Just a quickie I though some of you might find interesting. I talked about getting you all some high ISO samples from these cameras on the last podcast, so here they are. After the show, I got together with Nickles and we did a very informal ISO test. Nothing fancy, just some quick, poorly lit handheld images with Cyrus and Harrson. Still, you’ll get the idea. The 5D MK2 was still a solid contender with a great fine grain feel.
The 1D has a trump card because it can go to much higher ISO and while it might be noisy, I would not hesitate to use ISO 50K if I was in an ultra low like situation like a wedding reception. On the show I said it looks as good at 50K as the MK2 does at 12k. Looking here I see that was a an overstatement, but for how high the ISO is I’m still impressed. A little grain does not kill us, in fact the grain on these newer cameras is looking better all the time.
I used basic noise reduction in LR3 (no plugins) but I did use new process version which made a lot of difference in the final quality. To illustrate that I’m posting a side by side on the new and old process as well. Click for larger versions.
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. 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.
