Goodbye, H1 (sigh)

I liked the H1. I bought it recently along with the wcon. Nice camera, nice lens, well-made, ergonomic, fast and accurate focusing, nice photos. I just returned it. Why? You can't use the built-in flash with the wcon - the lens body interferes and you get a large underexposed area at the bottom of the photo. I know this is not a big issue with many of you because not everybody uses a wcon but I do and nobody has been able to get around the problem. One forum person suggested I use the camera upside down to remove the bottom shadow (ha ha). SONY tech support had just one suggestion - remove the wcon - how helpful. I thought of getting a slave but realized that the main flash has to fire to set off the slave and whatever the main flash is contributing to the overall light, there still would be that underexposed area. So I bought a Kodak P850 because it has a hot shoe. The Kodak has the same problem with a wcon and built-in flash but now with a flash mounted on the camera and the built-in flash turned off, there is no interference either with direct or bounce flash (I'm using a Kodak dedicated flash with variable beams - it covers the 25mm focal length of the wcon completely).

The Kodak specifications are very close to the H1. The zoom is the same (36-432), the lens moves forward when the camera is turned on and looks just like the SONY lens as does the wcon, even down to the carrying pouch. I can't comment on picture quality except to say that my initial shots, tweaked in Photoshop, when printed to 8x10 are very satisfactory. Also, I don't think noise would be a big problem - I just purchased NoiseNinja and it does a remarkable job of noise reduction (I don't have any financial interest in NN). I know, I know, the SONY takes better pictures, I don't want to start an argument.

I'm still angry at SONY. How can they sell an accessory like the wcon knowing it can't be used with the built-in flash and not providing a hot shoe? Clearly the wcon was an afterthought but a hot shoe should have been also. Now don't tell me the H2 with a hot shoe is coming out after the holidays.

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http://www.pbase.com/gbk

The thing has a very huge piece of glass. Thus blocking the light from the flash. I would have thought the slave flash approach would have filled the shadow caused by the WCON.

gordonkeyes said:

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http://www.pbase.com/gbk

Click to expand...

see: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1009&message=16379729

I'm sorry that the H1 didn't meet your needs.

But the H2 (in my dreams), will have a hot shoe, remote shutter release, RAW, and a USB access door that slides. Oh...and it won't cost too much. I might be the first in line.

In the meantime, I'm having a lot of fun. I wish you were, too. But you gotta do what you gotta do.

Best Wishes

Gordon
http://www.pbase.com/gbk

Sorry, one gets caught up in jargon. wcon stands for wide angle conversion lens, an auxiliary lens you attach to the regular lens to provide a smaller focal length. The SONY and Kodak wcons have a 0.7X factor, meaning they take 36mm down to 25mm. Other makes may vary - I've seen 0.75X and 0.8X. By the way, tcon stands for telephoto conversion lens.

Dayton Dave said:

The thing has a very huge piece of glass. Thus blocking the light
from the flash. I would have thought the slave flash approach
would have filled the shadow caused by the WCON.

Click to expand...

While I didn't try it (I had a short time window to return the camera and I don't own a slave), I don't think it would work. To fire the slave you have to fire the built-in flash. Even with a strong slave, the built-in is still going to contribute to the overall lighting and the interference would still produce an underexposed area but perhaps not so dark as without the slave. I think. Also, if it were this easy you would think SONY support would have tried to sell me their slave unit. The Kodak P850 allows you to select external flash only, thus removing any contribution from the built-in and removing any underexposed areas. Anyway, the point is SONY is bad, bad for doing this.

gordonkeyes said:

I'm sorry that the H1 didn't meet your needs.
But the H2 (in my dreams), will have a hot shoe, remote shutter
release, RAW, and a USB access door that slides. Oh...and it won't
cost too much. I might be the first in line.
In the meantime, I'm having a lot of fun. I wish you were, too. But
you gotta do what you gotta do.

Best Wishes

Gordon
http://www.pbase.com/gbk

Click to expand...

I'm having fun. I'm just mad at SONY for this inexcusable boo-boo (the Kodak does RAW, by the way, but it's USB access door doesn't slide).

