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Posts Tagged ‘Carey’s’

Gear of the Year: Carey’s choice – Sony a9 II

31 Dec
Photo: Dan Bracaglia

We were being out-paced by a semi-truck on a dirt road off an Idaho interstate in a mad gambit to skip an hour’s worth of stop-and-go traffic. As the 18-wheeler rounded a corner far ahead of us, leaving our sight, I felt a bit of humility. Mostly relief. Though if we’d wanted, we could easily have kept up with the truck in the little Subaru we were bouncing around in.

It was nice to take comfort in the certainty that every photo I would take on this trip would be reasonably exposed and perfectly focused.

But earlier, we’d been tailing the truck a bit closer and all the dirt it kicked up made us feel like we were crash-landing on the Red Planet in a Martian storm. The subsequent realization that we’d left our cell phone reception back by the highway also encouraged a little more caution.

Visitors visit parts unknown in Craters of the Moon National Monument. Processed and cropped slightly in Adobe Camera Raw.
ISO 100 | 1/500 sec | F8 | Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM @ 141mm.

We were on our way back from Bozeman, Montana, from a DPReview video shoot on a farm. In normal times, road tripping to parts unknown is one of my favorite activities, and the ensuing uncertainty is honestly part of the appeal. But the additional uncertainty of the pandemic weighed on me a little bit. Every rest stop, every carefully vetted Airbnb stay was a risk, necessitating masks and buckets of hand sanitizer.

So it was nice to take a small bit of comfort in one thing – the certainty that every photo I would take on this trip would be reasonably exposed and perfectly focused. I had Sony’s a9 II with me, and free from worrying about whether or not the camera would do its job, I came away with some of my favorite photographs I was able to take this year.

Why it matters

It may not have bird detection, but the a9 II’s tracking is just solid.
ISO 100 | 1/1000 sec | F5.6 | Sony 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM @ 100mm

Back when I wrote our review of the a9 II, I said it had the best autofocus performance money could buy. Canon’s subsequent EOS R5 and R6 cameras have come close to closing the gap, and they have pretty awesome animal detection algorithms. But the a9 II’s tracking just works incredibly well, pretty much all the time; it’s tenaciously sticky and tracks anything I put the AF point over, and the camera can track human eyes that are absolutely tiny in the frame.

As a tool for the type of work I wanted to do, the Sony a9 II did the job.

It’s also easy to forget that there are plenty of cameras out there for which we don’t recommend using subject tracking all the time. Heck, even Sony’s a7R IV, which, on paper, features the same implementation, can struggle with fast action. (Admittedly, this could be the massive resolution, but if the AF can’t keep up, what’s the point of all those megapixels?).

The clouds roll into Mount Rainier National Park. Processed in Adobe Camera Raw.
ISO 125 | 1/160 sec | F8 | Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM @ 137mm

Shooting with a camera that has the most dependable subject tracking I’ve used really freed my mind to focus on composition and capturing a variety of moments. As the camera tracked my chosen subject and kept it in critical focus, I could easily experiment with my composition with my eye to the finder and end up with an image I was happy with.

No camera is perfect, but this one is pretty darn good

I have to admit, one of the great frustrations of my job is that in over five years of living, breathing and testing cameras, there isn’t one camera that does everything exactly the way I want. Yes, I know that might be the most #firstworldproblem ever. Maybe I’m just too picky.

Great eye detection means the a9 II didn’t get tripped up at all by the foreground elements in this Montana farm photo. Processed in Adobe Camera Raw.
ISO 100 | 1/160 sec | F2.8 | Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM @ 70mm

The Sony a9 II, for all its impressiveness, still has some interface lag, convoluted menus and a handful of other quirks. It’s overkill for many people, while others would value more megapixels or slightly greater dynamic range over the a9 II’s speed and AF tracking. Oh, and the touchscreen kind of stinks.

You’ll also notice that the images presented here are processed through Adobe Camera Raw (original JPEGs in the gallery below). Sony’s JPEG engine has some of the best detail retention and noise reduction on the market, but I just felt like some images needed a more personal touch to really replicate what I saw in front of me as I hit the shutter button. That would admittedly be an issue were I a full-time sports shooter on a tight deadline.

