1st day at ski with my X-T10

[vegetaleb]

One of the main reason I get good cameras is for shooting snow landscapes and ski days, that why I ditched the D90 with a X-T10.

After months shooting anything but my preferred subjects I finally got my 1st day at ski yesterday testing the X-T10 and most importantly the XC 16-50, some people in the forum asked me to post photos taken with this lens to see if if a prime one could give me better results in the same situation as I was thinking of getting the 23mm f2 for Christmas.

Well the photos off yesterday were a mixed bag, some are great, some destroyed by the sun flares, but most of them showed a lack of sharpness for close snow floor, ok it's pixel peeping I recon, but even my old poor DX 18-105 performed better for that matter, so I don't know if it's the limitations of the camera or the lens. In a good note mid to far snowy subjects like mountains and rocks are sharp enough.

Weird enough half the photos had better rendering using LR + Dehaze + Nik RAW sharpener than Capture one, first 2 in this page are.

All these photos were shot at f8 or f9 mainly 22 or 23mm at very fast shutter speed 1/500 and faster.

I must say at these resized scale I am not complaining about sharpness, so please tell me if they are good, if not is it a composition problem? lens or camera limitation?

Pano:

Example of sun flares :/

 

[Roadrunner123]

Really like the first one. Haven't skied in years, there is no touch snow in Vietnam

 

[cprevost]

First one is the best for sure. I'd experiment with the placement of the horizon though. Usually putting it too close to the middle makes for poor composition. Rule of thirds placement almost always works better.

I'd say the same for the others as well. The horizon seems a bit awkwardly placed. Fuji does some majic with blue skies.

 

[Jared Huntr]

so please tell me if they are good, if not is it a composition problem? lens or camera limitation?

I've come to the conclusion from years of shooting that if you can't tell if your pictures are any good, then it is good enough. You only have yourself to please.

IMO, we often cloud our assessment of our own pics by thinking they are better than they actually are. Maybe it is because we put a lot of effort and care into taking them or maybe it was the good times we were having at that moment.

The litmus test I use for myself is to ignore the fact that I took the picture and to view it as though I am flipping through a magazine full of images. Would I honestly stop on that page to look a little longer, wishing I had taken that picture? If so, it is a good picture.