Fuji First time out & about with the X-E1

RoyUK

Regular
Location
Blackpool UK
These are a couple of shots I grabbed while walking in the Bowland Fells area recently in Lancashire UK.

It was the first time I'd chosen to carry the X-E1 with 18-55 zoom instead of my usual Sigma DP Merrills

The first was shot as I entered a little woodland area on the outskirts of Slaidburn village.
37mm f/8

The second – again taken near Slaidburn - is a bracket fungus polyporous squamosus better known as Dryad's Saddle or Pheasant Back Fungus.
46mm f/11

The third is a 100% crop from the above.

I get the impression that IQ from the X-E1's X-Trans sensor is not all that far short of that from the Sigma Foveon and it's certainly a sweeter camera to use :)



1 (1).jpg




2.jpg




3.jpg



BTW: to my eye, the fungus shots look a bit over-sharpened. Certainly rather more edgy than the original file on my pc.

Perhaps that sneaked in during upload re-sizing? :hiding:
 
I must admit that my understanding of sharpening (and when to to do it and why and how much) is severely lacking. I am also guilty of oversharpening on many occasions. I think you may be oversharpening to try to match the otherworldly sharpness of the Sigmas. To my eye, these all look oversharpened, but you should wait for someone else with more experience for you take my opinion seriously. I like these kinds of shots, and your framing and composition is good.
 
Thanks for responding Luke and I agree that sharpening can prove something of a dark art.

Most of the time, Foveon files don't seem to need it at all.

These shots though had 50% of one pixel sharpening (in CS5) to the 26MB 300 dpi .psd file for printing to A3

No other sharpening was added after that but I suspect that earlier on the Nik Viveza 'Structure' setting I used may have been a bit OTT. This has the effect of adding sharpness that I could well have done without:redface:
 
oh yeah......"structure" is almost always a culprit. it's some sort of black magic setting that adjusts sharpness and microcontrast (local...not global) and in small doses can make things "pop", but a little too much and it just hurts the eyes. Again.....this is just my 2 cents and everyone has different tastes. But you seemed like you were leaning that way and looking for some C & C. I do the same things when I'm unsure about my processing choices. One thing I've started doing is get to where I'm "finished processing", then walk away and drink a glass of water and come back with fresh eyes and undo and then redo my final move. I almost always end up going with the lesser processed image or splitting the difference in half.

Now...more mushroom photos, please.
 
I've attached a new conversion of the Bracket Fungus RAW file without any processing or sharpening other than whatever Capture One's default decided to add.

I'm interested to see how it shows up after upload. As a Sigma Foveon user I can see its gonna be fun adjusting to a different sensor's output :)


Bracket Fungus.jpg
 
Yeah, that's MUCH better. The Fuji lenses and very sharp....and the sensor will show it. I don't think they really need to be juiced. I've had a few that I thought looked great....and the detail was so clear I figured.....it can't hurt to sharpen it up a little....just to show off. The problem is that the files can take it....to a certain extent. They don't just fall apart. But they also look better a bit more natural.
 
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