Topics

16

EOS Bodies - For Stills / 7D low ISO shadow banding; any improvement with version 2 firmware?

« on: October 12, 2012, 02:23:14 AM »

Has anyone who's experienced shadow banding issues with their 7D tried the version 2 firmware to see if it made any improvement over version 1 firmware in this regard?

I was considering trying it but had some concerns the v2 firmware raw files might also play differently with older software I'm still using, or more correctly, might no longer play at all.

None of the other changes in v2 firmware for the 7D are of any use to me so I have no point in upgrading and possibly breaking my post-processing workflow just to test this and it's too much like work to try hack back to the earlier version.


When I had my 5D2 it seemed to have more pronounced midtone banding (e.g. blue sky) using v1 firmware.
After the v2 firmware updates the midtone banding on my particular 5D2 camera was rarely noticeable, altho shadow areas are still an issue of course.


FWIW, the only reason I keep the 7D is because its works great on my 100-400mm L zoom and gives me great reach for birding and wildlife while also providing a more reliable AF system than any other crop body I've used on that lens.

17

Street & City / City Skylines

« on: October 05, 2012, 03:40:25 AM »

Shot these in some nicely transforming lighting conditions before and after sunset.
The vivid sunset colors, reflected on the windows of office towers in 0622, were not even visible from my shooting location.  A string of migrating geese can be seen near the top, above the tall white building.

I hadn't actually intended to get something out of this shoot, was just testing an old 400mm prime lens that was dropped and has some fungus issues.  The lens has its flaws, but they're workable and decent results can be had with some work in post.

Got some interesting looking city skyline shots?
or other shots that turned out well even when you didn't intend to "commit photography?"

Pile them on.

18

Lenses / Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8, non-stabilized version, works pretty good IMO

« on: September 24, 2012, 04:00:50 AM »

.. cuz the stabilized one's only just been announced.
Actually, having expected its announcement back in spring, I opted to purchase the original version in F-mount so I'd have that range covered on my FF Nikon bodies until I could afford/justify a new Nikon version.  Since I mostly shoot all manual, AF speed and even accuracy is of little importance to me.  Resolution tests looked pretty good for the price.

I was concerned about the MF precision with this lens since the end-to-end focus throw is not very long but it's very smooth and lightly damped and works well in the field.  Better MF than Nikon's v2, IMO.

The other thing that worked well in the field is the lens' absolute sharpness performance.  It's amazing, considering the price!  Smooth bokeh, very close focus ability, and it's stupid-sharp! Enough that I was able to generate moire issues on distant brickwork using 135mm FL.  Very low CA too.
I don't know if it's quite as sharp as Canon's v2 of the 70-200/2.8 but it's good enough for pixel-level detail on my D800e and that means I'll be keeping it and not buying the Nikon one.

end point...
If you're hankering for a good deal on a fast 70-200mm zoom, the Tamron is worth considering.  If you don't need IS, it's comparable to the non-IS Canon lens at a lower price.

19

Canon General / Value for your money - has this ever been uttered by Canon ?

« on: September 20, 2012, 12:06:08 PM »

I was just reading this little bit of an interview with Nikon's Dirk Jasper, published on DPreview:

www.dpreview.com/articles/7228819844/photokina-2012-interview-dirk-jasper-of-nikon

It mostly discusses the new D600 but I like the very last line, a point I don't remember Canon ever mentioning.

"Even second hand, or refurbished, a good lens is still worth its price, ten or twenty years later. Especially for enthusiasts, backwards and downwards compatibility is very important. Once you invest your money in a system it must be safe. You must get value for money. "

We do know that Canon glass, especially the L series stuff from the last 10 or 12 years, does hold its value extremely well.  In fact, it's been my best performing investment ever!

But I take the context of Dirk's comment to imply the whole camera-lens system.
Even OUT of context, I'd like to hear Canon say, and mean, they intend to offer good value for money.  Something I think the new 6D fails to deliver and something the 5D3 didn't exactly deliver at its intro price either.

comments?

20

Third Party Manufacturers / Tamron's new 70-200mm f/2.8 w VC & ultrasonic AF - & 90mm 2.8 VC macro

« on: September 14, 2012, 01:27:58 AM »

The new stabilized Tamron is something I'll be watching out for in the test venues, I'm hoping it will perform well enough for MY needs, and at a low enough price that I can sell my fabulous Canon v2 L lens and dump the 5D2 it sits on and use the cash for something else.

www.tamron.com/en/news/2012/0913_01.html

I like the IQ of the older non-stabilized Tamron but it's kinda poor in the AF department, certainly no threat to Canon or Nikon's lenses of similar spec. MF is not the easiest with the short throw but easier than with the sticky-feeling Nikon focus ring.  Canon's lens, just works like it should and is wicked sharp.


the 90mm f/2.8 macro, also stabilized

www.tamron.com/en/news/2012/0913_02.html

I don't need stabilized macros. I have a big heavy tripod instead. 

