Camera gear discussions

Discussion in 'Photography and Cameras' started by Bill-P, Oct 15, 2015.

  1. Bill-P

    Bill-P Level 42 Mad Wizard

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    Yeah... I learned from experience that honestly, my wife and other folks just don't mind the bokeh at all. They simply care about whether or not they good look in the photos.

    As for speed... I can comfortably use ISO 51200 on the Z6 so f/4.0 or f/2.0 is already somewhat overkill. It's quite the camera. :)

    Eventually, if you keep going on the thin, small and light path, it may take you to Leica... har har har!

    Okay, kidding aside, I think you will find the Ricoh quite a downgrade compared to the RX1R II considering how nice the Zeiss lens is.

    All things considered, the Ricoh is a good "snapshot" camera. I use it to photograph gears that I want to sell on eBay and/or my camera stuffs, or things that I can't be arsed to use the phone for. But... it's probably going to make you miss the RX1R even more in some cases if it is going to be used by itself.

    So that's the main drawback. I think you gotta consider that before taking the plunge.

    Plus... what's keeping you from purchasing an older RX1 or RX1R for cheap and use that instead of the RX1R II?
     
  2. Zhanming057

    Zhanming057 Friend

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    Agreed. I had a couple versions of the X100, and it's getting better and better but at the end of the day, it's a great travel camera that's easy to use with pleasing JPEG's. The RX1R2 is a full-on professional-grade tool. Back when I still had my 645Z, I still used the RX1R2 exclusively for 35mm because of the sync speed and the superior flash control options. To extend that ability to the rest of the focal length range would require something like an X1D mk2.

    If you're looking for that quality, there is nothing smaller or lighter unless you want something without a display. It's literally smaller than a Leica CL, there's not much weight to take out there.
     
  3. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    Probably, actually standing out from the background is part of that, but no-one told them to obsess over balls!
    Wow. I try not to go above 3200, and usually have auto-100-to-1600 set, on my Sony. But this is the sort of thing people have very different opinions of re the same camera. Maybe it depends on the type of photography and the kind of result desired. Maybe it depends on the photographer too: some people seem to be good at getting better results with more "difficult" settings. Very unscientific suggestion, but... maybe!

    .
     
  4. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    Welp, ordered the Ricoh. Not looking for the same quality as the RX1R II as long as the thing is significantly more pocketable for the instances I don't want to carry the Sony.
     
  5. Syzygy

    Syzygy Friend

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    Wow I didn't realise that an RX1R II is smaller than an X100. That's getting really small, nearly hand-crampy small! If the Ricoh is smaller even, it must be close to the size of a phone, except for the depth.

    (Can you tell I don't go out to stores looking at cameras much?)

    Awesome you ordered the Ricoh! Share some pics from it in the other thread when you get it.
     
  6. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    Willdo. The RX1R II is too small until you get a thumb grip and then the ergonomics transform completely to something amazing.
     
  7. Bill-P

    Bill-P Level 42 Mad Wizard

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    Yeah, I'm used to fast glass on bodies like... Leica where ISO 800 or 1600 is the max. But on the Z6, I care less about ISO since 51200 looks just about as good as my phone in good light, and yet I can leverage the FOV that the full frame sensor gives me over everything else.

    I think Z6 is the "missing" A7Siii that Sony never released, and now they have come out with the A7Riv...

    I feel like such a nerd now...

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Yeah, the GR III is thicker but smaller than my iPhone X in height and width. I don't feel as apprehensive about pocketing it as I did with my X100 way back when I still had one.
     
  8. Syzygy

    Syzygy Friend

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    I like the Fujis for the film camera-style controls, but honestly the #1 thing is the X-trans sensor pattern, allowing them to ditch the antialiasing filter. Images from Bayer filter patterns seem…not quite blurry, but rather unsharp…to my eyes.

    I've seen a few ~50Mpx Bayer images, and when you get to that high a pixel count it seems to overcome the unsharpness. But then you're dealing with massive files.

    ---

    Finally now, about 20 years into mainstream digital, we're approaching the image quality of medium format film, for less real cost than it was, at least accounting for inflation. And the manufacturers have stepped up and made some glass that can take advantage of that resolution.

    It's a good time to be into photography.
     
  9. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    ... with money.

    But hey, today, at least, I can't complain: waiting on delivery of a new lens!
     
  10. Zhanming057

    Zhanming057 Friend

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    What's your workflow? Sharpening is typically a two-stage affair, presharpen for processing, and sharpen one more time depending on the output dimension/format. Same for Bayer and X-trans, the only difference is that X-trans might require differential sharpening depending on color channel, at least I wasn't happy without doing this back when I shot a Xpro2.

    From a professional perspective, when you're facing clients you might have an A7S, a A7r2 and a medium format kit for different work, but at the other end you look unprofessional if the result doesn't feel like it's the product of a consistent workflow. So you have to sharpen differently, depending on sensor pitch, paper/display output, artistic intent, etc. Something like Nik's Sharpener Pro can take a lot of the trial and error out of the equation.

    Maybe I'm stuck in my old ways, but whenever I work with Fuji sharpening is a constant struggle. Part of this is undoubtedly Adobe's poor optimization (the JPEGs are fine out of the camera) but the sensor definitely has a learning curve.
     
