than others. But there's a lot more room for error with the RX1, with both cleaner files as a starting point and more latitude for processing. Bottom line, in the vast majority of circumstances, the differences will only matter to pixel peepers and this may and probably should influence a lot of purchasing decisions. In the most challenging circumstances, however, I think most photo enthusiasts would both see and appreciate the difference working with the RX1 files. A word about the lenses - both are really nice, but the Zeiss lens on the RX1 is another level of special, in terms of the subtle way it renders, its narrower DOF wide open, the quality of the bokeh that narrow DOF leads to. Its just a very special lens. The Fuji is very nice and worth raving about, but the Zeiss takes it to another level - a great mate to the very high resolution sensor in the camera.

Build / Egronomics - The RX1 is one of the most impressively built cameras I've had the pleasure to shoot with, oozing quality from the hefty but not too heavy feel of the camera to the incredibly smooth aperture ring and exposure comp dial with just the right amount of resistance, to the very well damped focus ring. Even the metal lens cap is highly impressive - it goes on easy but will NOT let go inadvertently - and when was the last time anyone was impressed by a lens-cap? The X100s is a very nice feeling camera but a good deal lighter and less solid feeling. Not that this is a negative, but it makes a different first impression and somewhat different ongoing impression. The RX1 has five fully customizable buttons so you can configure the camera with whatever combination of immediately available controls works best for you. The tactile feel of the X100s controls is quite good, much improved in some cases from the X100, which had an exposure comp dial that was too easily accidentally turned and a "menu/OK" button in the center of the rear controller that was very difficult to push without a long fingernail (or very small fingers). This is all much better now. But there is only one fully programable fn button, so the camera is not nearly as customizable as the RX1 - the X100s does have a "Q" button that brings up a number of the most used settings on the camera so most key controls are reasonably accessible. One complaint with the X100s is the aperture ring on the lens, which only allows for full aperture stops - 1/3 intermediate stops are possible but you have to use the rear thumb controller to access the intermediate stops. This was the case on the X100 also and, at the time, that was the first camera in this class to offer an aperture ring on the lens at all in quite a while, so this detail was easily overlooked. But things have changed and today several cameras, including the very inexpensive Panasonic LX7, have aperture rings on the lens that can access 1/3 stops so this feels like something Fuji should have upgraded. In terms of build quality and feel of the controls, the edge definitely goes to the RX1, which feels like what it costs, but there's nothing wrong with the X100s in this regard either.


RX1 vs X100s-46-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr


X100 vs RX1-49-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

The View From Here - The RX1, along with other Sony cameras, has one of the best rear LCD or OLED screens (honestly not sure which it is) I've ever used. Its got a "sunny weather" setting that is bright and clear enough to use in the brightest sunlight and see what you're shooting very very well. It also has an excellent but expensive (more on that word later) accessory EVF (and an OVF is available as well, but I haven't tried that). So if you're OK shooting without a viewfinder, the RX1 is excellent. If you want a viewfinder, the EVF is about as good as they get, but since its removable accessory its not nearly as convenient as a built-in finder. I wouldn't say its easy to knock off in use, but its possible, and it is easy to move out of position when carrying the camera. So, if you shoot exclusively with a viewfinder, this accessory viewfinder may not be your cup of tea. I'd prefer a built-in but I'm OK shooting with or without a viewfinder a lot of the time, so I'm OK with it, but many wouldn't be. The X100s, OTOH, has a good but not exceptional LCD screen, BUT, it has what I consider to be the best viewfinder in the world, in any camera of any type, ever! If you can't tell, I'm rather fond of Fuji's hybrid viewfinder. Its got both an electronic viewfinder, with all of the information you'd expect an electronic viewfinder to have, plus an optical viewfinder with an information overlay that gives you all of your vital shooting information. If you're not familiar with the hybrid viewfinder, you owe it to yourself to GET familiar with it. If you are, no need for me to run through its amazing wonderfulness yet again! One note, the EVF in the X100s, which much improved over the X100 version in terms of resolution, is still pretty laggy in comparison with other EVFs when moving the camera, panning, etc. Not a huge problem since you've got a brilliant OVF living in the same viewfinder assembly, but something to be aware of if you'd use the EVF a lot. Also, the OVF, like any other off-set OVF has to deal with parallax issues. It deals with them very well, IMHO, but the shooter needs to understand what parallax is, how it works, and the information the OVF is giving you to help you deal with it. The parallax inherent to this type of OVF has scared more DSLR shooters away from Fuji cameras than probably any other single feature/issue, based on the huge number of internet posts I've seen on the subject. It shouldn't, but its incumbent on the user to know what he or she is getting into with this. I LOVE this OVF - its my favorite feature on the Fuji cameras and nothing is a close second (maybe the jpegs). But evidently, and to my shock and surprise, it seems to NOT be for everyone! Overall I have to give a big advantage to the X100s for the built-in hybrid viewfinder - EVERY camera should have one!


NYC RX1-13-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr


NYC X100s-31 by ramboorider1, on Flickr

Auto Focus - Auto focus is likely to be an issue of some contention. I don't find AF speed all that critical in this 35mm (or wider) focal length, and I don't see a lot of difference between the two cameras here. Much has been written about how slow the RX1 is and how much faster the X100s is than any previous Fuji, but I'm just simply not feeling it. I guess I have a threshold of fast "enough" and if a camera meets it, I don't really notice the AF speed much beyond that. Speed tests seem to show that the X100s AF (with its new PDAF chip) is faster than the RX1. I don't doubt it, but I don't feel it much in actual use either. In the brightest possible light, I can detect an advantage for the X100s, but the RX1 is plenty fast. In less light, I honestly can't find a difference. The Olympus OMD with a moderns lens FEELS fast! The X100s doesn't feel all that fast (no faster than the 18mm lens on the X-Pro) except in very bright light and the RX1 doesn't feel much slower. So either I'm horribly insensitive to these differences, or they're not that great to begin with. In low light, I like a camera to lock on reliably without a lot of hunting and both of these will do that, but you have to remember a couple of things. With the X100s, you get the best low light AF by switching the camera from single shot AF (AF-S) to continuous AF (AF-C). With the RX1, you have to remember to keep the aperture pretty wide open in low light - most cameras today do this automatically but the RX1 focusses at whatever aperture you've set the camera to, up to f8, so if you're trying to focus at something smaller than, say, f5 in low light (buy why?), you may get quite the hunting expedition. Maybe a slight edge to the X100s, but VERY slight in my perception...


