I’ve been head down in non photographic work – that’s why I haven’t been writing on photography that much. 2011 is coming to an end, it’s been a good year, photographically, for me. I got myself an Olympus E-620 to replace my E-330 that failed. And some months later, the E-PL1. I also shot a few rolls of film on my old Minolta X-700 and my new-old SRT-101.
I haven’t gone through everything I’ve shot on my hard disk, but I thought a few shots from flickr would be nice to review.
Above is film shot with real light leaked right edge. The patina of warm browns and hazy unsharpness is a lovely memory of that day’s shooting.
Women’s shoes have attracted my interest in previous years, but this year showed a resurgence of the thick heeled platforms from my Uni days. Of course, if they are in gold, they are super scrumptious.
Paul was kind enough to invite us on his maintenance checks for the Puffing Billy railway. It was a wet day and we were a little exposed to the elements sitting on the side of NWV-1. This was taken with the very special 7-14mm Super High Grade Zuiko Digital ultra wide angle lens. A really sharp scenic lens as long as one remembers to stop down to f/8 to avoid over shallow depth of field.
I saw these Nonya Ladies at the Malaysian Festival in Melbourne. Their sarung-kebaya garb with kerosang reminds me so much of what mum used to wear in her younger days.
I see this some evenings and never tire of its beauty.
Revised and updated: December 2011
The individual camera brands have personalities - bear that in mind when you are befuddled by tables and comparison matrices of blow by blow feature lists.
Canon produces the most cameras worldwide. Pros shooting Olympics, Getty Images, in war zones, in sports, use them. They have a full range of product from small compact point and shoots to the big DSLRs with honking big, white, expensive "L" lenses. If you are a pro or wanna be a pro or want people to think you are a pro, it seems like one of two brands to embrace. If you want the safety and conservatism of being part of a large tribe, this is the brand for you. Regardless of whether you bought a hundred dollar Canon camera, you can say - "I use this brand, hey!"
But, as in all well run and structured religions, let it be known that Canon has circles - the pros, the wannabes, the want-to-be-known-as, the nerd shooter and the family shooter. And so, you will be offered competent cameras and lenses. Doesn't mean that your $200 lens is the equivalent of an "L" lens worth ten times more. It isn't.
Canon DSLR bodies have bulk and volume. At the low priced end, they can feel hollow (less dense). At the lower end too, I find the right hand grip a little odd, my hands don’t curl around the grip comfortably. But that’s me. The menus seem to use more icons and less words.
Canon changed their lens mount some time back, the old one was called FD and the current one is called EF / EF-S. Of course FD lens owners were not happy but that was some time ago. Canon bodies don’t have an internal AF focus assist lamp – so in dim light, the built-in flash blinks in a beserk manner to light up the near subject.
Canon does put attention to their non DSLR compacts and bridge cameras. They have some individuality and features. There are firmware hacks (CHDK) to enable features that are not normally available in these cameras.
Nikon has the next largest market share. I confess to having a soft spot for them but I was let down by the first Nikon I ever owned, a Nikon 775 compact 3x digital zoom camera. Nikon does have a range of non DSLR compacts and bridge cameras but mostly the passion to make them stand out isn’t the same as Canon.
Now, the Nikon DSLRs go head to head against the Canon DSLRs and are used by pro photographers. Their lenses are good too, however, Nikon stove pipe lenses are black not white. Lowest range Nikon DSLR bodies do not have an AF motor in the body (for old lenses) and cheaper bodies are said not to meter the scene with old lenses in a convenient way – a sign of product differentiation. This is at odds with the pride that the Nikon physical mount has changed little and old, old lenses fit new, new bodies.
I like the Nikon DSLR grip, even the cheapest ones, and the cheap bodies feel dense and compact. The feel of solidity and denseness is a Nikon design ownership aesthetic.
Either brand will do if you are into the "I belong to heap big tribe" attitude.
Sony is the next DSLR brand to discuss. Originally, the DSLR factory was Minolta but Minolta got sued heavily by Honeywell over a bun fight about who invented Auto Focussing and amongst other things, Minolta merged with Konica and then the merged entity lost interest in high risk, low returns camera market, so sold to Sony.