The road ahead will always be windy and more than a little uncertain. Processed in Adobe Camera Raw.
ISO 100 | 1/500 sec | F8 | Sony FE 24-70mm GM @ 24mm

But as a tool for the type of work I wanted to do, it did the job. It may not be a camera that I fully enjoy the experience of using, but the confidence it inspires is hard to overstate. And that made all the difference on an uncertain road trip in these uncertain times.

And lastly, happy new year to everyone reading (and thanks for reading this far). Here’s to hoping for some slightly more certain times ahead, and thank you for being a part of DPReview.

Read our full Sony a9 II review here

Sample gallery

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Gear of the Year 2019 – Carey’s choice: Sigma 45mm F2.8

06 Dec
Photo: Dan Bracaglia

Sigma’s 45mm F2.8 DG DN Contemporary lens is, in many ways, not a great lens for pixel-peepers. It exhibits some fringing, it isn’t particularly sharp, and it has a pretty pedestrian maximum aperture. But I really enjoy it anyway, and it’s served as a reminder that any given lens doesn’t have to be perfect to be fun.

I first got to shoot around with the 45mm F2.8 Contemporary on a trip to Japan for the release of Sigma’s fp, their staggering 35mm F1.2 Art, and the newly designed 14-24mm F2.8 Art. No surprise, the little 45 mil was easily overshadowed by its headline-grabbing brethren. But during my time on that trip, it was glued to the a7R III I was using while traveling from one locale to another. The biggest reason for that is that the lens itself is so small.

Sigma fp | ISO 160 | 1/100 sec | F4

Small gear is unobtrusive and far less intimidating for subjects, and this definitely has an impact on the way I take pictures: namely, I take more pictures of people when I’m working with less intimidating gear. I also just tend to take pictures more often, as I’ll always have a smaller camera and lens combo slung over my shoulder, whereas larger gear is more likely to be tucked away in a bag when I’m not actively using it.

We’ve touched a bit on the Sigma 45mm’s image quality at the outset out of this article, but I’d like to backpedal a bit. The biggest ‘issue’ with it is uncorrected spherical aberration, essentially trading-off some sharpness for more attractive bokeh: a deliberate decision on Sigma’s part. And I have to admit that there’s something about its rendering that I find appealing. I also appreciate its very close minimum focus distance, which helps you get shallower depth-of-field than you might expect with an F2.8 aperture, though images get a bit hazy if you’re focusing very close with the aperture wide-open.

Sony a7R III | ISO 100 | 1/320 sec | F2.8
Taken with a pre-production lens

And then there’s the build quality. The 45mm Contemporary is not weather-sealed, which is a big disappointment; especially considering how well it pairs with Sigma’s fp, which is very well-sealed throughout. But the lens still has a premium feel, with its all-metal build. The focus ring is so perfectly damped that I fiddle with it all the time even though I’m exclusively an autofocus kinda guy, and the aperture ring has just the right amount of clickiness to it. Autofocus is very fast, and works well with the DFD technology in Panasonic’s S1-series of cameras.

There is room in the market for less ‘serious’ tools that are still excellent in actual use

I think my main grumble concerns the price. It’s currently still hovering around its launch price of $ 559 USD, which is unequivocally a lot of coin for a slow, non-weather-sealed prime lens that has, perhaps, a bit more optical ‘character’ than people may expect nowadays.

Sigma fp | ISO 100 | 1/125 | F8

On the other hand, I’m pleased that Sigma is making it. It’s a company with a portfolio chock-full of glass that was created with size and weight considerations taking a back seat to optical excellence. There is room in the market for smaller, lighter, less ‘serious’ photographic tools that are nonetheless engaging in actual use. That’s the type of tool the Sigma 45mm F2.8 is, and I hope it’s not the last lens of its type we see from Sigma.

