Philly Street with the RX1R II

Ray Sachs

Legend
Location
Not too far from Philly
Name
you should be able to figure it out...
It's been quite a while since I just hit the streets in Philadelphia for the better part of a day. But yesterday was the day to take the RX1R II for it's maiden voyage of the sort I expect it'll take quite a few of. I don't seem to have the need to do this type of shooting ALL THE TIME anymore - I did for a few years while I was learning and refining my technique - but I still freaking love doing this type of shooting. And I get results that interest me enough to keep doing it. This is the heart of urban Blue America, with all of the wonderful and not so wonderful parts of it. It's where I live and what I love and I expect I'll always live in or near a place like this...

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-Ray
 
On the tech side, I suspect I'd have gotten most of these shots with the Coolpix A if I'd taken it too. What the RX1 seems to need and ISO of 12,800 or even 25,600 to do, the Coolpix can mostly handle at 6400 with a larger aperture (for similar DOF) and similar results. A number of these lower light shots are at 25,600 and they work well enough for this type of shooting. Where I think the RX1 is the better tool is that when I get a well exposed shot at a reasonable ISO, I can do a lot more with the processing. Sometimes to the benefit of the shot, and no doubt sometimes to the detriment...
 
Ray: As I was looking through these....and before I read your 2nd post on this thread......I assumed some of the shots were ISO 3200 or 6400 max! The fact that some were much higher than that; well, they look pretty darned good.
 
Phenomenal series, Ray. I especially like the 2nd to the last shot - of the couple sitting on the street bench but dwarfed by that towering portrait/mural on the wall behind them...there's something about that shot that, I don't quite know how to say it, but there's something about it. Great series.
Thanks Miguel. That mural (of Frank Rizzo, Philly's strongman mayor during the '70s) is down by the Italian Market and I seem to take at least a couple shots of it every time I'm down there. I always trying to do something with the context, but it's hard because it's on a huge wall next to a usually empty parking lot with a couple of benches up against it. The mural is so cool that it always looks good in photos, but I guess I have trouble seeing much in my photos of it since I've done so many of them. But this one is at least about what I was going for, so I'm glad it struck a chord with you. I probably wouldn't have thought twice about it, or certainly not three times! ;)

-Ray
 
This is interesting, as for me it would take time to adjust. The Coolpix A would be one of those cameras where it would become second nature if, like Ray, you've been doing street for a prolonged period and thus hard to lose those habits using it with another camera like the Sony.
 
This is interesting, as for me it would take time to adjust. The Coolpix A would be one of those cameras where it would become second nature if, like Ray, you've been doing street for a prolonged period and thus hard to lose those habits using it with another camera like the Sony.
Actually, if a camera has a good auto ISO setup (with minimum shutter speed controls) and a reasonably accessible way to zone focus, and I can move between street and non-street settings quickly, I can adapt quite quickly. The biggest difference between the RX1R II and the Coolpix A, in terms of how I shoot with it on the street, is the focal length. I'm a bit more partial to the 28mm equivalent of the Coolpix A than the actual 32mm or so of the RX1R II (it's rated 35mm, but it's notably wider than any other 35mm or equivalent I've shot with and I saw one guy who said it measured out to around 32mm - I've also seen people refute this notion - but I know it's wider by a non-trivial amount). But when I shoot street with the DF, I'm usually shooting with either my Zeiss 25 (which is actually about 26 and thus splits the difference between 24 and 28 and saves me having to choose one or the other) or Voigtlander 20mm, so pretty much any camera I shoot street with is gonna have a focal length I don't duplicate on another camera. And I seem to do OK anywhere in that 20-35 range.

But focal length aside, if those basic controls are there and easy to get to, I find any camera with a focal length I like pretty easy to adapt to and move between them. Of course, maybe that's just me - I used to have multiple bikes, some with Shimano brake/shift levers, and some with Campagnolo, and there are those in the cycling community who swear that it's not possible to switch back and forth between those two systems without risking death on the road. But I never had any trouble with it... ;)

-Ray
 
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