Sony DSLRs of course have very strong innovative features - Sweep Pano, Automatic HDR, Translucent Mirrors and so on. Mirrorless. And with Sony's money bags, they can afford to launch several similar models at the same time and multiple lines of cameras - Full Frame, classic APS-C with mirrors, translucent mirrored SLTs and mirrorless NEX. They can afford to overlap market segments – compete with themselves. And ally with Carl Zeiss (lenses).
Pentax has been a reliable, middle performer brand. They have moments of brilliance. They make good, respectable bodies. Their range of single focal length lenses / pancakes are famous. They’re cost effective. Competent. And now they come in scores of shades and colours. They have a long history of being “there”. Unfortunately, it’s hard being a small company. Hoya bought Pentax and then sold Pentax to Ricoh.
Olympus is a maverick. Has been, Will be. Somehow Y. Maitani has retired but the legacy of his boldness is still in the company’s culture. They are the essence of the Japanese bento box – delicately made, well presented. Small. Because they don’t have a large tribe in tow, they have to be and are agile. Risk takers – again, if you are that size, you take the risk or become lost in the herd of tribesmen from other tribes. Who else would come out with a Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera first? Who would take the decision to voluntarily retire the bulk of their DSLR line ahead of time? Their last and remaining DSLR model is the E-5. They are fully focussed on designing and making their PEN series of interchangeable lens mirrorless cameras.
However, the management has been in disgrace – they have carried out all kinds of financial and management misdeeds. We hope the company makes it.
Panasonic and Sony are rivals in the TV and appliance space. In the photography space, Sony has the lead but Panasonic is not weak. Panasonic have established credibility in the compact and bridge categories. They have allied with Leitz (Leica) as Sony has allied with Carl Zeiss.
In the DSLR space, Panasonic allied with Olympus but were quickly dissatisfied with progress in that category in terms of sales achievement. Panasonic are more comfortable in a category where there is more electronics than mechanicals so they jumped into the Micro Four Thirds mirrorless category with Olympus as collaborators.
I’m not tuned into Photoshop although it is the de facto standard amongst post processing peers, the photo industry and graphic artists. I’ve sat in front of Photoshop several tines and then the MEGO syndrome hits me (My Eyes Glaze Over). Yes, there are certainly video tutorials, magazines, books dedicated to teaching and tutoring Photoshop techniques as befits a de facto, popularly recognised tool – we speak of Photoshopping in the same verb sense as Xeroxing.
I find though, I get on with Picasa (even though it is said to strip .icc profiles from processed JPEGs), Olympus Viewer 2, PAINT.NET and lately Corel Paintshop Pro X4.
The 8bf Photoshop effects Plugin though is another matter. Because Photoshop has become so popular, there are a host of free, then inexpensive, then expensive Photoshop plugins that have been published. Since I have been checking their compatibility with other programs, this article will detail some programs and how they can use the 8bf plugin.
Even though you might be running Windows 7 / 64 bit and some fancy hardware and software, some of the plugins require the following:
You can get both from PSPUG. Both should be in your Windows SYSTEM folder. PUPUG also host many 8BF plugins as well.
PAINT.NET is a free editor. To use 8BF plugins, it needs PSFilterShim. After unzipping it, put it in the EFFECTS sub-folder where PAINT.NET is installed. Put the 8BF files in the same folder or sub-folders of the EFFECTS folder
PSP does not need assistance to use 8BF plugins. Put these plugins in the LANGUAGE\EN\PLUGINS subfolder where PSPX4 is installed. You can nominate a different folder for plugins by changing the setting in PSPX4 settings.
Helicon Filter is a RAW processor – much less publicised than Lightroom, Raw Therapee or Silkypix. Helicon Filter has a Plug-Ins sub folder – put the 8bf files there.
Installation of 8bf files in Irfanview is detailed at namesuppressed
Installation of 8bf files in XnView is detailed here.
