XS-1 compared to Sony a33 but not a superzoom

Hallo to all and everyone!

Puh .. Another comparsion?

Yes, it´s something i did for myself .. and maybe it is of any interest for someone here.

I own a Sony a33 with 2 simple, light, cheap but good lenses (Sony 18-55, Tamron 55-200), the cheap and light and pretty good 1,8/35 and the Minolta Apo 100-300, and lately a Sony 16-105 which i used for most pics. (i HAVE thought about a superzoom - rather the new Sigma 18-250 macro than the Tammy - but finally i decided i could be fine with 2 "main" lenses .. and 16-105 would cover most situations ..)

Into digital photography i came 2007 getting my nice Fuji S9100 (which still is with me, but mostly collects dust nowadays). For years i have been happy with it - enjoying the convenience of only having one "machine" with me!

But as many i longed for better IQ, quicker handling, reliable AF, the possibility to "play" with DOF.

After a while with Olympus e330 - i liked that cam a lot too (but missed the EVF and had troubles with pretty easy hilight clipping) - Sony´s SLT-series started to be what i want/"need". Somehow i looked at it as a replacement for my Fuji-Bridge .. which handlingwise actually is pretty much true.

Anyway: after enjoying all the benefits of the bigger sensor and much better handling of the cam, i quickly became tired of lugging around a comparable big camera-bag and the necessarity to change lenses almost around "every corner". The fun-factor of the Fuji-Bridge-days was cutted to some amount .. and i noticed, that i have brought "the stuff" less and less. It had to be "something in the air" to bother with all my equipment.

Among other models the XS-1 has become attractive .. and as i got the opportunity to try one for one month and get the money back, if i don´t like it, i took the chance.

I have to admit, i haven´t been "prepared" at all, didn´t know anything/much about EXR-Sensors (as somehow i started to loose interest when Fuji changed from SuperCCD to EXR) .. it was like jumping into cold water.

First trials was only in L-Mode .. and i even tried to convert with LR4.2. I haven´t known than, that this was the "worst" start - and i haven´t been satisfied at all!

When i started to realize "the facts" i wasn´t very happy to actually have a 6 MP-Cam instead of a 12 MP one that i was thinking i bought. As i regularly print out to about 16x20" i was and am not sure, if that will be "enough". Sure, i read a lot from people, who have gone much further with their 6 MP DSLR-Sensors in the "old days" (not so far back by the way) - but i haven´t seen any of these results (specially compared to a higher resolution cam).

Unluckily weather and light situation in january wasn´t really photographer-like .. so i haven´t got the opportunity for "special shots" .. that´s why i didn´t bother to spend money in enlargeing just "something" ..

Anyway: it has been very up and down .. actually starting with "down" when i was trapped in L-mode. Reading more and trying i started to be pretty happy with "M" ISO 100 DR400%, Provia, all settings "standard" but NR=mid soft and sharp=mid hard (i tried soft and mid-soft and sharpening in pp, but the results didn´t compete)

Without a doubt, i LIKE the handling of XS-1 very much, it´s feeling in the hand, the EVF, the complete quietness if i want so (not that loud shutter noise of the a33!).

This for sure would make it a keeper!

As a RAW-shooter (started with S9100 .. and the Sony-jpegs are not that brilliant anyway) i had to accept, that jpeg ooc will make all my "skill" useless and "it´s almost nothing to do" after taking the picture.

But as the XS-1 was meant to completely REPLACE the Sony plus lenses, i wanted to see, how much of a compromise i had to accept IQ-wise.

So i regularly did some "comparsions" to see differences for myself and what they would mean for my way of taking pictures. These comparsions were not taken by any strict standards, as i wanted to find out, how both cams acted in daily life. And i didn´t want to proove anything, for sure not, that the XS-1 could match or even come close to Sony´s much bigger APS-C-Sensor.

As i said: maybe someone who doesn´t have the possibility to compare could get an impression, if a "Bridge"-cam could be "enough2 or if it has to be a bigger sonsor camera.

