on orbs and psychology, again

Casino Tower, Brisbane | January 20, 2012 | flickr

 I decided to write one more post on Fuji X10, orbs and human psychology. I am not an expert in cameras or psychology but it does not prevent me from expressing my personal opinion. I can say that the X10 is the best compact camera I ever used. But I have not used compact cameras for several years, so the same can be said about any other advanced compact. I cannot compare the X10 to other cameras. I mean practical tests, handling, and stuff like that. But I can share my experience and opinion about the X10. I like handling and control of the camera, and the manual zoom on lens is just very pleasant. The most important parameters (for me) can be accessed by pressing a button, so the control is very fast. The camera is very small and very light compared to my DSLR, so the DSLR very often stays home just because of it's size and weight. The photos from X10 are very good (keep in mind that we are talking about compact camera with small sensor) and the colors are very pleasant. It seems that now it is impossible to say a word about images from Fuji X10 without mentioned the orbs. There are so much interest in the orbs that I would not exclude the possibility that Merriam-Webster at some point will include "orbs" to official English vocabulary.

I stated many times that for me the orbs are rather irrelevant. The orbs are quite common in images taken at night but the orbs I got are small compared to the whole image. I doubt that the orbs in that image will be noticeable in this image displayed on screen. Moreover, shooting in ERT mode suppresses appearance of the white discs with sharp border. It does not resolve the issue completely but it does help. The orbs are clearly visible in my pictures of cars taken at bright day. I suspect that for street photographers this might be an issue, and one reader of this blog have confirmed that the orbs do appear quite often in his images. I may do some test shooting in the city but at the moment I am under severe time constrains. Also, my interest in this is rather limited because the orbs do not appear in my "nature" photos including pictures of very glossy leaves under bright sun.

So, the orbs do appear in my images (see the 100% unedited crop from the original JPEG below), but I do not consider it as a problem. Isn't it amazing psychological phenomena? Or may be I am just arrogant person and do not care about anyone else? I came with several explanations. First, I think that my job has a very strong effect on my psycho. I should explain about my job. I solve problems. Just in case: my problems are quite different from the problems of Winston 'The Wolf' Wolfe. But I got used to idea that i) nothing works as advertised ii) I need to make it work. So, I am always looking for a solution for a problem. In case of the Fuji X10 I may not shoot in orbs-prone conditions, or change the composition, or switch to EXR mode. I will try to overcome the white discs problem. Second, the orbs are absent in majority of my (nature-oriented) photos. In my night photos the orbs are relatively small and do not show up in images displayed on screen. So, why should I bother? I learned about the orbs problem on the dpreview forum, examined my night photo, and found the orbs. I have not noticed these white discs earlier, and I was happy with these images. This reminds me a joke about an old lady who said to her husband after her visit to a doctor: "Darling, it seems that what we thought was an orgasm for last thirty yeas is in fact called asthma". Do I really want to know the truth?   

One more remark on my psychology. I like to image "what if" things. I asked myself: will I buy the X10 now based only on opinion of other people (no personal experience with the camera)? The answer is: most probably not. I will be scared by the orbs problem. I have not bought the Fuji X100 because I was scared (and I am still scared) by problems with the lens/shutter. And I am very happy with the X10 now. So, I am glad that I bought it before I learned about orbs.

Get me right: I do understand that for some people the orbs represent the serious problem. I guess I am lucky that in conditions I use the camera the orbs do not appear. Do not consider this post as an advertisement for the camera. I cannot give any advise: all people have different needs. For some people the X10 might be very lovely camera (I am in that boat), and for someone it might be better to wait for the next model or buy something else. At the price of the X10 it is possible to buy a nice camera. It seems that this sensor blooming issue cannot be resolved by firmware update because the orbs do present in images taken with the latest firmware 1.03.