The Sony RX1 goes to Rio De Janeiro by Mash

36 Comments

1. Great post, Mash! Other than LR5, is there any other programs you used for post processing? Presets and such. Even though it doesn’t show much of the Rx1’s IQ capabilities, I am liking the film look of your photos.

2. Thiw discussion reminds me an article about the famous italian photographer Alex Majoli (Magnum) who used to shoot breathtaking pictures with a 5MP olympus P&S (C5050).
   Everyone should try to take the most out of limited hardware ?

   http://www.robgalbraith.com/multi_page8c1c.html?cid=7-6468-7844

   Inspiring.

3. Hi Mash, about owning a very expensive camera, just enjoy it. May be you are in the process of learning (like we all should be) and the camera is made for the pros, you can grow with it. I think Susan Sontag says owning a camera can be ecstatic (or something similar, cannot find it now). I never buy a cam i don´t use because it´s too expensive. So it´s good you found a way dealing with the dangers of theft. I know some people selling their Leica equipment just because they never dare to use ist. That´s a pity.
   About photos looking flat: That is a bit difficult to explain. On the one side it´s a matter of taste, on the other it´s about the relation of detail an dynamic range. The more detail you have, the more the photo looks deep, but you can lose dynamic range, and that makes the photo looks flat and vice versa. So you may try to give the shadows more punch without giving up details in the midtones, and preserve the highs to a certain degree. That might help giving a deeper look to your photos. Same is for the new buyers of a Leica Monochrom. The Monochrom gives so many grey-tones, the photos look despite the high level of details just flat. Maybe there is a website from Leica-Monochrom Users that you find useful?
   Sorry for my bad school-english.

   • I am in the process of learning, I don’t believe you can ever stop learning.

     Thanks for your explanation of photos looking flat.

4. Hi Mash. Nice images with the RX1. However, I am a bit bothered by one of your comments about the Fuji X100S. You said “I never found the images sharp enough”. Now, that is the ONLY time I’ve ever heard a complaint about the “Sharpness” of the Fujinon lens on the X100S (or X100 for that matter, being the same lens). Even Steve Huff says that lens is “perfectly matched” to the sensor. Can you please show samples of images that made you come to that conclusion? (My hunch is that perhaps “Technique” or , using a too-slow shutter speed for hand-holding, low light, etc., may the the reason for any apparent lack of image sharpness, rather than the camera or lens itself.) Also, I’m wondering how you liked shooting without a viewfinder, especially the marvelous Hybrid VF of the Fuji? Thank you.

   • Love these pictures…gives you a great feeling of being there.

     I too had the Fuji x100s, and I actually felt the same about the pictures…not sharp. I would get the occasional one that was, but for the most part, not too sharp. They had that soft look to them, but still looked great in my opinion. I went back to Olympus.

     • Wilk,
       Thanks for your comment. So, are you saying that you are getting images from the Olympus system (E-M1 perhaps?) that are sharper than those from the Fuji X100S? What about when enlarging to 24×36 inches…Can the M4/3 sensor images maintain sharpness and detail at those print sizes? Thanks again!

       • Hi Steve,

         I have never printed that large, sorry, so I could not comment on sharpness at that size.

         I would say each sensor is very different in output. I found the Fuji pics to be very life like/film like, while the Olympus pics seem sharper, but more digital to me. I just got into some pp software and am able to make the Olympus pics have that film like rendering to them, which is my taste. But I went back to Olympus EM5 for many reasons…usability, quickness, weather seal etc.

         • Very interesting, Wilk! I have always been enamored of the Olympus System, for their awesome lenses, plus the reasons you mention regarding the EM5. Frankly the only thing holding me back (besides funds), is my uncertainty about how the 4/3 sensor images hold up to extreme enlargement. I’ve done a bit of research on this and have obtained inconclusive results. If I didn’t print larger than 11×14, I’d probably be all over the E-M1. Therefore, I am now researching the Sony A7r as perhaps my best option for the type of work that I do, i.e., large landscape prints and product photography. If Sony introduces a Zeiss Macro for their new E mount, that may do it for me! (Especially if it had the quality and sharpness of the Olympus 60mm Macro!) Thanks again!

         • It’s not very difficult. The smaller the file, the more you have to enlarge it for a given print size. Full frame (and larger of course) wins every time.

         • Hi. Yes, I’m quite aware of that relationship, having used large format (4×5, 8×10) sheet film back in the day. I was just curious to see if anyone had taken the 4/3 sensor images to that size, and their subjective opinion regarding resulting image sharpness. I certainly agree that Full Frame would be the way to go when extreme enlargement is concerned. Thank you.

         • I can’t speak for 4/3’s, but I have seen the difference in a 15 x 25 (or thereabouts) print between a Jpeg file, a Tiff file and the original NEF file, all originating from a D700. That difference was very noticeable.

5. Just a couple of things I don’t understand.

   You said “For all the shots below, I had the camera set to aperture priority and in most cases the aperture was set to F2”.
   Surely not the shots in full sunlight? F2 at base iso (100) would give a shutter speed of around 1/4000sec -1/8000sec.Did you use a neutral density filter or a smaller aperture for those shots?

   Also, you said “Using the multi zone focus moved the focus point down, to avoid the windows being washed out by too much light”. Surely where you move the focus point to wouldn’t affect the exposure. Even in spot metering mode moving the focus point doesn’t move the spot exposure.

   Other than that, good images, but a little to heavily edited for my liking.

