Sigma SD1 Pricing Announced

Posted on May 20, 2011 by admin

Sigma SD1 pricing announced today and they took many folks by surprise. Why?

Because many months ago a Sigma executive when asked about SD1 pricing indicated it would be in the “Canon 7D” price range. So many Sigma enthusiasts were counting on $1600-$1800 for the SD1.

Today sigma announced the SD1 is priced at $9700. (that’s not a typo)

$9700 dollars for a crop sensor that only takes sigma SA mount lenses. Hmmmm…

Now I am a huge sigma fan. An X3F lover and I’ve yapped about it many times. I’m disappointed that Sigma priced the SD1 so high, especially after they indicated it would be in line with the cost of a Canon 7D.

Seems Sigma is trying to pitch the SD1 as a viable medium format competitor. What I don’t know is if the medium format folks will dig the following:

460K LCD screen. That’s right. Low resolution LCD to review your shots
Tiny viewfinder to frame your shots (compared to Full Frame or MF)
Sigma lens quality control

Those three issues are the biggest downsides to the SD1 as a medium format competitor. Several sigma SA mount lenses have shipped to me with massive back focus issues and despite being sent to sigma repair in NY several times, they still can only be used as manual focus lenses (sigma quality control is notoriously worse than Canon/Nikon).

There are other gotchas like amazingly crappy battery life (200 shots per charge), etc…, but I’ll stop here given Sigma priced it far enough out of my range to consider the SD1 as a purchase. Had they priced it around $2000 to $2500 I’d have probably have bought two and then start shooting real estate with it over my current Nikon D3. Steady as she goes for now given this pricing.

Canon G12 HDR Settings

Posted on April 25, 2011 by admin

I’ve gotten this question via email almost a dozen times. So I’m going to cut and paste the response I send to folks.

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The Question they ask? All are along the lines as the following one… (and asked because Canon’s manual doesn’t cover it well).

“”"Can you help me out as I have not been able to find anything in the manual on how to increase the EV spacing between frames when in bracketing mode (for HDR Capture) with my Canon G12.”"”

ANSWER:

When I’m in AV mode, I press the center button “Func.Set” to bring up the menu. White balance is the top choice and I scroll down one to the bracketing so that it now shows the three options. When you select bracketing to be turned on you can immediately press the “DISP.” button to bring up the AEB options. The scroll wheel on the back of the camera is what you turn to change the settings for the +/- for AEB.

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The pain in the ___ for me is when.. lets say I have bracketing currently set to do +/- 2EV between shots and I want to go back to +/- 1 between frames…

… you again press the Func.Set button and if I had turned the camera off at some point it defaults to selecting WB and I have to scroll down one to get to the bracketing. Once there in the bracketing as long as the camera is in bracketing mode, you can then hit the DISP. button to bring up AEB and then use the scroll wheel to change it to whatever is needed for that scene.

I mostly just leave it in +/-2 because I’m usually using the G12 for landscapes, but when I do want a less aggressive bracket for a mild scene, that is a lot of button pressing to do just to get to the AEB options… but for a point and shoot, I guess I should just be pleased I have that control at all :)

(complaining over)

Canon T3 / 1100D HDR Capture Via Promote Control

Posted on April 23, 2011 by admin

A quick video showing a 7aeb with the Canon T3/1100D using the promote control.

This is just a quick video clip to show that the T3 is working properly with the Promote Control when adding the extra shutter release cable. It works at a slower capture speed (FPS) when using USB only.

For some reason this was not working with the T2i/550D (the extra shutter release cable).

KEY POINT: The T3 is shooting RAW and the T3 can only shoot 2 Frames Per Second in RAW capture and a buffer of 5 images shooting RAW. So the slight delay you hear after the first 5 RAWs captured is in fact due to the buffer being hit in the 7aeb.

Canon T3 HDR

Posted on April 20, 2011 by admin

Click image to view LARGER version

Canon T3 / 1100D sample image. Created with the trusty Promote Control to bracket much larger than a Canon can do natively. Shot with the Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 DC HSM (at 8mm). (O.K. so I forgot to move the hand soap directly ahead which fills the doorway…. sue me!)

