Messages

31

EOS Bodies / Re: Big Megapixel Development Announcement in the Fall? [CR2]

« on: March 27, 2013, 04:23:42 AM »

REQUEST:
Can anyone guide me to a study which indicates that high MP results in poorer IQ? PLS.
[...]

I cannot guide you to such a study and I am shure you will never find such a study because:

If the per pixel quality stays the same, more pixels give always better IQ until other factors like lens IQ are limiting.

Lower pixel counts help to reduce processing time and filesize which may be valuable for some purposes but nothing less/more. 

I am physicist and it was never bad to measure values as precise as possible - it was bad to measure with less than required precision! If you don't need the precision you can report rounded measurement values - if a light bulb has a power consumption of 60.22412 Watts or 60 Watts essentially is not important for a bulb user, but perhaps for a lamp design researcher who optimizes the production process.

32

EOS Bodies / Re: Big Megapixel Development Announcement in the Fall? [CR2]

« on: March 27, 2013, 04:07:32 AM »

[...]

Seems that the most desirable quality of the D800 would be the impressive dynamic range it offers.

I'd just like to ask, you folks think cameras will ever reach the DR our eyes and brains could resolve and if so, the impact it could have on photography?

[...]

In my opinion:

AD 1 (DR of D800): I think DR will allways help to capture reality as close as possible.

AD 2: Very good question because you included the brain: I think a real 20bit DR sensor with a 20bit DR display will convince our eye and brain to see the real thing.
Physically a 20bit DR sensor is easy to built, but technically it is not. Think about an ISO 6 sensitivity and the capacity to collect large amounts of charge per pixel without saturation ... you will be fine: Pedestal noise is the same but saturation is far away and increases the DR. Physically.
Technically: I think you have to go into the 3rd dimension for sensor pixels charge storage and a good 20bit ADC is available but slow (at the time). 3D-Sensor design is IMO the real challenge because you have to create millions of 3D structures with small tolerances between them in the size of some microns. A 12 Mpix full frame sensor with a DR of 20bit would be sufficient (for the beginning) and blow away a lot of other sensors for some photographic fields.

I am shure that a lot of companies do research to built such (sensor) chips. A lot of chip technology has 3Dish structures just now. Hopefully we will see good sensors soon in Canon cameras - I don't have money/time to reinvest in new glass ... and hopefully we will see large OLED displays which provide DRs of 14 or 16 bit easily.

33

Lenses / Re: Best tele prime for full frame?

« on: March 25, 2013, 05:48:31 PM »

You should most definitely give consideration to the 100 f/2. I own it and highly recommend it. Light and fast, very inconspicuous, handles great, very nice IQ.

I think it's one of the most under-appreciated lenses that Canon makes. Just about the ideal match for your application. It will take up a lot less room in your bag than any of the alternatives you mention, also. See if you can borrow or rent one to try out. Oh, and they are relatively cheap, too. 

+1 to every point, TW has written.

It is a good companion to my 24/2.8 and 40/2.8 in terms of size, weight, IQ and unobtrusiveness!

34

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Chasing Tack Sharp ... Just can't get there

« on: March 24, 2013, 02:27:09 PM »

Ok, here is another go.  This time taking into account some recommendations from the crew here:

105mm
F5.6
200 Shutter
100 ISO
Tripod

[...]

Do you have some noise reduction settings activated? Just minor setting of noise reduction (I use DPP) washes out irregular finely detailed structures - this cannot be deactivated (in my 40D) inside the customer function menu so I have to tune that setting to zero after downloading the images. Just an idea ...

Best - Michael

35

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 5Dc a good option?

« on: March 24, 2013, 02:08:02 PM »

I just had the same thought yesterday checking different dxomark results for different camera-lens-combos. My observation: the 18MPix sensor of a 7D gives you just a few megapixels more USEABLE resolution than a 40D. This supports my (unscientific but well founded) observation that the sharpness perception of my 40D doesn't quite differ from that with my 600D with good lenses: 24mm f/2.8, 40mm f/2.8, 100mm f/2.0 etc.

dxomark results support the same for FF cameras: With a 5Dii you will not gain twice the resolution of a 5Dclassic but perhaps 10 or 20 percent ... except with a 70-200 f/2.8 ii ...

A 5D classic would be interesting just for me at 600 Euro from a dealer (1 year warranty) and be compatible with my stock of BP-511 batteries. 12 Mpixel Raw files would be very handy and sufficient for my purposes.