Sample gallery

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Gear of the Year 2018 – Carey’s choice: Panasonic GX9

29 Dec

The Panasonic Lumix DC-GX9 is one of those rare cameras that seems to be more than the sum of its parts. It’s not a market leader in any specific area, it’s not particularly inexpensive, and I’ve used and reviewed cameras that offer objectively better results than the GX9 is capable of. And yet, there’s something about its combination of features, build, form factor, image quality and controls that make it a camera I really enjoy using and want to carry around with me wherever.

Maybe most importantly, I think this is the first Panasonic camera I’ve truly felt this way about.

‘They’ve got a great personality’

Out-of-camera JPEG.
ISO 200 | 1/1250 sec | F2.8 | Lumix G Vario 35-100mm F2.8

That’s a phrase that isn’t exactly positive in the dating world, but bear with me – we’re talking about cameras, after all. There are subtleties and intangibles – ‘personalities’ – cameras have about them that can impact how they make a photographer feel. And while Panasonic has made some mighty fine cameras over the past few years, I’ve never really felt that emotional pull to pick them up and go out shooting just for fun.

Back when the Panasonic GX85 came out, I thought that was the one. That was the Panasonic camera that I’d want to pick up and take with me, even if I’m just going out for a bite to eat. But there were some issues with that camera – one issue specifically – that really turned me off, but Panasonic has addressed them in the GX9, and then some.

Enough already, what’s so good about it?

Out-of-camera JPEG.
ISO 200 | 1/500 sec | F5 | Panasonic Leica 15mm F1.7

First of all, my hat is off to the folks at Panasonic for their work on the JPEG engine. When I started at DPReview, I hadn’t been fond of Panasonic colors, particularly the skin tones, and while the noise reduction did a so-so job of reducing noise, it did a tremendous job at smearing away detail. This was the single biggest issue I had with the GX85, honestly.

I’m happy to say that’s no longer the case. Even just previewing images on the rear of the camera, I can see that the color out of the standard picture profile is rich, warm and doesn’t render my friends as green-skinned zombies. Plus, the shadowy regions of my images no longer look like mush.

This all means I’m likely to transfer images to my phone without needing to process Raws (though the GX9 can do that in-camera), and then post straight away to social media or send them to a friend. And the less processing I need to do, the more images I’m going to take.

Beyond that, I’m really happy to see the return of the addictive tilting viewfinder, though it’s a tad small. The controls aren’t quite as customizable as some competitors’, but the highly customizable touchscreen makes up for this somewhat. And personally, I prefer the tilting screen mechanism on the GX9 to fully articulating screens on other models. And when the screen is tilted out, the eye sensor disables so you don’t accidentally trip it when shooting from the waist. Why this still isn’t standard practice, I have no idea.

But it only got a silver award!

Obligatory angry cat photo. Out-of-camera JPEG.
ISO 1600 | 1/60 sec | F1.7 | Panasonic Leica 15mm F1.7

I know, I know. I was the lead reviewer for the GX9, and after all this gushing, I still only gave it a silver. But remember at the top, how I said it wasn’t a market leader in any particular way, and wasn’t particularly inexpensive? Then, consider that cheaper competition can often give you better outright image quality.

And even though the awards are weighted more toward subjective rather than objective criteria – that was all just too much for me to ignore. Bam, silver award.

But there are a few other considerations I’d like to see addressed in the GX9’s successor. First of all, enough with the field sequential electronic viewfinder. Second, this camera launched at $ 999 with a kit lens – for that price, I expect a dedicated battery charger in the box, particularly with battery life this limited (though USB charging is handy for topping up on the go).

Lastly, if you’re one of those folks that love Panasonic for their video chops, the GX9 is not the camera for you. It’s not really geared for hardcore videophiles, but even for casual shooters, it’s disappointing to see the newer model step backward in video capability with a 1.2x crop compared to the GX85.

The wrap

Out-of-camera JPEG.
ISO 200 | 1/80 sec | F2.8 | Lumix G 20mm F1.7 II

In the end, the GX9 is very capable camera. It’s not necessarily the sort of camera I’d be eyeing for high-end, paid professional gigs – though I’m sure the GX9 could handle them in a pinch – but it is the sort of camera that I enjoy for personal, casual photography. It’s also something I would absolutely recommend as a second body for more established shooters wanting a smaller package.

