Forum Replies Created
Here is another idea for future firmware which should be simple to implement. Allow the rear thumb button (which I use to trigger autofocus) to be assigned as a one click 100% zoom button when in image review mode. Most of the time, when I zoom in on an image I want to go to 100% to check focus. A one button approach would be faster and easier.
I agree. This is a great little lens for a bargain (relatively speaking). I really enjoyed this lens when I had a M system.
The Dell M4600 you spec'd out sounds awesome. However, I would probably consider a 13″ Macbook Air (very small) for on the road image review and new loaded desktop with large display for image processing and editing. I see value in your thinking to get a fast laptop with 100% RGB display so you can process images while on the road and, frankly, I am not sure which way I would go given a $3,000 budget.
Thank you for taking the time to do this test. I am very impressed with the lens performance without the profile, but your test goes to show how much improved the LightRoom processing has become since the S2 came out.
I was out shooting today and came across an instance where I needed to focus bracket shots to get the depth of field I wanted. That is when it occurred to me that a great firmware improvement would be have an auto focus bracketing feature. The way I envision it working is that you set-up the camera and autofocus on the main point of interest. Then you go into a menu for auto focus bracketing where you enter the distance in front and behind the currently focused distance. Then the camera would calculate number of shots and focus steps needed to achieve desired focus range based on the lens, aperture, and focus distance.
I know this kind of feature is sooo not Leica – they like to keep things simple (which is part of the reason I like Leica). However, the biggest issue I have had with the larger sensor in the S2 has been the more shallow depth of field. An auto focus bracketing option would make life so much simpler. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy the shallow depth of field of the S2 most of the time, but sometimes its a problem.
I would like to know what she is looking at so intently.
Doug;504 wrote: How about LensAlign? Nicely made product just for this purpose…
http://www.whibalhost.com/lensalign/I have seriously considered getting the Lens Align. It looks like a well designed product and should be easy to use.
Thank you for the replies. I suspected that my test was flawed and should be reperformed. I will try again with a flat target. Also, I have an idea for constructing a 3D target which would be shot head-on that I might try as well.
For what it is worth, the test subject target above was my second attempt at a focus test. The first test was done in the field where the test target was a large bolt head on a wooden bridge. I figured it would make a good test target because there was very high contrast between the shaded side wrench flats versus the brightly sunlit head face. However, the results were the same as the ruler test above. I am not convinced either test was as good as it could be and perhaps not conclusive, but the bolt head test was a real world subject and the auto focus did not pick the right spot. Either the camera needs adjustment or I need to adjust my expectations of the auto focus. Hopefully proper test will resolve where the adjustment needs to occur.
I went out again today and intentionally used ISO 1250 some more to get a better feel of where it works and where it doesn't. I was using a third party lens today and, as a result, was shooting in full manual mode. I was shooting a buck, got caught up in the moment and forgot to adjust the exposure. The resulting photo was severely over exposed. However, I thought it was kind of interesting so I thought I would post it just for fun.
S2, Pentax 400mm ED, ISO 1250, f8.0 (?), and exposure reduced 4 full stops in LR3
Jack, thank you for the explanation and thanks for posting the 1/25 sec shot. I agree with you, the 1/60 sec shot is much better. Frankly, I probably wouldn't have even tried the 1/60 sec shot hand held. It is good to have my eyes opened to other possibilities.
Hi Jack, did you do any noise reduction on your photo? The noise doesn't look to bad. Also, I am very impressed with your hand holding capability with the 120m at 1/60 sec.
For some reason the color doesn't look right on the above photos – at least they are not similar to what they look like in LR3. The colors are more muted and the red is more orangish above versus in LR3. I verified that I exported to sRGB so that isn't the problem.
I figured out part of the problem with the photo of Jack Daniels. Instead of shooting at +0.5 EV I shot at -0.5 EV.
Here is another photo taken the same day along with two crops (bright and shadow). This photo is much better regarding noise. Interesting trivia – Chattanooga, TN is home to the very first Coca Cola bottling company.
S2 and S 35mm lens, ISO 1250, +0.5 EV, f8.0, 1/250 sec
Hmmm! Something doesn't look right with the crop above – it isn't as sharp as it appeared in LR. I guess it doesn't matter much since the point of the post was to show the ISO performance. Note there is definitely more visible noise in the shadows.
Here is another ISO 1250 photo and associated crop. This time the photo includes shadows where noise is most visible. As with the previous photo, this one is process as normal, but I did not do any noise reduction. Here the noise is a bit more evident in the shadow of the cave.
The photo is of a statue of Jack Daniels in front of THE cave spring which supplies all of the water used to make Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey. We had a good rain just before our tour which, thankfully, cooled things down a bit. That cool down resulted in little bit of fog on top of the spring water. I wish it were more visible in the photo. Too bad we weren't given much time for photos, but I understand, there were a lot of people and they had to keep the tours moving.
This photo was taken with the 35mm, ISO 1250, 1/90 sec at f5.6. For comparison, I did another photo (not shown here) at ISO 160 which turned out to be at 1/45 sec at f2.5. There was a little bit of motion blur evident at 100% pixel peeping so the increased shutter speed from using ISO 1250 was worth it.
