Sony Showcase RX1 Images

the rx1 is a great tool. its resolving power and low light ability are unrivaled imo. and i made some wonderful memories with it, as have its users here. to say it is not top notch would be silly.

but to say that is the last word, or everybody makes the same aesthetic choices, or that all RAW images are flat and lifeless, well, those are equally not true. i prefer fuji bayer RAW to this sony sensor. for me, i greatly prefer the RAW images from any ccd sensor ive ever used to this sony sensor. and ive used many cameras whose ooc b&w i prefer to this sony sensor. i didnt like its b&w images at all. i like 'tweaking' images in post, not wrestling with them. those are all just my preferences. theyre not right or wrong. theyre shared by some, not by others. thats not right or wrong either. this is a subjective hobby. regardless of the individual emotional investment we might bring to any single component of it, we do better to accept that there is no unaminity about anything.
 
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the rx1 is a great tool. its resolving power and low light ability are unrivaled imo. and i made some wonderful memories with it, as have its users here. to say it is not top notch would be silly.

but to say that is the last word, or everybody makes the same aesthetic choices, or that all RAW images are flat and lifeless, well, those are equally not true. i prefer fuji bayer RAW to this sony sensor. for me, i greatly prefer the RAW images from any ccd sensor ive ever used to this sony sensor. and ive used many cameras whose ooc b&w i prefer to this sony sensor. i didnt like its b&w images at all. i like 'tweaking' images in post, not wrestling with them. those are all just my preferences. theyre not right or wrong. theyre shared by some, not by others. thats not right or wrong either. this is a subjective hobby. regardless of the individual emotional investment we might bring to any single component of it, we do better to accept that there is no unaminity about anything.
Agreed, to each his or her own. I like to process my shots a fair amount - some more than others, but mostly more than tweaks. I don't consider it wrestling - I consider it dancing, but that's probably just because I enjoy that part almost as much as the shooting. And for how I process, there's nothing like a full frame raw file with loads of DR. I agree that a lot of CCD images look wonderful right out of the camera, but once I get down to processing, I almost always prefer working with a file from a CMOS. But that's me - I feel strongly about it, but I feel strongly about it for myself, not for anyone else necessarily, and definitely not for everybody else. In my experience, RX1 files (and others with the same sensor, like the D610 / D750) are the best I've worked with for how I like to process. The DF isn't too far behind, but it is slightly - I prefer it for it's low light capability, but at or near base ISO, that Sony 24mp sensor is as good as it gets for me.

Pair that sensor with the Zeiss Sonnar Sony stuck on the front of the RX1 and it's a modern classic for a reason. But that doesn't mean it's to everyone's taste. Hell, I sold mine despite loving it as much as I did. Can't say I won't buy another used one at some point, but probably not and certainly not anytime soon...

-Ray
 
yeah, i sold mine too. we both got a whole lot less mp's in return, didnt we? you with the Df and me with the rd1/L1/x100. as long as we're happy and productive, right?

tbh, the look you get from the Df is very ccd-like. i dont know how much you need to dance with the RAW files, but i like the results better than i do the rx1. and i do agree the rx1 is indeed a cult classic.
 
yeah, i sold mine too. we both got a whole lot less mp's in return, didnt we? you with the Df and me with the rd1/L1/x100. as long as we're happy and productive, right?

tbh, the look you get from the Df is very ccd-like. i dont know how much you need to dance with the RAW files, but i like the results better than i do the rx1. and i do agree the rx1 is indeed a cult classic.
The DF files don't have the latitude of the D610 / RX1, but they still have a lot. I've almost never felt I needed more. But TBH, there was a certain things that sometimes happened with the RX1 files (and D610 for the short time I had it), where I'd see an image absolutely come to life as I worked on it, in ways I hadn't even been going for. There was just so much in them. The DF doesn't do that, but OTOH I can almost always get what I did hope for out of them - there are just fewer great surprises.

It was never about the resolution with those 24mp sensors for me - it was always the DR and, to a lesser extent, low light. And with the DF, I've got all the resolution I've ever wanted, plenty enough DR, and gobs and gobs of low light capability. And I agree the DF files have their own special look to them and, as much as I like the 24mp Sony sensor, I like the DF just as much in a slightly different way. It's a sensor that's reputed to be made by someone other than Sony (I forget who, but it's been around for a while in the D4). I've sometimes thought of picking up a cheap D610 body to have that 24mp sensor also, for base ISO landscape shooting (I'd have loved to have that camera on my Alaska trip, not that the DF caused me any pain!). But that would just require me to think about my equipment that much more - what am I gonna take for what I'm likely to shoot today, etc - and I'm a lot happier with fewer choices. I can get an awful lot done in almost any genre with the DF and my Zeiss 25mm f2.8. I sometimes bring 2-3 other lenses along, but lots of time they never leave the bag. So I haven't done it and probably won't. But once I'm convinced neither Sony or anyone else is gonna make the RX1 any better than the original, I'll probably pick up another used one (hopefully they'll be down to $1000 or less by then) just for the very specific kind of goodness I've never gotten from any camera other than that one...

