More WX1 images.

Yep, I wound up in my local SonyStyle store today, and there was the wee little WX1. I spent plenty of time paying with it -- and it seemed that it could indeed do some cool things. So, what the hey -- I picked one up, along with one of those dang infernal dang "stick" dang things that was about thee times the price of a perfectly normal SD card.

Anyway, here's an ISO 160 shot -- so, what's so wrong with this?



Sorry, "big picture." I wanted to give everyone a good look.

There's plenty more to the story --- the battery showed a full three bars when I plugged it in, so I went back into the mall and started shooting. And then I continued to shoot, for a total of 840 shots. The battery showed one bar at that time, but it wasn't blinking or anything like that.

I've uploaded 40 of those shots to my Zenfolio web site -- click the link below my signature, and check them out if you're interested. These are all straight out-of-camera original shots, and you can download those originals if you're interested. I've still got to go through them and figure out what mode I used for some of them, but I figured I'd just start with getting some images out and available, and I'll comment about them later.

I'll let you know what I think later, along with a good review of the camera, but for now -- check out the pictures! By all means, let us know what you think -- I invite all comments, whether they be positive, negative, or otherwise.

Tom Hoots
http://thoots.zenfolio.com

Thanks for posting. Been in that Sony store many times. I thought those mall shots looked famililar. Then I saw the road sign (Scholls).

I live in Beaverton.

Was that Crescent View Cemetery?

terryoregon said:

Thanks for posting. Been in that Sony store many times. I thought those mall shots looked famililar. Then I saw the road sign (Scholls).

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Yep. Shots of the freeway and such were taken from the top of the parking structure at the mall.

terryoregon said:

Was that Crescent View Cemetery?

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The latter bunch of shots were taken at the Oregon Korean War Memorial park in Wilsonville.

Tom Hoots
http://thoots.zenfolio.com

Tom Hoots said:

terryoregon said:

Thanks for posting. Been in that Sony store many times. I thought those mall shots looked famililar. Then I saw the road sign (Scholls).

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Yep. Shots of the freeway and such were taken from the top of the parking structure at the mall.

Tom Hoots said:

Was that Crescent View Cemetery?

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The latter bunch of shots were taken at the Oregon Korean War Memorial park in Wilsonville.

Tom Hoots

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Tom, I looked at the slideshow and thought all were excellent. Great colors, sharp as could wish for, and nothing in way of negatives! Now I have to look that camera over.

Tom Hoots said:

http://thoots.zenfolio.com

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--

I got stuck on jury duty this week. This is a WX1 pano shot (portrait mode), from the Washington County Courthouse parking garage, I think Thursday.

I visited your photo site and was quite impressed with the overall quality, exposure and detailed shots you've taken with several cameras. What is really amazing is that you seem to get consistent results, no matter what quality of equipment you are using.

Well done!

The Sony WX1 shots seemed to be softer than other brands yet it is brand new. Are you happy with the IQ? I'm ready to move on from my Fuji F30 and am considering the Sony WX1, Canon S90 and Fuji F70EXR, so am crusing the net looking for opinions and samples.

Thanks for posting yours.

--

Canon XSi, Canon G9, Fuji F30, Fuji F10, Sony H1, Sony P200, Pentax 550, Canon S100

Thanks for the photos, could you also try some close ups?
Thank you!

rkhndjr said:

Tom, I looked at the slideshow and thought all were excellent. Great colors, sharp as could wish for, and nothing in way of negatives! Now I have to look that camera over.

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Russ,

I'll definitely be writing more about it over the rest of the weekend -- there is quite a story to be told here. "Stay tuned."

Tom Hoots
http://thoots.zenfolio.com

ManofDestiny said:

I visited your photo site and was quite impressed with the overall quality, exposure and detailed shots you've taken with several cameras. What is really amazing is that you seem to get consistent results, no matter what quality of equipment you are using.

Well done!

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Thanks! I've definitely been doing this for a while, and I've sure gone through a few cameras....

ManofDestiny said:

The Sony WX1 shots seemed to be softer than other brands yet it is brand new. Are you happy with the IQ?

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Oh, I think I can give that a heartfelt "not exactly." If you look at the Panasonic ZS3 shots on my Zenfolio site, you'll essentially see "what I wish the WX1 could do." Mainly, the WX1 just screams for some ability to adjust the contrast / sharpness / saturation. The ZS3 in my shots was in its "Vivid" color mode, and my satisfaction with the WX1 would be about ten times better if only it offered something similar.

The bottom line is that the WX1 shots are softer, less vivid, etc. I'll probably wind up doing a substantial amount of post-processing of my WX1 pictures, to essentially give them better contrast, and boost up the saturation a bit. Other than that, though, there is still some room for capturing some interesting images with the WX1.

ManofDestiny said:

I'm ready to move on from my Fuji F30 and am considering the Sony WX1, Canon S90 and Fuji F70EXR, so am crusing the net looking for opinions and samples.

