I was amazed when I ran the above image through LR4.4. The dynamic range is very good and sharpness is there too. When I import my raw files into LR I make sure that they are all zeroed which means that the files look flat and lack contrast. Totally different to how the jpg files look...overcooked.
Most of my work is done in LR and I use Photoshop at the end to do some touches, resize and normally sharpen and add a frame. This doesn't take long as I've saved some actions to do the mundane stuff.
I'm going to out a limb here and say that the file has a film like quality to it and it's the sort of look I get from my Voigtländer lenses. I like it too and strive to find a workflow that gives me this permanently. I'm still looking by the way.
As this is going to be the last post from the V1 for the moment I have to tell you that the 6.7-13 f3.5-5.6 VR is on the way. Actually by the time you read this post it should have arrived. I was missing that wide end that I know I would be pining for if I didn't have a lens in that focal range. I just hope the weather is going to get better than it's is now so I can get out get some photography done.
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07/08/13 Nikon 1 V1 - 1 Nikkor 10-30 f3.5-5.6 VR1149
NIKON 1 V1 Focal Length: 10 mm Aperture: f/8.0 Exposure Time: 1/125 sec ISO: 100 • Nikon • CX • V1 • 10-30 f3.5-5.6
07/07/13 Nikon 1 V1 - 1 Nikkor 10-30 f3.5-5.6 VRAfter seeing images made with the 18 f1.8 lens and again looking up the prices, I decided that this would be a good lens for portraits. It gives you an equivalent focal length of approximately 50mm on a full frame camera. Not my favourite focal length as I prefer the 80-135 range and sometimes even longer than that, but that's all there is at the time of this post. 1265
NIKON 1 V1 Focal Length: 30 mm Aperture: f/8.0 Exposure Time: 1/125 sec ISO: 100 • Nikon • V1 • CX • 10-30 f3.5-5.6
07/06/13 Nikon 1 V1 - 1 Nikkor 10-30 f3.5-5.6 VROne of the advantages of these smaller format sensors is the increased DOF you get. This is a great advantage for all landscape photographers where depth of field is normally of critical importance. That is not to say that shallow DOF isn't possible with this system, it is.
The smaller sensor gives you a multiplication factor that you have to use to compare your lenses to the 35mm format (if you're inclined to do this sort of thing). This means, for instance, the Nikkor 1 30-110 f3.8-5.6 VR lens can be compared to an 80-300 lens on a full frame camera (approximately). For the younger photographers this might not mean much because they haven't used full frame cameras, but for people like myself, I like to convert these values to the full frame equivalent because then I know what to take with me when going out on a shoot. I still think in 35mm terms when it comes to lenses, so I suppose that just shows my age to all. In time and after using the system a lot more I won't have to do this because I will know what the different lenses will give me in terms of field of view. 1113
NIKON 1 V1 Focal Length: 18.9 mm Aperture: f/5.6 Exposure Time: 1/320 sec ISO: 100 • Nikon • CX • V1 • 10-30 f3.5-5.6
07/05/13 Nikon 1 V1 - 1 Nikkor 10-30 f3.5-5.6 VRAfter seeing what the 30-110 and the 10 f2.8 lenses could do I decided that my 10-30 wasn't really all that good. So I got another copy very cheaply off the Internet and set out one sunny afternoon to do some test shots. My test shots tend to be rather boring and mundane and are meant for me to test out these tools. They do mean something to me and do tell me a lot about the lens because of what and how I photograph the world around me.
This second copy is much better than the first and is a keeper. I am now much happier with the system and the more I work with it the better the images seem. I think people would find it difficult to tell the difference between these images and any other camera on the market today. I'm not saying that you can replace a Nikon D88 with the Nikon V1 but images posted on the Internet are of course much smaller and the difference cannot really be seen.
Printing is another matter, especially when you start to print big. I wouldn't start thinking about printing the V1 images at poster size, I don't think the camera was meant for that but up to a size of say 30 x 20 centimetre prints there would be no noticeable difference. This is just my opinion of course and yours may differ from mine. 1102
NIKON 1 V1 Focal Length: 30 mm Aperture: f/5.6 Exposure Time: 1/320 sec ISO: 100 • Nikon • V1 • CX • 10-30 f3.5-5.6
07/04/13 Nikon 1 V1 - 1 Nikkor 10-30 f3.5-5.6 VRReading more about the camera and seeing results people were getting with the 30-110 f3.8-5.6 VR, I started to think that my kit lens wasn't really up to it. Quite a few reviews weren't all that impressed with it at all. Looking at the prices of these lenses I decided I could afford to go for the 30-110 f3.8-5.6 VR lens and if things didn't work out I could sell it and not lose too much on the purchase I'd made.
I must say I'm really impressed with the lens. It's not a fast lens but it is small and the system is quick to focus. Normally with these type of lenses image quality suffer, especially at this price point. Because the lens wasn't all that fast I really wanted to see now what the system could do with a fast lens. I purchased the 1 Nikkor 10 f2.8 lens which is really small and light. Both the 30-110 and the 10 came in at under €200 each. A real bargain I'm thinking to myself.
Not being impressed with the jpg files I switch to raw and really got down to learning what the camera could really do. The raw files were pretty good and when running them through LR 4.4 I got some good results. I didn't think a CX format sensor could deliver such results. Well done Nikon. I think they made the right decision in limiting this sensor to 10MP. Results were acceptable and metering was really good. Spot on in different lighting conditions.
For those of you who have been following this photoblog for some time may remember that I posted a couple of images from this system earlier this year. They can be found here and here.
I must admit it's taken me a long time to write and get into this system, but better late than never.