NYC RX1-233-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr


NYC X100s-61-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

Manual Focus - In terms of manual focus, I'd have to say the RX1 has an advantage for critical focus tasks and the X100s has an advantage for zone focus tasks, but neither by huge margins - both work well enough in both contexts. For critical focus, the X100s gives you more ways to skin the cat and the integration with the two viewfinders is wonderful. With the X100s you can use either focus peaking or a split-image view sort of similar to the way old SLR cameras helped you find manual focus. Both work well enough and both integrate well with either the EVF or rear LCD. The REALLY cool feature is a thing called "focus check" which works in the OVF. When you're in manual focus and looking through the OVF, when you start to turn the focus ring, the view switches to the EVF temporarily and shows you either the split-image view or the focus peaking view, whichever you'd selected as your focus aid - you nail focus and then a half press of the shutter takes you back to the OVF view. This is just waaaay cool for the gadget geek in anyone and it works great in real time too. In contrast, the RX1 only offers focus peaking as a manual focus aid, so it would seem to be the lesser camera in this regard. BUT BUT BUT BUT for one minor detail - the focus peaking in the RX1 is just BETTER than either the focus peaking or the split-image option in the X100s. Sony more or less invented focus peaking and they have it nailed. You can choose from three colors and choose three different intensity levels. If you choose red for most things and I guess switch to white or yellow if you're shooting heavily red scenes, it is VERY easy to see when you've achieved critical focus. That's the key difference - the RX1 focus peaking makes critical focus very easy to see. Neither the more limited X100s focus peaking (white is the only option and often difficult to see) or split image method work as well as the RX1 peaking. Bottom line - more effective trumps more options here so an edge to the RX1. In terms of zone focus, the edge goes to the X100s for a couple of reasons. The distance scale is more precise, always shows in MF mode, and the focus distance is remembered when you turn the camera off and back on again. Downsides are the focus ring throw is much more sensitive than on the old X100, but sometimes to a fault where its mildly difficult to stop on a target distance without overshooting it and fine tuning can be a little tricky. And there is a DOF scale, but IMHO, you're better off ignoring it because its very very conservative and unless you are too, its better to ignore it and figure out your own focus settings using a DOF table of some sort. The RX1 works here, but the focus scale is much more limited, not as precise, only shows up while you're actually turning the focus ring, so you might not notice if you've accidentally changed your focus distance, and the distance reverts to infinity when you turn the camera off and back on again. Both are usable - I've taken many in-focus street shots with both, but the X100s is clearly better set up for zone focusing.


NYC RX1-105-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr


NYC X100s-93 by ramboorider1, on Flickr

Intangibles - Another "category" to discuss might be intangibles, or the "flow" of a camera. How does it feel in use? How much FUN is it to shoot with? And I've gotta say, in this regard, both of these cameras are off the charts. I can't say there's a winner at all. They're different, they feel different and work a little differently. I like some options more on the RX1 (auto-ISO for example, and the number of customizable buttons) and other things more about the X100s (the OVF, the OVF, the OVF!, and the film modes), but both of them are simply wonderful. Trying them both will honestly make any decision you might be trying to make more difficult because you'll probably love both of them, but in different ways - how to choose between such great options? I can't help you here - I'm just telling you they're both wonderful cameras to actually USE.


RX1 vs X100s-48-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr


X100 vs RX1-52-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

Expense - I mentioned cost above when talking about the RX1's EVF and I gotta say, cost is a big issue here, one that I can elaborate on, but can never solve for anyone but myself. The "is it WORTH it" question is something that each person can only answer for themselves. The RX1 is just expensive everywhere you turn. The camera itself is expensive at $2800 and all of the accessories are very expensive. The EVF is north of $400, the OVF is over $600. An add-on thumb grip (which can't be used with either viewfinder) is about $250. The Sony branded lens hood is close to $200 I believe. The camera doesn't even come with a battery charger! A camera of this price with no charger!?!?!? But you can buy a third party battery and chargers for very little. And you can get a knockoff lens hood thats indistinguishable from the original for about $50 and that will likely be $30 soon enough... But if you want an RX1 with one of the viewfinders, a charger, and an extra battery or two, you're looking at spending at least about $3300. A similarly outfitted X100s, OTOH, will cost you the list price of $1299 plus a few bucks for a spare battery or two. Not a small difference. Big BIG difference. Compared to the just-mentioned Leica M, the RX1 is a great bargain, maybe the deal of the century. Compared to the X100s or any other small fixed lens camera, the RX1 is just plain a whole stinkin' lot of money. It buys you a camera that I will state unequivocally is better and more capable in a number of ways. But that does not have some features the less expensive Fuji has that may matter a lot to some buyers - have I mentioned the hybrid viewfinder enough yet?


NYC RX1-119-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr


NYC X100s-33-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

So, that's as far as my advice can go. If you can afford the X100s and cannot afford or rationalize spending the money on the RX1, there's no decision between the two. If you've got the money and you're willing to spend it on the subtly beautiful way the Zeiss lens renders and the Sony sensor picks up that light, and if you don't care much about the Fuji's awesome hybrid viewfinder, then maybe the RX1 is a better choice for you. But the RX1 probably won't be a no-brainer, it will be a decision that you might make if you want one camera on your shelf that, at least by today's standards, is a no compromise IQ machine and you're willing to pay the big bucks for it. If you want one of these two cameras but can only afford the X100s, you will only buy the X100s. If you can afford the RX1, you MIGHT buy the RX1 but you might just as easily decide that the X100s gives you enough of what the RX1 does, maybe even more in some specific ways, in a package and at a price you prefer.

