Photography!

[Vogelbung]

From an early review:
"The X2 takes the image quality even further, but more importantly now feels like a mature product. It’s a better distillation of the M gestalt, and definitely easier to use for the simple reason that it’s more responsive to shoot with. During the course of testing, I never felt like I lost a shot because the camera was too slow; I definitely did with the X1 and X100."

This is my biggest issue with the X1. Unless you have it in full manual (i.e. not in autofocus) focusing is just too slow, and even manual focus takes a bit of time to catch up, despite being extremely accessible. If it's genuinely improved...

...take my money

Still don't like that new 'hump' though.

[Mandrake]

^^^ Drinking too much Leica kool-aide.

More birdin'


DGR_1868 by Mandrake Photography, on Flickr


DGR_1860 (1) by Mandrake Photography, on Flickr

[Mandrake]

Wow the female mallard pic has instantly become my most popular photo on 500px.

[Tree_Burner]

Down at the lake today with my girlfriend and her siblings, thought I'd share a couple pics.



Mother duck and her ducklings. after this shot, her little brother got in a wild goose chase. Thankfully was able to recover the picture somewhat due to RAW, but still quite a bit blown out. wish i was a bit faster on the draw, just thought it was kinda funny.




looking at picking up the nifty fifty soon. (Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II)


EDIT: one more I just finished.

[Vogelbung]

^^^ Drinking too much Leica kool-aide.

Yeah... Mind you, even if the X1 had a Kodak logo I'd still rate it for it's sheer pickupability. Though if devoid of the red dot snob appeal I'd probably be a little more critical. Still for me, in brightly lit environments at least, the best camera to use in full-time manual that I've come across without a doubt. The fact that it's the most compact APS-C by a country mile is the other thing that makes it indispensable. But the fact that everything lags (except for the shutter) annoys me quite a lot.

Great Mallard BTW. So graceful... so potentially delicious...

[killkenny1]

From last week's trip to the park:

[Mandrake]

Yeah... Mind you, even if the X1 had a Kodak logo I'd still rate it for it's sheer pickupability. Though if devoid of the red dot snob appeal I'd probably be a little more critical. Still for me, in brightly lit environments at least, the best camera to use in full-time manual that I've come across without a doubt. The fact that it's the most compact APS-C by a country mile is the other thing that makes it indispensable. But the fact that everything lags (except for the shutter) annoys me quite a lot.

Great Mallard BTW. So graceful... so potentially delicious...

:lol: thanks. I heard geese taste better.

Unfortunately the Leica name is doubling the price of the X1.

From last week's trip to the park:

Nice, what is that? A memorial?

[killkenny1]

Nice, what is that? A memorial?

Yup. Treptower Park - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Too bad the wind was very strong. Trees came out a bit fuzzy in the background.

[Vogelbung]

OK, poser for you guys.

70-300 for the A65, or an X-S1?

I quite liked the HS20EXR though the sensor ultimately let it down, but the X-S1 is one serious bridge with beefed up specs throughout. I wasn't overwhelmed by the sensor of the X10 (the same as used in the X-S1) but it was definitely an improvement on practically every compact sensor I've come across - though by a matter of degrees, not magnitudes.

I've realised that:
a) The price of the X-S1 is now down by quite a lot, not that much above the price of a decent third-party 70-300
b) The X-S1 actually weighs again not much above a decent 70-300.

I would venture out with the 70-300 very seldom. So having a separate camera to fulfil the same role actually wouldn't be a terrible idea.

[Mandrake]

Neither would be my vote but if I had to choose one I wouldn't bother with a new system unless you needed a backup body.