Messages

1

EOS Bodies / Re: Patent: Canon Foveon Sensor

« on: May 24, 2013, 12:18:55 AM »

Yes. I agree.
The lack of third party RAW processing software support doesn't help as well.

Are you saying you can't process the foveon's RAW images with third party software?  Because myself and most others who used it, did so with no trouble.  I have not heard of a lack of support for the new Merrill sensor, if that is what you're saying.  So that's news to me.  You're saying Lightroom 4 cannot open Merrill RAW files?

Yes. I was talking about Merrill RAW files, Adobe has no support for them yet. However, previous generations of Foveon RAW are supported.

2

EOS Bodies / Re: Patent: Canon Foveon Sensor

« on: May 23, 2013, 02:27:01 PM »

well MTF diagrams  gives you good information about the lens you are picking, so does this curves about problems with 3 layers of filter, there are other constructions  , read earlier answer
IF there had  been only minor problem with a Foveon or similar construction you can be sure there had been  sensors  out on the market since  years back
And Foveon is not the first with a construction like this.They are the first to do a commercial product

Got any diagrams on how those problems are/should be solved?
I think that scientific method is the best, except when people start using it religiously, like "... this is the only way, now and forever, amen" or "... my book says X, so your book is wrong, because my religion is the right one".
Perhaps one of the reasons why Foveon is not very popular, is that it requires more in-camera processing power, which results in slow shooting speed and short battery life.

I would say the biggest reason Foveon doesn't sell is they are stuck in Sigma cameras. Sigma is NOT known for producing a high quality camera body, nor is it know for high quality or high end DSLR features and functionality. Their menu system is a joke. Foveon has some EXCELLENT strengths, and for types of photography that do not require high ISO (i.e. landscapes), it is an excellent design. The problem is that Sigma owns it, and they just plain and simply don't make a very good camera. Personally, I find that to be a sad state of affairs. I think Sigma purchased Foveon thinking the sensor itself would bring in the sales.

I think the Foveon+Sigma story is an excellent example of how camera BODY and its functionality overall is significantly more important than just the sensor.

Yes. I agree.
The lack of third party RAW processing software support doesn't help as well.

3

EOS Bodies / Re: Patent: Canon Foveon Sensor

« on: May 23, 2013, 11:27:23 AM »

well MTF diagrams  gives you good information about the lens you are picking, so does this curves about problems with 3 layers of filter, there are other constructions  , read earlier answer
IF there had  been only minor problem with a Foveon or similar construction you can be sure there had been  sensors  out on the market since  years back
And Foveon is not the first with a construction like this.They are the first to do a commercial product

Got any diagrams on how those problems are/should be solved?
I think that scientific method is the best, except when people start using it religiously, like "... this is the only way, now and forever, amen" or "... my book says X, so your book is wrong, because my religion is the right one".
Perhaps one of the reasons why Foveon is not very popular, is that it requires more in-camera processing power, which results in slow shooting speed and short battery life.

4

EOS Bodies / Re: Patent: Canon Foveon Sensor

« on: May 23, 2013, 08:55:24 AM »

Foveon rocks! 
FF+Foveon=FFF
FFF+mirrorless=me happy 

foveon dont rock, if so there have been a good foveon sensor out by now with good high iso properties and easy to to convert  to color true pictures with out tons of mathematical calculations.
se my earlier answer:

a Foveon solution with different layers is not a good solution, there are already other solutions tested, a single cell with prismatic properties that divides the RGB to surfaces that are equal and not stratified

Foveon is NOT about high ISO.
Leica is NOT about high ISO.
Medium format is NOT about high ISO.
Why so many people are going crazy about high ISO? I understand that it's useful, specially when you are shooting for money and you need to deliver. I'm not a pro, I shoot for pleasure and I prefer noise-free low ISO camera with better DR and resolution. Sigma Merrill series Foveon is not perfect, but (correct me if I'm wrong) it is only 3-rd generation sensor and at ISO100 it kicks the color-guessing CMOS technology in their balls.

no it doesn't regarding  colors and how we se colors. Bayer sensors don't have a lower limit on color accuracy, they can achieve literally perfect (100% match to human eye perception) color.
http://alt-vision.com/documentation/AeroSense-2003-Oral.pdf

Diagrams that can help make sense of this can you found on pages 20, 21, and 22.
The diagram on page 22 is the one that will give you the true, better insight. Look at the human eye curves (upper left graph) and the Bayer camera curves (lower left graph)
Pay attention to their shapes, and how they interact with each other. The Bayer curves is similar to the eye curves. Blue barely crosses red, and green is definitely a hump in the middle. All the slopes are similar.

Now look at the Foveon (upper right) curve. Its nowhere close. Look at where red and blue cross. Instead of being below 10% of their peak values, they're at 50%. Blue should have been finished (totally out of the picture) by about 550n, but it's still going strong all the way to 660nm (pretty deep red). Green and red should both be sloping downward from 600nm on, but instead red is sloping up. This is example  why the Foveon sensors have considerable difficulty discriminating many colors.