1305
NIKON 1 V1 Focal Length: 30 mm Aperture: f/5.6 Exposure Time: 1/500 sec ISO: 100 • Nikon • V1 • CX • 10-30 f3.5-5.6
07/03/13 Nikon 1 V1 - 1 Nikkor VR 10-30 f3.5-5.6Like most people I believed this system, when it first came out, to be a bit of a mistake. Actually I thought it was down right dumb of Nikon to introduce a system like this. A 1" sensor (the CX format) and the menu system wouldn't allow you to do much in the way of customisation. The price was way too high and is the one reason I believe the system didn't take off. A few diehards and Nikon fans bought in at that price but I dissed is completely. I didn't even look too hard at what really was on offer.
However, when they were being heavily discounted as it was coming to the end of it's life cycle and seeing the price plummet on the Internet, I then started to look into this system. I'd seen a few positive reviews, especially about the focusing speed, and things started to get interesting. More lenses were coming on to the market and it looked as if Nikon really was serious about this system.
I then took the plunge and bought the kit (V1 and the 10-30 kit lens) for something around €200, which is really nothing these days. I'd just skip lunch for a couple of weeks and the camera was paid for.
After a first look at the system it didn't get me excited at all and the jpg files didn't do much for me either. What about the raw files? More tomorrow. 1107
NIKON 1 V1 Focal Length: 30 mm Aperture: f/5.6 Exposure Time: 1/250 sec ISO: 100 • Nikon • 10-30 f3.5-5.6 • CX
07/02/13 Fujifilm X-E1 - Fujinon 18-55 f2.8-4 Kit LensI took this system out together with the Panasonic G5 and the 45-150 f4-5.6 when I tested that system. That's why the images may look familiar to you. I took the same images with both cameras just to get a feel how both performed under the same lightling conditions. The Fujifilm files are much easier to work with and results are very good. I would say they beat the G5 images hands down.
I have always been fighting with my Panasonic raw files with every camera that came out after the DMC-L1. I think that is the only camera that I was exceptionally pleased with from Panasonic. The sharpest files I've ever got seem to be from the Panasonic DMC-L10 because of the very weak AA filter.
I find that whenever I put the Panasonic raw files through LR 4.4 (or any other converter for that matter) they always have a magenta colour cast to them. I don't see it when developing the files but I do when I open the TIFFs in Photoshop afterwards. This causes me a lot more work to correct but I can't seem to fix it in LR. I might just install Silkypix that came with the camera. Maybe I can get some better TIFFs from that.
Anybody else see this colour cast? I'd be very grateful for any insight as to a fix. 1168
X-E1 Focal Length: 55 mm Aperture: f/8.0 Exposure Time: 1/400 sec ISO: 200 • Fujifilm • X-E1 • 18-55 f2.8-4
07/01/13 Fujifilm X-E1 - Fujinon 18-55 f2.8-4 Kit LensIt's about time I posted a couple more from the Fujifilm X-E1 and the 18-55 f2.8-4 kit lens again. The dynamic range of this camera is astounding. The sun was to my right as can be seen in the sky at upper right of the image above. I know my m4/3 cameras (apart from the OM-D maybe) would have blown this area with no hope of getting any detail back in raw processing.
I have seen a couple of reviews on the Internet about this lens and I agree with them wholeheartedly that it is a special lens. It's what's stopping me purchasing the remaining primes for the system. There is the 14mm of course but at €1000 it's just too expensive for my taste. I wouldn't use it that much anyway. I'm now waiting for the 55-200 zoom that is due out about now then I've got a nice system that will give me 18mm to 200mm focal length range. The question then is how the planned 10-24 zoom will perform. If that is up to the 18-55 standard then I'll purchase that instead of the primes.
Fantastic system. 1410
X-E1 Focal Length: 18 mm Aperture: f/8.0 Exposure Time: 1/250 sec ISO: 200 • Fujifilm • X-E1 • 18-55 f2.8-4
06/30/13 Olympus E-PL1 - Pentax SMC 135 f3.5The last image from this combination for now. This was just me practising my focus technique. Took two images, one was blurred but this one I got just right.
Nice pop to the image and sharp too. Got enough background separation to blur out the background the way it should be. Kept the ISO down to 200 which resulted in a shutter speed of 1/100s. I really should aim for the "double the focal length rule" shutter speed. In this case the shutter speed should have been at least 1/300s. That would have put me somewhere in the ISO 500 range. Too noisy for my liking with this camera. 1110
E-PL1 Focal Length: unknown Aperture: f/1.0 Exposure Time: 1/100 sec ISO: 200 06/29/13 Olympus E-PL1 - Pentax SMC 135 f3.5The reason I took this image is because of the contrast between the red flower and the rest of the image. There's not a lot more to say about it except to say that I hit focus where it was supposed to be focused. I must use these manual lenses more. I think I'm getting out of practice. 1028
E-PL1 Focal Length: unknown Aperture: f/1.0 Exposure Time: 1/100 sec ISO: 320 | |
COMMENTS
[ posted by Azim Abdulla, 10/15/13 14:09 ]
Thnks for info. What do you mean by ¨primes ¨? Is the 55-200 zoom out now ? And then is the 10-24 zoom another option.
Appreciate getting clarification from you. I have bought the X-E1 some months ago here in Switzerland but was told that there are no other zoom lenses available.
[ posted by Dil, 10/15/13 14:29 ]
Azim,
A "prime" lens is a lens that has only one focal length. I.e. It doesn't zoom. Fuji has a number of them like the new 23mm or the excellent 35 f1.4. The 55-200 is out and is an excellent lens although it is a little front heavy on the X-E1. I'll be posting some images from that lens shortly. I'm surprised that the lens ia so cheap. The 10-24 zoom isn't out yet but I have seen some images of it. It's rather big and I don't think I'll be purchasing it. Hope that helps.
Dil