More to the point, I also think the GX9 is a good sign for Panasonic going forward. They tried splitting the GX lineup in two with the high-end GX8 and midrange GX85, but then decided that wasn’t working, and quickly iterated to come up with a fantastic middle-ground in the GX9. I personally appreciate that level of responsiveness, and in my opinion, the GX9 really is the best of both worlds for those cameras. Well, almost.

For the last time – let’s ditch the field sequential viewfinder.

Sample gallery

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Gear of the year – Carey’s choice: Panasonic GX9

27 Dec

The Panasonic Lumix DC-GX9 is one of those rare cameras that seems to be more than the sum of its parts. It’s not a market leader in any specific area, it’s not particularly inexpensive, and I’ve used and reviewed cameras that offer objectively better results than the GX9 is capable of. And yet, there’s something about its combination of features, build, form factor, image quality and controls that make it a camera I really enjoy using and want to carry around with me wherever.

Maybe most importantly, I think this is the first Panasonic camera I’ve truly felt this way about.

‘They’ve got a great personality’

Out-of-camera JPEG.
ISO 200 | 1/1250 sec | F2.8 | Lumix G Vario 35-100mm F2.8

That’s a phrase that isn’t exactly positive in the dating world, but bear with me – we’re talking about cameras, after all. There are subtleties and intangibles – ‘personalities’ – cameras have about them that can impact how they make a photographer feel. And while Panasonic has made some mighty fine cameras over the past few years, I’ve never really felt that emotional pull to pick them up and go out shooting just for fun.

Back when the Panasonic GX85 came out, I thought that was the one. That was the Panasonic camera that I’d want to pick up and take with me, even if I’m just going out for a bite to eat. But there were some issues with that camera – one issue specifically – that really turned me off, but Panasonic has addressed them in the GX9, and then some.

Enough already, what’s so good about it?

Out-of-camera JPEG.
ISO 200 | 1/500 sec | F5 | Panasonic Leica 15mm F1.7

First of all, my hat is off to the folks at Panasonic for their work on the JPEG engine. When I started at DPReview, I hadn’t been fond of Panasonic colors, particularly the skin tones, and while the noise reduction did a so-so job of reducing noise, it did a tremendous job at smearing away detail. This was the single biggest issue I had with the GX85, honestly.

I’m happy to say that’s no longer the case. Even just previewing images on the rear of the camera, I can see that the color out of the standard picture profile is rich, warm and doesn’t render my friends as green-skinned zombies. Plus, the shadowy regions of my images no longer look like mush.

This all means I’m likely to transfer images to my phone without needing to process Raws (though the GX9 can do that in-camera), and then post straight away to social media or send them to a friend. And the less processing I need to do, the more images I’m going to take.

Beyond that, I’m really happy to see the return of the addictive tilting viewfinder, though it’s a tad small. The controls aren’t quite as customizable as some competitors’, but the highly customizable touchscreen makes up for this somewhat. And personally, I prefer the tilting screen mechanism on the GX9 to fully articulating screens on other models. And when the screen is tilted out, the eye sensor disables so you don’t accidentally trip it when shooting from the waist. Why this still isn’t standard practice, I have no idea.

But it only got a silver award!

Obligatory angry cat photo. Out-of-camera JPEG.
ISO 1600 | 1/60 sec | F1.7 | Panasonic Leica 15mm F1.7

I know, I know. I was the lead reviewer for the GX9, and after all this gushing, I still only gave it a silver. But remember at the top, how I said it wasn’t a market leader in any particular way, and wasn’t particularly inexpensive? Then, consider that cheaper competition can often give you better outright image quality.

And even though the awards are weighted more toward subjective rather than objective criteria – that was all just too much for me to ignore. Bam, silver award.

But there are a few other considerations I’d like to see addressed in the GX9’s successor. First of all, enough with the field sequential electronic viewfinder. Second, this camera launched at $ 999 with a kit lens – for that price, I expect a dedicated battery charger in the box, particularly with battery life this limited (though USB charging is handy for topping up on the go).

