Ben 16 Sep (evening close up)

Ben 16 Sep (evening close up), originally uploaded by filmlab.

1012 frames later, I am starting to appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of this camera.

Strengths: small, full manual (ISO, aperture, shutter speed, manual focus!! SLR-style white balance adjustments, bracketing), lovely piece of glass with amazing colours (not to mention the 'glow'), sharp, wide angle/4x zoom, gorgeous LCD screen, and that durable, beautifully made aluminium body. Solidly built. Can shoot RAW, which means you can 'develop' the image like you would in a traditional dark/wet film lab - only digitally. This camera has most of the SLR features in a rangefinder style body - that's the size of a compact. Yet it behaves like one when you need it to, with full auto and scene modes.

Weaknesses: Noise. ISO 400 and above is NOT sharp after noise reduction. Focussing IS a bit hit and miss, even with the high speed modes. Could have a faster lock for street shooting. I wish there's filter threads too. Small body makes it hard to stabilise for a clear sharp shot. Optical Stabiliser doesn't work wonders for me (haven't checked it all out though).

But I'm not that exacting. I'd never shoot above ISO100. I won't print posters. I don't shoot sports.

And even if I do? I don't care about noise. It's like film grain to me. But having this much control in a camera I can bring everywhere: priceless.

You miss all of the shots you don't take.