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I actually played around with the F70EXR a day before I bought the WX1 -- all I can say is that "it doesn't float my boat" in as many ways as it has "EXR modes." It is quite a bit bigger than the WX1 -- as far as I'm concerned, you might as well get the Panasonic ZS3 if you're going to carry around a slightly bigger camera. What really got me about the F70EXR is its sensor-shift "image stabilization" -- I just tried to shoot an aisle sign in the store I was in at the time, and it virtually couldn't capture that, at ISO 400, without blurring the sign. And that was just a really minimal amount of zoom. Some folks might want to mess with all of the EXR modes, but I just see it as a really bad combination of a slow lens with ineffective IS, and that utterly wrecks the whole "10x zoom" reason for the camera's existence.

I am definitely getting an S90 -- I think it will easily be the best "enthusiast pocket camera" in this new crop. The WX1 comes off as more of "an interesting toy" in comparison -- it should be fun to play with, and it should be interesting to compare its high-ISO quality with the S90 and the other competitors. That's the spirit I bought it with -- I'll have some fun playing with it, and I'll definitely check out its low-light capabilities.

In the meantime, I'm mainly just finding that the WX1's ISO 160 quality isn't really as horrifyingly bad as I had come to believe -- perhaps a lot of what we've seen has been "zero exposure compensation," when at times a whole bunch of negative exposure compensation might have made a huge difference for the better. Monkeying a bit with some contrast and color saturation adjustments in post-processing can help whole bunches, too.

At any rate, that's how I judge it so far. I've still got quite a bit to learn about the WX1, so I'll keep on playing with it....

Tom Hoots
http://thoots.zenfolio.com

Yep, this shot was taken at ISO 2500 :



While the original is available in my Zenfolio gallery, I processed this one a bit, with a slight contrast adjustment, and a bit of a color saturation increase. I suppose I could have hit it with some noise reduction, but I didn't. Overall, that's not too shabby for ISO 2500!

This was taken with the six-shot "anti-blur" mode, as were all of the interior shots I have in my Zenfolio gallery....



Tom Hoots
http://thoots.zenfolio.com

thxs for the time and efforts.

wading thru all the pics u posted and comparing them to TX1 ZS3 shots, i think the lens should have been the one of ZS3.

reason why, well i think its strange that the TX is having better colours and sharpness whilst the sensor and engine are identical.

sure doing PP could make some difference but how many people will buy a camera like this to do a lot of PP ?

something else i noticed when a -EV compensation is made more shaded area's getting very smeary ( heavy NR i suppose ) which u cant influence as u dont have controls to lower that.

imho the TX1 is a better overal package.
--

• living in harmony with nature and other beings...will create an better world for all * marti58 -2006

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marti58/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/worldwidefriendship/

Marti58 said:

thxs for the time and efforts.

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You're welcome.

Member said:

reason why, well i think its strange that the TX is having better colours and sharpness whilst the sensor and engine are identical.

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You don't really know that they are identical. The sensor may well be, but given that the TX1 has a different base ISO, I expect that there is something more substantial going on behind the scenes than just a difference in lenses.

Member said:

sure doing PP could make some difference but how many people will buy a camera like this to do a lot of PP ?

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The weakness in both cameras is that they lack in-camera adjustments for contrast, color, and sharpness -- with the TX1 seemingly more in a more "vivid" setting and the WX1 in more of a "natural" setting. And if you can't adjust anything in-camera, you're either going to have to like what the camera produces, or do a bit of post-processing.

Member said:

imho the TX1 is a better overal package.

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In my opinion, the more limited, less wide-angled, and more expensive TX1 is just about insanely expensive for what you get. I mean, apart from the image-stacking and the sweep panorama stuff, the TX1 is virtually blown away by "real cameras" like the Canon SD1200IS, for about half the price.

In the end, it's not about what is "best," but rather, whatever is closest to what anyone might want. Personally, I'm sure not going to lay out nearly $400 for something with a wide-angle of only 35mm -- again, you can do better than that for half the price. Plus, with exposure compensation being the only "creative control" you've really got with either camera, I don't want one (the TX1) that lacks exposure bracketing. Also, about the very last thing on Earth I want is a touch-screen interface -- I consider those to be a huge hindrance, and certainly not anything of useful value. So, the TX1 just isn't anything I'd ever touch with the proverbial ten-foot pole.

On the other hand, the WX1 at least has exposure bracketing, and its wider-angle, faster lens ought to help in the main area of the camera's big advantage -- lower-light shooting. It makes far more sense to me, and the difference in price between it and the more-expensive TX1 dang near paid for the dang infernal dang proprietary dang nonsensical dang memory stick I had to buy just to use the dang camera. (OK, rant over on that.)