21

Third Party Manufacturers / Sony RX1 Full Frame sensor Compact leaked photos / rumor

« on: September 09, 2012, 01:38:27 PM »

This is going to cause a lot of buzz!

http://photorumors.com/2012/09/09/breaking-sony-rx1-the-first-full-frame-compact-camera/


fixed 35mm f/2 lens apparently

and a hefty price tag of $3k

22

Third Party Manufacturers / Samyang 24mm tilt and shift

« on: September 03, 2012, 03:32:01 AM »

The rumor's been around seems like about a year or more now.

Hopefully there's some substance to it at Photokina

a bit more on it here:

http://photorumors.com/2012/09/02/first-image-of-the-upcoming-samyang-24mm-f3-5-tilt-shift-lens/

It'd sure be nice if they manage to hit close to the IQ level of Canon's v2 at half the price

23

Canon General / Canon rates "average" while Pentax takes top spot in survey of online buyers

« on: July 03, 2012, 02:01:48 PM »

I rarely agree with surveys like this for a variety of reasons but J.D. Powers one makes for an interesting perspective.

www.jdpower.com/content/press-release/RoPDeNH/2012-digital-single-lens-reflex-camera-online-buyer-report.htm

you can download the PDF press release from above link but it's the same content as the web page

some points:

- prices up about $350 from last year
- Pentax, Nikon, and Canon are the top 3, in that order, and very close in their scores
- cameras were rated on 5 areas; picture quality, durability/reliability, features, ease of operation and speed

Only thing I can take away from this is the Pentax K5, with its pile of incredible features and best image quality of any APS-C sensor camera, has really pleased its purchasers.  If only they had some really good performing glass that I knew about I'd consider adding one of them to my collection.

I doubt the results will stir any response from Canon or Nikon but likely puts a smile on the marketing guys at Ricoh/Pentax.  I still haven't seen any real advertising from them yet, despite their intent to gain mindshare in the north american marketplace.  Maybe this will spur them on.

24

Lenses / downward pressure on EF 24-70mm f/2.8 USM L pricing, Tamron's version tests well

« on: June 01, 2012, 03:27:18 AM »

I was actually hoping for even better performance from Tamron's new 24-70mm f/2.8 in the borders and bokeh from the originally published MTF charts but, considering the price, build quality and optical stabilization, this is likely to become a very good budget-minded choice for full-frame mid-range zoom.  It does beat the previous EF lens in most areas, the vII will be interesting to see tested.

Tamron test link below

www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff/741-tamron2470f28eosff

25

Third Party Manufacturers / Nikon D3200 is likely to be the real market threat

« on: May 08, 2012, 11:37:47 AM »

24MP, cheap, well-featured and judging by the samples posted by imaging-resource, the IQ is pretty good too.  Base ISO quite clean to 400, 800 and 1600 usable, even 3200 (& up) can be utilized in a pinch for small prints or with aggressive noise reduction.  No red pattern noise showing up in the shadows at those usable ISO levels either, a problem that plagues many of Canon's contemporary EOS products.

Anyone else think that the D3200 is could me more of a motivator for Canon to make improvements than the limited threat of the D800/e?

26

EOS Bodies - For Video / Canon C300, 5D Mark III and Red Scarlet, compared at night

« on: May 03, 2012, 06:49:22 PM »

I just came across this link some of you may find interesting

The title of it is:

The Canon 5D Mark III, Canon C300, and RED SCARLET Shoot a Nighttime Bike Race Side-by-Side

http://nofilmschool.com/2012/05/canon-5d-mark-iii-canon-c300-red-scarlet/


unfortunately, altho they're all shooting the same night event, they're used in different locations so you don't get to compare them all on the same scene.

they are all still impressive however, web-served low BW files with overcompression artifacts excluded.


Here's another link on 48fps shooting with Red as well, on Peter Jackson's  THE HOBBIT.
sounds like people aren't liking the non-film look.  I haven't seen it at 48fps, would love to.  I don't like the 24fps cinema flicker; i guess my eyes are just a little too fast responding.

http://nofilmschool.com/2011/12/the-hobbit-continues-terrific-behind-the-scenes/

27

Software & Accessories / Latest Digital Photo Pro v3.11.26 - How's DLO working for you?

