A short W1 Story

[Fremiet161702]

It's rare that I post these days, but I thought I would pitch in a bit about the controversial W1. My kids were going on a 1000 mile cycling trip along the Lewis and Clark Trail....Late July and early August. I really wanted them to document it.

One, a film fanatic took his film camera, the results of that are not back yet. The other, Sacha, and I agreed, after reviewing the situation to get a W1, well aware of the criticisms. He had to have something light and versatile. My 828 and 1D were out of the question. Sometimes I need something really light, so we agreed to split the price and the use of the camera.

The big question was what settings would serve him best in terms of the memory/quality trade off and the iso/quality trade off. We did some test shooting at various iso, fine-standard, and 3mp vs. 5mp settings. The appropriate compromise seemed to be for him to shoot fine, with 3mp and at 400 iso....which would crank up the shutter speed as much as we dared....with the memory he had we figured he could shoot about 350 pics which he thought was plenty.

The pics are posted at
http://www.pbase.com/fremiet/hblewisandclark

If you are interested and flip through the gallery you will see the settings and the results...remember, the big knock on the W1 is that the pics are frequently and unpredictably blurry. We did not post them all...just the ones he picked out...about 60% of the total. None of the rafting pics were taken by him....all the rest were. For some, pbase unaccountably assigned a Nikon name instead of the W1...go figure.

The ones he picked are quite representative from a blur pov. He does not claim to be a photographer, shoots what he sees. I warned him to be especially careful about camera shake. End of story. Hope it helps someone make the right decision if they are contemplating a W1.

Fremiet
--
After all is said and done, there is a lot more said than done.

 

[randol99]

Regarding your statement:

" For some, pbase unaccountably assigned a Nikon name instead of the W1...go figure."

I looked at the EXIF for the rafting photos and they were taken with a Nikon DiH...

Joe

 

[RonSil]

I didn't flip through all but they are pretty good. I think you should post the blury ones and let us see how bad they are because we know how good this camera can be. Thanks!

It's rare that I post these days, but I thought I would pitch in a
bit about the controversial W1. My kids were going on a 1000 mile
cycling trip along the Lewis and Clark Trail....Late July and early
August. I really wanted them to document it.

One, a film fanatic took his film camera, the results of that are
not back yet. The other, Sacha, and I agreed, after reviewing the
situation to get a W1, well aware of the criticisms. He had to
have something light and versatile. My 828 and 1D were out of the
question. Sometimes I need something really light, so we agreed to
split the price and the use of the camera.

The big question was what settings would serve him best in terms of
the memory/quality trade off and the iso/quality trade off. We did
some test shooting at various iso, fine-standard, and 3mp vs. 5mp
settings. The appropriate compromise seemed to be for him to shoot
fine, with 3mp and at 400 iso....which would crank up the shutter
speed as much as we dared....with the memory he had we figured he
could shoot about 350 pics which he thought was plenty.

The pics are posted at
http://www.pbase.com/fremiet/hblewisandclark

If you are interested and flip through the gallery you will see the
settings and the results...remember, the big knock on the W1 is
that the pics are frequently and unpredictably blurry. We did not
post them all...just the ones he picked out...about 60% of the
total. None of the rafting pics were taken by him....all the rest
were. For some, pbase unaccountably assigned a Nikon name instead
of the W1...go figure.

The ones he picked are quite representative from a blur pov. He
does not claim to be a photographer, shoots what he sees. I warned
him to be especially careful about camera shake. End of story.
Hope it helps someone make the right decision if they are
contemplating a W1.

Fremiet
--
After all is said and done, there is a lot more said than done.

 

[Mike Fitzgerald]

A short W1 Story

Given who was posting this, you'll understand that I wondered whether you actually meant it to read "A short WW1 Story" ;-)

Sacha's done quite nicely in securing an excellent trip record. I've not been following the W1 saga, but the sporadic blurry result is certainly interesting -- generally ultra crisp, and then you get images like DSC00137.jpg and DSC00252.jpg. Really odd; almost as if something isn't settling properly into place when the lens barrel extends.

