Thread: Better isn't always better

Fuji X10, f2.2, ISO1600 1/40th

Say Wha? by dixeyk, on Flickr


NEX 5n with Sigma 30/2.8, f2.8, ISO2000 1/60th

I Accept You by dixeyk, on Flickr


Here are two quick and dirty JPEG shots of my dog Roscoe. The top with the Fuji X10 set to MF and the bottom with my NEX5n and Sigma 30/2.8 and then both were processed in Silver Efex Pro 2. I will be the first to say that my NEX is "better" camera than my X10, and the NEX image is sharper and has more detail and has better OOF area, but in all fairness the Fuji image is a lot better than I would have expected (it's also cropped) relative to the NEX. To be honest I would be perfectly happy with either of these images. I will say the faster AF, zoom lens and close focus ability were an advantage on the Fuji.

I love my NEX and I think it is capable of some jaw dropping images but I also have a great deal of respect for what the Fuji can do.

Agreed. The later generations of compacts are certainly working well, to produce some excellent images. I submitted a shot taken with my XZ-1, to my camera club's monthly EDI competition. It gained an "Honours" and "Judges Choice". I am quite certain nobody realised it was taken with a compact (even though the information is in the EXIF data... hardly anyone uses an EXIF browser plugin). I would be quite happy to submit shots from any of the current crop, Fuji X10 included, if I owned one. Your shots of Roscoe are evidence of the decreasing need to have "better", unless you want to have it.

Roscoe is a sweetie. My guess is that any picture of Roscoe is going to be good. He's the real star. The Nex and the X-10 are just trying hard to keep up.

Nice shots!

Originally Posted by kyteflyer

Agreed. The later generations of compacts are certainly working well, to produce some excellent images. I submitted a shot taken with my XZ-1, to my camera club's monthly EDI competition. It gained an "Honours" and "Judges Choice". I am quite certain nobody realised it was taken with a compact (even though the information is in the EXIF data... hardly anyone uses an EXIF browser plugin). I would be quite happy to submit shots from any of the current crop, Fuji X10 included, if I owned one. Your shots of Roscoe are evidence of the decreasing need to have "better", unless you want to have it.

I agree, I think that there is still a stigma about small sensor cameras (although changing with the likes of cameras like the XZ-1, X10 and RX100). The more I use the X10 the more I realize that what defines a great camera for me has less and less to do wit measurable benchmarks like sharpness, and resolution and more to do with intangibles like feel and fun.

Originally Posted by Lawrence A.

Roscoe is a sweetie. My guess is that any picture of Roscoe is going to be good. He's the real star. The Nex and the X-10 are just trying hard to keep up.

Nice shots!

Well...yes, I take no credit for my subject's innate ability to pose for the camera.

Thoughts of War and Blankie by dixeyk, on Flickr

Harley...Roscoe's "brother"

What a couple of sweet-hearts! Very nice work you're doing, too; I just get all ga-ga about cute dogs. I can be a pretty prickly S.O.B., but dogs just get me all soupy and sentimental. What can I say? Your dogs are very, very cute, and extremely photogenic.

Originally Posted by Lawrence A.

What a couple of sweet-hearts! Very nice work you're doing, too; I just get all ga-ga about cute dogs. I can be a pretty prickly S.O.B., but dogs just get me all soupy and sentimental. What can I say? Your dogs are very, very cute, and extremely photogenic.

Thank you sir...I will go give them a hug on your behalf.

Also agreed. This is a theme I keep hitting again and again. The quality of today's small sensor cameras is astonishing to me.

I use a G12 and FZ150 professionally (and before that, for years, a 3-megapixel D0550). I am a fulltime freelance writer, and I shoot photos to illustrate my stuff. I don't think I have ever been paid solely for shooting photos, but photos are part of what I provide and get paid for.

Not once has an editor complained about the technical quality of my photos. I think the reason is evident: most magazines do not print exceptionally large photographs, and the images produced by small-sensor cameras are adequate to the task.

This is a long-winded way of getting to the point: I really like both of your photos, and I do not perceive, just a looking at the screen, a dramatic difference in quality between them.

Well done. Maybe if better isn't always better, perhaps sometimes when it is not broken, we shouldn't fix it, no?

In the past few years it's been a parade of m43 bodies and recently NEX. I can say that IMHO the Fuji X10 is easily on par with any of the m43 bodies I have had. That's not to say the IQ is better (although I think it is really closer than folks might think) but to me a camera is so much more than IQ. It is about usability, comfort, creative options and even fun. If I had all my m43 bodies and lenses sitting in front of me (everything from an E-P1 to GX1) The Fuji X10 would rank somewhere near the top of my favorites (possibly behind the GX1 and PL45/2.8).


Cirque by dixeyk, on Flickr


Dew by dixeyk, on Flickr


Taylor Dock by dixeyk, on Flickr

As a creative tool it is superb.