Eric Fossum ones wrote, clarity and richness from  the Foveon image  is a equal wonder  as when a jumbo jet taking off.

Diagrams are just diagrams. I don't pick lenses by looking at MTF diagrams, I look at RAW images. Same with cameras. Those signals must be filtered, corrected and processed before you get a picture. Canon CMOS and Sony CMOS deliver different results, why do you think that Sigma Foveon and Canon Foveon should be the same?

5

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Olympus OMD EM5 or 6D

« on: May 23, 2013, 08:36:49 AM »

I think something I'm looking for is definitely not point and shoot (think: something with a viewfinder).

Thanks for all the advice so far, but I'm really considering the EM5 just because of the smaller profile.
If I intend to shoot with a 6D, its profile is much larger and would probably attract more attention. I believe the less attention that I attract, the more focused I will be when composing..
The 6D also lacks weather sealing ("splashproof", fine.)...

Oh, and one last consideration... I am a student so I don't have few thousand dollars to pull out my arse.
Thus, another plus for the lower priced, Olympus camera.
Sigh.

Maybe I should just give up and start using film (I do have an AE-1 and an AT-1 in my closet)...

Why are people all of a sudden scared of being noticed with a camera? Be confident with your equipment. Point it like you mean it. Otherwise whats the point?

In Japan just about every Jim Bob and his uncle has a camera and they take pictures of just about anything.

I get a lot of curious people enquiring about my 7D and what lens I use. Perfect time to chat to them and maybe get a picture of them too!

If you want discreet an iPhone is just as good as any p&s. it's better in fact cos its more useful!!

yeah well you should visit great britain or the usa.   

then you will notice you are one the same level as a suspected peadophile or terrorist.

did you really not noticed how problematic it is in some countrys to take pictures in public?
i mean... the internet is full of reports and videos about this.

and no.. after a dozend such discussions you don´t have time nor lust to discuss you rights with the police or security guys.
 
while the gov. is monitoring every street corner... photographer (especially with a DSLR) are forbidden to take pictures.

http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/001022.html

http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/photo-news/535627/police-reasonably-suspected-photographer-was-terrorist

http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/photo-news/535630/photographer-in-police-picture-ban-sparks-met-probe-update-3-15pm

http://www.yugatech.com/photography/that-no-photography-allowed-policy/

http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=2018.0

http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=2360.msg50352#msg50352

Been to Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines and Australia. I'm from the UK and that was the only place I ever had police question me. Yes it annoys me but hey I didn't do anything wrong or break any laws. Why should I sweat it. (By the way I am of Pakistani descent and yeah I do get the "terrorist" stare). However what half wit terrorist goes around with a 5D mark II and a 70-200 lens? Yeah if I was a terrorist do u think I would be using that? Twats! (Referring to police).

My point is, if you look like you are on a job (tripod, bag, vest etc) they'll just leave you be. You could also get permission from local authorities before you shoot, that way you are covered if cops turn up.

I think this "guy with a camera must be up to no good" stigma needs to be corrected.

Exactly. Hiding a small stealthy camera seems even more suspicious .

6

EOS Bodies / Re: Patent: Canon Foveon Sensor

« on: May 23, 2013, 01:58:19 AM »

Foveon rocks! 
FF+Foveon=FFF
FFF+mirrorless=me happy 

foveon dont rock, if so there have been a good foveon sensor out by now with good high iso properties and easy to to convert  to color true pictures with out tons of mathematical calculations.
se my earlier answer:

a Foveon solution with different layers is not a good solution, there are already other solutions tested, a single cell with prismatic properties that divides the RGB to surfaces that are equal and not stratified

Foveon is NOT about high ISO.
Leica is NOT about high ISO.
Medium format is NOT about high ISO.
Why so many people are going crazy about high ISO? I understand that it's useful, specially when you are shooting for money and you need to deliver. I'm not a pro, I shoot for pleasure and I prefer noise-free low ISO camera with better DR and resolution. Sigma Merrill series Foveon is not perfect, but (correct me if I'm wrong) it is only 3-rd generation sensor and at ISO100 it kicks the color-guessing CMOS technology in their balls.

7

EOS Bodies / Re: Patent: Canon Foveon Sensor

« on: May 22, 2013, 11:56:41 AM »

Foveon rocks! 
FF+Foveon=FFF
FFF+mirrorless=me happy 

8

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Olympus OMD EM5 or 6D

« on: May 22, 2013, 07:08:01 AM »

Do you realize that any f/3.5-5.6 FF zoom lens is equivalent to f/1.8-2.8 MFT zoom lens? I doubt that it would be much smaller, lighter or cheaper and better optically. 6D+40/2.8 equivalent would be EM5+20/1.4, which does not exist, while 25/1.4 is less portable and much more expensive. 6D+50/1.8'II(cheap!) beats EM5+25/0.95 in IQ, price and portability, easily. If you really don't care about DoF, distortion, perspective, OVF and edge-to-edge sharpness, then just get a good P&S camera.