So, the TX1 just doesn't make any sense to me at all. The WX1 just barely makes any sense at all -- and I think its image-stacking technologies still "remain to be seen" in comparison to the newest crop of compact cameras. Otherwise, the utter lack of darn near any kind of control over anything makes either the TX1 or the WX1 quite unsatisfying as "cameras" compared to just about everything else on the market.

Tom Hoots
http://thoots.zenfolio.com

Tom,

Thanks for the information and comparison of the cameras. If you have any knowledge of the Panasonic ZR1, its performance, specifically as compared to the ZS3, I would greatly appreciate your comments. I am looking at both of these cameras as a "take everywhere" camera when my LX3 is at home.

I like the 25mm wide lens in both, don't care that much about the greater zoom capability nor the HD movie ability of the ZS3, and like the smaller size and ease fitting in a pant pocket of the ZR1, but do not wait to sacrifice IQ. I have found little if any comparative information on the IQ of the ZR1 vs the ZS3, so your take on this would be appreciated.

Regards,

Den

happyden said:

Thanks for the information and comparison of the cameras. If you have any knowledge of the Panasonic ZR1, its performance, specifically as compared to the ZS3, I would greatly appreciate your comments. I am looking at both of these cameras as a "take everywhere" camera when my LX3 is at home.

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Unfortunately, I just really haven't seen that much from the ZR1 yet. So, I'm just not that sure about its everyday image quality.

deleted12 said:

I like the 25mm wide lens in both, don't care that much about the greater zoom capability nor the HD movie ability of the ZS3, and like the smaller size and ease fitting in a pant pocket of the ZR1, but do not wait to sacrifice IQ. I have found little if any comparative information on the IQ of the ZR1 vs the ZS3, so your take on this would be appreciated.

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Well, my general thoughts are that the two cameras are "so much the same," you might as well go for the ZS3, instead of the compromises built into the ZR1. On the other hand, if the extra zoom and the video of the ZS3 don't mean anything to you, then that flattens out the differences quite a bit.

The main thing I have noticed is that the ZR1 appears to have the same "color cast" issues that the ZS3 has -- especially with green, if there is any predominant color in an image, you'll usually get a color cast based upon that color. Otherwise, I just don't have enough information to say that the image quality is the same, or different.

Though, one thing way in favor of the ZR1 is the "High Dynamic" scene mode -- I've really enjoyed it in the LX3, with the new firmware version 2.0. I'm not sure you get "realistic" results with it, but they're sure "entertaining."

Finally, as for ultimate image quality in a pocket camera, I truly expect that the Canon S90 will easily beat out anything else -- and hopefully, it'll start getting into the stores within the coming week. I'm definitely getting one -- WX1 in hand, or not.

Tom Hoots
http://thoots.zenfolio.com

Just a quick note to mention that I've added a new gallery to my Zenfolio site filled with a dozen "processed" shots -- I generally adjusted the color and contrast to turn them into more what I'd like to see.

Including this shot:



This used the Anti Motion Blur image-stacking mode, at ISO 1250.

But.... On the other hand, here's a shot from my Canon SD880IS, at only ISO 200:



So. Rest assured that I post-processed the bugeesuz out of the WX1 image, whereas all I did was resize the SD880IS shot. Thus, I remain a little skeptical regarding all of the advantage that the image-stacking stuff really gives you with the WX1....

At any rate, click the link below to go check out the other processed images, if you're interested.

Tom Hoots
http://thoots.zenfolio.com

Are both handheld shot??

if the cannon was able to take the shot at only 200 iso - wouldn't that suggest it is too bright in there to really test that mode?

Yes indeed absolutely unnecessary to take this picture at that high ISO range, it even produce poorly picture's.

yuri982 said:

Are both handheld shot??

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Yes, both were hand-held.

Tom Hoots
http://thoots.zenfolio.com

chwey said:

if the Canon was able to take the shot at only 200 iso - wouldn't that suggest it is too bright in there to really test that mode?

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Well, I'm not entirely sure. The Anti Motion Blur mode simply takes six shots and then processes them to produce a single image, as thus described by Sony:

"Capture cleaner and sharper images, even when your subject is moving. When set in Anti Motion Blur mode, the DSC-WX1 captures six images in a fraction of a second with higher shutter speed and combines the data from all six to create a single image of extraordinary detail and eliminate subject blur, beyond the capability of traditional cameras."

There's really nothing in there that insists that the ISO will wind up something above ISO 1000, in the end.

The ISO 200 shot from the Canon camera didn't really use a shutter speed fast enough to "freeze motion" -- I took several shots, and where the people in it were really moving, they were blurred. But I did get a few shots where everyone was standing still enough that you don't see any motion.

So, the Sony technology was doing what it was supposed to be doing -- "eliminating subject blur." But, could it have also taken the kind of shot at ISO 200 like the Canon camera did? Probably. It's all going to be part of learning how to get the best out of the WX1.

Tom Hoots
http://thoots.zenfolio.com