Once again the promote control turns an entry level DSLR into a HDRI capture device. Brilliant.

I know it’s been awhile since I posted anything on the blog or on Twitter. I’ve been dealing with terrible health challenges. I’ve spent more time getting treatments, tests, blood work, chelation therapy, detox programs and on and on. It has consumed my time the last couple of months. Hope to be back soon, but the docs can’t pin point the exact issue aside from high levels of toxins and metals in my blood (hence detox and chelation therapy). I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. I have about 4-6 hours of energy a day… sometimes less. Dizzy spells keep me off the computer too. Geez. When your grandmom tells you that you’ve got nothing if you don’t have your health. She ain’t jokin’.

The only reason I have the T3 is a real estate photographer wanted into my HDR Training for Real Estate Photography beta even though it is still not finished. So I told her if she drop shipped a new T3 kit so I could test it, I’d let her in. I didn’t actually expect her to do it!!! So here’s my first use with it and a few comments.

This is NOT a full Canon T3 review, just my quick take.

Dynamic Range seems to be no better than XS / 1000D
Image Quality seems to be no better than XS / 1000D
Video and higher ISO abilities make it a great upgrade to the XS / 1000D
Body is made of a smooth plastic and reminds me of a child’s toy (hate it)

Sigma SD1 breakdown

Posted on February 14, 2011 by admin

Sigma SD1 breakdown as reported from Japan. The camera is developed there and prototypes have been previewed and used by some there so I’ll cut and paste some specs from that japanese blog post below.

I’ve seen the full sized fashion shoot photos done with the 46mp SD1, and the details are stunning. One of the top master printers in the USA who did the printing for Sigma has stated that the SD1 out resolves every single pro DSLR available today (think Nikon D3x or Canon 1Ds Mark III), but he said it falls shy of medium format.

Before you poo-poo the camera, consider this… the target price for body only is $1600-$1700 US.

X3F RAW file sizes range from 45-50MB
The JPEG in RAW+JPEG mode are around 7MB
There is little to no difference between write times for RAW+JPEG and plain RAW
One RAW file takes about 10 seconds to write to card
At present the camera is verified to utilize UDMA Mode 6 cards
They (Sigma?) is currently verifying UDMA Mode 7 cards and these should be faster than Mode 6 cards.

A new version of SPP will be needed to process SD1 RAW files. (You get an error if you try to open SD1 files in the current version of SPP.)
The RAW processing algorithms are completely different.
SPP for the SD1 is currently under development (It will support RAW files from current cameras.)
[ed: hmm...] An additional “Adjustment RAW mode” will be added due to the increased complexity of the RAW data coming from the SD1
In “Adjustment Mode” you won’t be able to use the loupe or magnify the image, however, processing speed will be increased ten-fold.
You will be able to use this mode with current RAW files, but there won’t be an equivalent speed increase
The workflow will be where you modify a RAW image in “Adjustment mode” then you convert it to a Full RAW file.
Sigma is looking into a Kelvin-based white-balance adjustment, but they are finding it difficult to achieve. This is mainly because with Bayer sensors you deal with a two-axis adjustment, but with Foveon it is a three-axis adjustment.
High sensitivity is an algorithm with a goal to keep as much color information as possible. So with the current Foveon sensors (in current cameras) produce a large amount of noise as sensitivity increases. With the new Foveon sensor there is barely any noise.