Overall these little cameras can be great for particular purposes like this, and it's done quite a creditable job here. My partner has a little Casio EX-Z3 that she uses 99% for botanical macros at which it's embarassingly (for my 10D) good. In her case, the fact that it's just as embarrassingly awful at full wide angle doesn't matter a hoot. People tend to forget that intelligent camera choice is a matter of horses for courses.

FWIW aside from the blurring phenomenon I'd say that the W1's white balance is consistently more pleasing in the shots where the WB field shows up blank at pBase, though it doesn't of course tell us what that was.

The images with the odd Nikon tag all have serial numbers in the 9 thousands, I notice. I wonder if the MS in question was in another Sony such as your F828 prior to this, and that that has precipitated this small anomaly. Hmmm...

Thanks to Sacha and yourself for posting and drawing our attention to these. I haven't had time to go through the lot yet but I'm enjoying the journey so far!

Cheers,

Mike

 

[Fremiet161702]

Hi Mike: 157 is tougher to explain than 252...252 was clearly taken on the bike, probably with one hand (at 1/1000). 157 looks like it was taken off the bike, and at 1,1600 no less, I'll have to see whether he remembers. Yes, all the Nikon shots WERE the rafting so no worries there. Thanks for your observations.
It's interesting..I initially wrote WW1....you are psychic!

Cheers

John

A short W1 Story

Given who was posting this, you'll understand that I wondered
whether you actually meant it to read "A short WW1 Story" ;-)

Sacha's done quite nicely in securing an excellent trip record.
I've not been following the W1 saga, but the sporadic blurry result
is certainly interesting -- generally ultra crisp, and then you get
images like DSC00137.jpg and DSC00252.jpg. Really odd; almost as if
something isn't settling properly into place when the lens barrel
extends.

Overall these little cameras can be great for particular purposes
like this, and it's done quite a creditable job here. My partner
has a little Casio EX-Z3 that she uses 99% for botanical macros at
which it's embarassingly (for my 10D) good. In her case, the fact
that it's just as embarrassingly awful at full wide angle doesn't
matter a hoot. People tend to forget that intelligent camera choice
is a matter of horses for courses.

FWIW aside from the blurring phenomenon I'd say that the W1's white
balance is consistently more pleasing in the shots where the WB
field shows up blank at pBase, though it doesn't of course tell us
what that was.

The images with the odd Nikon tag all have serial numbers in the 9
thousands, I notice. I wonder if the MS in question was in another
Sony such as your F828 prior to this, and that that has
precipitated this small anomaly. Hmmm...

Thanks to Sacha and yourself for posting and drawing our attention
to these. I haven't had time to go through the lot yet but I'm
enjoying the journey so far!

Cheers,

Mike

--
After all is said and done, there is a lot more said than done.

 

[Fremiet161702]

Regarding your statement:

" For some, pbase unaccountably assigned a Nikon name instead of
the W1...go figure."

I looked at the EXIF for the rafting photos and they were taken
with a Nikon DiH...

Joe

You are right Joe. Thanks.

Fremiet

--
After all is said and done, there is a lot more said than done.

 

[Prashant]

I though I will also chip in a bit with all the W1 talk going on. I have a W1 which has belted out close o 500 photos in now 6 weeks. Many of them family and testing. I just wanted to see what she is capable of. You can have a look at my gallery http://www.pbase.com/paachi/dsc_w1_on_a_round

to get an idea about its night shooting capabilities. No post processing and hand held.

Regarding the blur I noticed that when we try to rapidly take images (I have not tried this in burst mode) the chances of blur are more. If we properly compose and shoot the happenings are less. I am still experimenting to get a pattern here.

Hope this helps.

Thanks and Regards,
Prashant

--
Hari

 

[JimMc]

It's rare that I post these days, but I thought I would pitch in a
bit about the controversial W1. My kids were going on a 1000 mile
cycling trip along the Lewis and Clark Trail....Late July and early
August. I really wanted them to document it.

One, a film fanatic took his film camera, the results of that are
not back yet. The other, Sacha, and I agreed, after reviewing the
situation to get a W1, well aware of the criticisms. He had to
have something light and versatile. My 828 and 1D were out of the
question. Sometimes I need something really light, so we agreed to
split the price and the use of the camera.

