Featured: 'New York City with the G7X' by Ray Sachs

Ray Sachs

Legend
Location
Not too far from Philly
Name
you should be able to figure it out...
I'm in the Big Apple and all I brought was the G7X and the RX1. I'm gonna try to stick to just shooting the G7X as much as possible, although I'll probably bring the RX1 out at night... Anyway, I'm sick of talking about this camera, and defending it from the Sony-loving hoards (of which I am one with the RX1, just not the RX100 - so confusing not having any loyalties!). To me, it's a great camera to shoot with and produces files I'd have died for from a compact until very recently. It won't replace my big guns, but I think it may serve as a really nice alternative to them when I want to travel light...

Here are some shots from this morning. More to come tomorrow and Sunday...

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NYC - G7X-67-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

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NYC - G7X-91-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

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NYC - G7X-100-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

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NYC - G7X-109-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

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NYC - G7X-90-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

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NYC - G7X-129-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

The incomparable Katz Deli - home of Meg Ryan's iconic fake orgasm in "When Harry met Sally":
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NYC - G7X-186-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

And one of it's crazy Pastrami sandwiches in action:
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NYC - G7X-192-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

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NYC - G7X-158-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

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NYC - G7X-182-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

-Ray
 
Ray, looking at your shots and now I think the G7X is better than I thought it was this morning! Those DxO scores must be helping you. :rolleyes:

It'd be cool to see a shot or two of the same scene, G7X vs RX1. I'm not suggesting they are in competition with one another, but seeing the gap between them would interesting.
 
Ray, looking at your shots and now I think the G7X is better than I thought it was this morning! Those DxO scores must be helping you. :rolleyes:

It'd be cool to see a shot or two of the same scene, G7X vs RX1. I'm not suggesting they are in competition with one another, but seeing the gap between them would interesting.

Hate to ruin the DXO scores for you, but I didn't see those scores until after I'd processed these. There are flaws to pixel peep in these files, but they just don't really amount to much in real world use. And any camera of this size are gonna have 'em.

If I do end up taking both cameras out together, maybe I'll do a few back to back shots. But I have to say, I'm enjoying not carrying anything but this little guy with me and knowing it'll get the job done... The RX1 may have to wait for the next trip.

BTW, shot well over 200 shots today and the battery still showed full. I'm shooting all jpegs at the moment, just to make my life easier until there's full raw support. With the crazy DR in my other cameras, I'd all but forgotten that you could actually blow highlights to the point they couldn't be recovered, but with jpegs you can. Actually, that's probably a pretty good reason to hold off on comparable shots with the RX1 - I'll wait until I have Adobe raw support for both of them...

-Ray
 
Great set of shots Ray - a really diverse set, with all genres of photography working out really well for you. Love the first one, with the iconic New York brick buildings contrasting with the new WTC tower.

I do hope this place has been relatively free of ******s (lol the forum won't allow me to say yobnaf <-- reverse-read) and -girls? Each brand makes at least some duds, and most brands make great cameras as well (Casio I'm not so sure of, but all the bigger ones do). And even with a mediocre camera one can make great shots if one can only be bothered to stop forum warrioring (just made up that verb) and get out and shoot.
 
Hate to ruin the DXO scores for you, but I didn't see those scores until after I'd processed these. There are flaws to pixel peep in these files, but they just don't really amount to much in real world use. And any camera of this size are gonna have 'em.

-Ray

Great shots and great atmosphere. You're a breath of fresh air - a pragmatist that gets on with the job.

At the end of the day the camera is only a tool and an extension of the eye of the photographer. I love your street photography and I'm sure we can learn a lot from you.

I've been following your forum discussions here and elsewhere on the G7x vs Rx100M3 debate and there are those who just don't get it - bogged down by minutiae. I always agree its more important that the handling and ergonomics ( the haptics ) ,features of the camera suits the style of the photography of the person holding the camera. ( the user experience)

I love the color rendition ( is that purely a Canon thing or did you do much post processing ? Could you touch on B&W processing as well - they almost look HDR and yet.....)

Thanks Ray
 
Great set of shots Ray - a really diverse set, with all genres of photography working out really well for you. Love the first one, with the iconic New York brick buildings contrasting with the new WTC tower.

