New Galleries testing my NX1, first with 50-150 S, second with 16-50 S

My NX1 is almost 6 months old and except for some initial tests plus some critical work, I have only shot JPEGs, not raw. This is typical for me with a new camera as I strive to obtain the best the camera's JPEG engine can produce under normal shooting conditions. It is only then that I switch to my normal raw+JPEG shooting routine to start pushing both normal AND sub-optimal shooting conditions.

So over the two weeks, I've taken the camera out on some JPEG test runs for comparisons to my first tests six months ago. At the same time I am looking for good photography as well, not just boring static images. These tests have confirmed for my style what has evolved to work best with this camera under normal conditions. A few highlights include:

I use Spot Metering combined with AEL (evolved from Multi-Metering). Together with the WYSIWYG view in the EVF, Spot makes it easy to read a value in the light that produces either the most Dynamic Range, or increase in contrast as required before pressing the shutter. AEL then locks it in before recomposing the scene and final focus. On the rare occasions I use the LCD for shooting, I find this does not work as well due to the ambient light on the LCD and I may revert back to Multi-Metering.

In bright sunlight, I switch to Daylight for the White Balance. AWB works well in most situations, but in bright sunlight AWB always produces an image too cold (blue) for my tastes. Daylight WB turns trees green instead of the bluish-green of AWB.

For the finest focus, I use the smallest focus box (evolved from the middle size box) pointed directly at the highest contrast area of the main subject. This is locked in after AEL but before recomposing the image for the final shot.

Now these highlights work for me because of my contemplative style of shooting. I tend to carefully set-up every single image before pressing the shutter all the way. And then maybe a second image or even a third image for comparison or safety. That comes from decades of shooting limited roll film cameras that needed each image to be processed. And I hate editing slightly different versions of the same image. The first one is usually the best one, anyway. Still, my style may not be appropriate for others.

I liked some of my test images from the tests enough to include them in two new Galleries on my website. The first Gallery is from 2 hikes at Croton Point, one around the perimeter with beaches, rocky coasts, fishermen, and a raptor. The second hike has the grasslands of the interior. All are under very bright sunshine, with opportunities to bring out dynamic range from the shadows as well as express the contrast in the light. The 12 images in this Gallery are from the 50-150mm f/2.8 S, with 6 at 150mm, 4 at 50mm and 2 in the middle zoom area. One of the 50mm images was heavily cropped (top and bottom only) to produce a credible Panorama from a single image.

The second Gallery is from 2 days ago in the lower Hudson Highlands. I spent earlier in the day scaling the east face of Bear Mountain, rising to where the Appalachian Trail passes through at the summit. There are no images from the climb as the camera was safely tucked away in my backpack. After resting at the summit, I hiked the Trail down the southwest face and back around to the river where my car was parked. This time there was plenty of opportunity for landscapes with the 16-50mm f/2.0-2.8 S. There are 8 sunny afternoon images in the Gallery, 4 at 16mm, 2 at 50mm and 2 in the middle zoom area.

If you would like to see the Galleries, they may be found here:

50-150S at Croton Point

16-50S along the Appalachian Trail

Keep in mind that besides clicking on the individual thumbnails, you can watch a full screen slideshow of the images by clicking on the grey Slideshow button near the top of each Gallery page (esc to exit). EXIF for the individual image can be see by hovering over them to reveal the i button.

I hope you enjoy the images. And if you would like to tell us what have become your best JPEG settings, let us know in the replies. (Please, let's keep discussions of shooting raw to another thread. We will currently assume that raw can produce better results in more situations.)

Thanks for looking,

Ed