Lastly, if you’re one of those folks that love Panasonic for their video chops, the GX9 is not the camera for you. It’s not really geared for hardcore videophiles, but even for casual shooters, it’s disappointing to see the newer model step backward in video capability with a 1.2x crop compared to the GX85.

The wrap

Out-of-camera JPEG.
ISO 200 | 1/80 sec | F2.8 | Lumix G 20mm F1.7 II

In the end, the GX9 is very capable camera. It’s not necessarily the sort of camera I’d be eyeing for high-end, paid professional gigs – though I’m sure the GX9 could handle them in a pinch – but it is the sort of camera that I enjoy for personal, casual photography. It’s also something I would absolutely recommend as a second body for more established shooters wanting a smaller package.

More to the point, I also think the GX9 is a good sign for Panasonic going forward. They tried splitting the GX lineup in two with the high-end GX8 and midrange GX85, but then decided that wasn’t working, and quickly iterated to come up with a fantastic middle-ground in the GX9. I personally appreciate that level of responsiveness, and in my opinion, the GX9 really is the best of both worlds for those cameras. Well, almost.

For the last time – let’s ditch the field sequential viewfinder.

Sample gallery

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Gear of the Year 2017 – Carey’s choice: Sony FE 85mm F1.8

27 Nov
Maybe it’s not everyone’s choice for a ‘landscape’ lens, but I like using the 85mm focal length for just about anything.
Sony a7R II | ISO 100 | 1/320 sec | F8

There are times when I find myself dreaming of a make-believe world where I don’t worry much about camera gear. A world where I’ve simplified, and simplified, until I’m down to the bare minimum of what I think I need to accomplish the sort of photographic work that I like to do.

Obviously, that is not the world that I live in.

Nonetheless, in that carefree fantasy land of plentiful-yet-lucrative corporate jobs, wedding ceremonies and endless travel assignments, I skip like a child with a balloon from gig to gig with two interchangeable lens cameras, and a single lens for each; a fast wide-angle for one camera, and a fast 85mm for the other.

The FE 85mm F1.8 is exactly the sort of 85mm lens I’ve been looking for in Sony’s system since I started at DPReview.

I find the compression and reach of the 85mm focal length – neither of which are too extreme – make it a great contrast for 28mm and 35mm lenses, even just for walking around the city. Also, notice the roundness of those out-of-focus highlights, even at F4.
Sony a7R II | ISO 100 | 1/3200 sec | F4

The Sony FE 85mm F1.8 is an affordable, sharp and lightweight lens for Sony’s full frame E-mount cameras. No, you don’t have to just pick two of those.

On an a7-series camera, the 85mm F1.8 balances beautifully, focuses quickly and is more than sharp enough for the 42MP of the a7R II (or a7R III, for that matter). In Sony’s lens lineup, it sits below the FE 85mm F1.4 GM which is a great lens in its own right, but focuses slower and is far bigger and heavier.

And that’s really the kicker for me with this lens. Sony’s a7-series bodies are usefully more compact than full-frame DSLRs, but often, the lenses can be large and unwieldy. With the 85mm F1.8, you’ve got yourself a truly compact kit.

Though this verbiage is always to be taken with a grain of salt (a flake of snow?) the Sony FE 85mm F1.8 has some degree of weather-sealing.
Sony a7R II | ISO 800 | 1/60 sec | F2.8

So, why 85? In general, I find the 85mm focal length a great complement to 28mm and 35mm lenses. Historically, my most-used gear for shooting events were two Nikon D700s, a 35mm F2D and 85mm F1.8D. I first fell in love with this lens combination on a six-week trip to Nepal during college, photographing endless portraits, landscapes and urban life, and was never left wanting.

With longer lenses, like a 105mm or 135mm, I always feel like I’m backing myself into a corner. And yet, I consistently found that a fast 50 was way too close to 28/35mm to be truly useful as far as getting some variety.

