Mostly Digital Photography

It is highly likely that I will have no land line, mobile or internet connection after tomorrow (30th March 2014) – my internet connection has been VERY unreliable for over 10 days, and I have failed to get it sorted so far, so I expect to cancel EVERYTHING on Friday. If you need to contact me, try email to my gmail address, and I may be able to pick this up via computers in the local library, or other public locations. If the worst comes to the worst, as I currently expect it will, I’ll try to get a cheap smartphone to give me limited internet connectivity, and will post the new ‘phone number where appropriate  - sorry, that does not include here!

Mike

I’ve always been pragmatic about my camera gear, and that means compromises, and applying the Pareto principle, ie you get 80% of the quality for 20% of the weight and bulk (well, that is overstating the case for cameras, but I hope you get the idea). I loved my half-frame Pen back in the early 1960s, as it was near the image quality of my FF Pentax S1a in many situations. I have far too many camera systems at present, but my favourites have been the original four thirds system, and now micro four thirds. However, I have to say that although I don’t think that many APS-sized sensor cameras are any better than the current generation of micro four thirds cameras, I am overwhelmed by the images I get from the Fujifilm X-E1, and, as of earlier this week, the X-T1. The Image Quality (IQ), and optics of the cameras and lenses I have used (X-E1 and X-T1, 18-55mm, 55-200mm, and 60mm macro), are stunning. I’m not a pixel peeper, so these observations are subjective. These Fujis are not without some drawbacks (name me a camera that does not have any weaknesses), and the X-T1 seems to have both a tendency for holding it to put it in Menu mode, while the buttons on the back are both far too difficult to press when you want to, yet too easy to press accidentally!

Apart from the fact that you can change ISO between shots, digital has long offered better IQ than film did, even at modest ISO. I’m 68 years old, and have been a keen photographer for over 60 years, and I enthusiastically embrace all the improvements that digital has brought in recent years.

I have had few problems in this respect in the past, but just recently things have got MUCH worse. So far none of my Olympus cameras have suffered in this respect (they originated automated sensor cleaning, but the new 5-axis stabilisation system does mean that if you suffer in this way it is almost certainly a service return, which is not good news, though the stabilisation is fantastic). Both the NEX6 and GX7 have had major dirt-on-sensor-problems (as has the A77), and I’m far from convinced that I have solved those problems – test shots seem OK, but when I take real photos later, problems seem to come back. The HUGE blurred blob on all on the images I shot today with the GX7 were very bad news – it is quite blurred, and semi-transparent, but I can’t see anything on the lens, nor on the sensor, and it is not just a spotting job. If it had been on the A77 (or NEX with the adapter), I would have thought it was dirt on the mirror.

The rubble the builders have not yet removed means I can’t get the car out at present, so I was trying to travel light to do some work for the BCLM today, hence I used the GX7 … I got very wet walking back there and home, as I can’t use the car. Having to spend time repairing the images is not good news.

I really like the GX7, but I need to solve the problem of the large dark spot that currently appears on all my images – any advice on what to do about sensor cleaning (I have a very effective air blower for sensor), would be welcome – emil me at mikehessey at gmil dot com (sorry for giving the address this way, and mis-spelling of emil and vmil, which should of course have an ‘a’ in them, but it does reduce the likelihood of spam or worse).