Fun with X1D

[KeithL]

That lag is a real bummer for the applications I envisaged. I wonder if it's fixable with a FW update?

Remind me, is there an ES shutter?

 

[tashley]

Joe, you are an officer and a gentleman. Thank you so much for that. Without you and Erik and Josh we'd all still be in the dark.... much appreciated.

 

[tashley]

One last bit of feedback from my use of the camera. This was taken with room lighting (two table lamps) and has not been processed in LR. No adjustment to WB, Contrast, Clarity, Noise Reduction...
No USM was used (with my FrameShop script) when I resized for the Web.

I'm posting this to illustrate two points. First, I hand-held the camera at 1/20 sec. (and I'm in my 70th year) and there's minimal and very correctable grainy noise at ISO 3200 shown in the crop.

And a 100% crop of the spot where I focused using AF

You can thank my wife for the book selections.

Finally, if anyone wants to play around with RAW files or see full-size JPEGs, contact me. These are not meant in any way to be artistic. Just a demonstration of the camera's performance. Thanks for all the encouragement.

More later,

Joe

Thank you greatly again. If you were able to upload a RAW file to Dropbox or similar I'd greatly appreciate it - merely to see which of my devices choke on it!

 

[Shashin]

You can thank my wife for the book selections.

Are you sure the Bridges of Madison County is not yours...

 

[D&A]

Are you sure the Bridges of Madison County is not yours...

Must reading when one aspires to be a Nat Geo. Photograher. Makes perfect sense.

Dave (D&A)

 

[Shashin]

Must reading when one aspires to be a Nat Geo. Photograher. Makes perfect sense.

Dave (D&A)

But to blame your wife...

:ROTFL:

 

[vjbelle]

Congrats Joe.... and thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts and images. Sometime down the road I hope you take the time to put the lenses through some tests to check uniformity/centering issues, curvature and all the other usual stuff. The lenses are the most important aspect of this or any system for me. It will be a feather in Hasselblad's hat if they can keep lens quality and consistency high. The body will be gone within 3 years but the lenses should, hopefully, be keepers.

Victor

 

[tjv]

Test pics look great. I'm a bit disturbed to hear about the shutter lag though. Hope that can be improved as it sounds otherwise it's a real winner! Looking forward to trying one myself as I've been wanting a replacement to the mamiya 7 for ages (does anyone else have an inkling that Leaf might come out with an actual one?) I love the super simple design philosophy.

 

[Erik Lundqvist]

Here's one without a half naked man

Laura by Erik Lundqvist, on Flickr

 

[etto72]

Now that the fun has begun, I'll share a few early impressions from using the camera for a few hours. As a reminder, my "first impressions" comments from the "Where is the X1D?" thread:



This morning I only used the XCD 90mm lens so as to avoid lens changes outdoors in the wet weather. Here's what I learned:

• The camera is easy for me to hand-hold; the grip is deep and comfortable; there is no noticeable/appreciable vibration from the shutter
• AF is faster than I had been led to believe from early reports; it's fast, accurate and works well in low light (indoors with room lighting)
• MF is easy to activate with one button push; auto-magnify goes to 100% when the lens focus ring is turned ever so slightly making manual focus easier than the a7RII
• There is a definite (and somewhat annoying) shutter lag and blackout when the shutter release is pressed; it's not clear to me when the image is actually captured during the sequence of "clickety-clack" sounds
• The menu system is very, very simple and easy; swipes (a la smartphone gestures) allow movement from one menu to the next; I'll admit that I haven't re-read the manual and that should come as no surprise to those who know me; real men don't read manuals :ROTFL:
• The EVF is as good as the a7RII EVF and totally adequate for me; the rear LCD is excellent for reviewing shots and viewing at 100% (double tap brings up 100% view)
• It's a pleasure to have a medium format camera (or any digital interchangeable lens camera) with so few knobs, wheels and buttons; I had no accidental button pushes or settings changes caused by inadvertent "nose on the LCD" instances
• Moving the AF focus point proved to be no problem using the front and rear scroll wheels; practice and muscle memory will be necessary though
• The XCD 90mm lens is exceptional as I had heard from Derek and had expected from its specs

What would I improve?

• Eliminate or reduce the shutter lag/blackout; it's annoying and, for some, possibly a deal-breaker
• Add more AF points; 35 are OK but they're large
• Needs a cable release solution; carrying an iPad or iPhone in lieu of a cable release is not convenient; the self-timer would be my default
• Add exposure bracketing, something most digital cameras have as a basic feature; it may be there, but I haven't found it
• Add the ability to change file names, add copyright info, and reset the shot count in the camera
• Add an exposure mode (Hasselblad term is Light Metering Mode) like the Matrix Metering (Nikon) or Evaluative Metering (Canon) mode

I initially thought that I had a bad battery or charger or both because the charger still showed a red "not fully charged" LED after charging overnight. After panicking and fiddling around with the battery and charger for a few minutes, the green LED "fully charged" indicator was lit. I charged it up to operator error and haven't had a problem since. Early days.

