Samsung EX2F does street

Ben Herrmann wrote:

1. Love the images - what else can I say!

Thanks Ben.

2. I absolutely love the EX-2F - what a remarkable little camera. I enjoy the way it renders colors, the way it looks and feels, and a shame Samsung ended their foray into superb enthusiast cameras with this model.

Me too. At the time I got my first copy I also got an NX mini. I sold the NX mini because the lenses were very prone to flare. I've since bought that back too but it's strictly my fishing camera only. The EX2F was also better than an LX7 I tried and it even looks good compared to my Nikon 1 J5.

3. As to the occasional blown out hi-lights scenarios, I have a good suggestions that often works. We all know (well, those of us with EX2F cameras) that at times, this baby can overexpose images in some scenarios - often leaving us surprised and scratchin' our heads. What I do in about half the situations is to dial in anywhere from -.3 to -.7 exposure compensation with the multi-segment metering option. However, even then there will be times whereby some hi-lights may be blown out (those smaller sensors can only do so much DR-wise). That's when I use the center-weight average metering option. I find in numerous cases this works. Of course, I shoot in RAW format mode, so I have the ability to play with the RAW file to bring up the shadows more and tone down any hi-lights that look too hot.

Well it's an idea worth exploring Ben - thanks. My street haunts are well trodden paths and I've come to know what exposure comp is needed where. Sometimes it's a case of accepting some blown highlights for the sake of getting the skintones exposed in the right ballpark. With my NX500 I can confidently under-expose and push the files quite hard if I want to preserve those highlights. With the RX1R I can even ETTR because highlight recovery is the best I've experienced.

With smaller sensors it's usually a case of deciding what you'd rather sacrifice. I shoot blindly from the chest so can't do much to mitigate flare and so on. I usually use centre weighted average on all my cameras.

That said, with the EX2F I'm still adjusting to its limitations and have not really tried pushing shadows much in post. Maybe I can dial the exposure back a touch. I think maybe getting well acquainted with your camera's sensor is key to getting good shots consistently. I need to test that ISO out and know when that dynamic range tails off and bear that in mind when dialling in exp comp. Maybe limit ISO to 800 max and either use that F1.4 aperture more or reduce the shutter speed a touch (usually 1/500s on the move).

Cheers Ben. Food for thought.