But the RX1 simply won't be an option for as many people as the X100s. So at that point, the X100s isn't competing against the RX1, but rather against a number of other mirrorless cameras with APS or smaller chips, and more in its price range. I noted on the Xspot forum the irony that the X100s is a better camera in arguably every way than the X100 but that its far less overwhelming upon its release today than the X100 was two years ago. And that's because when the X100 was released, there was really nothing like it. Nex was in its infancy, m43 was developing great lenses but was limited by an old sensor, Fuji hadn't developed its interchangeable lens system yet, and neither Nikon nor Canon had entered the mirrorless market at all. Today, m43 and Nex have come into their own with great cameras and lenses, Fuji's own X-Pro and X-E1 are as competent as the X100s in most regards and far more versatile, Nikon is working its way into the mirrorless market (the "1" series smaller sensor cameras didn't do well among enthusiasts but the new Coolpix A fixed lens 28mm looks like a very solid contender), Ricoh's rumored APS fixed 28mm lens compact is likely a strong entry, and Canon has stuck a very tentative toe into the water. Things have changed and as good as the X100s is, it faces far more competition today than the X100 did two years ago. So, the X100s is a great camera among great cameras where the X100 was a brilliant but flawed camera all on its own two years ago.

And like the X100 two years ago, the RX1 emerges into today's market and there's really nothing else like it - it may be a small market niche, but for now the RX1 has it to itself. If you want a small camera with a full frame sensor and a premium lens and you can't afford a Leica M, the RX1 is your only choice. In two years, its successor, like the X100s today, will likely face much stiffer competition than it does currently. It will be interesting to see what things look like at that point.
]]> Ray Sachs http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/sony-rx1-fuji-x100s-comparison-long-18002/ http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/sony-rx1-fuji-x100s-comparison-long-18002/ <![CDATA[Featured forum thread: 'Twister fire starter (Fuji X100S)']]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/aminphoto/~3/ro4M0UIM1Bg/ Fri, 12 Apr 2013 06:53:06 GMT Took my Fuji to a fire spin in a disused warehouse on an Essex river front. Image:... Took my Fuji to a fire spin in a disused warehouse on an Essex river front.




Fire Spinning Fuji Style by petach123 (Peter Tachauer), on Flickr


Fire Spinning Fuji Style by petach123 (Peter Tachauer), on Flickr


Fire Spinning Fuji Style by petach123 (Peter Tachauer), on Flickr
]]> Petach http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/featured-forum-thread-twister-fire-starter-fuji-x100s-17961/ http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/featured-forum-thread-twister-fire-starter-fuji-x100s-17961/ Canon EOS-M Mirrorless Digital Camera with EF-M 22mm f/2 STM Lens http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/aminphoto/~3/INLFdcltW_o/ Thu, 11 Apr 2013 20:47:02 GMT The Canon EOS-M Mirrorless Digital Camera (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/883304-REG/Canon_6609b033_EOS_M_Digital_Camera_with.html) with EF-M... The Canon EOS-M Mirrorless Digital Camera with EF-M 22mm f/2 STM Lens is available at B&H at what I think is a reduced price:

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Also, a quick notice on my part. Some of you may have noticed I've been posting some B&H links and announcements lately here and on Amin's other forums. A few of you have asked if I'm affiliated with B&H, so I thought I'd let you know what's going on - I've mentioned it once or twice but not in threads many people will see. I'm not directly affiliated with B&H, but Amin and the forums are. As part of this relationship, B&H often makes review copies of cameras available for loan - because I had been informally writing my reactions to various cameras over the past few years, Amin offered to include me in that loaner program so I could try out more gear and continue to write about it. As part of that arrangement, I also get all of B&H's announcements and emails and because I'm grateful to have the opportunity to try out new cameras, I offered to help Amin out by posting some of these if I get to them first or when he doesn't have the time. So, that's the connection. I do get review cameras from B&H because Amin offered to include me in that program and I sometimes post B&H notices. That's the extent of it...


-Ray Sachs
Attached Images
 
]]> Ray Sachs http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/canon-eos-m-mirrorless-digital-camera-ef-m-22mm-f-2-stm-lens-17974/ http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/canon-eos-m-mirrorless-digital-camera-ef-m-22mm-f-2-stm-lens-17974/ Nikon COOLPIX A - Low Light Street http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/aminphoto/~3/nBPBNjcXx2c/ Mon, 08 Apr 2013 18:36:18 GMT I spent the weekend in New York City and took the Sony RX1, Fuji X100s (with the 28mm conversion lens), and the Nikon Coolpix A... I spent the weekend in New York City and took the Sony RX1, Fuji X100s (with the 28mm conversion lens), and the Nikon Coolpix A. Because photography was not the priority or reason for this trip, I found myself with only the Nikon much of the time, pretty much all the time after dark. But I managed some street shooting with it mostly Friday night in and around the Times Square area. I basically used auto-ISO with a max ISO of 6400 and a minimum shutter speed of 1/250 (which there was too little light for much of the time, so the camera shot at whatever shutter speed it needed to for the available light). I also used zone focus for nearly all of these shots with a focus distance of about 2-6 feet and an aperture of between f4.5-5.6, depending on light - parts of Times Square are pretty bright. Lots of color, lots of B&W, lots of keepers, plenty of misses too (but you don't get to see those). I'm definitely buying this camera. It couldn't be more in my wheelhouse if I'd designed it myself. I'd change one or two minor things if I could tweak the firmware, but otherwise, its close to perfect for me. The full set of shots from New York (which I'll be adding lots of daytime shots and RX! and X100s shots to in the coming days) is here:

NYC April 2013 - a set on Flickr

And a sampling is here:


NYC Coolpix A-150-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr


NYC Coolpix A-186-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr


NYC Coolpix A-74-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr


NYC Coolpix A-75-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr


NYC Coolpix A-136-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

Evidently the best Falafel stand in New York City, at 53rd and 6th. HUGE lines every night...

