It’s probably not fair to just show the ‘bad’ pics taken by the little old camera I took for a day out on the Forth and Clyde Canal, especially since they were shot under conditions this camera doesn’t really possess the image sensor to cop with, that period when the sun has set, and darkness is hurrying to end the day.
I’m really spoilt by being able to hand hold pics taken in that zone (using a dSLR), and even later if there’s a sniff of light to be found, reflected from clouds or, nowadays, from nearby white LED street lighting.
But that’s another subject, this is about how far today’s image sensors perform compared to yesterdays.
Less than ideal, this post contains the shots that just couldn’t quite make it, no matter how I tried, The best thing about them is that between my bracing the camera, and a fairly good image stabilising system, none of those pics show any evidence of camera shake, or movement during the longish exposures.
Apart from the camera mistakenly thinking proper focus had been achieved, and allowing the shutter to be released, the next most noticeable sign of age is the poor rendition of detail. This can be seen in shots where there are trees, as the leaves and branches just run together, in a sort of green mud, rather than showing any detail of individual leaves, or even branches. The same is true of any area that has low contrast, and everything just gets muddy, and runs together. This should not be confused with poor focus.
By way of comparison, I took a couple of example shots in the sunshine, seen below, and these show that even under good lighting, the old sensor is no match for today’s, and a look at the two pics should show that despite being reasonable pics, highlights in particular are quick to hit peak white, and lose detail. Reducing the exposure doesn’t really help, as that means shadow detail is lost.
Apart from reducing the size, the only thing I did to these examples was lift the shadows to show there was detail there, and reduce the highlights to calm down the brightest areas a little. Focus is ‘as shot’, with no enhancement. It’s slightly better than seen here, as I’ve found that reducing the size of the image also reduces the sharpness – an effect it took me some time to identify as the cause of my images being ‘softened’ when seen online.
Other than note that this camera does still work reasonably well on a good day, and shouldn’t really be taken out after sunset, I think comparing the pics seen in the two posts says more than I can.
Improvements aren’t just down to the sensor, as the camera also ‘silently’ processes the capture before delivering it, and both tames down areas of high brightness, and raises shadow detail before saving the result (unless you disable this, or are shooting RAW).
I have to confess seeing this has unfortunately set me off again, and lust after the last revision of my dSLR, as its low light ability has been boosted by four stops, something that would make my life easier as I chase down hand held shots in darkness.
It would be a luxury though, as I can take shots in near darkness already, with a little help from something to lean against.
No harm in watching for a suitable body to turn up though, the real problem only comes if one does!
Secret Scotland 