Focus on Imaging 2013

Another year another visit to Focus on Imaging in Birmingham.

What set this year apart from previous years was my complete lack of interest in any new camera, gear or gadgets. It was nice to see the Fuji X100s, the split image manual focus is great and would be perfect with a red peaking overlay and Fuji has really improved the operation, and the X20, the information overlay in the OVF is great and puts other OVFs to shame.
Aside from this there was not much to really see at Focus and it starts to feel like Fuji is the only manufacturer who actually cares about this show or maybe it's also because Canon and Nikon have absolutely nothing remotely interesting for me with their boring dSLRs and very poor mirrorless and compact cameras.
Still, at least Canon and Nikon bothered to show up, Sony, Panasonic and as usual Ricoh did not even do this. Olympus had a small booth dedicated to the OMD which seem to do very well for them and rightly so, it's a great camera and the best m4/3 camera.

This time round it was less of a gear show for me but instead I did have time to take pictures of the models and people around. A 53mm lens is not perfect for this task as you have to get very close but it was still good fun to do and the GXR performed very well and showed why I don't care about any new cameras.

So unlike the previous years no camera talk here and instead pictures so in a way the focus this year was on the actual imaging for me ;). Hope you enjoy this series.

Focus on Imaging 2012

Another year of Focus but this time around there were more interesting cameras to play around with, mirrorless options grew and got more and more interesting over the years.
As interesting and innovative some of the mirrorless cameras are, as uninspiring are the model numbers of the cameras. Starting with Fuji with the X-Pro 1 or is it X1 Pro, the Olympus OM-D or E-M 5 or both (or whatever silliness Olympus has done by using two model names), the Canon GX1 or G1X or something else with this combination of letters and number 1 (which seem to be the only ones in the alphabet for camera manufacturers), the non-functional Sigma DP1 and DP2 Merrill (seems Sigma only uses the DP1 and DP2 naming for the compact cameras and did not purchase the rights to any higher numbers or different letters) it seems Nikon was the most innovative with their 1 series, shame the cameras are cheap plastic toys. Naming is not something the manufacturers have really figured out.

But let's look at the actual cameras, like last year I was again interested in a new camera from Fuji. The X-Pro 1, like the X100 and X10 before it, is a great looking camera and shows that Fuji has figured out that retro is in and sells. The X-Pro 1 is their first mirrorless interchangeable lens camera and should prove very popular and give Leica a well deserved trashing for not being innovative at all and re-hashing outdated designs with their M series.
Handling the camera actually feels very good, it is nicely built and Fuji has listened to complaints/feedback and improved the menu and external controls from the X100 and X10. The camera is also way more responsive than the sluggish X100, offers more customization options and a improved menu system.
Unfortunately (or as usual) Fuji falls short of having the best camera of the show with some annoying but avoidable problems. My most hated feature in cameras is the screen freeze when focusing and the X-Pro 1 not only has this but the AF is also very slow and mostly not very reliable and misfocusses very often, especially at close distances. While the AF is pretty poor (like the X100 in terms of speed and reliability), the MF speed has been improved so now turning the ring actually moves the MF point at a reasonable pace, unfortunately there is no focus peaking so MF is done by assessing fuzziness on the screen. The last point is the screen does not tilt, this would not have been a major point a while ago but right now there is no excuse not to have a tilt screen.

I did not expect much of the Olympus OM-D (I will call it OM-D since this is the only sensible name for it and not E-M5) given the poor track record of Olympus with their other m4/3 cameras with their poor controls and build. They did manage to surprise me though and this camera stole the show, it is THE best m4/3 camera to date and one of the nicest built and handling mirrorless you can buy. It has a great screen which you can tilt, a very good built-in EVF, customizable controls with wheels, very good build quality with weather sealing, it's very fast (the AF especially is impressive) and very responsive and has some nice accessories available for it.
It basically shows that Olympus has been listening to feedback and has improved their cameras, unlike Panasonic who have got worse an worse. Right now I would go as far to say that this is the only m4/3 camera one should consider and if I were not in the process to get rid of my m4/3 gear or even if m4/3 would be better at supporting M lenses I would be very tempted by it.

