Ray Sachs
Legend
- Location
- Not too far from Philly
- Name
- you should be able to figure it out...
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:
View attachment 67053
Sony RX1 - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr
Arriving in Philly:
View attachment 67054
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.
View attachment 67055
Sony RX1 - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr
View attachment 67056
Sony RX1 - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr
View attachment 67057
Sony RX1 - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr
View attachment 67058
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!
View attachment 67059
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...
View attachment 67060
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
View attachment 67062
Sony RX1 - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr
View attachment 67063
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
Here are some images from the day:
The commuter train pulls into Malvern under a full moon:
View attachment 67053
Sony RX1 - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr
Arriving in Philly:
View attachment 67054
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.
View attachment 67055
Sony RX1 - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr
View attachment 67056
Sony RX1 - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr
View attachment 67057
Sony RX1 - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr
View attachment 67058
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!
View attachment 67059
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...
View attachment 67060
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
View attachment 67062
Sony RX1 - Philly by ramboorider1, on Flickr
View attachment 67063
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