On the other hand: No video, a moderate LCD are drawbacks to me. And video support might be of interest for me. And there is the sRAW mode to decrease the stored MPixel count to keep files smaller (never tested it but it should be the case).

Wanted to share my thoughts because I am in the same decision process. But there is a good chance that I will wait one or two years ... APS-C is so good compared to what I see from the film slides I reproduced the last days ...


Best - Michael

36

Technical Support / Re: "Ripple" in Image with ND Filter

« on: March 24, 2013, 12:18:08 PM »

This is a disturbing finding.

From your second photo I see the pattern on the filter itself which might be generated
by
  * a thin layer of fluid on the filter OR
  * an air gap between different layers of the filter.

EDIT: Read your text twice again ( I am no native speaker/reader ) ... The pattern on the filter on your
2nd picture are newton rings caused by the cleansing fluid you used.

Which light source do you have used in the second image? Were it CFLs ("energy saver lamps")? They have longer coherence lengths and show the interference patterns of newton rings better compared to incandescent lamps.

About your first photo: Was it an image through the filter? Which lens do you have used?

Never seen such a thing before - e.g. with my B&W ND 1000 filter ...


Best - Michael

37

Lenses / Re: small primes to go with SL1?

« on: March 22, 2013, 10:45:02 AM »

I don't see wide angle primes in pan cake format for EF/EF-S mount because the flange distance doesn't allow very small lenses with high quality. You have to use a retrofocus design which needs negative lenses in front of positive groups and therefore consumes space. A very contrasty, sharp and distortion free lens like a f/4.0 25mm seems possible with perhaps 30mm length. But nothing more.

One existing pancake like lens is the Color Skopar of Voigtlander:
  * NO AF
  * Moderate IQ
but
  * small size
  * great mechanics
I never used it and I am not interested because I have the old 24mm f/2.8 from
Canon which is a little bit larger but gives me the IQ I need and is made from sturdy
but light plastics. Perhaps that lens is another alternative for the 100D (and should
be cheaply available).

SL II lens collection of voigtlander (except 58mm lens available for EF mount):
  http://www.voigtlaender.de/cms/voigtlaender/voigtlaender_cms.nsf/id/pa_fdih7pyj95.html

A test of the 20mm:
  http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff/504-voigtlander20f35eosff

Best  - Michael

38

EOS Bodies / Re: EOS 70D, DIGIC 6 & 18mp Sensors

« on: March 21, 2013, 06:16:08 AM »

If the MP count has not changed then the underlying technology behind the pixels/sensor has not changed. i.e. there will be no DR/noise improvements over the 60D.

Indeed. I do not see why Canon does not want to take advantage of an improved sensor design to venture into higher pixel count territory. It is after all a chance for them to brag.

What if they can't?
What if some n years ago, they reached a point where they couldn't improve any further?

I am shure that canon is able to build revolutionary sensors intellectually and technically ... but they can't bring it to market because of intellectual property reasons (patents etc.).

Compare an EOS 20D (2004) and a some current model: There has been slight progress in IQ compared to the decade before the EOS 20D has been available.

Today's sensors are mostly out-developed and the headroom for improvement is small. Now Sony has found a profound improvement in DR, perhaps by the only available technology at the moment. They protect it by patents and other companies are blocked ... until the other companies find another way to improve sensor DR without offending existing patents.

39

EOS Bodies / Re: Canon EOS-b Images Leak & a New Kit Lens

« on: March 19, 2013, 02:13:09 PM »

Looks a lot more interesting to me than the under performing M series.

Just made this gif, the b is much smaller than the T4i.

A good comparison between both cameras that you provided here.

EOS b opens the opportunity to use 1 or two secondary cameras in
a standard photo backpack - by putting them with a lens attached
into a standard lens compartment. This might be the "intelligent rear
cap" for EF(-S) lenses and makes a really cute combo with the 2.8/40mm!

If I had not invested into a EOS 600D(T3i) it would be interesting ...  if
it has the video zoom mode (3x) with a 100% crop of the sensor center
region (5.6 400mm with 2x TC results in 3840mm focal length!).

40

Canon General / Re: Which eye do you shoot with?

« on: March 15, 2013, 02:13:05 AM »

Always right eye for view finder
Always left eye open to see what (or who) is going on

Only one severe problem with this procedure:
During a solar eclipse in 1999 I used a 600mm lens WITH FILTER to observe
the sun and its corona. After the total eclipse I have remarked the dangerous
situation for my LEFT eye (open as always) after several seconds and
had a black spot for several weeks (luckily it was off center of my personal
image field!).