The big question was what settings would serve him best in terms of
the memory/quality trade off and the iso/quality trade off. We did
some test shooting at various iso, fine-standard, and 3mp vs. 5mp
settings. The appropriate compromise seemed to be for him to shoot
fine, with 3mp and at 400 iso....which would crank up the shutter
speed as much as we dared....with the memory he had we figured he
could shoot about 350 pics which he thought was plenty.

The pics are posted at
http://www.pbase.com/fremiet/hblewisandclark

If you are interested and flip through the gallery you will see the
settings and the results...remember, the big knock on the W1 is
that the pics are frequently and unpredictably blurry. We did not
post them all...just the ones he picked out...about 60% of the
total. None of the rafting pics were taken by him....all the rest
were. For some, pbase unaccountably assigned a Nikon name instead
of the W1...go figure.

The ones he picked are quite representative from a blur pov. He
does not claim to be a photographer, shoots what he sees. I warned
him to be especially careful about camera shake. End of story.
Hope it helps someone make the right decision if they are
contemplating a W1.

Fremiet
--
After all is said and done, there is a lot more said than done.

Pics are very sharp with good color. I am interested in the ones you did not post. Are they blurry shots or what? I am impressed with the 400 iso quality.

 

[Artemus Gordon]

I've had very good results at 200 ISO with very little visible noise. I'm amazed at these results at 400...this is terrific. I haven't had quite the same experience at 400, but most of my 400 was indoors with challenged lighting. Was there any post-processing involved?

I was intrigued by the random blurry pictures. I am still getting some, and haven't been able to pinpoint the cause of some (other than telephoto, slow speed, and low light when I pusheed the limit). Any idea if anything was different for those few that went soft?

BTW...I've been told that Lou Holtz is the origin of the "all is said" quote. True?

It's rare that I post these days, but I thought I would pitch in a
bit about the controversial W1. My kids were going on a 1000 mile
cycling trip along the Lewis and Clark Trail....Late July and early
August. I really wanted them to document it.

One, a film fanatic took his film camera, the results of that are
not back yet. The other, Sacha, and I agreed, after reviewing the
situation to get a W1, well aware of the criticisms. He had to
have something light and versatile. My 828 and 1D were out of the
question. Sometimes I need something really light, so we agreed to
split the price and the use of the camera.

The big question was what settings would serve him best in terms of
the memory/quality trade off and the iso/quality trade off. We did
some test shooting at various iso, fine-standard, and 3mp vs. 5mp
settings. The appropriate compromise seemed to be for him to shoot
fine, with 3mp and at 400 iso....which would crank up the shutter
speed as much as we dared....with the memory he had we figured he
could shoot about 350 pics which he thought was plenty.

The pics are posted at
http://www.pbase.com/fremiet/hblewisandclark

If you are interested and flip through the gallery you will see the
settings and the results...remember, the big knock on the W1 is
that the pics are frequently and unpredictably blurry. We did not
post them all...just the ones he picked out...about 60% of the
total. None of the rafting pics were taken by him....all the rest
were. For some, pbase unaccountably assigned a Nikon name instead
of the W1...go figure.

The ones he picked are quite representative from a blur pov. He
does not claim to be a photographer, shoots what he sees. I warned
him to be especially careful about camera shake. End of story.
Hope it helps someone make the right decision if they are
contemplating a W1.

Fremiet
--
After all is said and done, there is a lot more said than done.

Pics are very sharp with good color. I am interested in the ones
you did not post. Are they blurry shots or what? I am impressed
with the 400 iso quality.

 

[JimMc]

It's rare that I post these days, but I thought I would pitch in a
bit about the controversial W1. My kids were going on a 1000 mile
cycling trip along the Lewis and Clark Trail....Late July and early
August. I really wanted them to document it.

One, a film fanatic took his film camera, the results of that are
not back yet. The other, Sacha, and I agreed, after reviewing the
situation to get a W1, well aware of the criticisms. He had to
have something light and versatile. My 828 and 1D were out of the
question. Sometimes I need something really light, so we agreed to
split the price and the use of the camera.

