by Gavin Seim: Here’s the latest from the Photo Couch podcast. The baby brother of Pro Photo Show. Short five minute bursts of photo ideas, musings and information. If you want them as they come out, you can subscribe in iTunes or use the direct feed in any podcatcher. Give em a listen and get some ideas or maybe a few laughs. If you have thoughts you’d like to discuss in depth, visit the Photo Couch board on the forums. Enjoy… Gav
by Gavin Seim: Canon just released version II of the 70-200 2.8 IS, which may be their most legendary lens ever. My friends Ben & Molly from Nickles photography just got the new 70-200 2.8 IS II in their hands, so I went over for some tests (thanks for the help Ben). Being that the V1 is such a great lens, many (including myself) have been wondering how much it could be improved. And with a price tag of nearly $2500, it better offer something new. According to Canon the V2 “increases the speed, performance and optical quality of the 70-200, while maintaining all of the characteristics that have made it a legend“.
Well the images are in and so is this lens. I think Canon nailed it. Now granted their can be differences between one lens and another of the same model and my V1 lens is a few years old. It’s still in excellent working order however so I feel the comparison is pretty fair. These examples were all shot in RAW on the 5D MK2 under the same conditions and settings for each sequence. Images were processed in Lightroom 2, but no adjustments were added except that Camera Calibration in was set to Camera Standard.
Aside from the image quality I found a couple of interesting things. The V2 seems to shoot nearly 1/3 stop brighter and with a tad wider view than the V1. I checked this using a tripod for the detail tests to make sure the camera position would be the same. The V2 does indeed seem to be a few mm wider. I don’t know what that would be, I’m just showing what I found. I don’t see this as a big problem however. In fact the V2 letting in more light seems a good thing.
So far I’m impressed. See for yourself below. I’m posting full frames alongside tight details crops of each image. You can click any for a larger view,. You can also download the package of full res JPEG files at the bottom of the post if you want to take a close look. You can find this lens here on B&H or here on Adorama or here on Amazon. OK lets get started.
Image Stabilization Tests.
For each test I hand held 2oomm at 1/20th, supporting the lens barrel with my left and pressing the body firmly against my face. I took 5 consecutive shots for each comparison so I could account for variations in my own steadiness (or lack thereof). The results shown are the sharpest image from each sequence of five images, as well as crop zoomed in view of the same. While the V1 was good, the V2 of the lens was clearly better, producing consistently better IS performance.
It can't be said that IS is not useful. Even on the V1 it makes a huge difference. But on V2... Well read on.
by Gavin Seim: Those who listen to the podcast know that while I spend much of my time in Lightroom, I’m a fan on OnOne’s plugins for Photoshop and I look forward to getting my review copies to check out and tell you about. Well I learned that they’ve released FREE versions of their Photo Tools and Photo Frame plugins. Yep I said free. Of course the paid versions are still available, but this free sample model is cool. It’s something I’ve used successfully for my Seim Effects for some time and it’s always a winner.
What more is there to say. Obviously these are stripped down form the pro versions, but useful tools just the same. You can get the free downloads here. By the way we also have a PPS reader deal with OnOne so if you decide you want to pick up any of their paid products use code PRPHTPC at checkout and you’ll save 15%. Enjoy… Gav
by Barry Howell: I have been a professional photographer since the early 80’s and am in the throws of embracing change like I never could have imagined. I have photographed hundreds of weddings and thousands of high school seniors. I was honored with the first ever Haga Wedding Album award for the best wedding album in Minnesota, and have entered many competition prints over the years. I began shooting weddings for a couple of studios, worked part time on my own for several years, and bought a very large studio operation in 1995. Â My first digital camera was a Fuji S2 and that is where my journey into the digital world really began. A good friend (and former employee) encouraged me to take a look at Lightroom and then Gavin Seim’s presets from Seim Effects.
My years of experience (and significant volume) causes me to very careful how much “post production” we commit to. Having studied with the likes of Monte Zucker, Frank Cricchio Don Blair, David Ziser and others, I learned to produce near perfect images in the camera. There just wasn’t much editing we could do with our C-41 in-house lab printing from medium format Hasselblad negatives. I am the “techie” guy that loves everything shiny, new and cool, but I didn’t jump into digital until I felt the cameras and output options rivaled film quality.  My journey from film to digital has been a long and at times very frustrating path. If you are just starting out (i.e. have never shot a roll of film-I know you’re out there), appreciate my story and be glad you can develop a workflow without  transitioning from anything else. Take the time to think about ways you can do it right from image capture to customer delivery.
Dynamics. One of Gavin’s free Aperture presets from the Light Study1 pack (linked below). Mouse over for before/after.
Free Aperture Presets Directory by Gavin Seim(Updated 03/17/2013)
So with the release of Aperture 3, Apple finally added support for presets similar to what us Lightroom users have been enjoying. Now that they’re here we decided to start a list of FREE aperture presets similar to the free Lightroom presets list I maintain here on PPS. I’ll be continuously updating this one in the same manner.
If you’re an Aperture user jump right in, because presets are king when it comes to fast effective workflow. You can get a more creative toolkit easier than saying burn and dodge. Post your own favorite presets in the comments. But remember, only comments pointing to free presets are accepted.
Aperture Preset Favorites…
Seim Effects LightFlow Freebie Presets Pack.
I spent nearly a year planning a complete set of preset for Aperture called LightFlow. This is a sampler of that collection that includes six fresh effects.
ColorFlow Sampler Pack.
This is a selection of effects from ColorFlow, a presets collection also from Seim Effects dedicated to the nuances of color.
The Light Study Pack:
I’ve been making LR presets for years and wanted to test the waters with Aperture so I jumped in and made a pack of six presets. Their are pretty universal, with some color tones, POP and other creative effects.
Aperture Assistant’s Preset Gallery:
The Aperture assistant site has started a good list of Aperture presets and allows people to submit effects. Looks to be a growing list with lots of choices.
This archive has a bunch of preset that Simon has posted. Some good looking stuff here.
Nathan Smith’s Presets:
Nathans blog has an assortment of FREE presets. Most look to be color twists and tones.
Aperture-Presets blog:
There various effects here to download. Many of them are not my personal favorites, but we all have out own tastes. Browse thru and see what works looks good.
Terry Chay’s Presets:
Terry has a presets category on The Woodwork blog with a few downloads. Some color enhancements as well as B&W effects.