Installation of 8bf files in Photo-Brush is explained in the help.
I had a shorter work day, it’s spring in Melbourne, the day was sunny, bright, shirtsleeve warm and cheerful without being hot for any length of time.
I whipped out the Olympus E-620 and was puzzling about why I had a little trouble with the Autofocus on the weekend. I set it to Continuous AF, Single Point vs Multiple Point and was targeting a leaf waving in the slight breeze and a Rosella sang just over the neighbour’s fence. What’s the point with using a wavy leaf to simulate movement when I have a real live singing bird? So I next start targeting the bird with the 40-150mm kit zoom lens and pumping the shutter release. The bird was quite small in the frame, but the exercise gave me some ideas of the performance of the camera.
Then, a pair of brown feathered bigger birds swooped onto the neighbour’s tall gumtree, and a few moments later, different bird calls. I couldn’t see these bigger birds clearly and paused, camera lowered. The exchange of bird calls grew in frequency, making interesting listening. Eventually, in as many minutes I counted 5 different bird calls.
There are few moments of epiphany in our lives, this was one for me. The photos or the gear subsided in significance. The day was sweet, I’m alive and not in pain and that’s my moment.
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| From 20111123 |
Spring is in town in Melbourne, Enjoy the moments, for the seriousness of Summer comest
This is another IDHDR shot. Spotted this familiar scene driving, watched for traffic and stopped by the side of the road. In most circumstances this would be a fail or defeat shot. The sun is in the frame of vision and it would distract the exposure metering such that most of the scene would be black silhouette. With the HDR treatment, we've got a road and roadside with trees and shrubs and grass that you could swear were what you saw - notice that red tree. Of course we get sunspot flare but that's not too distracting either. And the sun looks blinding which it was.
This is quite an amazing shot for me. The building is quite mundane although I have not figured out what that rectangular arch above the footpath is - it does not seem to have any functional use.
Anyway, I've shot the building a few times but the results have not been of any consequence. This time, I whipped out the Samsung Galaxy S Android phone with the HDR Camera+ app. Three quick JPEG shots later, here it is.
You can see a niggly rainbow from the moire pattern caused by blending of three shots but this is the scene as your eyes would see it. The white paint is searing bleached white in the sun, although your eyes might see some texture as they would be better than any camera sensor. The shadows would be dark and deep but again, your eye might pick up some shadow detail. And the footpath is that off grey colour with the wall bricks a little beigy.
It would be pretty hard to capture all the tones with a conventional shot from even a better camera but this IDHDR allows a puny camera phone with this leeetle small sensor to render a whole lot of detail and tonality.
I’m not talking about selling my second hand gear. I’m hopelessly truthful. I’m talking about those camera companies very seldom “getting it” with regards selling cameras – their lifeblood product. What do they try?
They get actors, tennis players (not the sports photogs) to do product endorsements.
They get artsy artist-photographers, the more abstract and high fashion the better, to showcase their art. Yet, somehow, the camera becomes a wanna-be second, eclipsed by the photog’s distinctive style. They actually alienate the buyer as the results are so different from what the man-on-the-street envisions.
Really, it’s much simpler than that. Have a look at The Gruen Transfer specifically Episode 4 Season 7 (sorry for those not in Austalia, the video is restricted). It’s about selling shampoos. Look at
Oh, and throw a science diagram, numbers and charts into it.
Now, you may, well selling shampoo is selling shampoo, surely we’re selling a Nikon D7000 or Canon 7D or an Olympus PEN EP-3, they’re a different product category. Well, think about this. If you could sell as many units of cameras as you can sell bottles of shampoos, it sure doesn’t matter when your company laughs all the way to the bank.
Let’s put this in the context of cameras. The easiest sell for me, is to appeal to sub-categories of consumer. Take a look at any varied forum. The point and shoot owners and the DSLR-owner wanna-bes. What do these people shoot? Photos of dogs, cats, birdies, bugs and flowers, firstborns, grandchildren and GFs (Girl Friends). Even turn the camera around and shoot themselves. Holiday snaps, repetitively of the same sights in Venice or Rome. Sunsets skies. How many people are in this category? By my guess, heaps. Many, many more than the vocal seniors at the DPR forums. Recently, Simon Joinson remarked in a forum post that the site gets way more traffic than the forums themselves. If these people are really the ones who will buy the camera you are selling shouldn’t you primarily (pardon the pun) focus on them?
