In terms of competitive classes, the HX9v was at the top of the list with the LX5; I simply went with the LX5 because of the faster sharper lens (Leica Vario Summicron) and because it can shoot raw. I think Panasonic had a real smart idea with their partnership with Leica. Leica had been traditionally known throughout photography as the premiere 35MM camera simply because of the excellence vis a vis sharpness of its lenses. However, it certainly was not known for electronics. In this day and age, even traditional camera makers with superb lenses realized that they had better get their digital asses together in order to compete. Thus, Leica teamed with Panasonic. For those who weren't aware, the Leica D Lux4 is the same exact LX5 camera with minor modifications but branded under the Leica name. In this way Leica was able to use Panasonic's electronic experience and know how, while it shared its proprietary lenses with Panasonic. Both companies benefited hugely. The Sony, does have several features that are arguably much better than the LX5, but in terms of my own type of photographic needs however, just aren't that important to sway a buy decision. Here's a Snapsort comparison between the two: Link But frankly the one thing that the HX9v has over the LX5 that really mattered to me is the lens cap protection mechanism. The LX5 has a really cheap lens cap which has to be manually removed each time for shooting. It's a real pain in the ass so I had to go with an after market item to provide it with an auto open and close feature. However, it looks strange as shit, sorta like solar panels on an orbiting satellite or something along those lines... [video=youtube;as1JtITNbk0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as1JtITNbk0[/video] Yeah, that look is priceless. The great thing about this camera though, is that most people don't know I'm taking their picture because of the super wide angled 24MM. Using an old street shooter's trick, I point the axis of the lens at something that is off centered but near the person. After taking the picture, when I remove the camera from my face, I make it a conscious effort to never look at the person, but instead look directly at the object that the camera was pointed at. This reinforces the illusion and gives the impression that I was only taking a picture of something else (as in the above JMart photo, the shellfish items on sale and not of the two men). Here's another example of what I mean: Here I aimed at the baked goods, but shot when I'd noted that the women looked up into the camera. I had already prepositioned her at the upper right corner of my screen. It's a good way to put your subject matter at ease, and people who you photograph tend to act more naturally when they aren't acutely aware that you're photographing them. The only problem with this is that you have to pre-focus on the person if they're too far away or else they will be slightly out of focus. This usually isn't an issue with super wide angles because of their very long depth of field, that is, just about everything seems in focus. But the problem with automatic digitals nowadays is that they tend to force focus on what they're aimed at near the center of the field of view. This removed the point of sharp focus from the woman and had placed it on the baked goods rack, a substantial distance away from her face. Since I was already so close to the rack, even the extreme depth of field of the wide angle couldn't fully compensate for the loss of focus from the woman, and she is slightly out of focus. In this case, however, Panasonic does have a feature to solve this problem with their facial recognition focus. That is, the camera will focus on faces no matter where it appears in the screen, and ignore everything else. Unfortunately at the time of this shot, I had not set the focus feature for faces yet, so it defaulted to the center of the image field, LOL... But in the JMart case that you'd mentioned however, the shellfish salesman was just a naturally creepy looking guy, LOL... Pokemons, LOL... What a disgusting money trap; my kids used to love them. As for the Horseshoe Crabs, yeah, they do look amazingly like Triops. I guess this is a similar adaptation like lobsters and crayfish. However the crayfish actually do look like lobsters, while the triops sort of reminds me of roaches. [video=youtube;ckQzT4xvHAw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckQzT4xvHAw[/video]
Here's the first shot of the DVD sidewalk stand at full native res of 3648 x 2736 (9.9MP). But the problem with web sites is, that most pages will auto size the pics to something that it can manage, reduce and or subject the image to recompression. If you DL the file from MU and compare it to the image that is displayed on the first page or as an attachment (thumbnail) on this one, you can easily see the difference. The original on MU is exactly the res that I get from the camera. Alternative: MU LINK
Just about every Cat3 title ever made can be had on the streets of Chinatown for just a few bucks, and yes, all are copies with varying degrees of quality.
Heh.. I'm going to see if I can get any good pictures with the Sony DSC-HX9v I usually leave it in iAuto, iAuto+, or HDR mode.
I'm sure that pictures from the HX9v would also be excellent in terms of technical quality. The subtle differences to similar classed cameras really fall within their manner of usage and an individual photographer's idiosyncrasy. Just taking the camera out of the automatic modes and putting in your own ideas of how something should be done is already going to give you a different picture. But, the idea overall is to have fun, so have at it...
Your Sony images look just as good as any that the LX5 can produce. And the Sweep Pan was one of the features that the Sony has over the Panny unit; it sure beats post process stitching and also looks a heck of a lot smoother. In terms of future features, I'm hopeful that Panny would include that with their eventual upgrade to the LX5. My LX7 (presumed next unit designation) wish list is... True 16MP CMOS Sensor Open Source Integrated Circuit Batteries In Camera High Dynamic Range In Camera Sweep Panorama Auto Retracting Lens Cap Full High Impact Resistant Water Proof Titanium Body Full Case With Clear Glass Display Panel Full High Definition Stereo Movie Recording Front Threaded Conversion Lens Slide-Negative Macro Copy Adapter With Auto Flash Unit Connection to Hot Shoe Base Mounted Grip Handle Unit Dual Memory Card Storage With Selectable Settings. Infrared Internal Filter Disable Option Infrared Flash Option Infrared Invisible Focus Assist Light I know, I'm really dreaming here, right? LOL... but one can dream. And if we talk about these dreams enough, somebody at Panasonic might just listen, eh?
^^^lol keep dreaming :laugh2: I just love Sony sweep panorama.. taking panorama is so easy with the camera... Sony wins over features I guess..
Well, not for me; all things considered, I went with the camera that was 2 stops faster and able to shoot raw. Those were the features that were the king and ace of trump; everything else that the HX9v offered was nice, but IMHO, only secondary to speed (f/2.0) and control of quality (raw image files). That's why the Sony lost me as a customer to Panny. But, like I'd stated earlier, all of these things are very personal, so for you, you chose the camera that offered the things that you felt were indispensable. The important thing is, that one is happy with their photography
I'm curious... what other cameras do you have/use? I'm using Canon SD1400 (smallest), Sony DSC-HX9v (medium size, still pocketable), and a Nikon D5000
Coincidentally enough, I too, have a Canon SD1400is (yes, that is small, what I call my credit card sized camera), the LX5, and a closet full of old real film cameras, from 35MM all the way up to 4x5, including panoramics (35 and 2 1/4). I even have some that could qualify as working museum pieces (speed graphic). On a lark, I once undertook a photography major and graduated with a degree in commercial photography, purely for the fun of it, LOL... So maybe because of that, I never really liked digital cameras at all until recently, when their pixel counts was closer to being able to approximate the resolution of real film. Then it began to catch my interest as it can now produce quality images and it has arguably made the entire field dramatically convenient. But in terms of equipment however, I didn't want to go full bore with thousands of dollars worth of new toys, so everything I look for nowadays has to be small, cheap, but still be able to do the job effectively. So I look for compact cameras that can be a workhorse like the LX5.
:laugh2: nah.. just the grill that I spend 2 hours assembling and wanting to take a picture with the DSC-HX9v in HDR mode.
Just testing all the features. I usually leave it in iAuto or iAuto+ for this camera.. but sometime I like using HDR mode since it looks better in some ways.
The HDR mode will record details in the highlight and shadow areas with greater fidelity. The real test of this would be to take two pictures; one using the HDR feature and another without, then to compare the two. At any rate, there seems to be some spherical aberration apparent in the image towards the corners. BTW, really nice grill.