I have also played around with the Sony NEX-7 a bit more and still like it, next to the OM-D it's probably the best camera at the show but it feels a bit hollow and way too light compared with the GXR or GRD cameras which feel solid. The lens selection is still not there yet and without proper support for M lenses it is too expensive right now compared with the IMO more capable (in terms of M lenses) and cheaper NEX-5n, despite the great results Björn is getting with his camera.

As for the rest, the Canon G1X is simply a G11 with big sensor, which is not a bad thing per se but it's not very innovative and the OVF is a joke. The Panasonic GX1 is simply a GF1 with handgrip and a (way overdue) improved sensor but without any flip screen, built-in EVF, weather sealing or any features worth mentioning. The Nikon 1 series are horrible plastic cameras with huge (and slow lenses) and some of the worst controls since the Sigma DP1. The Sigma DP1 and DP2 Merrill look like what the original DP1 or at least DP2 should have been but they are years too late to the party.
As usual neither Ricoh nor Pentax were around so unfortunately I could not check out the new, funky looking Pentax K-01 or the new A16 Zoom module.

So overall mirrorless offers have been growing and have got better. Still, after the GXR Mount A12, I am not tempted by anything but a new GXR body with a flip screen.

Having said this, I did end up buying something. I got myself a Holga lens for the Samsung NX mount which I intend to convert to M mount and use on the GXR. I do like the one for the GF1 and wanted to have one for the GXR, too.

Focus on Imaging 2011

LC1, f2.4, 1/160, ISO 200, RAW, 90mm

The latest Focus in Birmingham did not present much new and was pretty boring compared with previous years.
Maybe it was manufacturers not releasing any new products during the show or maybe it was lack of interest from my part in anything but the Fuji X100.

Since Photokina in September last year I could not wait to see a working X100 and I am sure I was not alone. This was the main reason to go all the way to Birmingham for me this time around. Unlike a few years ago when I was excited about the Sigma DP1, the Fuji X100 did not disappoint.

Ever since Fuji stole the spotlight at Photokina with the X100 people have been constantly talking about it and have been analyzing and scrutinizing every piece of information released. In recent weeks there have been more and more sample images released so the excitement was very high. The expectations of some people were so high that no camera can realistically fulfill them so some people are bound to be slightly disappointed.

So let me say that while I think the Fuji X100 is one of the best looking cameras and I will end up buying one just for that point alone even though it has a few problems. Some can be fixed in firmware and some will need to be changed in the X200 but overall it's great to see that Fuji has let the right people design a camera and has made one of the best enthusiast cameras you can currently find. Let's hope this inspires more manufacturers (Panasonic I look at you here) to pay more attention to design and controls on cameras, so far it seems only Ricoh, Leica and now Fuji have figured it out, I could also include Epson with the RD1 here but this was a one off like the Panasonic LC1.

Focus on Imaging 2010

This years 'Focus on Imaging' exhibition was a bit of a letdown. Other than the announcement of the Panasonic G2 and G10 cameras and the first chance for me to try the Samsung NX10 there was not really much to see.

The usual models on stage were also very rare and aside from a few places most did not even have models.

Focus on Imaging 2009

This year the 'Focus on Imaging' exhibition celebrated it's 20th year. It was not quite as glamorous though since there was little new to see from the manufacturers. It was a good opportunity to get some hands-on with some cameras but overall there was nothing very exciting.

Focus on Imaging 2008

GRD, f2.4, 1/30, ISO 200, RAW, 40mm

Today I went to Birmingham to the Focus on Imaging 2008 show mainly for two reasons. First in the hope to see Ricoh there, have a chat and maybe try out the new R8. Second to try out the long awaited and often delayed Sigma DP-1.

The first reason did not work as Ricoh was not present but this meant I could spend more time at the Sigma booth and getting large format prints from the GRD done.

Now let's start with the report. Although it took place in 2 halls there were not that many camera manufacturers there and the ones who've been there did not show off too many exciting cameras. What was nice though is to see all the companies providing largeprints and print products. This allowed me to get a few large prints from the Ricoh GRD and they came out very nice considering the size. The colors are great, no visible noise but slightly soft when looking close. I guess with more PP you can get better results though.

On the way to the Sigma stand I had the chance to test the GRD and 40mm lens with studio lighting and take a few pictures of a model. I am very impressed with the quality and details the GRD captured, the colors are great as always from Ricoh cameras.