I do hope this place has been relatively free of ******s (lol the forum won't allow me to say yobnaf <-- reverse-read) and -girls? Each brand makes at least some duds, and most brands make great cameras as well (Casio I'm not so sure of, but all the bigger ones do). And even with a mediocre camera one can make great shots if one can only be bothered to stop forum warrioring (just made up that verb) and get out and shoot.

Thanks Bart. I'm not even sure that each brand really makes any duds anymore, at least until you get way down into the ranks of basic P&S cameras. Pretty much every camera I've tried in the last couple of years (and I've tried a LOT of 'em) have been quantifiably excellent. The RX100 and EPL1 are the only two cameras I've used since I got back into photography in 2010 that I just didn't like but both are excellent cameras - it's just that their interfaces / haptics didn't work well for me. So unless you get a really flawed pieced of technology (like the X10 with it's orbs or the D600 spitting oil all over the sensor - I guess these may be what you're refering to as duds...), I think it's really just down to how well the tool fits the user's style of shooting. The RX100 never fit mine - the G7X fits mine incredibly well. Doesn't mean it's a "better" camera, although it is for me. But I absolutely don't accept that it's a worse camera. Except in some areas, as every camera has it's strengths and weaknesses. But for me, it's the best fit in a zoom compact I've used - even better than the LX5 and LX7 and they were the gold standard for me up to this point. Not to mention that this generation of 1" sensor cameras are vastly more capable than those...

-Ray
 
I love the color rendition ( is that purely a Canon thing or did you do much post processing ? Could you touch on B&W processing as well - they almost look HDR and yet.....)

Thanks adoy. I usually shoot raw and then do post processing, but converting the raw files in Canon's DPP program, exporting to TIFFs, and then further editing THOSE in Lightroom and other programs was just more hassle than I wanted to deal with. So, until Adobe supports these raw files, I'm shooting jpegs - just basic ones with NR turned all the way down, no fancy colors or shadow treatments or anything. And then I process these files as I would raw files, although clearly with a lot less latitude. Which means basic editing (levels, any NR, etc,) in Lightroom, and then on to either Silver Efex Pro (for B&W) or Color Efex Pro and sometimes Viveza (for color). And I just play with them until they feel right to me, so each shot is processed differently, although I have a handful of both color and B&W presets that I generally use as starting points and then tweak and adjust from there. So I'd say the colors aren't all that much Canon's colors by the time I finish with them...

-Ray
 
Thanks Bart. I'm not even sure that each brand really makes any duds anymore, at least until you get way down into the ranks of basic P&S cameras.

-Ray

Well, to name a few more that are maybe not awful but really not very good (compared to reasonable expectations) either: the Canon EOS M was not up to their usual standard (at least with the original firmware), the Sony NEX series originally had a user interface that was the work of the devil himself (I can't imagine many beginner photographers finding it a useful interface either), Pentax had their fairly pointless K-01 (which probably would've gotten a lot less flak if it wasn't for the designer-design), Sigma had their epically overpriced SD1, and even Leica had a few stumbles, most notably with the original M8. But as you indicated, those are the exception rather than the norm these days.

Probably the biggest snafu in all of cameraland is the naming confusion - it wasn't until adoy mentioned Canon that I realized you didn't just buy Panasonic's rangefinder-shaped m43 camera, but were using Canon's RX100 competitor instead. That does make the Sony comment at the beginning a lot more logical :tongue:
 
Very cool images, Ray.

I have to concur with Kyle aka KillRamsey - #129 is my favorite of those you posted as well. There's something about the way the smoke is swirling, and the saturated intensity of the colors against which it seems to be offset. But I also love #182, the monochrome of the stacked rugs, with its telephoto-like compression.

Keep up the good work. It's inspiring.
 
Pretty much every camera I've tried in the last couple of years (and I've tried a LOT of 'em) have been quantifiably excellent.

Wise words (and nice pictures) . . .
 
Well, to name a few more that are maybe not awful but really not very good (compared to reasonable expectations) either: the Canon EOS M was not up to their usual standard (at least with the original firmware), the Sony NEX series originally had a user interface that was the work of the devil himself (I can't imagine many beginner photographers finding it a useful interface either), Pentax had their fairly pointless K-01 (which probably would've gotten a lot less flak if it wasn't for the designer-design), Sigma had their epically overpriced SD1, and even Leica had a few stumbles, most notably with the original M8. But as you indicated, those are the exception rather than the norm these days.