41

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: In-camera noise reduction

« on: March 15, 2013, 02:05:22 AM »

Can anyone explain how the NR settings is affected, according to Camera Setting?

There are (at least) two components of noise reduction:
  1 Noise reduction on the sensor raw data +
  2 noise reduction SETTINGS (besides the sensor raw data)
     in the raw files which keep information for DPP etc.

What I deduced from my cameras (40D, S95):

Ad 1:
Long exposure noise reduction exposures a dark frame (shutter closed) with the
same exposure time as the image exposure (e.g. 15 sec exp time means 30 sec
for one exposure process!). The dark frame image is subtracted from
the image frame to remove noise, especially hot pixels (which show signals without
getting light). This affects the sensor raw data.

Ad 2:
Noise reduction settings are stored according to the chosen ISO (and exposure time?)
in the "settings section" of the raw file. These do not affect the sensor raw data but
the development in DPP (etc.).

I haven't found a menu setting to suppress the noise reduction settings for DPP
in my camera.
My procedure:
  Edit one image to set the noise reduction to zero (NR is usually
  applied at base ISO and degrades percepted sharpness!).
  Copy the recipe to the other images of that series.

Best - Michael

42

Lenses / Re: Need to test my lens for sharpness

« on: March 11, 2013, 03:11:07 PM »

Examples for subtle differences in sharpness without (upper) and with minor luminance noise reduction of 2 units with DPP are attached. But sharpness isn't perhaps the right word, I would say texture fidelity is the right term: look at the speckled surfaces in the 2nd example and the glass/ceramics insulators of the 1st example.

These differences drove me mad because I thought it was an AF error of the 40D or some loose mechanical element inside lenses. The 40D involves noise red just for ISO 100 despite I set it to high iso noise reduction.

Best - Michael


First image: 40/2.8 STM
Second image: 100/2.8 Macro USM (Non-IS)

43

Lenses / Re: Need to test my lens for sharpness

« on: March 11, 2013, 02:28:43 AM »

Just checked and i did have high ISO noise reduction turned on and to quote a site "Canon states noise reduction is applied at all ISO speeds when enabled, so we've included samples at every setting."
http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Canon_EOS_5D_Mark_II/noise_reduction.shtml

It might make a difference

I will try to add an example today or tomorrow. Noise reduction is applied regularly at ISO 100 and very seldomly NOT applied at ISO 100 - as I see in DPP. I think that drove me mad to understand the different IQ between different photos under nealy the same conditions, subjects and with the same camera. 40D and 5Dmkii are very similar - I think they were born in the same year ;-)

44

Lenses / Re: Need to test my lens for sharpness

« on: March 10, 2013, 12:23:38 PM »

[...]

I manually focused using live view x10 so the center was looking perfect (subject was some static log pile

One thing i will add and i dont know if it means anything, when i view live view at x10, it looks nice and sharp and i take a picture, then zoom in on that image on the camera to the max which then looks the same as live view at x10, and it doesnt look quite as sharp as the live view.

[...]

I observed the same with my 40D which has similar ABSOLUTE sensor resolution (pixels per mm). I explained it to myself ... :

1. There is always some slight noise reduction involved for the image files, shurely NOT for the live view. Additionally the viewing firmware for the files might have some accelerated routines which affect IQ to gain speed (not shure but makes sense).

2. Using DPP I have seen some photos (especially with the 2.0/100 and my macros) which had per pixel sharpness, others which weren't es sharp. It took two years or so to understand that just a minor noise reduction setting reduces the percepted sharpness dramatically (with 10 MP cameras each pixel counts even more!). Now I set the noise reduction to zero - some grain is (for me) still much more acceptable than blurry details.

Perhaps this helps to understand the differences between different series of photos where noise reduction settings affected the percepted IQ in different ways.

Best - Michael

45

EOS Bodies / Re: Canon EOS 7D Mark II Spec List [CR2]

« on: March 09, 2013, 01:19:58 PM »

Specification list
http://camerarumors.blogspot.in/2013/03/7d-mark-ii-will-have-32mp-sensor.html

Bwahahahahahaha! 32 MP ....thanks for starting my saturday right with a laugh   

I spit up some coffee.  This is great, I haven't been watching any funny movies lately.  Thanks I needed that.

36 or 40 MP would be good news and a raw mode which bins the pixels into 18/20 + 9/10 MP to get rid of the patterns of monochromatic light sources. With a back side illuminated sensor the net photosensor size would be the same as that of a lower MP sensor giving you the freedom to choose between different resolutions, high ISO modes and a mode which avoids demosaicing completely.