Images from MX-1

The MX-1 compact cameras were on a special deal last week at Amazon (£180 and free post) so I decided to get one. It arrived yesterday and I am very impressed and pleased with it. These are some of the first images that I snapped this afternoon at Apsley Lock - a marina and housing complex beside the Grand Union Canal. Hope the photos, and that they were taken with the MX-1, are of interest.

1. The marina is packed with narrow boats:



2. A narrow noat at its berth:



3. The housing extends alongside the canal:



4. Boats also moor along the canal at Apsley:



5. The bow of one of the narrowboats:



6. Some boats have their heating fuel stored on the roof:



7. The bridge in the background is the pedestrian route to the pub:



8. The local pub is on the former site of a paper company:



9. Baskets of flowers even in February:



10. The barrels outside the pub are used to support ashtrays:



Philip

It's versatile and the quality is great. My MX-1 travels everywhere with me.

Nice images!

Just snagged the same deal and await delivery. Your pictures convince me I made a good decision. I'm sick of not having a good camera with me at extraordinary moments. Hopefully that will no longer be the case

Nicely done with the pics...cheers

John and Steve - thank you for viewing and for your positive comments.

Philip

Nice shots sir

Thank you, Mike.

Philip

Eeeeee... I remember when I were a lad, it was all John Dickinsons, as far as the eye could see!

Nice down there, especially for summer evening walks and sitting outside the pub. It's nice walk along that stretch to Winkwell and beyond.

Have the MX-1 as well and it's a great camera. I added a Flip-bac grip to mine and it adds a nice additional bit of purchase for one handed operation.

I too partook in the Amazon £180 offer, not had much chance to use it yet but judging by your images it was a good deal.


Have you got any details for the Flip-Bac grip you bought eenymac? I'd be quite keen to get one too.

I got the Flipbac G1 grip, see link below:

http://flipbac.com/camera-grip-1-2-3-difference.htm

Thanks eenymac, did you order it from them direct?

Yep! Ordered from them direct and took a couple of weeks I think by snail mail from across the pond.

I also got the Kiwifotos lens adapter so I can use 58mm filters. Basically an aluminium tube, push fit and held in place with a couple of hex-head grub screws, then just screw in a filter.
I did get a short lens hood too but it vignettes at the wide-angle end.
Just need to add a protective cover on the rear screen now.

Thank you for your comment on the images Stephen, and thanks also to Ian for the info. on those useful extras for the MX-1.

Philip

Thats clearly a very useful little camera to have Philip! I can appreciate how it might encourage more picture taking - I imagine it makes the process all very painless.

I especially like your telephoto shots here - the perspectice compression works very well, and there is impressive shaarpness with no obvious camera shake - and I'm assuming you were hand-holding.

The wider ones with skys clearly exceed the dynamic range of the camera - but then the DR of any camera may have benn challenged here. Do you think the results would have been different with your DSLR?

Thank you for your comments, Nigel.

My first impressions are that it really is a great camera of its type - bigger than other compacts but beautifully constructed and small enough to have with me all the time, so no excuses for not taking pictures in dry weather! It is easy to use, the tilting screen being a useful feature that I hope Ricoh-Pentax put on the next DSLR; however, as with other cameras without a viewfinder, it can be more difficult to compose shots in bright conditions.

The shots were all hand-held, and the combination of SR and shutter speed kept them sharp. You are right about DR - the conditions were rather unusual, most of the sky being bright, but with a cloud bank moving over the sun so it was not lighting up the ground. Perhaps the effect would have been better corrected had I thought to switch to the camera's HDR Mode, but my brain mode can be a bit slow to react properly nowadays!

If the rumours that the MX-1 is discontinued are true, then anyone thinking of getting one should go for an end-of-line bargain - it is a great value compact camera.

Philip

I did mean to ask if you had used the ND Filter. No idea what that stands for but on video reviews appears to work like a polariser, or certainly gave that impression.

That first image appears to have turned out well considering the contrast challenge given to the camera, hence wondering about this ND thing