A bad workman blames his tools? (5DMkIII)

[JR]

Although I have LR3, I don't really use it (at the moment, but only because I haven't learned how to). I tend to do everything in Photoshop CS5.5, which I'm more familiar with, but I'm hesitating to download and install ACR6.7 release candidate in case it mucks up my system. Is there any danger of that happening? How easy is it to uninstall if it causes problems?

I downloaded the ACR 6.7 and found no issue from a messing up of my system perspective 8)

 

[Loswr]

Any electronic process generates noise. There's noise added by the photosites, noise added by the ADC, etc. Circuitry can be designed to be less noisy, for example by generating less heat (one way of many).

Are you saying this is not "officially" a noise reduction option on a menu b/c for me that is noise reduction at its most effective.

I suppose it's semantics. I consider 'noise reduction' to be processing which reduces noise after it's generated. The improvements in sensor circuitry result in less noise being generated in the first place, so there's less need for NR. The bottom line is still less noise in the image. The difference is that NR has a penalty - you reduce sharpness along with the noise; if you prevent the noise from being generated in the first place, there's no sharpness penalty.

 

[Shawn L]

Ereka:

I used to only use Photoshop for image editing, too. Some friends suggested LightRoom, but I really didn't see the need -- how could an application much less powerful than Photoshop be of help?

Then, I took the time (a couple of days) to learn it (Scott Kelby's book (http://www.amazon.com/Photoshop-Lightroom-Digital-Photographers-Voices/dp/0321700910/) is awesome by the way). Now, I can churn through more photos in the same amount of time. Moreover, the changes are non-destructive (i.e., the original file remains untouched).

In addition to the editing features, being able to tag photos with keywords means I can easily find all my photos that are animals, or more specifically birds, or maybe just parrots -- without regard to when I took them or where on disk they live.

So, fwiw, taking the time to learn LightRoom might be well worth your time.

Your mileage, of course, may vary

Shawn L.

 

[ereka]

Ereka:

I used to only use Photoshop for image editing, too. Some friends suggested LightRoom, but I really didn't see the need -- how could an application much less powerful than Photoshop be of help?

Then, I took the time (a couple of days) to learn it (Scott Kelby's book (http://www.amazon.com/Photoshop-Lightroom-Digital-Photographers-Voices/dp/0321700910/) is awesome by the way). Now, I can churn through more photos in the same amount of time. Moreover, the changes are non-destructive (i.e., the original file remains untouched).

In addition to the editing features, being able to tag photos with keywords means I can easily find all my photos that are animals, or more specifically birds, or maybe just parrots -- without regard to when I took them or where on disk they live.

So, fwiw, taking the time to learn LightRoom might be well worth your time.

Your mileage, of course, may vary

Shawn L.

Thanks, Shawn! I already have that book - just haven't got around to reading it yet. Even more frustrating, I'm wondering if I'll need to buy the "Lightroom 4 version" if and when it comes out before I've even read the "Lightroom 3" book! :-[

I have the LR4 update (boxed version) sitting under my desk waiting to be installed, but I've been holding off until all the bugs are fixed! It seems from another thread that there might be something coming out later this week.

 

[ereka]

Poll update: so far, almost 90% think there isn't any real problem with 5DMkIII IQ - very encouraging ;D

 

[bycostello]

i think your post title says it all....

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I took a couple of quick shots when I got my camera, and the raw images were fuzzy. Then I buckled down, put it on a tripod with my 100mm macro and used live contrast detect autofocus and images were razor sharp. since I was also tethered to my pc, I could quicklly compare phase detect and contrast detect, and that lens does indeed need AFMA, just as it needed -10 with my 5D MK II.

I wish Reikan FoCal were ready, I'll have to do it manually with my LensCal target, iof I can just find where I stashed it a few months ago.

I also wish that I could adjust AFMA with the remote shooting window, that would be fast and easy, or at least relatively so.

Here is a sample using contrast detect at f/2.8 and my 100mm L. I used Adobe DNG converter and lightroom with the sharpen and NR sliders turned all the way down. I did have lens and CA correction turned on.










Its a bit sharper at f/5.6

 

[skitron]

Any electronic process generates noise. There's noise added by the photosites, noise added by the ADC, etc. Circuitry can be designed to be less noisy, for example by generating less heat (one way of many).

Are you saying this is not "officially" a noise reduction option on a menu b/c for me that is noise reduction at its most effective.

At the circuit level, it is more "noise mitigation" i.e. avoiding creating extra noise in the first place and of course it makes no sense to have a menu choice to tell the hardware add some noise. Whereas "noise reduction" in camera terms is a software process to try to undo noise that is already there and of course it makes sense to add a menu option for that since sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.

 

[AnselA]

Skitron

At the circuit level, it is more "noise mitigation" i.e. avoiding creating extra noise in the first place and of course it makes no sense to have a menu choice to tell the hardware add some noise. Whereas "noise reduction" in camera terms is a software process to try to undo noise that is already there and of course it makes sense to add a menu option for that since sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.

I was fine with neuro's last explanation of what he meant. Noise reduction is an umbrella term for all efforts to create the mythical clean signal. When applied to software we might use in a camera I think we all know what it means. Naturally the current software create a smoothing of the details to create the noise reduction so, like everything, there is a trade-off.