6. There seems to be a lot of variations in the images to me. Some of the b&w images (the last 2 b&w) appear flat. Some of the color images (the first 2 in the series) seem to be off in tone. Was this done in post processing? Or was it the effect you were looking for?

   • The photos are just some from a set of 6 series. I was going for a specific look per set.

     Here is the full breathe of pictures from the favela http://thisismash.com/brazil-rocinha-favela/

     I am still learning, and hardly would call myself a professional photographer. I just enjoy taking photos.

     Saying that, could you explain what you mean the photos appear flat? What specifically is making it appear flat?

7. I can see the idea behind these images, but I think, with all due respect, that that idea was lost almost completely in a lot of different approaches to post processing. Pre-visualising the sort of image you want to capture before you go out is a good thing, but I would have stuck to one particular kind of effect, and try to find the images that suit that effect.

   As for the camera? What makes you feel at ease and works for you I guess, and the RX1 is a very attractive camera. That it’s very portable and forces you to think in one focal length only is a bonus.

   The image quality that camera is capable of doesn’t really shine through here because of the heavy post processing, but I don’t that a problem; it’s the images that count.

   • Thank you for your feedback.

     In retrospect just looking at this, it does look like a bunch of instagram style photos.

     On the original posting on my site, there are a series of 6. Each series I was going for a specific look. You can see it here http://thisismash.com

     I am still learning post processing, and used a heavy hand. Lesson learned 🙂 After all practice and feedback makes one improve.

     • It’s good to experiment Mash! Lovely camera as well, and I envy you for your photo opportunities!

8. Great pictures Marsh, I think they are awesome. Thanks for sharing them.

   • Thanks. Glad someone enjoyed the photos :).

9. Why does the camera always travel instead of a person? You should take credit for your photos, not give the credit to a camera.

   • Absolutely. Which is why the original site where I posted the photos ( http://thisismash.com ), I don’t talk about the camera at all.

     Here i was sharing my experience with the Sony Rx 1 as it is a site that is geared towards a lot of cameras.

10. Hi I honestly have to agree that the editing doesn’t do any help on the picts. Also I live in Brazil, and there is no need to cover the camera as has been done, its even more flashy and calls more attention, it will definitely bring you the what the heck look. So doing that is not what i will call smart. Rio is indeed not a safe place, but if you go only to touristic areas, and don’t hang your camera from a strap, like an idiot, you will be more then okay. In touristic places there is already a lot of people with DSLR and cameras, so keeping a low profile will guarantee you to be okay. Of course if you want to wonder into the city and shoot that’s another story. Also within the favela tours you are protected, community knows it brings them money as the guides of the tours pay for the security, so no need to be scare. Its not the end of the world as some put it…..

11. Love your pics. I love my RX1. It takes amazing photos.

12. Enjoyed the tape, looks really like a broken cam to me. Nice. I just don´t understand your way developing the pictures. As i understand, you already have an iPhone 5, so why not use just hipstamatic? Using the right film/lens combo may look similar to your pics, and loosing the Phone ist not so expensive.

    • I see your point here.

      I was looking at the picture and find the processing uneven and too filter-y. The Christ the Redeemer photo could have been great (nice ray of the sun and wonderful clouds) but all I see is a statue with too much highlight clipped and only a very short portion of sunburst. The rest looked like they were shot with film, but in a gimmicky way.

      • People bash Leicafiles for shooting landscapes with $8,000 bodies and thousands of dollars in lenses and you submit this with a $3,000 point and shoot with an excellent lens? What am I looking at? The images you make or you wanting to be looked at when you photograph. When has anyone ever cared how you wrap a camera when filming? Why not tell us what you wore and had for breakfast? It is just as irrelevant. The images are weak and no amount of blogging will fix that. Sony will soon be begging you to take these images down because you will kill sales. If you are afraid to photograph openly in suspect neighborhoods, stay at home. You don’t win any prizes for half-hearted attempts. Do or do not, there is no try to borrow from Yoda. I’m reading great photos from other comments and I have to ask compared to what? Does this represent the best you could get in Rio after a week long trip? Really? And to say it looks like film is just… why do I bother?

        • You quote Yoda, yet your comment is full of anger more fitting for the dark side.

          For breakfast, I had Acai berries every morning in Rio.

          • 1++

            Nice comeback Mash!

          • Burn!

            Haters will hate Mash.

            The images are just fine – some really nice ones in there. Processing is a personal preference and one that digital affords us. Gone are the days that the amateur had to rely on the lab to develop their look for them. For better or worse, the individual can now cut their own visual path and some people just can’t stomach it. See above.

    • No kidding.
      I don’t get it at all. If you want your photos to look flat, washed out and not very good just use a cameraphone! And save yourself $3000 at the same time.

      But the camera looks craptastic with the tape – just what want you want in scary Brazil.

      • Glad I’m not the only one thinking the same thing, doesn’t look like RX1 photos to me… lol

        I would of used gaffers tape and then put duct tape on top of it to make it look even more devastated.

13. Regrets? You are unlikely to top a fixed lens matched for a specific sensor. And it’s one stop faster than the E mount 35mm available for the a7.

14. Great pictures – yeah, gotta keep an eye on the expensive cameras – love that tape job !

15. very courageous photographer, go with that camera to a favela is crazy, great photos

    • Thanks.

      I was nervous going in but the favela is actually very safe.

      I would definitely recommend it to anyone who visits Rio.

      It is an amazing experience.

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