What selling angles would work best with these people? Hands up! Who says “Subcategories – Crafted for Experts – Made for you!”. Simply put, that means showing these people examples and scenarios of “Actual Self + Camera = Ideal Self”. Those are very, very easy to do, powerful and yet underutilised by the camera brands.
Instead, too many camera ads work on the only point – “Count Your Features Twice – Increase Believability” – that’s a very, very hard angle to sell in a tech gadget which modern cameras are – whatever you innovate now, in six months, your competitor will have come up with another feature. Counting features is well known to the electronic appliance companies – the deeper the pocket for gee-whiz features and multi-lingual cute icons representing the matrix of features.
For the rest of the potential buyers – the camera fans, nerds, high ISO low noise / dynamic range / resolution numbers measurebrators, you seed the community with evangelist fanboi and trolls. You conjure perceived value and work on the price placebo. And you use the “Because phrase” a lot.
Celebrity endorsements? Worked for Lux soap – or was that “Actual Self + Brand = Ideal Self”? I don’t think it’s that effective for cameras.
It’s father’s day 2011, “Happy Father’s Day” to all those Dads. I’m pausing for reflection on the times and memories I had with my Dad and those I have myself with Number One. I’ve also been thinking about the photos I take and incidentally, Robin Wong has just posted on his blog - Robin Wong- Snapshots vs Photographs.
To add context to my searching for self, I’ve been exposed to a barrage of Photogs on Google+, with lists of lists of lists of Photogs. Some with an immense sense of self, some with a sense of sharing, some that make images that you can tune in, some that are nowhere like it. On the other hand, I participate in the Beginner’s Forum at DP Review and that brings insight as well into how digital beginners view their efforts and their search for instantiation and validation by their peers.
Really, it’s this. Photography is a journey for me. A search for my ability to create artistically – when my other pursuits are more logical and analytical. A liberation and a breathing of soul and life.Not every one approaches photography like this.
Some people just want a quick snapshot of life, of the moment, of the people, of the circumstance. We speak of snapshots in a somewhat second class way, as something we don’t bring to the table in intellectual company. And yet, without this fervour for snapshots through the years, those intellectuals and collectors who now treasure sepia toned or faded colour photos for their vintage effect, won’t have much to treasure or collect.
Some others treat Photography as an income source, with a workman like approach to the skill, to the photos and whatever perfectionism they place in competently and repeatedly taking a reliable, technically valid shot for a client brief. No, these are not snapshots, they’re sometimes very “set up”, staged and planned but I propose, they are not automatically satisfying to every individual viewer.
And there’s a whole rainbow and plethora of reasons and rationale between the two cases.
So, where does that leave you?
I was looking at the reviews on dpr and wanted to know about RAW image quality. All other things being equal is RAW image quality the most important? I mean isn't that the "real" picture?
Stage 1: The first thing that newbies learn about is that there is an Exposure Triangle. Some Peterson guy is said to have wrote about it in a book. I haven’t read it. I’ve seen his videos. Maybe his intentions are good and he knows what he’s doing. But a heap of newbies don’t “get it”
Stage 2: Eventually it dawns on people that the Exposure Triangle has a Fourth Side.