-Ray
 
I've taken a lot of pictures with mine over the last few years but since I got the A7R and the Leica it's been languishing for some time. I took it to Spain with me simply because I needed a camera and found I had none for once. I p/exed the A7R and the Leica was away so although I had also sent off the RX1, I had to ask them to send it back to me asap! Unfortunately they didn't send it with the EVF and because of this, it reaffirmed for me just why I don't use it often enough. Usability cannot be overstated in a camera. I need reading glasses and so I was mostly pointing the camera and hoping for the best. The RX1 doesn't focus particularly fast and this together with the absolute need for a viewfinder has crystallised my thoughts. Although it takes some remarkable pictures I'm still going to let it go, in fact it's being picked up today. My Leica will be returning later in the week and this will be my only camera for a while I think. The Leica files always look disappointing to my eye but they do scrub up rather well with a little work :) I'm going to do my best with this set up and think about what I actually need for a back up/fun camera. There's no doubt in my mind that I miss lots of shots with the Leica due to my slow manual focussing ability but there's something about the heft and the quiet shutter that always brings me back again.
 
i feel extremely lucky in that i am constantly excited about the files i am getting directly out of the cameras i have now settled on using. in point of fact that, along with their superb (for me) user experience, is exactly why i chose them as the ones ive settled on out of the myriad ive used over the years.
 
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Couple more from Spain with the RX1. These from the port area, it's a working port so not overly pretty but it's been modernised and has become a busy tourist area. The aerial view is taken from their version of "The Eye" and through blue tinted glass.

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The third is a Michelin starred restaurant in the port area, I photographed so that we could look it up and maybe go there another time. The last photo is for Ray, it's the interior of EL Pimpi and is a good place to visit for a drink and to get out of the heat. If you're ever in Malaga it's most easily found as it's opposite the Roman theatre remains. It has entrances two sides but this is the easiest way. It takes up a lot of space outside where most people sit but do go inside, it's really worth seeing.
 
Below is a photo that I have called "Black Cuillin, Red Skye."

It was taken with my long suffering RX1 and is on Skye's iconic Cuillin Ridge, one of the premier mountainous areas in Scotland. Taken during a two day traverse of the ridge, I hope the photo portrays the beauty of the mountain environment together with an element of danger with night rapidly approaching.

This has been selected as one of the finalists in Trail Magazine's UK Mountain Photo Competition. To see the other finalists and to vote see link below;

http://www.livefortheoutdoors.com/L...ain-Photo-of-the-Year-2015-choose-the-winner/

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Below is a photo that I have called "Black Cuillin, Red Skye." It was taken with my long suffering RX1 and is on Skye's iconic Cuillin Ridge, one of the premier mountainous areas in Scotland. Taken during a two day traverse of the ridge, I hope the photo portrays the beauty of the mountain environment together with an element of danger with night rapidly approaching. This has been selected as one of the finalists in Trail Magazine's UK Mountain Photo Competition. To see the other finalists and to vote see link below;
http://www.livefortheoutdoors.com/L...ain-Photo-of-the-Year-2015-choose-the-winner/
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That's a really unique image, and a terrific page for the competition. In case I missed it, could you describe how you happened on the scene, and got the shot?
 
Hi Dale,
glad you like the photo. It was taken during a two day traverse of Skye's iconic Cuillin Ridge which involves 12.5 km of traverse and 3000m of ascent with various pitches of technical climbing and rappelling. I've done it in a day but love doing it over two with an over night bivi for the extra time in the mountains with that often magical light at dawn and dusk. We were descending from one of the peaks along the rocky ridge line as night was rapidly falling and I was shooting off photos of my partner as the light just got better and better. Hopefully the photo captures the beauty of the high mountain environment spiced with a sense of danger with the steep dark drops and the tension of needing to find a bivi site before the light goes completely.

Let me know if you want any more info and please go to the link and vote for it if you like it so much.
 
OK - I see. That's a good way to go, with the overnight stop, so you can get the earliest and latest light. Having the person placed where they are in the frame changed a nice landscape into something really special.
 
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