NYC Coolpix A-250-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr


NYC Coolpix A-94-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr


NYC Coolpix A-134-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr


NYC Coolpix A-63-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr


NYC Coolpix A-135-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr


NYC Coolpix A-146-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr


NYC Coolpix A-151-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr


NYC Coolpix A-225-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

-Ray
]]> Ray Sachs http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/nikon-coolpix-low-light-street-17885/ http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/nikon-coolpix-low-light-street-17885/ Today Only - Sony NEX-F3 and 18-55 Lens for $369.99 at Amazon Gold Box http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/aminphoto/~3/9FkJYdRyZCs/ Mon, 01 Apr 2013 12:57:07 GMT Today only, while supplies last: NEX-F3 and 18-55mm kit lens for $369.99 ... Today only, while supplies last: NEX-F3 and 18-55mm kit lens for $369.99

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...1AE9CYX1XSN4Z5

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2
]]> Amin Sabet http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/today-only-sony-nex-f3-18-55-lens-%24369-99-amazon-gold-box-17720/ http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/today-only-sony-nex-f3-18-55-lens-%24369-99-amazon-gold-box-17720/ Announcing LeicaPlace.com http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/aminphoto/~3/n4VB-ZPD97c/ Sun, 31 Mar 2013 22:20:45 GMT LeicaPlace (http://leicaplace.com/) (LP) is a new site/forum for Leica users. Image: http://www.leicaplace.com/images/misc/LPlogo.png ... LeicaPlace (LP) is a new site/forum for Leica users.




While there are some great Leica communities on the web already, some of the larger ones can at times get pretty grumpy. Our goal is to create a kinder, friendlier place for Leica users to hang out.

The forum index is structured to include all Leica-related gear, whether it's the latest digital Leica M, a Bessa using the Leica Screw Mount, or a Panasonic LX7 using a Leica lens.

Hope everyone using or interested in Leica gear will check out the new place!
]]> Amin Sabet http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/announcing-leicaplace-com-17707/ http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/announcing-leicaplace-com-17707/ A day in the city with the RX1 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/aminphoto/~3/_5X8EHo-JfM/ Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:44:35 GMT As noted in my Nikon Coolpix A thread (http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/nikon-coolpix-initial-impressions-17620/) yesterday, I took both the Nikon... As noted in my Nikon Coolpix A thread yesterday, I took both the Nikon and the Sony RX1 into Philadelphia for the day yesterday. It was my first time really shooting with the Nikon but I've taken the RX1 out a few times in various different contexts. Yesterday didn't really introduce any new challenges that I haven't tried before, but I did do some street shooting with it, which I was curious about. And I just found further confirmation that with this good a sensor, its awfully nice to just set the camera to auto-ISO and shoot away in aperture priority or manual mode, depending on what you're trying to do. Since the minimum shutter speed this camera will go to in Aperture priority mode is only 1/80 of a second (and its not user configurable - something Sony should address in firmware), I usually find myself just using manual mode, so I can set the minimum (and maximum) shutter speed myself as the situation dictates, and let the ISO float. I change the max ISO depending on the task - for street shooting I'll let it go to 12,800, for most other uses, 6400. The files are so good at 6400 there's not much reason to set it lower. But its easy enough to switch the maximum (or minimum) ISO, which is a submenu under "auto" ISO in the ISO menu which I can get to from the (c) button on the top of the camera. So the camera basically couldn't be easier to configure for whatever kind of shooting you're going to do with it and the sensor is so good its up for almost anything.

Here are some images from the day:

The commuter train pulls into Malvern under a full moon:


Sony RX1 - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr

Arriving in Philly:


Sony RX1 - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr

Still sort of dark upon arrival in Philly, although this shot is doctored to look darker than it was:


Sony RX1 - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr

Some street shooting. I would not choose this camera if I was intent on going out and just doing a lot of street shooting - I'd take something wider with a smaller sensor that its easier to get more DOF out of, even in low-ish light. But this camera certainly does the job in good light and I know that if some street opportunities present themselves, the camera isn't gonna be the reason I don't get the shot. In really bright light, I was shooting at f16 or f22 with focus set to 2-3 meters. In lower light I was generally taking my chances with auto-focus. The screen is visible enough even from an angle to hold the camera fairly low and just slightly in front of my chest or belly and still see when its locked focus, so this is pretty workable when zone focus just isn't an option. And zone focus isn't really an option in low light with this camera.


Sony RX1 - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr


Sony RX1 - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr


Sony RX1 - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr


Sony RX1 - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr

I'm gonna keep playing with narrow DOF even though I haven't found an organic use for it outside of portraits - this is a fence you don't want to sit on!


Sony RX1 - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr

This one I took as a small gift from (enter your deity of choice here) - I'm walking through one of the parks near Independence Hall on a beautiful sunny morning and suddenly I feel rain on my head. I looked up in time to catch this quick rainbow in the trees. It was breezy and all I can guess is there was some moisture in the upper reaches of the trees that got shaken loose by the breeze. Landed on my head and left a rainbow for me when I looked up...


Sony RX1 - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr

And finally a few lower light shots in the Reading Terminal Market, all auto-focus:

This file didn't look like much when I opened it up, but it was ALL there when I started processing it.

Sony RX1 - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr


Sony RX1 - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr


Sony RX1 - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr

As alluded to a couple of shots back, while the shooting is a real pleasure with the RX1, the processing is equally great. The files are just incredible to work with. When you think a shot is recoverable, its probably a whole lot more and when you don't think there's anything there, you're probably wrong.

