This is the final images from this afternoons walk around Calke Abbey.
Simon Marchini
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
So another day another test – this time at Calke Abbey which is a wonderful National Trust property and park on the Leicestershire/Derbyshire border. If I thought the light was pretty awful yesterday well this was even worse, apart from making photos of flowers – unfortunately given the spring we’ve had few flowers were out.
Simon Marchini
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
Another test of the G1x, this time at 12800iso – another winner. The image was captured on RAW and has just had small amount of the noise reduction applied in Lightroom so it is a really impressive result given that in previous G camera models
I owned anything above 400 iso was a big no no. I have to say that I doubt I’ll be using the high ISO but it is nice to know that if you have to the results aren’t that bad.
Simon Marchini
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
I’ve just noticed that I’ve exported the same image twice…Dohhh
Simon Marchini
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
One of the things that I had forgotten about photography is that you have little control over the light unless you want use artificial light but that somewhat defeats the purpose of having a small and compact camera.
Sp this afternoon I was wondering around the fields near to where I live cursing the awful light. We are now well into spring so the light in the afternoon is usually too bright or too dull, the best light is dawn and dusk but I can’t be arsed to get up for that so I had to make the best of what I had. Of course the capturing of the image is the first part of the image production process so you can alter/improve most of the elements in post production but it is nice to have good light in the first place.
Anyway, these are the result of my wondering in neighbourhood with my new G1x – the more I use it the more I’m impressed with the image quality. I’m now getting used to the fold out LED screen which is really a lot more useful than that on my old Sony. This camera has rekindled my interest in making photographs – that is saying something.
Simon Marchini
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
One thing my wife really likes about me (well actual she just turns her eyes to the ceiling and gives a sigh but why let the turth get in the way) is how whilst I read the morning paper, yes I still read the paper even if it on my iPad – and yes I pay for it, I start spluttering and moaning about what I’ve read. Today is no different. I’m utterly sick to death about, well, the death of Margaret Thatcher. Yes she was a terrific, in every sense of the word, Prime Minister but she left office over 20 years ago. An awful lot has changed since she was last in power. I have had enough and I don’t want to hear another word spoken, written, tweeted about the woman. I have no chance of this happening.
However, to give this Thatcher self flagellation a bit of context I have been using the Trendmap site to see what is trending the world at the moment on Twitter and I have to say it is really fascinating. When Mrs Thatcher died she was trending throughout the world, even in place where it was the middle of the night. However, the world of twitter has started to settle down to return to more important things to the individuals involved. Perhaps the best example of this can be currently found on the west Pacific island of New Caledonia where twitter is alive with just one hashtag Earthquake (BTW the Apple small keyboard doesn’t have hashtag as a key – how unusual). Now given the relatively small number of twitter users on New Caledonia it is very easy to miss this in the wave of people using the hashtag Proudtobeafanof but this is far more important than that.
So I guess the point of all this, if there is ever a point to my ramblings, is that whilst the the national news and world opinion may say one thing it is the local that really matters to people. And knowing whether you are going to be killed by an earthquake would seem to me far more important than the death of an 87 grandmother half a world away. If only that were the case half the world away from New Caledonia. Here endth this mornings moan.
Oh and I realise that I’m continuing the news cycle about Mrs Thatcher but bar humbug to that!
Simon Marchini
www.simonmarchini.co.uk
It is early days and with all infatuations it is very difficult to know when this turns into love. But I think I’m starting to love my G1x – which is more than can be said for my iMac! It is the quality of the images I’ve been able to produce with the camera that is leading to all the lovey dovey words.
The images I’ve posted here are crops and yet their native 16 bit TIF size is in excess of 65 MB. And the quality is just superb – well at least I think so. Now as for my iMac well this is the first time I’ve tried to work on large scale images on it and I have to say it is struggling when running Photoshop. With all the layers I create to make the image I want means that, at times, the file size goes up to 250 – 300 mb and this really does seem to cause the iMac to catch its breath. My old windows machine would work on these all day. Of course this is being somewhat unfair on the Mac as the other machine had a much faster chipset but was three years old when it was stolen. Anyway, this is more of an inconvenience than anything else but it is worth baring in mind if you work on RAW images produced by the G1x – they can become very large files indeed.
So I’m a pretty happy chapy at the moment as with all love affairs only time will tell whether they last.
Simon Marchini
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
I went a walk around the local park this afternoon with my new toy and with a combination of a very cold easterly wind and pretty awful light I’m happy to report that the G1x was able to capture some interesting images which, after post production, I think are starting to show promise.
Simon Marchini
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
I’m taking this slowly, which for me is a bit of a first, so I’m just messing around in the garden at the moment. The object of the exercise is to get used to the different dials. Although I really don’t use that many of the functions of any camera as my default settings are, Av priority, RAW file format and that really is it. All the millions of dollars Canon must have spent on the different functions just sail me by when compared to a good lens, sensor and easy to use dials.
So what are my first impressions of the camera? It is so easy to use, I particularly like the aperture changing wheel on the grip which brings back memories of my larger Canons. The camera itself is bigger than the old G series cameras I had but then again it has much more sensible sized sensor so it has to be. The focusing will take a little while getting used to but in this short test I found no real problems with slow focusing. The macro facility isn’t as good as the smaller sensor cameras but again this is not a show stopper and you can get around this anyway.
However, when you put the images through the computer they have an edge and power that you don’t get from the earlier models, the large sensor again. This is what I was looking for.
Lets hope the rest of my experience with the camera is as positive as this one.
Simon Marchini
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
So my new toy arrived this morning and I have had an initial look around. The first impressions are that this is going to be fun to use as it has proper dials and is built with the usual G series build quality. This is the third G series camera I have owned and I have to say none of them have been a disappointment. Perhaps I need to clarify that a little…they haven’t been a disappointment below 400 iso – above this things got a little scary. For those of us brought up on Kodachrome 64 this wasn’t a problem.
I’ve now put the battery onto charge so I won’t have chance to give the camera a test run until this afternoon which should be fun. One thing I would suggest you do before you open the package – download the manual from Canon, and if you have a tablet put it onto that device. The reason for this is that Canon doesn’t provide you with a full paper manual – you have to upload it from a CD – so you may as well have this manual to hand as you open the package…I found it helped.
Simon Marchini
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
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