Posts Tagged ‘camera’
Small Camera, Huge Sensor
Logged more time with Sony’s powerhouse of a compact camera this weekend. This thing is a serious imaging machine!
Do I love it? Yes. The image quality is absolutely stunning, as expected, and the camera’s build quality is top notch. But I only borrowed this thing to keep me occupied while I waited for my rangefinder to come out of repair. Once I get my M3 back, I doubt I’ll miss the RX1. =)
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All Images: Sony Cybershot DSC-RX1
Sony RX1
Sony RX1 | 1/30 sec, f/2, ISO 6400
Got my hands on a brand spanking new Sony RX1 this evening! Despite the high price and the little time I’ve actually spent with this camera so far, I can already tell the RX1 is going to make some waves. It’s basically a point and shoot, and in practice it operates just like you’d expect a compact camera to operate. The fact that it’s packing a 35mm film-sized sensor, however, is just crazy considering how incredibly small the camera actually is.
Sony RX1 | 1/50 sec, f/2, ISO 800
Built into the RX1 is a nice chunk of Zeiss glass, a 35mm f/2 Sonnar. You won’t be swapping lenses with this thing, which actually doesn’t bother me too much since I’ve been shooting with my fixed-lens Fuji x100 for such a long time. What does bother me is that the RX1 costs more than double what I paid for the x100. Ouch.
Sony RX1 | 1/80 sec, f/2, ISO 3200
Sony RX1 | 1/40 sec, f/2, ISO 6400
I’ll need to wait until Adobe releases RAW support for the RX1′s files before I can post process the camera’s output myself. For now, the images in this post are all camera-processed JPEGs.
These images where shot hand-held at very high ISO. Pretty impressive performance low-light performance, which is not too surprising considering the big fat sensor Sony stuffed into this thing. More impressions to come on the RX1 as I evaluate it over the next week. Stay tuned!
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Analogue Adventures Part II
Image: Fuji X100 | 1/55 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400
I’m pretty sure I’ve found a camera that will most certainly help me drain my bank account due to film and processing costs. I picked up this Olympus XA at a local used camera sidewalk sale the other week. A tiny, durable little film camera with a 35mm f/2.8 F-Zuiko lens, aperture priority auto-exposure and manual focus using a small RF patch in the viewfinder. It’s smaller and lighter than my Nikon V1 (my smallest digital camera), so there’s always space in the camera bag for the little guy.
The XA really came in handy one morning when the batteries ran out on the digital camera I was carrying. I loaded a roll of Velvia 50 and used it as my only camera for the entire day, and wouldn’t you know, it was the most fun I’ve had shooting in a long time.
Image: iPhone 4s
Image: iPhone 4s
The last time I shot Velvia I had the film cross-processed, which produced some funky results. This time I went with standard E6, and when I placed the processed strips of film over the light table at the lab (above), my jaw dropped. Not only are the colors amazing, but the camera itself performed beyond my expectations. The following scans do no justice to what I actually saw on that light table, but here’s most of my first roll of RVP50 from my new favorite film camera. It should be obvious from these frames that Suki really tries hard to never look at the camera:
You all know I’m partial to Suki, but I must say, this image I took outside my favorite coffee shop is my favorite frame from the roll:
Hah! Makes me laugh every time I look at it =)
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All images: Olympus XA | Velvia 50 | E6 Processing (unless otherwise noted)
Suki…Unleashed!
Fuji X100 | 1/200 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200
Such a historic day for Suki, and as you can see, she’s quite happy about it. Today we granted her the most off-leash freedom she has ever had. There’s no better place in the city to do this than at Fort Funston, an old military outpost located at the south end of San Francisco’s Ocean Beach. The area is full of wide open space, sand dunes, trails, and of course, there’s the beach.
When Suki was younger we let her off leash at this same park, and quickly regretted the decision as she bolted off into the horizon with no regard for her pack (her comparatively slow-moving human parents). Most Shiba owners have at least one Shiba-bolting horror story to tell….I have like…20. In fact, I took my opening photo of my 52 weeks project at this location. Check out the image here. See the leash? Yeah, I totally didn’t trust her back then.
But while I’d still never ever let her off leash on a city street (it’s not legal anyway in SF), I’ve come to trust the bond Suki and I have built over the years. She definitely knows we belong to each other, and while Bridget was feeling a little hesitant today, I knew that Suki wouldn’t ditch us this time.
So, at peace with the entire concept, we stepped out onto the ice plant and set her free:
Fuji X100 | 1/80 sec, f/2.2, ISO 200
The image above represents a very memorable moment for me. She actually bolted ahead of us, turned the corner and disappeared. Before I could even call out to her, she reappeared just as you see her above. That’s right. A Shiba Inu waiting up and making sure her humans are following….for reals?!?!
From that point forward, it was all smooth sailing:
Fuji X100 | 1/280 sec, f/4.5, ISO 800
Fuji X100 | 1/280 sec, f/5, ISO 800
Suki is definitely the recon member of our family, scouting ahead from time to time but never forgetting to pull back and let us catch up, even stopping when we stop:
Fuji X100 | 1/340 sec, f/5, ISO 800
Fuji X100 | 1/850 sec, f/2, ISO 400
Thrilled with the entire situation, we continued onto a trail from the dunes down to the beach. At this point Suki had burned off a significant amount of energy, and now more relaxed, stuck even closer to us:
Fuji X100 | 1/950 sec, f/2, ISO 400
Unlike the puppy Suki of old, today’s Suki won’t chase absolutely anything that runs (above).
Fuji X100 | 1/340 sec, f/5, ISO 400
A simple “let’s go, Suki,” and she snaps away from what ever she’s doing and follows. If I didn’t have these photos I’d swear none of this was real, just an awesome dream.
The following are a few of the images I took at the beach, processed into black and white in post:
When we were done at the beach, it was a long climb back up the cliff. We took the stairs, and Suki…well, eventually got on the stairs, but not before breaking a few rules. In the image below, she’s looking at me as I yell out “hey silly, you do NOT qualify as wild life! Get back on the stairs!”
Fuji X100 | 1/320 sec, f/5, ISO 800 (flash on)
Such a beautiful area to bring the dog, and such an exciting day for Team Suki!
One side note: I’m getting a lot of questions and emails about what picture settings I use when I shoot with my Fuji X100. I’ll go ahead and answer that question here once and for all. I’ve mentioned this before, but for most of my recent blog posts that involve shooting simple snaps and documenting life etc, I find it easier to work with the JPEG files from the camera than to shoot everything in RAW. So when I’m not shooting RAW, I use these picture settings:
Film Sim: Astia
Dynamic Range: Auto
Color: High
Sharpness: Hard
Highlight Tone: M-Hard
Shadow Tone: M-Hard
Noise Reduction: M-Low
White Balance: Auto
WB Shift: +2 Red, -2 Yellow
I make slight curve adjustments in post to my taste, and that’s it. Depending on the situation, I sometimes use the Provia film simulation as well. The other question I get a lot is “does the X100 produce great JPEGs?”
YES.
Fuji X100 | 1/420 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200
I’m proud of you Suki. Today you have proven yourself off leash. =)
