Before I even start, let me say that the Nex6 is laughing and doing so heartily. The real biggest difference between the Nex6 and the XE-1 is the sensor. No, they are both the same size but….the Fuji lost the AA filter in production. That may or may not be a good thing, depends on your wants/needs. For me, it’s the only reason I can justify keeping the XE-1 around. I thought that with out the AA filter,that the camera would be ideal for M Mount lenses. Well, it is….after a fashion.
The camera’s nice and quick on the street. I personally like the grip. Maybe a few others like it also but most don’t. I’m trying out the 18mm (27mm) and it’s an ok lens. It focuses fast even in lower light.
So the testing will go one for a spell and it will be a spell. Tomorrow if all goes well, I’ll meet up with Ray and Pete for the day. They both are very familiar with the X Trans sensor cameras and guess who’s the self elected info picker from their brains because that dynamic range stuff drives me crazy and they both can explain that too me so I don’t have to get in touch with Rico, the worlds only dFuji Dynamic Range Master.
Nice ones.
This camera looks to go a bit hot on exposure. All that stuff about dynamic range can be synthetized this way: just underexpose. It’s what it does when you use the camera’s expanded DR. What’s good about this sensor is the detail it can keep in the dark areas, without adding too much noise; where it adds, it’s clean (not a mess of coloured pixels).
So, the solution to blown highlights is: underexpose, adjust later and lift shadows where needed.
If you’re going to use camera’s DR expansion, once developing RAWs you’ll see… blown highlights: that’s because the RAW contains instruction for the developer to lift the exposure accordingly to the applied underexposure. For example: at DR400 the camera underexposes 2 stops, and the RAW developer automatically lifts 2 stops – without saying! It PRETENDS it’s using a higher ISO, but it’s just underexposing. So you are seeing a “correctly” exposed image, with the difference that the highlights recovery will actually recover at least 2 stops (plus natural headroom).
Sounds cool, at the same time confusing. I was confused when Don explained it to me!
The translation I could hear was: One extra variable to deal with (Besides A, SS, ISO)
If you ask me, I don’t think Don will get on… X-E1 is a terrific camera but, apart the confusing DR (which is not so confusing once you get a grip on it), it’s missing important stuff to shoot in the street. It doesn’t have minimum shutter speed in auto iso, nor forced minimum iso; exposure comp is not working in M mode auto-iso. Auto DR (the best option, it underexposes when it sees high contrast scenes) doesn’t work too in M mode auto-iso. Of course you can use A mode and manually control the desired ISO, and it’s very good up to 6400, but it’s not an ever ready camera.
Alessandro, I am trying to get a hold of the XE-1. There is much talk about the DR situation but no real answer….I’m trying to figure things out.
Thanks again….don
Alessandro, how would you like to write your impressions on the XE-1?
We would put it on the IE website 🙂
Alessandro, I have no choice with this camera as far as doing what I want. It forces me to use A mode and then I can use Auto DR if I choose. If I use M mode, preferred by me…I can only set 100, 200, 400 DR. So I am using M Mode and 400DRwith auto ISO. If I could turn DR off, I would, it would be a great camera that way.
I dumped the X10 & X20 for this exact reasons…thanks…..don