Fuji X10 at night

Photographers | Brisbane, January 20, 2012 | flickr

A few more night shots from the Fuji X10. First two pictures were taken at medium resolution and high sensitivity / low noise mode. The picture above was taken at iso 1600, F2.2, 1/50 sec, and the photo of the pub below was made at iso 800, F2.2, 1/80 sec. The noise filter was set to low. I used a spot metering and auto white balance. It was pitch dark, so the photos are noisy. As I wrote earlier, the orbs / white discs are quite rare in images shot in the high sensitivity (EXR) mode.

I don't have any other high end compact cameras such as the Olympus XZ-1, so I cannot compare the X10 to other compacts "head-to-head". For me the night photos are noisy but still usable at small size. The orbs do present in some images taken in Aperture priority mode, at high resolution, but I don't feel that it is a major issue for me. Obviously I would prefer not to have the highlights clipping in shape of the white discs, especially in photos taken at low iso / long exposure, but the orbs are rather irrelevant to me. Again, it depends on personal perception, and I do understand that for some people the white discs are not acceptable.

Royal Exchange pub | Toowong, January 20, 2012 | flickr

The image below is shot at high resolution, aperture priority mode, iso 400, F2.8, 1/40 sec. The image was cropped and resized in GIMP. It seems to me that in this image the highlights clipping is quite acceptable.

 Performing Arts Center, South Bank | Brisbane, January 20, 2012

South Bank at night

South Bank, Brisbane | January 20, 2012 | flickr

The Wheel of Brisbane and Performing Arts Center, South Bank, Brisbane. The picture was taken on Fuji X10, 12 megapixels, iso 400, F2.8, 1/52 sec, handheld. I also included the unedited 100% crop from the original JPEG. Click on image to see the bigger version.

100% crop from the original image

People's Palace, Brisbane

 

Base Brisbane Central | January 20, 2012 | flickr

I like old buildings like this one. It was build in 1910-1911, so it is very old by local standards. You can get more info about the building from the John Oxley Library blog.

The picture was taken with Fuji X10, in high sensitivity / low noise mode, six megapixels, iso 800, F2.2, 1/56 sec, exposure compensation -0.3. The image was rotated and resized in GIMP. The 100% crop from the unedited image is below.

Fuji X10 at night

Reminiscence | January 20, 2012 | flickr

Shot with Fuji X10, iso 200, F4.5, 1/1.4 sec, exposure compensation -2.0, at 12 megapixels in aperture priority mode. I like "ghost" pair walking along the river. The image made up a story in my mind, and it somehow associates with Amarcord.

And yes, the orbs do present in this photo :-) The whole image was ruined by nasty white discs.

Just in case: I bet similar photo can be made with many other cameras including compacts. Do not consider it as "an advertising" for the camera. In these days the cameras are so good compared to what was available just a few years ago. Thom Hogan wrote a nice text on quality of modern mirror-less cameras which also can be extrapolated to some degree on advanced compacts.

The wheel of Brisbane

The wheel of Brisbane, South Bank. January 20, 2012 | flickr

May be next time I should take a ride, not just take the pictures :-). It is about 60 meters high. The wheel is located at South Bank parkland, near the Performing Arts Center.

Fuji X10, iso 400, dynamic range 400%, F4.0, 1/56 sec.

Next picture was taken later, so the sky is black. iso 100, F3.6, 1/25 sec, tripod

The picture below was edited in GIMP, and the levels were changed.

Fuji X10 at night: how to deal with the orbs

Brisbane at night. January 20, 2012 | flickr

I think the best title for the photo above is "Watching the orbs" or something like this :-) And yes, the photo has orbs in it, but I would not call the orbs obtrusive in the image of that size. Actually, I like the picture. The colors might be too yellow, but it turned out that I like these OOC colors. The image was rotated ~2 degree, and I cloned a tiny strip in one corner to fill in the background. 