-Ray
]]> Ray Sachs http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/day-city-rx1-17632/ http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/day-city-rx1-17632/ Nikon COOLPIX A - Initial Impressions http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/aminphoto/~3/rQQ_3VRWWSo/ Thu, 28 Mar 2013 01:24:35 GMT I received a review copy of the Nikon Coolpix A (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/936178-REG/nikon_coolpix_a_digital_camera.html) on Monday and... I received a review copy of the Nikon Coolpix A on Monday and finally got a chance to put it to work today. I spent the morning and early afternoon in Philadelphia doing my usual mix of street photography and some streetscapes/scenic shots. I took the Coolpix A and the RX1, which I've had for almost two weeks now and hadn't done enough shooting with it. And I've gotta say right off the bat, taking both of these cameras for the day really wasn't fair to the Nikon because as good as it seems to be, it suffers by comparison. As do my X-Pro, OMD, GXR, and every other camera I've owned. The RX1 is in the process of making my head turn circles on my neck like the girl in the Exorcist. Its really dis-orientingly good in a number of ways. So, the Nikon had a tough job to do on its first day of real use. And I'd say it did very very well. But it still suffers by comparison.

First, a few impressions of the Nikon (some repeated from a post or two buried in a previous thread about the camera's availability). Its a small camera. Its not a TINY camera like an S100, but it pretty small. Its essentially the size of the Panasonic LX7, but without the protruding lens. I Icarried it a lot of the time today in the pocket of a heavy shirt and it was quite comfortable there. It would be a bit much for a light dress shirt pocket, I'd say, but any heavier shirt or pants pocket should carry it easily, not to mention any coat pocket. Second, despite being quite small, it feels pretty good in the hand and the controls are definitely large enough to operate confidently and easily. The camera has two wheels/dials, a thumb wheel on the rear of the camera's top panel, right behind the shutter button, and a dial around the OK button on the camera's back. The thumb wheel does almost all of the work, the OK button dial has very little to do except in manual mode, or to navigate the menus when you call them up. The camera has two programmable fn buttons, one on the front near the bottom right edge of the lens, and one on the left side of the back - this second one is set up as an ISO button by default, but can be programmed away from ISO to do any number of other tasks. There's a focus ring around the lens that controls manual focus. And there's an "I" button that pulls up all of the key settings on the rear screen much like the way the "Q" button works on the Fuji cams and the "super control panel" work on the Olympus bodies. All in all its easy to get around on this camera.

The AF has been getting mixed reviews - I've found it very good. I guess its not an OMD level speed demon, but its pretty fast and seems to be quite accurate in all but the lowest light. I guess its about expectations - after reading some of the negative comments I'd seen, I was very pleasantly surprised by the reality. After reading this positive comment, some of you who try the camera will undoubtedly expect wonderful things and be disappointed. It certainly isn't bad, but I guess in the eye of the beholder just how good it is. The manual focussing isn't in the same league with the new X100s, but its not bad for a compact camera. The focus ring is by wire and there's no automatic magnification, but you can push a button to magnify the view to several levels if you're trying to use the ring for critical focus. There are no aids like focus peaking, however. But at a 28mm EFL, the focus ring appears to be there largely for zone focussing and its a pretty nice implementation. Any time the camera is switched into manual focus, a reasonably detailed distance scale shows up along the right edge of the screen and based on some informal testing it seems quite accurate. There's no DOF scale, but most electronic DOF scales are conservative to the point of uselessness to me, so I'm just as happy not to have it there confusing matters. The bad news is that once you've set your manual focus distance, its not sticky when you turn the camera off and on, so you have to reset it whenever you turn the camera off and back on (or switch to auto-focus and back). The good news is the ring is very responsive and it takes about a second to move the needle from infinity to the 3-6 foot range one would generally use for zone focus. I was concerned about this but found it to be a non-issue in use.

One other technical observation before getting into the photos - the auto-ISO implementation is wonderful and works the way all auto-ISO should work in modern cameras with these ultra capable sensors. You can set the basic ISO, which then becomes the minimum ISO when you're using auto-ISO, much like the original X100 - not sure if the X100s continues this or not - the other Fuji cameras did not. And then for auto-ISO you can set the maximum ISO and the minimum shutter speed and the minimum shutter speed can be set to anything from 1 second to 1/1000 of a second. With the Coolpix and the RX1, I never left auto-ISO all day today and I think that's a first for me. But both of these cameras just WORK in this mode. AND, the exposure compensation control works in manual mode with auto-ISO, which is a key feature missing from too many cameras, but thankfully there in these two new models. One very strange quirk though - the Coolpix has its default exposure compensation button located on the upper left of the camera's back. Because the camera doesn't display the current status of the exposure compensation setting, you have to push the button to see where its set and, once pushed, you can change the setting using the thumb dial. To make this a one-handed operation, I also assigned exposure compensation to the fn1 button on the camera's front, so I can work that with my right ring finger and then turn the dial with my thumb and I don't need to reach for the other button with my left hand. The truly WEIRD thing is that in manual mode, the normally assigned exposure compensation button does NOT bring up the exposure comp setting or let you change it - it doesn't do anything that I can tell. So one would be forgiven for thinking that Nikon didn't mean to enable the exposure comp setting in manual mode with auto-ISO. BUT, the secondary exposure comp button that I programmed for that purpose DOES bring up exposure comp and allow you to change it in manual mode with auto-ISO turned on. And it definitely changes the actual exposure too, so it works. The inability of the default exposure comp button to work in manual mode with auto-ISO turned on has GOT to be an oversite, or else they wouldn't have put the functionality in the other button when its programmed for exposure comp. Firmware update anyone?!?!?

OK, to shooting. There's no raw support for this camera yet, so I'm shooting everything in jpeg and, unlike Fuji's jpegs, which I prefer to raw, I'd really love to be able to work with these raw files. The jpegs are fine, but I almost always prefer raw and I don't trust the high ISO results in jpegs because some sort of NR is always applied and I don't like the way the files look on close inspection. So, screw close-inspection, the files look pretty good at any normal viewing mode and size. So, without further ado, first a couple of scenic shots.

