This is the third post of the CX1 review series. Instead of the usual unexciting reviews , I will do the review posts in a photographic journal sort of writing.
This is how: I will write about how I used the camera in a real life situation, supplemented with some verdicts on certain review item which is the DR mode for this post.
^An open-air eating place in the street at the well known Temple Street night market. This is a typical example of illegal use of the shop front area for more business at zero cost.
Hong Kong people has a reputation of being street smart. It is simply a humble quality borne to any one living in a densely populated city largely left to their own fate. During the colonial days under British's rein that is. This quality has become a common heirloom of the people here passing from one generation to another.
The effect is that the locals can somehow work around almost every problem if they can't fix it. Some years ago I met with a Singaporean minister through a friend of mine in the city-state. I was actually on transit in Singapore to Malaysia. Fact is, the schedules of the airline and the ferry service couldn't tie in for whatever combination I could work out for the evening hours. I was actually stranded in the minister's big house. No wonder most similar travellers booked in earlier flights.
One thing was obvious to me: the stranding was a great chance for business. I wondered why the Singaporeans hadn't figured it out but kept it to myself until over dinner with the minister. I revealed to him that if the hotel could be sponsored to take in such stranded travellers, first, the evening ferry and flight service could be fully utilised; second, these travellers would spend money there for a night; third, given a promotional room rate for an extra night on their return, they might spend more. A year later, I noticed a similar arrangement offered by the Singapore Airline. I could take the credit but it could be just a coincidence.
^A shot of the Hong Kong Island taken in DR mode. The image at left is the same scene shot in normal mode. Arrangement same below.
Anyway, in the Hong Kong context, hoteliers make use of the earning capabilities of their property to the maximum. Hong Kong is probably one of the earliest place where hotels offer concessionary room rates to locals only during the non-peak season. The rooms are kept occupied, the staff busy, the patrons happy and the money flowing in. There is at least one luxury hotel to my knowledge that the rooms are almost entirely booked by locals during the promotional period.
^ The two towering buildings are the new landmark forming a gateway effect to the Victoria Harbour.
So a friend of mine took advantage of the concession and stayed some nights in a grandeur hotel. And I took advantage of the chance and photographed the awesome scene through the French window in the room.
Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour aglow with a motley of colourful neon lights at night is sensuous treat of rarity. The view is too breathtaking that it is criminal not to take out a camera and take a dozen of shots.
^Taken at the longest end of the lens, the image gives a tighter and somewhat more dramatic view to the Hong Kong Island with the mountain as the backdrop. The DR image is preferable.
In general, the usually recommended exposure of around one second cannot really reflect the beauty of the scene. A two- to four- second exposure will render the image more dramatic in some bright areas than in reality, but to some may lack authenticity owing to the different level of brightness of the neon lights.
This is the time when the DR mode of CX1 comes in handy. The mode, as many know, combines two shots with exposures separately on the brighter and dimmer areas of a scene. The good thing about it is that the final image will not look faked to my taste as with a post-processed HDR effect. The effect is mild and just right.
^To the west of the Vic Harbour is the Lautau Island. The Disneyland is tucked among the woods on the other side of the ranges.
A tripod is needed in using the DR mode. There is a function which can be activated in the menu system that a normal exposure shot can accompany the DR shot, useful for the photographer to make his choice afterwards without the hassle of taking two separate shots.
^The building with the round windows is the Jardine Building, which was the tallest building in Hong Kong in the 1970s when the skyline was less crowded.
Obviously, from the EXIF of the shots here, the DR and normal exposure shots are with half a second difference in the exposure time.
This is the function I wish for in my GX200. A smart and useful function that should worth the admission.
(to be continued)
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