Photography News 96 - Newsletter

Big test

the top, the first four are exposure compensation, drive mode, white- balance and metering zone. Scrolling down brings the remainder into view. It’s a pity that the running order can’t be customised. For example, white- balance and metering zone are less crucial, and I’d prefer two of the focus zone options to be at the top. Exposure compensation can only be done via its icon and there’s no mechanical option. Setting compensation is easy, though. By touching the icon, you get a scale on the right and the set compensation value appears in the centre. With your thumb, adjust compensation and see the effect in real time. This is quick, as is moving the focusing zone around the screen, which is also done by touch. The touchscreen is sensitive, which is both good and bad. Good, because it is so responsive; bad, because I often brought up the compensation feature, as I’d inadvertently touched it with my thumb, which is very easy to do. There is an exposure lock to add fine-tuning, but it’s small and low profile. It should be much bigger. In terms of exposure, focusing and white-balance on the ZX1 did a decent job. Autofocusing is excellent in good light and when

there’s contrast in the scene. It’s less sure-footed at lower light levels. The shutter release needs to be pushed down quite a way before the AF system kicks in, and I’d prefer a shorter travel. The AF system has three options: face detection, touch & release and single point. These are available in three sizes, the largest of which is not that big in terms of the overall frame. AF field size and focus mode are on two different icons, with the choice of single-shot AF and continuous AF on yet another. Face detect worked pretty well if you’re two or three metres from the subject – once it found a face the focus point was quite tacky. If you’re shooting using the monitor, the AF point can be dragged by touch to follow the subject. There is no touch and drag when using the EVF. Autoexposures using the multi- segment mode were generally good, but it often underexposed, usually by -0.5EV. This is not a problem in Raw, but if you want out-of-camera JPEGs, without any editing, I’d leave the camera set, with some plus exposure compensation dialled in. I shot in auto white-balance and, on sunny scenes with blue skies, results did not always look neutral. Not warm, not cool, but a blue

ON SCREEN The LCD monitor is large at 4.3in, so you get a lovely preview image and good touch operation. The screen bend on the right has ten icons in total, accessed by scrolling up and down to adjust settings. The running order of these icons can’t be customised. To access settings, preview shots and edit images, you need to swipe the monitor up or down on the left – there’s no indication of the sensitive area. Lightroom is built-in. Here, on the right, you can see an image being edited

PERFORMANCE: LENSQUALITY

F/2

F/2.8

SPECS › Aperture range

f/2-22 with A setting › Filter thread 52mm › Minimum focus 30cm

ON THE STREET The ZX1 has decent high ISO performance if you enjoy street photography. This scene was shot at 1/20sec at f/2 and ISO 1000. The image was processed in Lightroom in the computer, with no noise reduction applied

F/4

F/5.6

The Zeiss ZX1 was placed in front of our custom test chart, with a series of shots taken at every click stop of the fixed 35mm f/2 Distagon lens. Test Raws were processed in Adobe Lightroom with default sharpening. Optical performance was very good, as you would expect from Zeiss. Images looked sharp across the frame at f/2, and got even better at f/2.8. Stopping down to f/4 and f/5.6 elicited yet more improvement, with the finest detail looking great. Image quality remained high at f/11, and while diffraction did have an impact at f/16 and f/22, it wasn’t bad. The only let-down with the lens was its poor resistance to flare (even with the lens hood on). I got flare spots even when the sun was just out of shot. Shooting into a low winter sun produced a large flare spot in the centre of the frame.

F/8

F/11

F/16

F/22

SOAK IT UP Tackle scenes with intricate detail and there’s no doubt the ZX1 can make the most of it. This is an out-of-camera JPEG shot at 1/180sec at f/9, ISO 100 and AWB. The sky is marginally too yellow for my taste

Issue 96 | Photography News 45

photographynews.co.uk