Nice colors (these are mostly in Vivid jpeg mode, so sort of a Velvia look) and pretty good dynamic range. Not bad in the corners, but not razor sharp in the most extreme corners. I shouldn't even comment on this stuff because I really don't see it or care about it, so feel free to click through and look at the full size files if you'd like to.


Nikon Coolpix A - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr

Again, nice DR - these had the shadows and highlights adjusted slightly in Lightroom:


Nikon Coolpix A - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr

This was cropped down to 4:3 from 3:2 to avoid a bunch of cars on the left. So if you're pixel peeping the corners, the ones on the left aren't the true corners.


Nikon Coolpix A - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr

No problems with street shooting in good light:


Nikon Coolpix A - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr


Nikon Coolpix A - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr


Nikon Coolpix A - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr


Nikon Coolpix A - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr

I did something I never do on this one and asked the guy's permission to get a shot of his beard. Hence, up even closer than usual, and a bit of accentuation in Color Efex Pro:


Nikon Coolpix A - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr

Moving into lower light, the camera did fine, but some of the higher ISO files are semi-ugly at full size. I can't judge them though because they're jpegs. I'm guessing working with the raw files, once supported will be a lot better. They almost always are:


Nikon Coolpix A - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr


Nikon Coolpix A - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr

We got hockey action YO!

Nikon Coolpix A - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr

Have some grain with your ISO 6400 noise.

Nikon Coolpix A - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr

A word on ISOs and comparison shooting - I did some back to back messing around with the Coolpix, the Ricoh GXR-28 (which maxes out at 3200) and the Fuji X-Pro with the 18mm lens. So three APS sensor cameras, three roughly 18mm (28mm equivalent) lenses. I shot them all at the highest of the max aperture ratings, which is the Nikon's f2.8 (compared to f2.5 on the GXR and 2.0 on the X-Pro). The Nikon and the Ricoh exposed identically for the same low light scene at the Ricoh's max ISO of 3200. And the Nikon basically halved the necessary shutter speed at its useable 6400. The Fuji agains seems to have a serious case of ISO inflation because its shutter speeds at 3200 were almost twice as slow as the Nikon and Ricoh and its shutter speeds at 6400 were almost the same as the Nikon and Ricoh at 3200 - usually just a small percentage faster. The Fuji is the cleanest at any given ISO, but its 3200 appears to be roughly equal to 1600 on the other two cameras and its 6400 appears to be roughly equal to 3200 on the other two cameras. While the Nikon doesn't look quite as good (at least in the jpeg only files) at 6400 as the Fuji, but its 3200 files are easily as good as the Fuji at 6400, and its 6400 files are still useable where the Fuji's are getting pretty funky at 12,800. So, I'd have to say that the Nikon acquits itself quite well at high ISO in low light considering that equal numbers are not always equal. We'll have to see the results with raw files, but I'd hazard a guess that this will be as good a low light machine as the X-Pro at the same aperture. The Fuji obviously has a one stop faster lens, which makes up for the inflated ISO somewhat, but not when you're pushing the boundaries of zone focussing in so so light, where the maximum aperture doesn't come into play.

I'll add shots to this thread as I take more. And will add observations as I observe 'em...

Maybe sometime tomorrow I'll be able to more fully wrap my head around the wonderfulness of the RX1 files I got today and will share some of those. I'd have probably been ecstatic with the Nikon if the Sony hadn't come along for the ride today...

-Ray
]]> Ray Sachs http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/nikon-coolpix-initial-impressions-17620/ http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/nikon-coolpix-initial-impressions-17620/ <![CDATA[Full Nik Software Suite for $127 Using Coupon Code "MU-43"]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/aminphoto/~3/SgivefY2WHI/ Tue, 26 Mar 2013 00:31:53 GMT Now owned by Google, Nik Software massively dropped the price of their full software suite to $150. After applying our 15% coupon code "MU-43",... Now owned by Google, Nik Software massively dropped the price of their full software suite to $150.

After applying our 15% coupon code "MU-43", the cost is $126.65!*

Direct link: Nik Collection



*That coupon code is from Mu-43.com, but the revenue from Mu-43.com helps pay for this site's server costs, so it's really a shared coupon code :smile:.


Update / important note: If you have already purchased any of the Nik Software programs within the past five years, you should have gotten an email with a link to download all of the applications for free. In many cases, this email has been going to people's junk/spam mail folder, so check that folder for an email titled "Thanks for your support: upgrade to the new Nik Collection by Google" which probably arrived on March 25th. If you didn't get the email, send an email to Nik Support.


Favor request: If you used the "MU-43" coupon code successfully and have a minute to spare, please click here and give us a thumbs up rating. It will help us rank higher so more people use our coupon.* Thanks in advance!


*Someone else listed a "mu-73" (looks like "mu-43" if you're not paying attention) coupon, I guess to divert attention from our coupon :(.
]]> Amin Sabet http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/full-nik-software-suite-%24127-using-coupon-code-mu-43-a-17559/ http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/full-nik-software-suite-%24127-using-coupon-code-mu-43-a-17559/ <![CDATA[Nikon COOLPIX A Black & Silver In Stock at B&H]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/aminphoto/~3/9VDbJD7MEtw/ Fri, 22 Mar 2013 14:09:40 GMT The Nikon COOLPIX A (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/936178-REG/nikon_coolpix_a_digital_camera.html) is now in stock: Attachment 5528... The Nikon COOLPIX A is now in stock:
Name: 8580388850_8ef43f2d51_o.png Views: 12037 Size: 247.8 KB
Attached Images
 
]]> Ray Sachs http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/nikon-coolpix-black-silver-stock-b-h-17465/ http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/nikon-coolpix-black-silver-stock-b-h-17465/ <![CDATA[Canon Introduces EOS Rebel SL1 - World's Smallest, Lightest APS-C DSLR]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/aminphoto/~3/siHs7THMUfs/ Thu, 21 Mar 2013 11:26:41 GMT Canon's new Rebel SL1 (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Canon-Dslr-lens-announcements-March-21st/ci/21051/N/4044644000) is close to the size and... Canon's new Rebel SL1 is close to the size and weight of an Olympus OM-D E-M5 or Panasonic G5 and introduces a new version of Canon's hybrid AF system, covering a greater portion (80%) of the frame.