I use a sunpac flash fired slave. albeit nit with the same problem as your WCON is giving you however the very nature of the slave is to eliminate shadows caused by the flash and thats all this is. Also the slave will try and expose the scene correctly just as the on-board flash does. I think it would have worked and may have been a better system than just the single hotshoe flash unit. of course you can always just get a slave now with your new set up too.
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F717 (what a fantastic machine)

i use a slave unit mounted on a camera bracket and use black electricians tape and cover 3/4 of the sony strobe, leave just enough exposed to trigger the slave and not effect the exposure ...... works great,i don't need a hot shoe...... jerry

vwbug said:

i use a slave unit mounted on a camera bracket and use black
electricians tape and cover 3/4 of the sony strobe, leave just
enough exposed to trigger the slave and not effect the exposure
...... works great,i don't need a hot shoe...... jerry

Click to expand...

Let's hear it for ingenuity! Bravo, Jerry! I don't shoot indoors at all, but I'm sure others will use your idea.

The hope of humanity is that we can work around problems, big and small, and that we can share those solutions.

Carry On

Gordon

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http://www.pbase.com/gbk

I also returned the H1 after few days because of the shutter problem( http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1009&message=16330323 ). I've tried a demo H1 at the camera store and the shutter behaved the same. I really liked sharp & colorful pictures taken by H1 but I made my decision to get a DSLR(Nikon D50) and I couldn't be happier although D50 is not as compact and light as the H1. However, I am keeping my trusty P100 as my everyday camera.

joonlee said:

I also returned the H1 after few days because of the shutter
problem( http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?

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I don't mean to be facetious, but is this that "the camera takes the picture only if I press the shutter button harder and harder" problem?

And you experienced the same thing on one in the store?

Interesting that you ran across the only two H1's that seem to do that in the world? There are hundreds, if not thousands of H1 users here who don't have that problem, so good luck with the D50.

I try very hard not to dis anyone who is having a problem with a camera. 99% of the time, it's really a problem with the camera, or the manual, or with the users' expectation.

But please forgive me for being skeptical about claims that a shutter button has to be pressed progressively harder to get the camera to focus, when the shutter button isn't even a pressure-sensitive button. Just a simple two-position switch.

No matter, water under the bridge, and I hope you have a great time getting great pictures with the D5. I've got a D200 and I love it.
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AAK - http://www.aakatz.com

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AAK - http://www.aakatz.com

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Joe Louvar - http://joelouvar.zoto.com

Dr Leonard it just like you to post this-

your just full problems with computers, software, and cameras. I hope you best of luck with the Kodak. I knew you would not like the H1 even before you got it.

Background Info Here:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1009&message=16272605

Live Long and Prosper.
Charles

Charles Peifer said:

Dr Leonard it just like you to post this-
your just full problems with computers, software, and cameras. I
hope you best of luck with the Kodak. I knew you would not like the
H1 even before you got it.

Background Info Here:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1009&message=16272605

Live Long and Prosper.
Charles

Click to expand...

Me too, I knew it all the way back in his blue fringing thread and again in his underexposed area thread. I think most if not all of Dr. Leonard's threads posted on the STF have been about bad mouthing a camera he didn't even own.

So I don’t believe Dr. Leonard ever owned an H1 and is just trolling unless he proves me wrong by posting some H1 pictures.
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Joe Louvar - http://joelouvar.zoto.com

I was the one who made the silly suggestion of using the camera upside down. I reacted this way because I felt you were too problem-oriented. Would you mind to post a few of your H1 sample pics?

Best Regards, Herbert

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http://www.pbase.com/herbRD
Sony H1, Oly C-770UZ, WCON-07, TCON-17,

to put up or shut up.
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http://www.pbase.com/gbk

The only time I ever used my w/a and flash together was to photograph every wall in my house (including closets,drawers, etc) to document a file for insurance purposes. (Something I recommend everyone do.) And yes there was a large shadow but under the circumstances I wasn't concerned with quality, only documentation.

I realize our tastes all vary but because of the close-up distortion of the w/a I can't see my taking any interior shots with a flash, even if I didn't have barrel shadows.