Topics

1

EOS Bodies - For Stills / 1Dx ISO100 high DR shadows SNR improvement

« on: November 04, 2012, 12:28:45 PM »

One of the weak sides of the 1Dx is noise   in deep shadows at base ISO.
It seems that nobody is arguing about that any more.
 DXO 1Dx measurement results also show that very clearly on their measurement curves.
And I believe that nobody would be arguing that performance in this area is very critical for not just few people but for many people  - for landscape photography, evening/night  city shots and other sort of photography.
Though it is easy to argue that that Nikon D800 would be the better choice BUT why not to see how we could get better deep shadow SNR from 1Dx.
In one of my posts I mentioned that 1Dx has a very nice feature that could be used for that.
I will not name it now (will do at SOME next post) but here is some magic - example how it works (snapshots from LR screen - noise reduction is totally disabled  )
1.  First image shows 1dX  shot at IS100  with EV=(-3)   the Data Color noise calibration chart  which was  used  for Noise Ninja NR S/W and PS plug-in. Shot  with  manual Out of Focus  to blur target texture so it would not interfere with noise
2. Second one is the same with Exposure slider in LR set to +3  - looks the same as normal shot with EV=0
3. Third  image is 200% crop  of shot with EV=0 showing normal 1Dx ISO shadow noise
4. Fourth one is 200% crop of the EV=-3 shot with LR exposure set to +3 to raise shadows to normal level.
     Level of 1Dx noise at ISO100 at  -3 EV shadows is very clearly seen
 
 And next post is  little bit of magic  - the similar EV=(-3) shoot from 1Dx  recovered in LR - 200% crop  to see the difference  in SNR for random nose with the previous shot.
 

2

EOS Bodies - For Stills / 1Dx real life low light high DR scenes performance - ISO1000 and ISO100

« on: October 25, 2012, 04:03:13 AM »

 For those who are interested are examples of 1DX low light performance in high DR environment.

  Also this is illustration why high DR performance is required for those who keeps repeating  " why on earth your need high DR and why you need to underexpose images"
Image RAW conversion is in LR4.
Screen snapshots for posting by Win7 Snipping tool - to be quick

1.  Image "AS IS" from 1Dx - evaluative metering - camera is trying to protect highlights so average weighted image exposure shifts to the left (to the shadows) - so most part of the image is underexposed
2. 1Dx Image is normalized as close to human vision - image DR compressed in LR using basic tone sliders
3. 1Dx  ISO1000 crop 100% - no NR
4.  1Dx ISO1000  crop 100%  - NR Lum=20
Please observe noise in shadow recovered areas and sky and what we could do with it in LR
Next post is the same for ISO100

3

EOS Bodies - For Stills / 1Dx simple DR stress test

« on: October 19, 2012, 06:04:27 AM »

There are a lot of heated discussions about Canon versus SoNikon sensor DR performace, sensor technology, about DXO not measuring sensors correctlly in favour of Nikon  etc.
  So here is a simple DR stress test results for 1Dx shadow recovery limits for those who are interested:
  I did these tests to see  myself what is 1Dx is capable of.
Attached are 4 pictures (snapshots from LR4 screen by Win7 snipping tool):
1. 1Dx shot at ISO100 with EV = (-3 )   - showing 100% crop area shown below
2. Corrected with +3 EV in LR4, no shadow correction, no noise reduction applied
3. The same as #2 above with shadows raised to max 100%
4. The same as #3 above but with NR applied in LR  with L=40, C=40.
Results are self explanatory -  no further comments from me on this subject.
  Despite for what we see here regarding 1Dx DR  performance here my experience with 1Dx is very positive - almost perfect tool for low light sport  and events shooting.
In daylight 1Dx images also look much cleaner and having more 3D look than 1DsM3 and 5DM2 that I used before (just my personal perception)  and allow more image sharpening to be applied safely.
Also seems that 1Dx has a bit weaker anti-aliasing filter  - with extreemly sharp 24-70 2.8L II I could see moire on  some areas of ISO resolution chart  where image elements (projected on sensor)  become comparable in size with pixel size on camera sensor.  I have not observed that with other lenses including very sharp 70-200 2.8L IS II