Focusing close to your subject with a wide aperture gives you a nice, dreamy look on the FE 85mm F1.8, while maintaining sharpness at your point of focus.
Sony a7R II | ISO 100 | 1/400 sec | F1.8

But with 85mm, you can move in for a tight head-and-shoulders shot or a decor detail, back up to get a candid of a group interacting, and even with some distance, you can still get background separation if you shoot at a wide enough aperture. Speaking of wide apertures, I rarely use 70-200mm F2.8 zooms because of both their weight, and because I often am shooting at F2 or wider as the lights go down and the reception warms up.

I’ve said this before, but I’m a big fan of gear that ‘gets out of your way.’ For me, the FE 85mm F1.8 does just that. It’s straightforward and has a solid feel. I’ve never felt it’s too heavy, or focuses too slowly, and I can just concentrate on what I’m seeing through the viewfinder. If I were considering a new kit to start out with, a couple of Sony a7-series cameras with the FE 28mm F2 and FE 85mm F1.8 would be on my short list to check out.

Out-of-camera JPEG.
Sony a7R III | ISO 800 | 30 sec | F2

Sony FE 85mm F1.8 Sample gallery

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Gear of the Year: Carey’s choice – Canon PowerShot G9 X

05 Dec

Introduction

I remember very clearly when the Canon PowerShot G9 X arrived in the DPReview offices. I was a fairly recent hire, and myself and another recent hire took the G9 X and the G5 X out to shoot some samples. As a person who still clings to old full frame DSLRs, I got along with the G5 X much more so than with the G9 X. It had way more controls, a good viewfinder, a brighter zoom lens and a real grip. I really liked that camera (and my first field test was done with one), but never really felt any sort of pull toward its smaller sibling. Until recently.

Typical Tuesday. Processed to taste in Adobe Camera Raw. 28mm equiv., ISO 125, 1/500 sec, F4. Photo by Carey Rose

It’s so darn tiny

It was the recent review of the Sony RX100 V which really helped me appreciate the value of having one of these 1″-sensor cameras always in your pocket. I have a lot of respect for folks who can create beautiful and impactful work using a cellphone, but personally, I still like the idea of using a dedicated device. (Of course, this may change in the future – after all, I don’t carry my iPod Classic with me everywhere anymore).

When it comes to skinny jeans, this is a mighty big difference. Though this is an RX100 IV, it is identical to the V in terms of width.

So while the RX100 V was incredibly powerful, I started to wonder whether there was something that could get me close to that level of stills image quality but was even smaller – like, ‘not worry about slipping it into the back pocket of my skinny jeans’ smaller. And then it hit me – the Canon G9 X.

The G9 X is 10mm thinner than the RX100 V (and IV), which doesn’t sound like a ton until you realize that it’s close to a 25% difference. By contrast, my Ricoh GR slides into a pants pocket much easier than the RX100 V, and it splits the difference in width between the two. The Ricoh GR is also within 1mm of width of the original RX100, as well.

Macro performance is pretty good – but it’s best to stop down a bit. Processed to taste in Adobe Camera Raw. 28mm equiv., ISO 125, 1/640, F2.8. Photo by Carey Rose

Most impressive to me? The G9 X is just a couple of milimeters thicker than a PowerShot S95, and that camera’s sensor was pretty tiny in comparison. Technological progress is great.

In any case – when you’re talking about cameras and pockets, every little bit counts.

The interface is well thought out

One thing that has been near-universally covered and largely condemned across the internet is the G9 X’s heavy dependence on its touch interface. There’s only one dial, which is around the lens (and it’s clicked! Thank the maker!), and there’s not even a four-way control pad on the rear. I read time and time again how the interface works out okay, and the screen is of good quality, but that it can be fiddly in menus, playback and for fine adjustment of controls. However, almost everyone missed something incredibly crucial.

JPEGs can be pretty nice out of the G9 X, after you’ve taken time to set them up. I’m not so big a fan of them at defaults. Out-of-camera JPEG with custom color settings and noise reduction set to minimum. 54mm equiv., ISO 800, 1/125, F4.5. Photo by Carey Rose

The G9 X, despite having one less control dial than the RX100 series, is more responsive to set up in actual use. That’s because you can use the zoom toggle, lens control ring and ‘Set’ button to navigate the menus sans-touchscreen. It’s brilliant, fast and once you realize it’s there, easy. There’s another review erroneously stating that you can’t delete an image without using the touchscreen – also wrong. Just hit the ‘Set’ button in playback, hit it again, and use the front ring to confirm deletion. Sweet.

