Visit to Longwood Gardens with the X1

[ravinj]

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For once, I was glad to not have a DSLR with me. I saw all those people with their big DSLR and equally monster-sized zoom lenses hanging around their necks like cowbells. And here I was, with a small camera case with the X1 in it.

 

I can say with confidence that there was very little to complain about the fixed lens on X1 - I did not really miss zoom. Shutter speed however, can be a problem when you need to take a few photos in a hurry.

 

Resolution continues to impress. Notice the water droplets in the fountains in the last picture.

 

The future is small high quality cameras like the X1. Days of big DSLRs are numbered except for speciality photography.

[Tao]

Those flowers are popping in the 3rd pic; did you PP for color?

[Guest badbob]

In the last photo with all the green yard, if you could replace that white sky with something that has a little bit of color, that photo would go from being very good to spectacular.

[ravinj]

Those flowers are popping in the 3rd pic; did you PP for color?

 

Glad you asked. The 3rd pic is straight conversion from DNG to JPG using lightroom. No PP.

 

1st pic - PP applied (auto tone)

 

2nd and 3rd pic - no PP.

 

4th pic - no pp

 

5th pic - PP applied (auto tone).

[ravinj]

In the last photo with all the green yard, if you could replace that white sky with something that has a little bit of color, that photo would go from being very good to spectacular.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. Will try and post results. I am very new to digital post processing. While I did use DSLRs for a long time, I never got such image quality as I am getting from X1, to make me want to spend time on PP to improve results further.

[Dan States]

I've done made some close-up images using a +4 closeup lens and the results have been quite good. The lens holds up well when coupled with the extra magnifier.

[davidhunternyc]

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In the last photo with all the green yard, if you could replace that white sky with something that has a little bit of color, that photo would go from being very good to spectacular.

 

The Leica X1 comes with Adobe Lightroom. I am not familiar with this program. How would one change the color of the sky using Lightroom?

[Guest badbob]

The Leica X1 comes with Adobe Lightroom. I am not familiar with this program. How would one change the color of the sky using Lightroom?

 

The best bet is something like a flood fill, where the source is just a piece of sky you've saved, and you drop it in. That kind of fill should just cover the white area, but where the white area meets foliage, it can get messy unless some sort of "healing" or halo remover is used. I don't know if Lightroom can do that like Photoshop. I wanted to install Lightroom myself, but I've heard that it can't be installed on a computer that isn't connected to the Web, so Adobe can take over control of the computer. I hope I'm wrong on that.

[Guest badbob]

Here's a crude example of a fill, but it could use a better color, better cleanup around the treetops, and maybe a wisp or two of clouds.

[h00ligan]

The best bet is something like a flood fill' date=' where the source is just a piece of sky you've saved, and you drop it in. That kind of fill should just cover the white area, but where the white area meets foliage, it can get messy unless some sort of "healing" or halo remover is used. I don't know if Lightroom can do that like Photoshop. I wanted to install Lightroom myself, but I've heard that it can't be installed on a computer that isn't connected to the Web, so Adobe can take over control of the computer. I hope I'm wrong on that.[/quote']

 

You can activate by phone if needed I believe..once it times out. Tbh, the work around and what I do with adobe stuff (don't like privacy invasions) is block any phone home connections to adobes site with lil snitch on the Mac..then I check for updates manually.

[wda]

I wanted to install Lightroom myself, but I've heard that it can't be installed on a computer that isn't connected to the Web, so Adobe can take over control of the computer. I hope I'm wrong on that.

Adobe only checks to see if you need the latest updated version which often introduces improvements. Updating only applies to the current version of LR.

[wda]

Ravinj, welcome to the Forum! Fine pictures which prove that the X1 is a super travel camera provided you can work within its fixed lens specification. It is surprising how much you can do with just one lens, even when you have an M8/M9. I much prefer to be unencumbered when possible.

[h00ligan]

Adobe only checks to see if you need the latest updated version which often introduces improvements. Updating only applies to the current version of LR.

 

Adobe does more than a version check, they constantly phone home for license validation. Fwiw. The issue is if you go x amount of time they may see the product as invalid. There are work ariunds posted, but the easiest is block the phone home call before registering. I assumed this was an issue of limited connectivity and would hate to see someone stuck in the field due to adobes piracy restrictions.

 

As to the shots, looks like a nice day out!

 

Dan could you explain the 4x setup..are you hand holding in front, those results look good!