« on: April 23, 2012, 02:30:16 AM »

I just tried it on a couple landscape shots tonite.
shots i tested were made with 5D2 & 17-40mm
( I know, not a great lens for that job but TSE 24mm and 17mm are  along way off on my wish list yet )

After downloading the lens module..
The DLO function seems to work quite well on increasing apparent sharpness on low contrast textures, like stone, but when it comes to high contrast fine details like spruce needles or branches against a blue sky it shows a lot of halo and edge artifacts like unsharp mask function would produce.  It also did OK on sharpening up dry grass against sand but the higher contrast areas seem to pick up more sharpening artifacts than I like, even when dialing down the strength of it to 20 from 50.

And yes, saving the file with the DLO changes ~ doubles the size of the .cr2 (choke)

Anyone notice any other pros and cons with DLO?

28

EOS Bodies / some larger scale noise structure images posted for commonly compared bodies

« on: April 20, 2012, 03:29:17 AM »

Have a look at the bottom of page 3 of this thread here I posted them to earlier.

These are at ISO 200, for the 5D2, 5D3, 7D and D800.
There's more info in the posting in the other thread but, quickly, they're from the +4 EV push, a further push (~+2EV on each) used to really bring up the visibility of the noise so you can easily see the large-scale patterns, then cropped to 600x400 so no additional scaling messes up the appearance of each.

http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=5845.msg111359

probably should have just started a new thread with these images instead but...
I'll post the whole whack of them on my website eventually.

29

EOS Bodies - For Stills / 24 cameras now pushed and compared for noise on the dark end at all ISOs

« on: April 15, 2012, 03:43:10 AM »

I managed to get my mitts on another NINE cameras this weekend and have posted the results along with the previous 15 on one page. A big wide monitor is ideal to look at the whole picture.

Now, not only are there the usual suspects from Canon; 5D2, 5D3, 7D, 60D, 50D, 40D, etc. The G1 X has been added to the PowerShot group.

There are now the new Nikon D4 (seriously dark), and D800 along with previous D5100 and D90.

Also new to the comparison are Pentax medium format 645D, APS-C sensored K5, K01 mirrorless, and even the tiny Pentax Q.
Also Sony A900 full frame SLR and Panasonic G1X four-thirds class camera.

All are pushed +4EV using my usual procedure.

http://a2bart.com/tech/tech.htm


I handled a really neat little Olympus OM D but only a pre-production model so I couldn't get files from it.  It did fit the hand nicely and featured plenty of dedicated controls on a squarish body with a bit of a retro look.  The grip and extra battery (separate units) made nice additions to the basic body.

So, I've had the chance to play with a LOT of cameras this weekend, learned a few things and shook up my imaging world a little more.  For instance, have you seriously looked at the Pentax K5?... What a control-freak's ultimate camera.  It may not get used like the workhorses like the 5D3 are but it has a lot of things that would appeal to the creative shooter.
Pocketable Pentax Q puts out impressive images for such a tiny little unit too and it sure is "cute."  A couple more lenses for it would be nice.

Unfortunately I forgot to get files from the new Fuji X-Pro 1. DANG.

I DID remember to order my next new imaging tool though. (for delivery sometimes later this year)

Well, I don't mean to do a whole whack of reviews here, just notify those who are interested in dark frame noise tests that there's a bunch more to look at now.
It'll still take me a while to post the whole-sensor reduced images to show larger scale noise patterns but some of them are pretty interesting and may reveal a few things going on inside some cameras for those with a serious tech interest.

30

EOS Bodies - For Stills / 15 cameras compared over full ISO range for dark noise including 8 Canon DSLRs

« on: April 05, 2012, 03:52:43 AM »

For those who find this as useful as I do.

These are all the camera bodies I had access to for these tests.

Canon EOS DSLRs:  5D2, 5D3, 7D, 40D, 50D, 60D, 450D, 1000D
Canon PowerShots:  G3, G5, G6, G11, G12
Nikon DSLRs:  D90, D5100

Anyone willing to send me raw files for camera bodies I don't have listed can contact my here by leaving me a message.  I'd really like to get some Fuji, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax, Sony and files from other mfrs.

I reduced image sizes with a bit more compression and meta-data removed to greatly increase loading speed and reduce my site BW. Still provides a good comparison and you can see pixel-level banding on the bodies that produce it.

link to main page:

www.a2bart.com/tech/tech.htm

Individual pages for each of the tested cameras will be built and uploaded as I get time and linked from that page.
Those pages will include 1/8th scaled images from the whole sensor, again, at all relevant ISOs, so that larger banding and noise structures can be better seen and compared.

I'll post updates when there's new stuff to look at.