Swipe functions in playback work great, but again, you can use the control ring for that. While you’re shooting, the control ring manipulates the setting that makes the most sense at the time – in aperture-and-shutter priority, it controls those respective values. In Program Auto, it controls exposure compensation. Admittedly, in full manual, it defaults to aperture, which is fine, and though you can add an on-screen soft button to have the ring cycle through other controls, that just means you do have to use the touchscreen to manipulate other values. So it’s not perfect.

Obligatory sunstar photo, processed to taste in Adobe Camera Raw. 28mm equiv., ISO 125, 1/400 sec, F9. Photo by Carey Rose

The ‘slow’ lens isn’t that slow

Okay, well, it sort of is. I mean, it’s a 28-84mm (focal length equivalent) F2.0-4.9 lens, making it slower on the wide end than the first two RX100’s, and on par with them on the long end, but with less reach. But a fun fact – the newest RX100 models with 24-70mm equivalent lenses are slower than this model by the time they’ve zoomed from 24-28mm (they reach F2.5 by 28mm). Of course, if you need 24mm, then this isn’t quite so valuable. I personally find that 28mm is usually wide enough for a walk-around camera, and I actually appreciate the small amount of additional reach (versus a 70mm limit) on the long end more than I expected.

I tried getting an angle to keep that tree from poking out of the top of the house, but obviously I failed. Processed to taste in Adobe Camera Raw. 84mm equiv., ISO 125, 1/640 sec, F4.9. Photo by Carey Rose

Also, I can’t get too upset about this, because I fully expect the ‘slowness’ of the lens is what really makes the G9 X so much thinner than the competition.

The rest

The image quality is predictably good. It uses the same (or very similar) sensor as the RX100 III. It has typically good Canon color response, and though the noise reduction in JPEGs is pretty sloppy, once you crank it down to its lowest setting, it’s not too bad.

The auto white balance is a bit off here, but the tap-to-focus worked great. Out-of-camera JPEG, 28mm equiv., ISO 320, 1/60 sec, F2. Photo by Carey Rose

The built-in pop-up flash is slick and handy, and operationally, the camera feels much snappier than any RX100 – except, of course, burst shooting, but that shouldn’t be a surprise (it manages less than 1fps in Raw). Despite it being the second-cheapest 1″-sensor compact out there (the original RX100, still available new, takes that crown), it feels very well-built and if it matters to you, the red-and-silver design accents around the dials add ‘a touch of class.’ There’s even the lovely detail of having a tripod thread in-line with the center of the lens.

This isn’t a class-leading video camera by any stretch of the imagination, but Canon’s 1080/60p video with optical and digital stabilization continues to impress, though the fact that the control ring can’t be de-clicked limits its application somewhat (albeit the touchscreen allows silent manipulation of some controls). But here’s one thing this camera can do that the Sony can’t – accurate and easy touch-to-focus-and-track in video, even with a ‘lowly’ contrast-detect only system. 

That’s a wrap

Here’s hoping the sun doesn’t set on the smallest member of Canon’s revamped G-series. Processed and cropped to taste in Adobe Camera Raw. 28mm equiv., ISO 125, 1/125 sec, F4. Photo by Carey Rose

I continue to be a fan of the G7 X Mark II, and I hope that Canon will bring the improvements seen in that model to the G5 X and G9 X as well. If they can shoehorn 4K video and maybe even better burst performance into those as well, the whole RX100 line will have even more competition – which is never a bad thing.

Updated Sample Gallery

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DPReview Gear of the Year part 2: Carey’s choice – Fujifilm X-A2

10 Dec

Since joining the team at DPReview a few months ago, I’ve been doing my best to borrow and get my hands on as much gear as I possibly can. Like most working photographers, I am heavily invested in a single system, and beyond obsessive review-reading across far corners of the Internet, I didn’t come to DPReview with too much hands-on experience with other brands and their respective systems. In the process of trying to familiarize myself with all the cameras and systems I could, it’s the Fujifilm X-A2 that has surprised me the most and has become my personal pick for Gear of the Year.