Probably the biggest snafu in all of cameraland is the naming confusion - it wasn't until adoy mentioned Canon that I realized you didn't just buy Panasonic's rangefinder-shaped m43 camera, but were using Canon's RX100 competitor instead. That does make the Sony comment at the beginning a lot more logical :tongue:

Bart, that's a good list, but kind of makes my point - all of those cameras turned out great quality images but had one or two things that made them unpopular with a lot of experienced photographers. I never used the EOS-M, but my understanding was that it's greatest sin was really slow AF. But the one prime lens - was it a 22mm? - was so good that people started buying the cameras up on deep discounts just to get and be able to shoot the lens. The Pentax was mostly just funky looking. And I didn't love the Nex, but I had a Nex 5 for a while and dint think there was anything really terrible about the interface - and the camera made really good images.

But, yeah, the naming thing can get confusing - sorry you though these were from the LX100. AFAIK, that camera hasn't been seen in the wild yet and I wasn't interested in something without a zoom of at lest 90 or 100mm since I already have a couple of great fixed lens cameras at the wide end and rarely shoot in the middle focal lengths...

-Ray
 
Long time lurker, first post... I just want to say that I love your photographs Ray ... best regards, from Iceland
 
I never used the EOS-M, but my understanding was that it's greatest sin was really slow AF. But the one prime lens - was it a 22mm? - was so good that people started buying the cameras up on deep discounts just to get and be able to shoot the lens. The Pentax was mostly just funky looking.

Speaking of the EOS M, one of the things DPReview (not that they're always right by any means) called out the G7X on was auto-focus speed. I know you usually use zone focus when doing street images but what do you think of the G7X's auto-focus speed?

And, BTW, I had the K-01. An APS-C sensor and compatability with all of my K-mount lenses for just over $200 on close-out made it a fabulous deal. It was a flawed concept but it was a lot of fun with a DA 40mm Limited pancake on it and image quality was superb. Which, again, backs up your point.
 
Speaking of the EOS M, one of the things DPReview (not that they're always right by any means) called out the G7X on was auto-focus speed. I know you usually use zone focus when doing street images but what do you think of the G7X's auto-focus speed?

I think the AF speed on the G7X is fine, excellent for a compact. Pretty much everyone who's shot both finds it on par with the RX100 III, maybe a bit better. The Camera Store and DPR are complaining about it, Cameralabs finds the G7X faster, etc. I haven't shot with the RX100 III but find the G7X better than the original RX100, which I thought was the best compact AF I'd used at the time. If it's slightly better or worse than the III, it's not enough to notice, let alone worry about...

-Ray
 
D
I think the AF speed on the G7X is fine, excellent for a compact. Pretty much everyone who's shot both finds it on par with the RX100 III, maybe a bit better. The Camera Store and DPR are complaining about it, Cameralabs finds the G7X faster, etc. I haven't shot with the RX100 III but find the G7X better than the original RX100, which I thought was the best compact AF I'd used at the time. If it's slightly better or worse than the III, it's not enough to notice, let alone worry about...

-Ray

I thought as much. As I've posted a few times, I think it's really just a matter of personal preference between the G7X and any of the RX100's.
 
Here's a bunch more from today - slooooooow wifi in the place we're staying, so took a while to upload...

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NYC Saturday-103-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

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NYC Saturday-86-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

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NYC Saturday-47-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

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NYC Saturday-92-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

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NYC Saturday-229-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

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NYC Saturday-311-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

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NYC Saturday-252-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

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NYC Saturday-241-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

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NYC Saturday-353-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

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NYC Saturday-414-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

-Ray
 
Here's the ongoing Flickr album, if anyone can stand more. I'll do some more shooting tomorrow morning, may not get those up until Monday sometime, once we're home. The folks over on DPR are measurebating this camera to death, but for the mix of types of shooting I do, it's been really sort of perfect for a weekend like this. It's image quality is not up to the best of my cameras, but as an image making tool, it's as good as any within it's obvious limits for focal range and such... And once there's raw support for it, I think I'll like it even more...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/20889767@N05/sets/72157648561403250/

-Ray
 
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