Stage 3: After rummaging around, comparing effective techniques of whether to use P A S M or figuring out which metering pattern is better – Evaluative Matrix vs Centre Weighted vs Spot vs the classical Sunny 16 rule vs Interpreting the Histogram vs ETTR and asking themselves where the hell they put the white towel / Kodak 18% Neutral Gray Card or the XRite thingamajig, someone mentions that Adams chap who wrote about the Zone System. And bang! Smack on the head. There is no Correct Exposure. There is what the camera measures as an instrument and what the artist (you) choose to convey and interpret. The two are not and do not have to be the same thing
Stage 4: So far, so good. People are shooting decent shots. But they’re not spectacular. Like those gorgeous smooth skin tones and sharp, clear irises of the girls in the portraits. And so on. So we ask, how on earth does so and so get this shot with his iPhone but we can’t and we’ve almost spent as much as a Nikon D3s? And the penny drops. We can’t. If we REACT to the scene. Often times, the pros don’t react, they’re pro-active. They light up the scene the way they want. Or gain a vantage point if they can’t control the light. And having done their utmost to light the scene well, they touch up with Photoshop. Delicately and Emphatically. Not the other way around.
You know when you have a camera that you will bond with when you hold it in your hands, switch it on, point it around, have a feel of the sounds it makes, the menus and displays, the feel not just of the weight but of the skin texture and so on.
That’s why we often ask “what camera shall I buy” newbies to go to a shop and actually hold the cameras that are on their shortlist. Sometimes they reach an epiphany, sometimes, they come back with a shrug of their shoulders and say “feels a much of a muchness to me”. That’s just sad, actually not being able to realise that moment.
It gets better when you actually have your first real outing with the camera (aside from pointing it at the ceiling lights in a darkened room and making vroom, vroom sounds (or whatever sounds photogs make).
And in your first outing, you feel at one with the camera, you see, you point, you shoot, you chimp and it feels good. Then there is that bated breath moment when you actually see the images on the screen (or print if you are so inclined) and YESSSSSS, it is as you envisaged at the time you clicked the shutter release).
For some cameras that I have owned, it doesn’t feel like this. Ever.
For the newly discounted (for Mother’s Day 2011 in the US), PEN E-PL1, I get it. The attractiveness of the LCD. The often deprecated buttons that get me to the menus. The sound of the shutter. Oooh. I’ve had several cameras with focal plane shutters. There are only two that I have owned where the sound of the shutter turns me on – the Minolta X-700 (film SLR) and the E-PL1. For some reason, it puts a spring to my step during Shutter Therapy.
And, of course, the results.
I had the Olympus PEN E-PL1 (painful suffix that, have to press a bunch of keys to PL1 – there, did it again) but not on me (so to speak). Knox City is a mecca for the middle class raising-a-family and teens-wanna-have-fun-and-grow-up crowd, yet No Photography rules all over the Ozone.
But I had the Samsung Galaxy S in my pocket when I encountered this gorgeous Red Vespa. Unfortunately on the way in, the 8%$@ phone was frozen again, doing some data sync and presumably consuming 100% CPU – darn poor Process Priority “Give” and unpredictable app startups. Went into Teds, Harvey Norman’s, had a KFC (yes, I knoooow!), bought some nice big chestnuts and a $19 pair of Logitech 2.1 computer speakers (they’re cheap but no Creative mid-range sweetness at all).
Anyway, second chance, the Vespa had not moved, so put down the Logitech box, chestnuts, fired up the Vignette Android App (paid version). Just love the Red.
Isn’t this just like, cool?
And just one more
The E-PL1 is quite a sophisticated camera once you switch it off iAuto (even iAuto allows more control than some other cameras). To map all those functions onto just four buttons and no dials is quite an achievement but I kept getting confused just reading the manual. This flow chart hopefully captures the logic and context.
in reference to: http://myolympuspen.wikispaces.com/UsingLiveViewAndAdjustingShootingParameters (view on Google Sidewiki)Q. 2) Will future E-Series Digital SLRs be Micro-Four-Thirds based or Four-Thirds based with optical viewfinder?
A. 2) E-X and E-XX DSLRs will continue as long as mirrorless systems can't fulfill SLR users demand. We don't know when we will have technologies that will be able to substitute this camera class."
After looking and thinking, then looking and thinking some more, I finally gave in and bought myself an Oympus PEN E-PL1.
For those who don’t yet know what a PEN is, it is an Interchangeable Lens Camera (Mirrorless). Several names have been suggested for this genre of cameras, from EVIL (Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens) to hybrid (i.e. a blend between the DSLR and the fixed lens point and shoot cameras) to MILC. DP Review recently asked forum participants to suggest names.