9

Lenses / Re: I have a weight limit....what would you bring?

« on: May 17, 2013, 10:35:52 AM »

All interesting and thanks for everyone's thoughts.  Today I am leaning towards the 24-105 + 17-40 + "Shorty 40" (for low light situations) in my Retrospective bag.  I love my 70-200 but on past trips, based on EXIF on LR, rarely used it (this is my first trip with the 5D - my old kit was a crop with 15-85 + 10-22 + 70-200).  I did use the WA zoom for interiors.  I know that I'll miss whatever I leave home, but I've lugged a heavier kit in temps over 100F and it is no fun.

The Samyang 14 is a great thing but I don't know how often I'd feel the need over the WA zoom.  I can always stitch in PP. 

Maybe the ultimate answer is to bring a personal porter!   

Well, when it comes to stitching and cropping, all you need is shorty-40, really . And if you don't print "billboards", you can easily crop an 85mm FoV out of it (that's like 1/4 of the frame ~ 5.5mp).

10

Lenses / Re: Poll: Most Wanted New Lenses of 2013.

« on: May 17, 2013, 04:58:02 AM »

What I'd most like to see is a line of EF-S prime lenses, starting with about a 14–18mm pancake.

Longer ef-s primes won't happen because you can just plug a shorter ef lens and use it with the 1.6x crop factor, the smaller aps-c mirror is only an advantage for wide angle lenses.

As for wa/uwa ef-s prime, imho that won't happen either because ef-s is either for amateurs who are supposed to be happy with zooms or for people who want to use tele lenses for more reach...

Just wait till Samyang brings the 10/2.8 UMC for APS-C

50mm F/1.4 USM II

+1 ... but the reason why this didn't happen yet might be to protect the sales of the expensive 50/1.2, if the 50/1.4 gets any better with a "real" usm drive there'll be little reason to buy the good-bokeh mediocre-sharpness L - so probably they'll either replace both or none.

Actually, I would be much more interested in 50/2 IS USM Macro, or even a cheap 50/1.8 STM. I think that the rest of Sigma's prime "jewels" (50/1.4 and 85/1.4) will be reborn into A series pretty soon, and only after that ... Canon will be forced to do something about it.

11

Lenses / Re: I have a weight limit....what would you bring?

« on: May 17, 2013, 01:41:44 AM »

Right now, I am planning to bring my 70-200 f/4 IS, my 24-104, and my 17-40.

Do you really need to fill that 40-70mm gap? 17-40L + 70-200/4L IS could be enough.

12

Lenses / Re: Poll: Most Wanted New Lenses of 2013.

« on: May 16, 2013, 12:14:03 PM »

1. 14-24mm F/2.8L USM
2. 100-400 F/4.5-5.6L IS II
3. 50mm 1.4 II USM
4. 24-70 F/2.8L IS
5. 135mm F/1.8L IS USM

Poll is Locked and These are the Top 5 Lenses selected. Freebie Info for any R&D dept's wanting to make $$$$$$$.

Number 4 is the least probable lens to come out any time soon. There have been two new 24-70Ls not so long ago (24-70/2.8L'II and 24-70/4L IS). It should be disqualified . 35L'II should be on that list.

13

Lenses / Re: 50 f1.4 vs 85 f1.8.....

« on: May 15, 2013, 04:12:17 PM »

A lot of my photos are head or head & torso shots, so I could go either way, just am not sure which is a better lens as the 50 is pretty old, but people say it's still great. When comparing them on the Digital Pic website, the 85 looked to have a better result on the charts.

The 85/1.8 is better, as long as you keep specular highlights out of the pics (LoCA is bad).

+1
I'm using 150/2.8 on FF (which gives similar angle and DoF) and it is a great combo.

14

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Looking for an Mirorrless or Compact for climbing/high altitude hiking

« on: May 15, 2013, 05:27:40 AM »

Disappointed by the "artifically" looking (to much contrast, noise,...) IQ of the testes 100D, I check the  Olympus OM-D and  Sony NEX-7 in the next two weeks...

I don't think that 100D IQ is noticeably different from 60D or any other camera that shares the same/similar sensor. I don't know what tests are you talking about, but I strongly advise against judging cameras by their default JPEG settings, which are mostly represented by the early samples floating around. IMHO, every "IQ-hungry" person should be shooting RAW and getting the desired result in post. From my experience, no camera can produce an image which mirrors reality. Human vision has much much wider dynamic range than any DSLR or Mirrorless. Did you try the HDR mode?

15

Lenses / Re: 17-40 f4 L discontinued???????

« on: May 14, 2013, 07:55:47 AM »

Sometimes I think that a nice and small ~20mm f/4 prime (pancake maybe) would be my perfect UWA lens.