I went to the city this Friday night to take some pictures with the Fuji X10. Generally I do not do a night photography, but I was curious about orbs, or white discs, appeared in photos taken at night as  a result of sensor blooming around overexposed areas. I wrote a few posts on the orbs issue, but till now I had just a few snapshots taken at dusk in my first days out with the camera.

It seems that the orbs do not appear at twilight but only present in photos taken at night, with bigger contrast between lights and background. I am talking about subtropical night in Brisbane, so it is very dark. The photo below was taken at iso 200, dynamic range 200%, F4.5, exposure 0.77 sec, exposure compensation -2.0, 12 megapixels. The photo was resized, and the 100% crop is provided below. 

test for orbs at iso 200

100% crop from the image above

The same scene was taken in EXR mode. I think I used high sensitivity/low noise option for the photo below.  In this mode the pictures are recoded at 6 megapixels.  The tech: iso 1600, F2.8, 1/27 sec, exposure compensation -2.0. With such exposure time it might be possible to take this shot without a tripod. Moreover, the highlight clipping areas do not have sharp borders anymore!

test for orbs: EXR mode, iso 1600

100% crop from the image above

So, it seems that it is possible to get rid of orbs in night shots by using EXR mode (high iso/low noise). It comes at price of  reduced resolution and visible noise at high iso. On positive side: it is possible to take such shot without tripod. Usually I use the lowest level of noise reduction in the camera, so the results can be better. I guess it is an interplay between contrast and the camera's ability to handle it, so it it possible that in harsh conditions even EXR mode would not be able to combat the orbs.

I have not tried to shoot the same scene with iso 1600 in standard Aperture priority mode at 12 megapixels. I suspect the noise will be very high but the orbs might be still there. I tried iso 400 with dynamic range 400% and the orbs were still visible.

Fuji X10: zoom during exposure

Brisbane at night. January 20, 2012. | flickr

Zoom on Fuji X10 lens is controlled manually, and it is possible to change the focal length during long exposure. The picture above is "out of camera" JPEG taken with such "changing" focal length. The image was resized in GIMP and the unsharpen mask was applied. The exposure time was 1/1.3 sec, at iso 100 and F3.2. I used spot metering and exposure compensation was set to -1.0. The camera was mounted on tripod.

It is possible to use the same trick at day light with neutral density filter.

Fuji X10 at night

Royal Exchange pub in Toowong. December 12, 2012.

This picture was taken on one of my first outings with the Fuji X10. The Royal Exchange Hotel / pub is very popular among students from the University of Queensland and local folk. The picture was shot as a high quality JPEG at iso 1250, 12 megapixels, 11.3 mm, F3.2, 1/43 sec, handheld, with standard noise reduction, aperture priority mode. The image was resized and saved at standard quality in Olympus Master software. The 100% crop is below.

I have checked my pictures taken with Fuji X10 at night for orbs, or white discs. To be fair, I have very few photos taken at night with the X10, and all were taken in my early days with the camera, generally at default settings. These were snapshots. It turned out that some images are orb-free (see above) while other do have orbs, for example the car lights on the picture below do look like orbs, especially if you check the image at pixel level. I have not done any post-processing for these images except resizing and cropping. You need to click in image to see the bigger size.

 Sherwood road, Toowong. December 12, 2011.

 100% crop from the image above

IMHO these images have several other acute quality issues such as high noise and loss of details, and for me the orbs in the latter image are just one of the many issues, and definitely not the biggest problem. I noticed the orbs on this image only after I searched for these abnormalities. On computer screen these white discs look OK to my eyes. May be I need a bigger screen:-)

I would really appreciate if the readers of this blog can answer some questions for me.
First, how would you estimate the impact of the orbs on the last photo?
(e.g., the image is bad anyway, the orbs had ruined the image, the picture is acceptable at low resolution etc)
Second: do the white discs look unnatural on the resized/smaller photo of Sherwood road?