Who is that girl in the first pic? I saw her on a website.

If you saw her on a website it's probably one I write for.

You have to write for such sites?

Quote from DeadWolfBones :

If you saw her on a website it's probably one I write for.

I was trying to make a joke and say I saw her on lfsforum.net but you ruined it.

Quote from Bose321 :

You have to write for such sites?

ha ha

Quote from CheerioDM :

I was trying to make a joke and say I saw her on lfsforum.net but you ruined it.

A few pictures from this year's Strathaven Balloon Festival. Unfortunately I was only able to attend on Friday and Saturday morning (since I was at the McLaren Technology Centre watching the Belgian GP on Sunday and had to leave for the drive down on Saturday afternoon). This meant I missed the 'evening glow' (where tethered balloons use their burners in very low light - a truly spectacular sight) and many balloons flying. Anyway, I tried to get some nice close shots of the burners and canopies, in addition to the more 'standard' shots.

Full Gallery

Not the best picture. I got a few other ok panning shots at the Baltimore GP. I was using a friend's cheap polarizer filter and shooting through a window, so I'm sure that had something to do with the image quality. Scaled down it's not so bad though:

My last HDR photos

Flowers are always nice.
kind of.

Few pics

Sunset in Balaklava, Ukraine



more photos maybe later.

edit: yup, one more

Not as good as some people here, but I like the shot.

Hey guys,

not sure if anyone would be able to help but I need some advice...
I tried many times but this time I really want to get rid of my Canon 30D. It still produces amazing photos but as I travell and hike quiet a lot, the weight, size (and age) started to bother me and I decided to go to compact segment. The only property I think I might miss is DOF control, but as I usually shoot scenery/nature photos, I try to convince myself I won't miss it as much. Anyway, there are many reasons why I decided to leave DSLR not worth mentioning.

I was looking for these more "high-end" compacts as I don't want to loose the good image quality, sharpness and low noise. I found myself some good candidates:
Sony DSC RX100 (was also looking at mark 2, but not worth extra 200€)
Canon G1X, Canon G16
and Fujifilm X20.

The clear winner so far is Sony RX100, the images it produces are just amazing for a compact camera; but it's also the most expensive of those. What I expect from my new camera is definitely RAW support, low aperture, I don't need zoom - wide angles are better for me, good low-light performance (low noise, high ISO) and sharp, noise-free images. I'm fine with even 10Mpix, smaller displays, etc.

So I'm fully into the RX100, but I'm still wondering if there's anything I missed, or didn't notice on other cameras / or didn't even consider another camera? I tried to look at all the cameras available but I can't find match for Sony in terms of image quality, but I question myself if it isn't too much for (extremly good) compact camera. So maybe there's cheaper alternative I don't know about / or the other cameras aren't that bad?

Thanks for any reply

Quote from majod :

I don't need zoom - wide angles are better for me, good low-light performance (low noise, high ISO) and sharp, noise-free images. I'm fine with even 10Mpix, smaller displays, etc.

If you don't need zoom at all it might be worth looking into the fixed lens APS-C cameras such as the Ricoh GR, Nikon Coolpix A and Fuji X100S. These will give you better image quality than the RX100 but are wide(ish) angle only. The price you pay, of course... is the price - they're a bit more expensive than the RX100.

Aside from those, other options could be a Micro 4/3, Sony NEX or Samsung NX body with a prime lens - you could probably pick a combo like this up on eBay for around the same (maybe even less) price as the RX100 and it will give you better IQ at that single focal length, but it will be bigger than the APS-C compacts. Samsung NX1000 is a bargain on eBay at the moment.

Aside from these, nothing I can think of really touches the RX100 in terms of IQ for a compact camera. They're all expensive options, but along with the RX100 they really are much better than the other compacts you listed. Whether they're worth the extra £££ is up to you and your particular budget situation.

Found this interesting.
http://petapixel.com/2013/09/1 ... mises-8x-light-pop-flash/

Quote from mythdat :

Thank you very much for the reply! It really has been long since I was looking at the camera market (especially this segment) so I'm a bit disorientated.

Ricoh GR looks very very good, however it's much more expensive than RX100. Same goes for the rest

Samsung NX1000 looks interesting but I can't find any decent review or video about it so I keep looking, looks like a good camera.

Thanks again!

Pentax X-5 is too bulky?

yes it is and im afraid it cant compete with image quality of any of those compacts

Quote from mythdat :

If you don't need zoom at all it might be worth looking into the fixed lens APS-C cameras such as the Ricoh GR, Nikon Coolpix A and Fuji X100S. These will give you better image quality than the RX100 but are wide(ish) angle only. The price you pay, of course... is the price - they're a bit more expensive than the RX100.

Aside from those, other options could be a Micro 4/3, Sony NEX or Samsung NX body with a prime lens - you could probably pick a combo like this up on eBay for around the same (maybe even less) price as the RX100 and it will give you better IQ at that single focal length, but it will be bigger than the APS-C compacts. Samsung NX1000 is a bargain on eBay at the moment.

Aside from these, nothing I can think of really touches the RX100 in terms of IQ for a compact camera. They're all expensive options, but along with the RX100 they really are much better than the other compacts you listed. Whether they're worth the extra £££ is up to you and your particular budget situation.

This is all dead on.

I sold my RX100 for a Ricoh GR, but I'm not sure everyone would be as satisfied as I am with the 28mm (effective) focal length.

Some Ricoh GR stuff from Cape Cod:

Very nice shots there Ben!