Now once at the Sigma stand was where the real fun began. The long awaited DP-1 finally there to see and handle.
Even before holding it it strikes you as to how big and chunky the camera looks, it is pretty long (like the old Ricoh GX/GX8) but with the portruding lens it's wider although it has the same height as the GRD. Once you hold it you'll realize three things, first that if feels kinda plasticky and not very solid, second thing is that it is lighter than it looks and the third thing is that there is no grip so is a bit like the "soap-box" cameras. Both GRDs have a much better build, grip and are a lot smaller.
Now when turning the camera on you're either relieved or disapointed as it makes no audible noise like the gool ol' GRD ;) . The lens extracts smoothly to it's indended position, this is not very fast and more in line with the Ricoh GX (original GX and not GX100) so both the GRD I and GRD II are slightly faster. This is the time I realized the biggest flaw of the DP-1 and this is the LCD. It is not very bright, has a low resolution, low viewing angles and washed out colors. Still, it's not that much worse than the GRD I screen and I could live with that. However the refresh rate is reallywhat kills it. It is slow and creates ghosting everytime something moves or you move the camera. You can forget using it for action shots or panning with it. This is a big disapointment and should not be like this on a camera this expensive, I can forgive the cheap build quality but not this. The GRD II screen is miles ahead in brightness, resolution, refreshrate and the colors are more accurate.
Now let's move to one of the most important things for me, the controls and operation. It was always clear that the DP-1 won't come close to the great (and IMO perfect) Ricoh controls so let's see what works well and what not. The best thing on the DP-1 is without doubt the focus wheel, great feature and very fast to use. Now you have to use it quite often as the AF is quite slow although nowhere near the useless AF found on Nikon Coolpix cameras. Unfortunatelly the rest is also not really convincing.
The mode dial works like any mode dial but is IMO too big and not positioned well, still this is not a big deal. The zoom buttons only zoom in playback mode and can't be assigned any other function. This is not very good and Sigma should fix this with a firmware update and allow them to be used, like on the GRD, for EV compensation or assigned other settings (like the Ricoh Adj. menu). The AE lock button works and does exactly what it says it does.
Now the EV button changes either the EV compensation or in Manual mode between shutter and aperture selection. One weird thing is that in Manual mode the camera always displayed EV -3 on the display, think this is a bug within the beta firmware. The left and right arrows change the selected shutter speed or aperture but it is not very fast or convenient. The buttons are in general too small and as the symbols on them are black it's not easy to see what they are used for so it needs getting used to. Overall I am not impressed with the controls and why not the worst I've seen not good either.
The menu is ok and easy to navigate but the response is slow and you always have the live preview as background so it can make certain things difficult to see depending on what you have in front of the camera. I very much prefer the Ricoh GRD II menu over this and even the GRD I menu is better although some things are more cryptic in the Ricoh menu. Maybe I just prefer the Ricoh menu because it allows you to customize the camera so much that you don't have to go in there afterwards. Overall the DP-1 feels a bit slow and you always have to wait for the camera unlike the very responsive GRD II or still fast GRD I.
RAW write times are around 4-5sec and it has no buffer so you have to wait for the camera to finish writing. While it's almost 10sec faster than the GRD I it is slower than the GRD II as it does not have the 2nd shot buffer.
Now a quick look at the external OVF compared to the GV-1 and GV-2 from Ricoh. The Sigma OVF is tiny and feels cheap and flimsy as it'splastic, it's dark and the framelines are very hard to see. The GV-1 is so much bettter that Laurence from the Sigma stand grabbed my GRDand tried to use it on the DP-1. It does not work however as it's too big and comes against the mode dial, the Ricoh GV-2 should work finehowever. The Sigma OVF is very small and won't take much space but that's about it.
Now I am pretty disappointed from what I've seen. Sure, the IQ should be superior but I am not sure this is enough to make it worth the asking price. Overal the DP-1 in the current state is too slow in operation and too big to always have with you. Reminds me of the Fuji F30, a great sensor in a so-so camera. But not everything is lost and Sigma can improve on this so I hope the DP-2 will be out faster than the DP-1 and adresses some of the issues with the speed, LCD and controls.

As a side note while having the GRD on the counter some people were clearly more impressed by it than the DP-1.