My background in digital cameras starts in the year 2000 (I shot film rangefinder and SLR previously) and covers the Nikon 775, Olympus C-750uz, Kodak P880, Kodak V705 fixed lens cameras and the Olympus E-330, E-510 and E-620 DSLRs.
The E-PL1 is definitely a new beginning – it has the bigger sensor and shallower Depth of Field commonly associated with DSLRs (this has a crop factor of 2x) and yet, it has been aimed and primed for Point and Shoot activity – aim and frame using the back LCD screen, iAuto (intelligent Auto mode of operation) with full P A S M controls. Unlike the Sony NEX competitor line, it even has an external hotshoe for TTL flash.
I am seriously watching pennies, so I decided to wait for the E-PL1 to age sufficiently to the extent that it has become an outgoing model, with resultant price discounts. And for the E-System to PEN system (oh, alright, Four Thirds to Micro Four Thirds system) lens adaptor to come within penning pinching reach.
I wondered about accepting the standard, Mark 1, kit lens. And I declined.
So, good friend Gerhard wants to see me for a walk around his neighbourhood (he’s sporting a Panasonic FZ-35) and I bring the PEN with my E-System 14-42mm Mark 2 kit lens.
The experience of shooting is quite, quite different. It is indeed a blend of my hands stretched forward technique from my Kodak V705 style with frequent pauses for adjustment à la DSLR style. Having continuing experience shooting both types camera, habits and instinct kick in without explicit concentration. That’s a nice feeling. Also nice feelings is the right hand grip of the PEN and that confident, baritoned thud of the focal plane shutter.
Instead of raising the DSLR to the eye, aiming with the optical viewfinder, clicking, then lowering the DSLR, chimping, setting Exposure Compensation, rinse and repeat, with the PEN, you aim using LiveView, potentially assess the scene and apply Exposure Compensation BEFORE you click. With sufficient rendering quality and clarity of observation, the rinse and repeat frequency is reduced and you get your shot faster and more reliably. Of course, if the LCD screen gets blinded or lags in display for fast action, hectic work, this would be an issue. It wasn’t today.
I’m used to the Olympus DSLR Vivid, Natural, Muted image style choices – the PEN has a new one – i-Enhance. I used it, above.
On the other hand, with this next one, I used the RAW and increased the saturation in Picasa on a gently, gently basis.
I thought this flower below was just gorgeous.
An article in context.
in reference to: http://www.earthboundlight.com/phototips/wherever-you-go-there-you-are.html (view on Google Sidewiki)
I’m glad Robin takes time away from his E-5 to “smell the flowers”, see what else he can do. He had a bit of fun with his phone cam, a Nokia.
My Nokia E-71 as a camera was and is, really hopeless. Really hopeless. It may not may not have good image quality but I would never know. It would emit a loud synthesised audio click but then, much later, when my hand moved away, the camera would actually record the image. There was a macro mode but it didn’t get very macro-ey. In short, that phone cam just refused to perform it’s cam duties properly.
My Samsung Galaxy S can still be recalcitrant, but it more often, does perform as instructed. The only thing is, I must always remember to rub the lens port – somehow it has the habit of collecting every bit of finger grease in its idle time.
I still carry my Kodak V-705 for those wide angle moments and when I remember to, but the convenience and availability of the phone-cam, one that works as a cam, is satisfying.
Over the past few years, a small number of cameras have gone against the trend for small, pocketable digital cameras. They were built in response to owners of DSLRs who had got a little tired of the bulk and weight of their DSLR gear. Time and again, diehards would evoke the memory of the Olympus XA or similar rangefinders.
The initial response from the manufacturers and photographer peers was “this isn’t the sales and production trend” – the trend is towards higher and higher megapixels, bigger and bigger ultrazooms – those two numbers sell to would be buyers whilst a small body, with a good lens and excellent technical image quality would not be marketable.