The big question was what settings would serve him best in terms of
the memory/quality trade off and the iso/quality trade off. We did
some test shooting at various iso, fine-standard, and 3mp vs. 5mp
settings. The appropriate compromise seemed to be for him to shoot
fine, with 3mp and at 400 iso....which would crank up the shutter
speed as much as we dared....with the memory he had we figured he
could shoot about 350 pics which he thought was plenty.

The pics are posted at
http://www.pbase.com/fremiet/hblewisandclark

If you are interested and flip through the gallery you will see the
settings and the results...remember, the big knock on the W1 is
that the pics are frequently and unpredictably blurry. We did not
post them all...just the ones he picked out...about 60% of the
total. None of the rafting pics were taken by him....all the rest
were. For some, pbase unaccountably assigned a Nikon name instead
of the W1...go figure.

The ones he picked are quite representative from a blur pov. He
does not claim to be a photographer, shoots what he sees. I warned
him to be especially careful about camera shake. End of story.
Hope it helps someone make the right decision if they are
contemplating a W1.

Fremiet
--
After all is said and done, there is a lot more said than done.

I would also like to know what settings you used. Sharpness, contrast, etc.

 

[Fremiet161702]

I've had very good results at 200 ISO with very little visible
noise. I'm amazed at these results at 400...this is terrific.

and the same results showed up in my test series before he took off on the trip
I

haven't had quite the same experience at 400, but most of my 400
was indoors with challenged lighting. Was there any post-processing
involved?

Post processing was minimal. Auto curves in lab mode. Resizing and NIK sharpening for the internet

I was intrigued by the random blurry pictures. I am still getting
some, and haven't been able to pinpoint the cause of some (other
than telephoto, slow speed, and low light when I pusheed the
limit). Any idea if anything was different for those few that went
soft?

Not completely sure, but check my response to MikeF...some were clearly taken while on a bike, probably taken with one hand holding the camera. A small few I cannot explain but I would have to have watched him take the pic to evaluate. He might have, for instance, swung the camera after partially depressing to obtain auto focus at the wrong distance.....anybody's guess. No question these were taken mostly in great light, some obviously involved flash. No question that the lower the light intensity the greater the noise effect...especially at this iso....BUT the flashes have worked well.

Fremiet

It's rare that I post these days, but I thought I would pitch in a
bit about the controversial W1. My kids were going on a 1000 mile
cycling trip along the Lewis and Clark Trail....Late July and early
August. I really wanted them to document it.

One, a film fanatic took his film camera, the results of that are
not back yet. The other, Sacha, and I agreed, after reviewing the
situation to get a W1, well aware of the criticisms. He had to
have something light and versatile. My 828 and 1D were out of the
question. Sometimes I need something really light, so we agreed to
split the price and the use of the camera.

The big question was what settings would serve him best in terms of
the memory/quality trade off and the iso/quality trade off. We did
some test shooting at various iso, fine-standard, and 3mp vs. 5mp
settings. The appropriate compromise seemed to be for him to shoot
fine, with 3mp and at 400 iso....which would crank up the shutter
speed as much as we dared....with the memory he had we figured he
could shoot about 350 pics which he thought was plenty.

The pics are posted at
http://www.pbase.com/fremiet/hblewisandclark

If you are interested and flip through the gallery you will see the
settings and the results...remember, the big knock on the W1 is
that the pics are frequently and unpredictably blurry. We did not
post them all...just the ones he picked out...about 60% of the
total. None of the rafting pics were taken by him....all the rest
were. For some, pbase unaccountably assigned a Nikon name instead
of the W1...go figure.

The ones he picked are quite representative from a blur pov. He
does not claim to be a photographer, shoots what he sees. I warned
him to be especially careful about camera shake. End of story.
Hope it helps someone make the right decision if they are
contemplating a W1.

Fremiet
--
After all is said and done, there is a lot more said than done.

Pics are very sharp with good color. I am interested in the ones
you did not post. Are they blurry shots or what? I am impressed
with the 400 iso quality.

--
After all is said and done, there is a lot more said than done.