  11. Forza AudioWorks

    Forza AudioWorks MOT: Forza AudioWorks

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    I sold my Nikon plus several lenses and went to Fuji X-T1 without looking back. Compact and reliable camera. The only minor downside is battery life. I always have two extra on me and at times even that's not enough. As for pic quality I'm no details freak, so if I get to choose between this and organic vivid image character, I'll always go after the latter.
     
  12. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    And it arrived. And, Whoa! I think this is going to feel like a whole new camera.

    For starters, although it looks big on a Sony a6500, it doesn't feel big. It is much easier to hold and handle. My outing today was to a great venue for listening, but badly lit for photography. I'll have to see somewhere else to really check out the results.

    Anyway, I'm happy with my New Gear Acquisition. Except that it slightly overloads the already snug-fit camera bag. But I'm working on that.
     
  13. Syzygy

    Syzygy Friend

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    You can certainly spend a lot on camera gear (just like audio), but even spending a little you can get quite a bit more than you used to compared to spending the same amount in the late 80's early 90's (not inflation-adjusted). Lenses back then weren't nearly as sharp. They're much more expensive to make these days because the sensors will reveal their flaws.

    The other day Amazon showed me a Meike manual focus $79 35mm (crop) f1.7 lens in Fuji X mount. All the reviews were at least 4/5 stars. The review images were just ok (as you'd expect), and I didn't go looking at other sites for images from that lens.

    I only mention it because I don't ever recall seeing a lens that cheap (new) for my Nikon film cameras back in the day.

    I'd bought an XPro1 when they came out, and nobody had good demosaicing for the X-Trans. But one of the first that did was Capture One, so I got into that system at version 3. Now I'm running version 12. So I never had the Lightroom/Photoshop workflow to unlearn, nor the X-Trans problems that Adobe's been known for having.

    I do almost all my work in C1, and I'm pretty light-handed. I really prefer not to have to do a lot of post-processing. So I typically only do output sharpening, but in-workflow. C1 has the sharpen-for-output settings, but I don't print much. When I do, I'll use that to adjust sharpening for print.

    That said, you can't sharpen-in something that the sensor was never able to capture because it was anti-aliased for the fear of moiré. I would've always preferred moiré to an anti-aliasing filter. Software can deal with it, without destroying the true sensor resolution of the camera by blurring what it sees.

    ---

    I love the rangefinder style of camera more than the SLR style. At this point, I think I'm gonna wait to see if version 2 of the GFX50R has an X-Trans sensor. But at 50Mpx I'd buy it with the Bayer. I'll probably rent one for a couple of weeks with a couple of lenses and see if it'd be worth it over the smaller format. I've always loved the character that medium format images had; the extra DoF you can get with them, and the way they render on that bigger surface just has something special. And it's not really that much more expensive than a typical 35mm SLR these days.

    What I think is interesting in that space right now will be the comparison between the images from the Fuji GFX50's and the Hasselblad D and the new Sony a7R-IV. All of those cameras have Sony sensors in them, and Bayer filters. How will the 61Mpx (35.70mm x 23.80mm, 3.76µ) images compare to the other two's 51Mpx (43.80mm x 32.90mm, 5.31µ) images? I'm not talking about pixel-peeping, but rather will a smaller pixel size on a smaller sensor share some of the rendered-image qualities that the larger sensor provides?

    (Edit: added 'expensive' to clarify meaning)
     
    Last edited: Aug 10, 2019
  14. Forza AudioWorks

    Forza AudioWorks MOT: Forza AudioWorks

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    I agree, today we can spend little money and still get great shots. Audio isn't that generous with quality for your buck if someone asks me.
     
  15. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    Need some advice on selling my e mount gear:
    A6000
    zeiss touit 32mm
    zeiss touit 12mm
    Sony 55-210 + 1.7x tele adapter
    crappy stock lens (18-55)

    I have some extra batteries, straps, a nice little bag, etc as well that I'm happy to throw in for free. What would be a sane price for this stuff? I want to do a local sale and don't want to rip anyone off here. I see this stuff goes for ridiculous prices still (2600 new easily). Would $1500 be fair? Or should it be lower?
     
  16. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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  17. Forza AudioWorks

    Forza AudioWorks MOT: Forza AudioWorks

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    One part of me wants to remain faithful to Fuji, but the other says "Go for it!". Decisions, decisions. I'll need to read about this camera some more.
     
  18. Zhanming057

    Zhanming057 Friend

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    check out prices on Fred Miranda. If you can match those, should be pretty reasonable for everyone.
     
  19. wormcycle

    wormcycle Friend

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    need advice, and maybe it is a stupid question: I am going for a family trip in Europe and usually I would shut like 1000 photos in two weeks. But this time I do not want to carry my clunky big 10 years old basic DSLR. So I have two options: use my LG v30 ThinQ or I found Sony a7 II for a reasonable price. I have no experience really using a phone camera for a quality pictures and I am pretty much a tourist photographer but with better than average tourist understanding of camera technology. Would I see an improvement in picture quality in various light conditions with a7 over LG V30?
     
  20. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    What lens would that come with?

    Despite marked improvements (and mine is not even high-end) I have never even tried to use a phone as a "serious" camera. I can't even hold it comfortably. Maybe your mileage is different and... it has the advantage that it is something you carry every day, not something else to carry.

    The three recent Sony APS-C a6nnn cameras must have devastated the used value of the existing models. Much smaller than an a7x. But don't rely on a kit 16-50 for good pics.
     

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