What I love

  • 16MP Bayer APS-C sensor promises great clarity, color and ISO performance
  • Full X-mount compatibility for those wanting a system to grow into
  • Twin control dials for rapid changing of settings
  • Tilting screen with good visibility
  • Cheap.

Fujifilm’s X-system is filled with fast lenses and quality bodies: the company knows how to make great cameras. But I’ll admit, even with the possibility of putting some gorgeous Fuji glass on the X-A2, I had pretty low expectations because the camera just feels so cheap. My fixed-lens X100 is made of metal, and it feels like it. By contrast, the X-A2 is made almost entirely of plastic, and… it feels like it. The surface is fairly slick and hard to get a good grip on, the controls have nowhere near the satisfyingly dense and damped action as those on higher-end Fuji’s, and while I appreciate a tilting display more than the average Joe, this one hangs somewhat loosely when it should be secure against the back of the camera.

So here comes the surprise: I don’t really care so much that this camera feels so cheap, simply because it is so cheap. It is among the lowest-priced interchangeable lens cameras, and yet, still packs a 16MP APS-C sensor that produces absolutely stellar files.

ISO 500, F5.6, 1/60 at 16mm on the kit lens. If not for the articulating screen, this would have been much more of a ‘spray and pray’ situation. Processed to taste from Raw.

Glance over the spec list and you’ll note that this is the only Fujifilm camera in its current lineup that lacks an X-Trans sensor. Given that Fujifilm has put X-Trans at the heart of almost all of the X-series models, this also served to temper my expectations a bit. But make no mistake, the Bayer sensor in the X-A2 may not have a pixel-level detail advantage over an X-Trans, but I found that it still produces excellent colors and controls noise very well all the way through ISO 3200 (6400 is usable in a pinch). An added bonus: Raw file support is wider, thanks to the near-ubiquity of the Bayer pattern.

The included kit lens also feels very cheap, right down to the plastic mount, but as with the body, its build and appearance bely the ultimate results it’s capable of. It is pleasantly sharp for a kit zoom, offers swift, silent and accurate focusing in good light, and includes effective image stabilization. When you pair the X-A2 with one of Fuji’s compact primes, such as the 18mm F2 R or the 27mm F2.8, the setup is coat-pocketable and remains light enough to be handled with only a wrist-strap.

ISO 6400, F2.8, 1/56 on the Fujifilm 27mm F2.8 lens. Straight-out-of-camera JPEG.

So while the large sensor and sharp kit lens are big selling points for most people looking at a new and affordable ILC, this little camera keeps on going with additional features that only serve to further enrich the shooting experience, even for seasoned DSLR shooters. Integrated Wi-Fi, above-average battery life, twin control dials, a tilting screen and a bounce-capable pop-up flash make for a camera that is both flexible and responsive for a wide variety of shooting scenarios. There’s also incredibly useful one-button 100% magnification feature during playback, something that is annoyingly omitted on many competing entry-level models.

The X-A2 is kind of like that kid that skipped a grade in school. He’s the odd one out, maybe a little immature and doesn’t quite belong, but hey, he keeps up with the bigger kids just fine. So yes, the camera and bundled lens are built more cheaply than I’d like and it lacks the X-Trans sensor, but the Bayer sensor is still a treat.

Shooting with the X-A2 reminded me a lot of shooting with my X100, which is a good thing (yes, I have the latest firmware). As long as you don’t often drop or abuse your cameras too heavily, the X-A2 represents a solid investment in the Fuji X-system, and its image quality can easily hang with its bigger and pricier brethren. With its well-implemented controls, it’s also a great choice for those who are considering taking more manual control over their photography, and is an excellent camera to grow into. 

ISO 800, F2, 1/60 on the Fujifilm 18mm F2 R lens. Straight-out-of-camera JPEG.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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