Next I'll try the XCD 45mm and, after Monday's UPS delivery, the XCD 30mm. So stay tuned.

Joe

Thanks Joe
So nice of you to do this report and take those pictures!

I have a few questions:

-You said that the EVF similar to the one of the 7RII, how about in therms of magnification? is it Larger?
-Can you confirm that there is not live Histogram?
-Regarding the shutter lag are you shooting just Raw or Raw+Jpeg ?
-How long does it take to charge fully a battery?
-Can one have the grid displayed on the EVF or is just for the LCD?

Many thanks for your time!!

Ettore

 

[tcdeveau]

Thanks for sharing Joe, looking forward to seeing more and congrats on the delivery!
-Todd

 

[Jake]

Hi all, thought I'd throw a few of mine in there. Both girls are exported exactly as shot out of phocus, the chef had an exposure adjustment and contrast added in phocus.



Cheers,
Jake

 

[Godfrey]

At least he wasn't in his skivvies ... :angel:

Nice photos, Joe! I look forward to seeing more as time goes on.

thx,
G

 

[Godfrey]

And thanks to Jake too for his photos!
Good job!

G

 

[ejpeiker]

The RAW files are all 110.4MB with no variation. So I'm not sure what form of RAW the camera produces - uncompressed RAW, compressed RAW, lossless compressed RAW or some other variant. They open quickly on my Mac in LR with no problem.

The only way you get precisely the same file size every time is if the camera is shooting uncompressed RAW. Every other file type will give you varying file sizes.

 

[tashley]

The only way you get precisely the same file size every time is if the camera is shooting uncompressed RAW. Every other file type will give you varying file sizes.

I'd add that in my limited experiment the files are faster to zoom and resolve on a 2016 MacBook (the tiny one) in LR than are A7R11 files and I think this is because there's no decompression going on.

 

[ejpeiker]

I'd add that in my limited experiment the files are faster to zoom and resolve on a 2016 MacBook (the tiny one) in LR than are A7R11 files and I think this is because there's no decompression going on.

Realize that with current firmware the a7R Mk II has an uncompressed RAW option - resulting file size is 85MP.

 

[tashley]

Realize that with current firmware the a7R Mk II has an uncompressed RAW option - resulting file size is 85MP.

Yup, silly of me to forget that but nonetheless on those larger uncompressed files the A-7Rii is still slower.

 

[tcdeveau]

The lenses seem really promising, I hope they put out something between the 45mm and 90mm next. No live histogram is kind of a bummer. I use this all the time with my A7R. Hopefully they can add it with a firmware update.

Victor, you may learn more about uniformity/centering and curvature from those who are more knowledgeable than I am. So far, the XCD 90mm and XCD 45mm are turning out to be gems in my brief usage. Sharp corner-to-corner with excellent contrast. I need to send the kit to Mancuso so that he can use the Big Bronco wall for testing.



Ettore, my answers to your questions:

• The X1D EVF is 2.36MP, as is the a7RII EVF. Image quality of both seems the same. Perhaps because of the 4:3 aspect ratio, I can see the entire frame in the EVF more easily than with the a7RII (3:2 aspect ratio). With the a7RII, I have to move my eye around to see the entire frame. When using manual focus, the magnification goes to 100% when the focus ring is every so slightly turned.
• There is no live histogram, either on the EVF or on the rear LCD
• I'm shooting RAW, not RAW+JPEG
• The initial battery charge took hours (overnight); subsequent touch-up charges have taken much less time; I haven't used the camera for long periods that would require a full recharge
• Yes, the grid can be displayed on the EVF; the "spirit level" (known in the US as a bubble level) can also be shown on the EVF, but not simultaneously with the grid

______________________________

The RAW files are all 110.4MB with no variation. So I'm not sure what form of RAW the camera produces - uncompressed RAW, compressed RAW, lossless compressed RAW or some other variant. They open quickly on my Mac in LR with no problem.

When shooting AF-C, the EVF (and Live View) blacks out and the shutter fires in rapid succession, probably 2-3 fps. Once the sequence is complete, the EVF image and Live View return.

I haven't tried using flash [yet]. I don't have a Nikon flash but intend to try one soon. Then I'll learn more about when the capture actually occurs. Stay tuned.

More later,

Joe

 

[Erik Lundqvist]

The lenses seem really promising, I hope they put out something between the 45mm and 90mm next. No live histogram is kind of a bummer. I use this all the time with my A7R. Hopefully they can add it with a firmware update.

120mm F4 Macro
150mm F2.8

Probably all I need, but a TS30mm would be cool.

5 lenses on the roadmap for 2017 so we should at least have an announcement in the first quarter assuming they can deliver their X1Ds and not everyone cancels for the GFX.