Once the competitive market saturated though, the manufacturers could take a breather and assess whether such a modest sized, modest pixel sized, larger sensor camera might be a saleable, niche product item.
First out the door was the Panasonic LX-3 – I have held and admired my friend’s camera and it is indeed a good camera – good technical image quality, an expansive wide angle, clever automatic mode and built to feel like your money was well worth parting with. Canon with their S90 came with an even slimmer body, less wide lens. Again, it “hit the right spot”.
Olympus is late coming to the game but they have achieved some understanding of this market sector. Their candidate is the XZ-1. David Chua courtesy of Olympus Malaysia was kind enough to let me use it for half an hour during a recent field trip / photo walk.
Now, I’ve had interests in both camps – I shoot a DSLR with several lenses and I also shoot a Kodak P880, V705 and even the Samsung Galaxy S Android phone. I’m used to the purposefulness and explicitness of the DSLR and I am used to the quick draw and shoot of V705 and the Galaxy S.
The XZ-1 is smaller than the Panasonic LX-3 – and more importantly, it doesn’t feel so expensive. That’s not such a negative. When I feel that a camera is way expensive, it interferes with my desire to be casual with it, to use it freely. When I held my friend’s LX, it was with some trepidation and care that I handled it. I placed it gently on the table even though it was dense and heavy. The XZ-1 does have a relatively conspicuous and enormous lens (f/1.8 at brightest) and that’s the part that you might be careful with but the package didn’t make me feel overly precious with it – maybe it has less density.
Update: On second acquaintance, the XZ-1 is thinner, taller than the LX-5. The LX-5 feels denser with more cold in the feel of the metal skin. The LX-5 has a stubby protrusion to help your right hand grip the camera. The XZ-1 is taller and thinner than the LX-5. Somehow it doesn’t feel as cold or dense or expensively precious – it’s a perception thing. My right pinkies don’t seem to curl like when you hold a dainty teacup.
Now, the XZ-1 has a short focal length (physically) lens and yet a small f/no – f/1.8 – this means that often it has tremendously deep depth of field and yet with f/1.8, it grabs a lot of light. I set it on Programmed Mode (“P”), even though it has “A” and “M” – my experience with the Kodak P880 is that the designers know they have a deep depth of field and don’t want to go down the slippery slope of high ISO, grainier photos early – so “P” is not an unintelligent optimisation. For small sensor cameras too, the theoretical bogeyman of diffraction limits appears towards f/8 so the idea is to keep your f/no small mostly. In fact, just set it on “P”, point and click.
And I did, at fellow photographers in our group at a shopping mall called The Pavilion in Kuala Lumpur – it was not dim but it was indifferent light and just right for some casual point and shoot testing. Whilst the gang were practising their manual focus lenses on their E-P somethings (and I had also on my E-510 DSLR), the XZ-1 epiphanic moment is that you just go near, point, the face detect auto focus draws a focus square very quickly and the click is done. Takes longer to say than to action.
The result? Overbright white walls (because the faces were in slight shadown and darker than the walls) but the intelligent auto exposure calculation had optimised for the faces –which was the intent. The JPEG White Balance? Very satisfactory, again, nothing to wring your hands about.
If the ISO had to be automatically raised (I had set it for Auto ISO), then of course, you would have some JPEG smearing, viewed close due to the noise reduction but really for small, let’s point and click cam, that is the last thing on your mind.
Once outside, I happily pointed and clicked, not being very slow behind two of our group. I’ve been the photographer in a family group with a DSLR before and it’s painful for all concerned – you delay them, you are stiff from the waist down because you’re carrying gear and a ponderous “I am a camera” DSLR. With the XZ-1, I happily bent the body, knees, lowered the camera to chest level to helow waist level, all very nimble like. I’ve seen discussions from DSLR owners about “OMG, the XZ-1 does not have this feature, OMG” – really you are in a completely different mindset when you have such a small camera. You really don’t care.
My conclusion?
Nice JPEG colours, the package knows which subjects I want sharp and well toned – it just works. A breath of fresh air from DSLR shooting.