Sony a33 i am only shooting RAW and convert it with LR 4.2. First step is to save it as tiff, work on it in PS and finally make it into a jpeg.

XS-1 i only used jpeg ooc. Setting as mentioned above. Sometimes i adjusted contrast a tiny bit or sharpened a bit more if i found it necessary.

What i aswell did, and maype that is completely "out of order", i upsized the Fuji-jpeg to Sony-a33-size (14 MP) to finally "compare". As i mentioned, i am interested in printing out to about "A2", so for me it made sense to see, how the Fuji-files would look like at least blown up to 14 MP.

I just post some pictures and leave it up to You which conclusions You can pull out of it - IF You can ..

1. picture

XS-1 ooc

[url=http://www.divshare.com/download/23483397-e2d][img]http://www.divshare.com/img/thumb/23483397-e2d.JPG[/img][/url]

XS-1 ooc but upsized

[url=http://www.divshare.com/download/23483419-9e1][img]http://www.divshare.com/img/thumb/23483419-9e1.jpg[/img][/url]

Sony a33 RAW to jpeg

[url=http://www.divshare.com/download/23483370-2db][img]http://www.divshare.com/img/thumb/23483370-2db.jpg[/img][/url]

2. picture

XS-1 ooc

[url=http://www.divshare.com/download/23643342-55a][img]http://www.divshare.com/img/thumb/23643342-55a.jpg[/img][/url]

XS-1 ooc upsized

[url=http://www.divshare.com/download/23643435-ae0][img]http://www.divshare.com/img/thumb/23643435-ae0.jpg[/img][/url]

Sony a33

[url=http://www.divshare.com/download/23643483-40b][img]http://www.divshare.com/img/thumb/23643483-40b.jpg[/img][/url]

3. picture:

XS-1 ooc

[url=http://www.divshare.com/download/23643196-49f][img]http://www.divshare.com/img/thumb/23643196-49f.JPG[/img][/url]

XS-1 ooc upsized

[url=http://www.divshare.com/download/23643226-c14][img]http://www.divshare.com/img/thumb/23643226-c14.jpg[/img][/url]

Sony a33

[url=http://www.divshare.com/download/23643311-ba7][img]http://www.divshare.com/img/thumb/23643311-ba7.jpg[/img][/url]

4. picture:

XS-1 ooc

[url=http://www.divshare.com/download/23643884-edc][img]http://www.divshare.com/img/thumb/23643884-edc.JPG[/img][/url]

XS-1 ooc upsized

[url=http://www.divshare.com/download/23643899-324][img]http://www.divshare.com/img/thumb/23643899-324.jpg[/img][/url]

Sony a33

[url=http://www.divshare.com/download/23643911-8d4][img]http://www.divshare.com/img/thumb/23643911-8d4.jpg[/img][/url]

5. picture:

XS-1 ooc

[url=http://www.divshare.com/download/23643492-913][img]http://www.divshare.com/img/thumb/23643492-913.jpg[/img][/url]

XS-1 ooc upsized

[url=http://www.divshare.com/download/23643646-572][img]http://www.divshare.com/img/thumb/23643646-572.jpg[/img][/url]

Sony a33

[url=http://www.divshare.com/download/23643871-f30][img]http://www.divshare.com/img/thumb/23643871-f30.jpg[/img][/url]

6. picture:

XS-1 ooc

[url=http://www.divshare.com/download/23643915-263][img]http://www.divshare.com/img/thumb/23643915-263.JPG[/img][/url]

XS-1 upsized

[url=http://www.divshare.com/download/23643936-6aa][img]http://www.divshare.com/img/thumb/23643936-6aa.jpg[/img][/url]

Sony a33

[url=http://www.divshare.com/download/23643950-a1f][img]http://www.divshare.com/img/thumb/23643950-a1f.jpg[/img][/url]

It might be, that this whole thread is pretty much useless for anyone - than i just can say sorry for bothering You ..

babha (Manos)

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my pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/batuk_bhagwan/