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- Nod (UK)
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I'm impressed!
Specs HERE
First impression when I held it in Jessops was that it just fitted. My fingers even fit between the hand grip and the lens - not the case with all bridges. The buttons were all easy to get at and the rear LCD screen was big enough to see properly. Even the EVF (which I've always hated in the past) was clear.
Out shooting, things got even better. the very long end of the zoom (720mm equivalent) has a bit of trouble focussing with AF but at 500mm, it snaps quite fast. I have shot at a distance of 2.38miles and, while a face wouldn't be recognizable, you could certainly make out a person (at that 720mm eq. long end, using the MF override).At the wide end (24mm eq), there's a bit of barrel distortion but not as much as you might think, given the 30x superzoom capability and at the long end, pincushion distortion appears to be completely absent. The built in level helps keep horizons level and works in both portrait and landsape orientation.
In low light, it continues to impress, with images shot at ISO400 showing little noise even printed to A4. Even images shot at ISO12800 are useable but can't take much enlarging - 6x4 is about the limit before noise is a real problem. ISO 800 is perfectly useable and would probably print OK at A4 (but I was using drawer handles as targets and I don't want or need prints of them!) and ISO 1600 isn't too bad - a bit of NR in PP should sort images out for larger prints. The built in flash works well and seems to be accurately metered and the AF assist light does the job well at at least 10 feet. Nicely balanced against daylight - in fact, until I looked at the EXIF, I had forgotten I'd switched it on!
Images print well, straight from the camera with absolutely no manual PP. A4 prints are sharp, clear and have good colour rendition. A huge bonus if you're lazy like me! Even A3+ prints look pretty bl**dy good to me. Not even any sharpenning in PSE. It'll only be housekeeping cloning that needs doing, I reckon. A 2nd generation (1 set of open/save cycles) still prints perfectly well at A3+ (after saving at the highest quality JPEG possible).
To say I'm impressed would be an understatement. It's not going to replace my D700 but I will be using it as a walkabout and holiday camera - apart from anything else, it, in its case with spare card, battery, cleaning kit, filters and a cable release etc weighs less than the D700 with a Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 mounted.
There's no real point in me posting any images - all you can tell from an 800px screen image is whether or not it's well composed and exposed, but if anyone's really interested in the camera, I can e-mail you a file or, if you really need one, I'll post you a print at up to A4, although to save me on postage, A4s will be folded to go into small envelopes so they're normal letter size. Tell me what you're looking for (high ISO, flash, long telephoto/short W/A etc and I'll do my best to supply an image for you. PM me with any requests. Most of the high ISO I have are spoiled by camera shake but you can see how noisy they are.
Specs HERE
First impression when I held it in Jessops was that it just fitted. My fingers even fit between the hand grip and the lens - not the case with all bridges. The buttons were all easy to get at and the rear LCD screen was big enough to see properly. Even the EVF (which I've always hated in the past) was clear.
Out shooting, things got even better. the very long end of the zoom (720mm equivalent) has a bit of trouble focussing with AF but at 500mm, it snaps quite fast. I have shot at a distance of 2.38miles and, while a face wouldn't be recognizable, you could certainly make out a person (at that 720mm eq. long end, using the MF override).At the wide end (24mm eq), there's a bit of barrel distortion but not as much as you might think, given the 30x superzoom capability and at the long end, pincushion distortion appears to be completely absent. The built in level helps keep horizons level and works in both portrait and landsape orientation.
In low light, it continues to impress, with images shot at ISO400 showing little noise even printed to A4. Even images shot at ISO12800 are useable but can't take much enlarging - 6x4 is about the limit before noise is a real problem. ISO 800 is perfectly useable and would probably print OK at A4 (but I was using drawer handles as targets and I don't want or need prints of them!) and ISO 1600 isn't too bad - a bit of NR in PP should sort images out for larger prints. The built in flash works well and seems to be accurately metered and the AF assist light does the job well at at least 10 feet. Nicely balanced against daylight - in fact, until I looked at the EXIF, I had forgotten I'd switched it on!
Images print well, straight from the camera with absolutely no manual PP. A4 prints are sharp, clear and have good colour rendition. A huge bonus if you're lazy like me! Even A3+ prints look pretty bl**dy good to me. Not even any sharpenning in PSE. It'll only be housekeeping cloning that needs doing, I reckon. A 2nd generation (1 set of open/save cycles) still prints perfectly well at A3+ (after saving at the highest quality JPEG possible).
To say I'm impressed would be an understatement. It's not going to replace my D700 but I will be using it as a walkabout and holiday camera - apart from anything else, it, in its case with spare card, battery, cleaning kit, filters and a cable release etc weighs less than the D700 with a Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 mounted.
There's no real point in me posting any images - all you can tell from an 800px screen image is whether or not it's well composed and exposed, but if anyone's really interested in the camera, I can e-mail you a file or, if you really need one, I'll post you a print at up to A4, although to save me on postage, A4s will be folded to go into small envelopes so they're normal letter size. Tell me what you're looking for (high ISO, flash, long telephoto/short W/A etc and I'll do my best to supply an image for you. PM me with any requests. Most of the high ISO I have are spoiled by camera shake but you can see how noisy they are.