Should make for a very compact system with Canon's smallest lenses like the 40mm f/2.8 STM.

Name: canon-eos-rebel-sl1-9-650x332.jpg Views: 10397 Size: 37.7 KB
Left: Rebel SL1, right: Rebel T4i
Attached Images
 
]]> Amin Sabet http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/canon-introduces-eos-rebel-sl1-worlds-smallest-lightest-aps-c-dslr-17442/ http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/canon-introduces-eos-rebel-sl1-worlds-smallest-lightest-aps-c-dslr-17442/ Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX1 - first impressions and low light shots http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/aminphoto/~3/HCPWMgeGwrM/ Fri, 15 Mar 2013 12:51:13 GMT The UPS guy brought me a nice big box from B&H yesterday morning (if it had been the usual late afternoon delivery, this would have probably taken... The UPS guy brought me a nice big box from B&H yesterday morning (if it had been the usual late afternoon delivery, this would have probably taken until tomorrow) containing a review copy of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX1, its attachable EVF, and a spare battery. I have this little jewel for about a month and was excited to check it out after all I've read, so I borrowed the already charged battery from my wife's RX100 and got busy figuring this camera out. Which brings up my one and only major complaint - no battery charger! You have to charge the batteries in the camera, just like with the RX100 (and the XZ1 and XZ2 and probably every other new camera by next year). A $2800 diamond of a camera and you're gonna nickel and dime over a $30 battery charger?!?!?!? Are you frickin' KIDDING ME Sony??? But its pretty much all good after that... :cool:


West Chester Evening-44-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

Its a great feeling camera. By which I mean, the controls are just incredibly solid and well done. The mode dial clicks are pretty stiff, as they should be; the EV comp dial is JUST right - not too stiff to turn easily but just stiff enough not to turn accidentally. Its easy to turn off, but takes a slight finger reach to turn on, so you're less likely to accidentally turn it on or leave it on before putting it back in your bag (if you carry one - far from necessary with such a relatively small camera). The manual focus ring is perfectly damped - its a fully by-wire focus mechanism, but it takes just the right effort to turn and not too little to stop exactly where you want and fine tune. The aperture ring has a great feel with obvious clicks every third of a stop. Even the lens cap is a remarkably premium little piece of gear - all metal, easy to put on, easy to get off, but it will NOT accidentally come off. The EVF is pretty nice too, although it would be nice if it locked in place. I don't see it coming off unintentionally, but if you're carrying the camera in a bag, I suppose it could get knocked off putting it in and taking it out. Another minor complaint - the diopter control is just a very small slider with a short throw on the side of the EVF, a location too easy to accidentally move it. All of the pictures I've seen of the EVF make it look sort of obnoxiously large, but I think that's just because its shown with the large eye-cup attached, and that one is LARGE. For those of us with glasses, however, you're gonna want to replace it with the smaller eye piece and then the whole thing is much less imposing looking and barely extends beyond the rear plane of the camera. If you don't wear glasses and you like large eye-cups, well then its gonna look pretty out of place on this small camera. The camera is small enough that I wouldn't say its the most comfortable camera to hold - there's not a lot of grip or size to grab onto. I was initially sort of put off by this, but once I got down to using the camera, it wasn't an issue because the lens is involved enough in the shooting process that this is really a two handed camera most of the time anyway, with the left hand cradling and working the lens and the right hand just working the shutter button and exposure comp dial and other controls on the back of the camera. So the right hand doesn't really have to grip the camera all that well. The camera does have a fairly tacky (the good kind of tacky - easy to hold onto) piece of grip material on the front and a sort of useful thumb grip on the back, but its not like holding a Nex or a GH3 or something with a real protruding grip.

After playing around with the camera in the house for a while, I came up with three basic control configurations I like and assigned them to the three custom memory locations on the mode dial. Because the usable ISO range is so insane on this camera (more on that later), all three of my setups use auto ISO. The auto ISO implementation is what so many people now seem to complain about when its NOT included in a camera. You can't assign a minimum shutter speed for aperture priority mode (it always defaults to 1/80 in any circumstance), but you can shoot in manual exposure mode and directly control the aperture and shutter speed and let the auto-ISO find the proper ISO for your combination - AND the exposure comp dial still works in this configuration which is a big deal and which doesn't happen on a lot of cameras yet. Without a useable exposure comp dial with manual mode and auto-ISO, you could never slightly over or under expose a shot without the auto-ISO unknowingly compensating to bring it back to zero. So, my three configurations include one basic aperture priority setup with a center AF area and nothing fancy (for general shooting), one that's the same but with area AF and face detection enabled for shooting people at close enough proximity for the camera to lock onto their faces, and a fully manual mode for street shooting, where I'd always want to be able to control both the shutter speed for motion and the aperture for adequate depth of field. I have the AE button set to toggle between auto and manual focus, which works well in the street shooting mode. There are five separate programmable buttons on the top and back of the camera. I put my most used controls on these, but once I set up my three different configurations with the settings I liked, there's not a whole lot of need to use them all. I have the button on the top set for ISO even though I anticipate mostly shooting with auto-ISO. I have bracketing on one, AF/MF toggle on another (as mentioned) and two of them that I haven't figured out what to do with yet. But its all very easy to set up.