 

[Fremiet161702]

....settings. I seem to remember somewhere that slight variations on this were recommended by someone, but I forgot to make those adjustments before he left
Sharpness was certainly not enhanced in any way except for pp.

I would also like to know what settings you used. Sharpness,
contrast, etc.

Fremiet
--
After all is said and done, there is a lot more said than done.

 

[Fremiet161702]

Pics are very sharp with good color. I am interested in the ones
you did not post. Are they blurry shots or what? I am impressed
with the 400 iso quality.

Remember that the light was great. Mostly sunny and at a high altitude until they got down to Portland. He chose the ones I posted. The non posts were not posted because they were boring....empty fields, or a bunch of waterfall pics from which he picked just a few, and a VERY few obviously bad ones.

So far I am of the opinion that with this camera, especially because of the tendency it has to drop the shutter speed before opening the iris, iso 400 is the way to go in general.

Fremiet

--
After all is said and done, there is a lot more said than done.

 

[Fremiet161702]

That was shot at 1/50 sec. No problematic blur which leads me to believe that the greatest asset the photographer can bring to this little gem is a steady hand, but you get really punished if you cannot bring that.

Fremiet
--
After all is said and done, there is a lot more said than done.

 

[Artemus Gordon]

Thanks for all the good info.

I've had very good results at 200 ISO with very little visible
noise. I'm amazed at these results at 400...this is terrific.

and the same results showed up in my test series before he took off
on the trip
I

haven't had quite the same experience at 400, but most of my 400
was indoors with challenged lighting. Was there any post-processing
involved?

Post processing was minimal. Auto curves in lab mode. Resizing and
NIK sharpening for the internet

I was intrigued by the random blurry pictures. I am still getting
some, and haven't been able to pinpoint the cause of some (other
than telephoto, slow speed, and low light when I pusheed the
limit). Any idea if anything was different for those few that went
soft?

Not completely sure, but check my response to MikeF...some were
clearly taken while on a bike, probably taken with one hand holding
the camera. A small few I cannot explain but I would have to have
watched him take the pic to evaluate. He might have, for instance,
swung the camera after partially depressing to obtain auto focus at
the wrong distance.....anybody's guess. No question these were
taken mostly in great light, some obviously involved flash. No
question that the lower the light intensity the greater the noise
effect...especially at this iso....BUT the flashes have worked well.

Fremiet

It's rare that I post these days, but I thought I would pitch in a
bit about the controversial W1. My kids were going on a 1000 mile
cycling trip along the Lewis and Clark Trail....Late July and early
August. I really wanted them to document it.

One, a film fanatic took his film camera, the results of that are
not back yet. The other, Sacha, and I agreed, after reviewing the
situation to get a W1, well aware of the criticisms. He had to
have something light and versatile. My 828 and 1D were out of the
question. Sometimes I need something really light, so we agreed to
split the price and the use of the camera.

The big question was what settings would serve him best in terms of
the memory/quality trade off and the iso/quality trade off. We did
some test shooting at various iso, fine-standard, and 3mp vs. 5mp
settings. The appropriate compromise seemed to be for him to shoot
fine, with 3mp and at 400 iso....which would crank up the shutter
speed as much as we dared....with the memory he had we figured he
could shoot about 350 pics which he thought was plenty.

The pics are posted at
http://www.pbase.com/fremiet/hblewisandclark

If you are interested and flip through the gallery you will see the
settings and the results...remember, the big knock on the W1 is
that the pics are frequently and unpredictably blurry. We did not
post them all...just the ones he picked out...about 60% of the
total. None of the rafting pics were taken by him....all the rest
were. For some, pbase unaccountably assigned a Nikon name instead
of the W1...go figure.

The ones he picked are quite representative from a blur pov. He
does not claim to be a photographer, shoots what he sees. I warned
him to be especially careful about camera shake. End of story.
Hope it helps someone make the right decision if they are
contemplating a W1.

Fremiet
--
After all is said and done, there is a lot more said than done.

Pics are very sharp with good color. I am interested in the ones
you did not post. Are they blurry shots or what? I am impressed
with the 400 iso quality.

--
After all is said and done, there is a lot more said than done.