Forum Replies Created
Hi,
Have you tried selecting different shutter speed?
BobbyDear all,
Sorry for my late reply! Just back from work. Yes, I have tried print from LR and it printed well! The paper I use is Epson's Cold Press Natural in 17″x 22″ format. I have the printer dialog box at 17 x 22 (sheet).
Yes, I have re-generated a tiff file from the same DNG and this new tiff file printed well. So I tried another test, I copied those layers from my old tiff file one by one to the newly generated one. And it looks like one of the duplicated image layer (with adjustment with ‘shadows/highlights) is the source of causing the problem. I will re-do this test again and will confirm with you guys on the result.
Thank you very much for the support and all the useful information.
Bobby
Hi all,
Can we do a test with the same condition but Instead of focusing at infinity we deliberately make the shot out of focus (say turn the focus ring to it's nearest focusing limit). If the result image still have the relatively sharp ‘white lines' then it is the camera problem. If the lines are blur, soft or even not registered then everything is normal. They were star tracks!
Bobby
Hi all,
Just asking, has anyone tried using S2 / 180mm combination on a tripod focusing at infinity and experienced mirror vibration? With both mirror locked and unlocked!
BobbyHi Stuart,
I think the best we can do as a loyal Leica camera user is to tell the factory what we need.
No matter how small the number of any specific pool of users, Leica can only improve their product line by listening to those who buy their cameras.
BobbyHi Stuart,
I think the most important of all is feedback from end users. No matter how small the number, a product can only improve and survive in the market through these practical feedback.
This is one of the reasons why I join this forum instead of the local ones in Hong Kong. There are too many Asian Leica owners bought their pieces of fine equipment for showing off or as part of their collections. Many of them do not use the equipment that often or some even not using their Leica at all. It is not a healthy sign for Leica because some day their products will not match with the needs of loyal customers (the photographers)!
Take the example of the third parties lenses adapters. The reality for Leica is they cannot satisfy their customers with a wider range of lenses in a short period of time and they do not want to upset both their existing as well as potential customers. I do not think they love to sell the adpaters but if that can helps to attract more customers to buy the camera body, why not! They should have total confident with the performance of their S lenses in compare to the others. And this is fact!
Using the same theory, if we keep posing top quality close up photographs taken by the 120mm lenses, there is no doubt that we will have a closeup ring soon (if Leica do not make them, someone will! Just like the third party H lenses to S adapter). By then Leica will produce their own!
Let's do some homework and show the factory our need!
Bobby
BobbyHi,
I am new to this forum. During my last visit to Paris to attend the Leica Magnum Day, I have a chance to interview Mr.Stephan Schulz, one of the engineers who design the S2.
I hava asked the same question about the right angle view finder. The answer was a firm no! Leica developed the S2 as a small system target for a small group of users, mainly fashion photographers who need a hand held system with the image quality of a medium format camera. Right angle finder is not on the list of accessories. I have asked Mr. Schulz what if I need to do low angle photography? He suggested me to use another camera system which has this accessory! Very Leica!
Same as extension tube for the 120mm lens. He said the 120mm is fine tune as its focusing range without any accessories. They will not make an extension tube for the lens!
Although the answers sound disappointing, I think with enough feedback, Leica will listen and design accessories or lenses that the market needs.
BobbyHi David,
I have ran another test. All with the same DNG files, one normal exposure as an incident meter reading, one three stops under exposed and one three stops over exposed. The difference is I converted these DNG file in Camera Raw (pls see screen shot) into 8 bit. First without any adjustment; Recovery = 0, Fill light = 0, Black = 0, Brightness =+50, Contrast =+25, Clarity = 0, Vibrance = 0, Saturation = 0.
The result is almost the same (pls see attachment) with what I have got with jpeg files. Only expended 0.1 in its range.
I then adjust the Recovery to 40 and Fill Light to 20 and converted another set of 8 bit tiff files. The result is different, quite big a difference. The dynamic range is now 8.6EV (pls see attachment).
It looks like we can extend the dynamic range by cheating a bit but I am not sure if this is the right approach to find out the usable data in practical photography.
The result for ISO320 is about the same.
I do hope these data can help fellow photographers to fully utilize the capability of the Kodak CCD and produce the best output from the S2 image files.
BobbyHi David,
Thanks for the info. The problem I encountered is the software from Sekonic. As you may find a demo video on YouTube, it only read jpeg files. I have tried full resolution tiff with no adjustment but the software generated un-usable curves. What I will do tomorrow when I am back to the studio is to down size the tiff and see if that will work. If not I will send you the three DNG files for the conversion (one normal exposure, one three stops under and one three stops over exposed).
I have email to Leica asking the same question but they only told me the range is 12 f stops.
I have also performed a simply test for the sensitive of the auto focusing sensor of the S2. May be we can share after the dynamic range topic!
Thanks again and update with you later!
Best,
Bobby
Hi all,
I have used the Data Transfer Software from Sekonic and the Exposure Profile Target II Grey Chart to measure the S2's exposure dynamic range at both ISO 160 and 320 using Broncolor studio flashes.
Attached is the result. The image files for the measuring software are in jpeg format so the actual dynamic range when shooting in Raw should be larger.7.2EV is not bad at all in compare to positive film (slides) which limited to a little bit more than 4 f stops. (I have tested again using Camera Raw to convert the jpeg files, so the result is different from what I have mentioned in the last post).
Please note the upper and lower clipping points. This is very useful when you are setting up your own lighting.
Bobby
Sorry I think I have posted the thread in to the wrong topic! Should be S2 not S2 lenses. I will post it again.