I would not see myself primarily using this camera for street shooting - I tend to prefer a wider field of view for that - but its gotta be capable of shooting with zone focus pretty easily for me to want to carry it around - I'm always gonna find some section of the day where the street opportunities are too good to pass up. While this camera has a few focus peaking options, they only work in magnified "AF Assist" view. I very very rarely use manual focus for critical focus tasks, so I have the AF assist turned off and just use the rudimentary little distance scale for setting up zone or "scale" focus. Its not the most detailed distance scale I've used, but its adequate - I just need SOMETHING to set the focus without trying to estimate the distance of an object. The manual focus setting isn't sticky, so when you switch to AF or turn off the camera, it won't remember your last manual focus distance. Fortunately, the 1-3 meter distances I'll generally be using in decent light with this camera are located very close to infinity on the scale, so its a simple matter of auto-focussing on a distant object, toggling over to manual focus, and then a very short throw of the lens ring and I'm good to for zone focus.

One other thing to mention initially is that I've heard an awful lot about the slow, hunting auto-focus on this camera. I wonder if there was some hidden firmware update on some of the newer models that just hasn't been generally released yet. Because while many early buyers complained about the AF pretty loudly, several people who've gotten the camera more recently have reported no such problems and I surely didn't experience any. The AF is not a speed demon - its not OMD fast - but its very respectable, a little slower than the Fuji X-cameras with the 18mm lens, a little faster than with the 35mm lens. And in a very dark night of shooting, I only managed to get it to hunt ONCE, when I think I accidentally tried to focus on the dark sky. Its not blazingly fast, but it locks on surely and consistently - basically all of my AF shots were in focus - only motion blur kept a few from being sharp. So my initial impression of the AF on the RX1 is quite positive - the face recognition also seems to work very well when there's a whole face to ID - my wife had her mouth hidden under a turtleneck and it couldn't find her, but as soon as she pulled the collar back below her chin, it locked right on from various distances.

So, after all of this playing around getting to know the camera, last night I went out after dinner for some low light shooting. I barely tried any zone focus shooting last night - with this large sensor and this relatively longish (for me) focal length, you need at least a modicum of light to maintain adequate DOF and decent shutter speeds for that and I didn't have it last night. My best low light zone focus setup is the X-Pro with the VERY wide 14mm lens and I'm not sure I had enough light for THAT most of last night. So I didn't even really try with the RX1. It should be fine in daylight, but for low light, I don't see this as much of an option.

But the bottom line is that for everything I shot in AF last night, the camera delivered beyond any expectations I'd have had other than having seen so many impressive images from it already. We've all seen the shots from Lucille and Hikari and a couple of others who already have this camera. You know how much POP the images have. And I've seen a lot of fine low light work from the camera too - but I still wasn't quite prepared for just how good it is and how easy it is to get those results. After some indoor test shots in the afternoon, I quickly decided just to shoot raw - the jpegs had some weird NR patterns I wasn't crazy about at higher ISOs and I figured I'd rather work that out between lightroom and myself. I shot at all ISO's up to the max of 25,600 and I got really good results up through 12,800 and not too terrible results at the 25,600 max. A little quick cleaning up in lightroom is all these needed - I tend to add at least borders in Color Efex Pro but didn't do much of my usual heavy-handed processing there and I did the B&W conversions in Silver Efex Pro, but these images are mostly CLEAN, right out of the camera. I remember how astonished I was by my first low light shots with the X-Pro a little less than a year ago - I couldn't believe what I was seeing was possible. A few other cameras have pretty much risen to that level over the past year and the X-Pro is still great, but a guy could almost take it for granted after a year. Well, the RX1 certainly raises THAT bar again, at least for me. This kind of low light shooting is a whole new ballgame in my little stadium.

So, without further ado - some low light shots. Short on artistic merit, but quite impressive technically I think, through no fault of my own. You can click through and see full size images, but is kind of silly to look full size at a 24mp image - just too damn many pixels and you can see the flaws at that scale, but even filling a full 27" Mac monitor, these images are kind of astonishing.

This shot was under pitch black conditions - the camera found some blue in the western sky but it wasn't visible to the naked eye. I couldn't believe it could keep the illuminated sky this clean and still easily pull some color detail out of the brick facade of the building, which was BLACK in the initial exposure. This was only at ISO 800.

West Chester Evening-87-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

Again, black sky to the human eye. This one is at 12,800 with very light NR applied - you can see plenty of noise in the shadows at 100%, but you'd never actually view this at 100%

West Chester Evening-105-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

The barber shop photo at the beginning of this post was also shot at 12,800...

The local branch of a regional brewpub - ISO 5000 doesn't even get this sensor's attention:

West Chester Evening-136-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

When I first went out there WAS some actual color in the sky - this was taken at ISO 250:

West Chester Evening-84-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

Another at ISO 5000:

West Chester Evening-66-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

And the B&W conversions could be as clean or dirty as you want them - another at ISO 5000 (which it went to a lot in auto-ISO):

West Chester Evening-126-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

The local branch of a huge and obnoxious (to my inner coffee snob) international chain. The interior lighting was weird on this one - it was only at ISO 2000 but this took a bit of work and I added a bit of grain to hide some of the weirdness.

West Chester Evening-130-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

And one more blue night sky that looked black to me - the sliver moon was out last night - ISO 2500.

West Chester Evening-124-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

And two obligatory narrow DOF shots from my house - because yeah, f2.0 on a full frame sensor is PRETTY narrow!

RX1 first shots-39-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr


RX1 first shots-6-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

I'll probably do another post or two as I spend more time with this camera over the next month or so, but my initial impressions are very positive. Its a fun and easy camera to shoot with. All of the controls are as nice as you'd ever want. The image quality is a new level for me - I haven't shot with full frame since my film days and this is NOTHING like any film I ever shot with! I'll probably make some significant camera purchases this year - I always seem to and I have a little bit more to play with this year. I didn't really think the RX1 would be in the running, but now I think its at least a possibility. I've got some time coming with the X100s and Coolpix A and I'm not sure what else yet. But if I do actually end up buying the RX1, I can assure you there will be only ONE significant camera purchase this year!

-Ray
]]> Ray Sachs http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/sony-cyber-shot-dsc-rx1-first-impressions-low-light-shots-17305/ http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f38/sony-cyber-shot-dsc-rx1-first-impressions-low-light-shots-17305/