ISO sensitivities from 100 to 6400
ISO800 produces almost no noise and ISO1600 is very usable
ISO6400 is available in “Extended Mode”
The SD1s shown at CP+ had a Firmware version of 0.5. It looks like there are quite a number of incomplete functions and a number of bugs remain.
The back-side AF button was on the camera, but it currently doesn’t function.
Autofocus on the demo units was clearly faster than the SD15 and will only improve over time.
All 11 AF points are twin-cross sensors and every sensor is equally sensitive.
The AF sensor was announced to be sensitive from -EV2 to 18, but the final unit will be sensitive from -1EV. [ed: there was perhaps a typo here. I couldn't tell if the announced sensitivity was -2EV or just 2EV...]
AF Micro-Adjustments will be available on a per-lens basis, but it’s not clear how many lenses worth of storage the final unit will support.
The top LCD was removed from the SD1, but each button will display information on the LCD screen when pressed.
The SD1 specs show the rear LCD to be the same specs as the unit on the SD15, but the LCD on the units at the show seem to be different and much better.
All of the SD cameras have been easy to hold, but the SD1 is even more so.
There is a mysterious menu item selection that seems to indicate that you will be able to change the lens information (this is unknown and may not even end up in the final product)
Even though the camera might record the lens information, Sigma does not and will not apply and lens corrections to the files in-camera.
There is a “Cleaning Mode” in the menu system (The feature was in previous SD cameras, but it was never easy to remember how to do it.)
The shutter sound is even quieter in the SD1
Mirror-shock is smaller (even though it was small enough even in the SD15)
The viewfinder looks even brighter now that the crop-factor is 1.5x instead of the 1.7x in other SD cameras.

Nikon D7000 HDR

Posted on January 2, 2011 by admin

The Nikon D7000 HDR inquiry comes to me weekly so I’m going to address it right here and a work around to get past its limitations.

The D7000 only does 3aeb in camera with a max jump of 2EV between each frame. For creating commercial quality work, that is insufficient for many scenes. Many landscapes benefit greatly by capturing from -4 thru +4, preferably with only 1 EV jumps. The D200/D300/D300s/D2x/D3/D3s/D3x all bracket this much in camera using the 9aeb and maxing out the EV jumps to 1EV per step. The options are 1/3rd, 2/3rds or 1 full EV jump between each of those frames. Also, you don’t have to do a 9aeb, the cameras (which vary slightly) can do 2, 3, 5, 7 or 9 AEB (aeb= Automatic Exposure Bracketing).

A 9aeb using those cameras and using the full 1EV jumps between each frame will result in (-4, -3, -2, -1, 0, +1, +2, +3, +4). When toning your HDR which was captured with that many shots, you’ll get less noise, less banding, reduced color saturation issues, and fewer hue shifts.

3aeb is only useful in about 20-30% of scenes I’ve encountered when shooting non-cloudy day landscapes. For shooting real estate and architectural interiors, 3aeb is completely insufficient… maybe 10% of interior scenes can be captured properly (hi quality toning) using 3aeb.

About 5-10% of landscapes need even more range captured such as a bracket covering -5 to +5 and for real estate interiors shot on sunny days, about 5-10% of scenes need even more than that range bracketed to fully capture all the highlights and some decent shadow data. These scenes are the ones where the sun is either in frame partially/fully in frame or reflections off of water/glass/metal in important parts of the frame with deep shadows in frame as well.

There has been some confusion about the Nikon D7000 -5 to +5 exposure compensation. That feature has nothing to do with automatic bracketing (directly), but it can be used in conjunction with AEB. For example… you can set exposure compensation to -1 and then when you setup AEB using Aperture Priority, then a 3aeb sequence with +/-2EV will shift by -1 (negative 1EV) for each shot taken. So instead of taking lets say a 3aeb at -2, 0, +2…. the AEB will be shifted by -1 EV per shot (off the base of how the camera metered the scene) and the resulting 3aeb would be taken at -3, -1, +1 (again, those numbers revolve around the way the camera metered THAT scene).

Exposure compensation is ignored in Manual mode. That should tell you everything about how it has nothing to do with AEB. AEB works in manual mode because instead of the camera’s metering system deciding the starting point, you determine it in manual mode. You are the metering system in M mode.

Now all that said, you can use exposure compensation in aperture priority mode to work your way through capturing more frames for a wide bracket. But it requires you to touch the camera a few times and it means you might risk moving the camera slightly and won’t be able to align the frames in post. Also, if lighting changes in the time it takes you to change exposure compensation then your frames in post might not all be exactly 1EV step apart. So this works best for sunny days where the sun is not shifting behind clouds.

This is what you could do to get a 9 frame bracket…

Set up the AEB for 3aeb with 1EV steps.
Set the shooting mode to continuous (use a wired/wireless shutter release if possible)
Then start out by setting the exposure compensation to -3
Fire off a bracket (the AEB will give you -4, -3, -2)
Move exposure compensation to 0 (zero)
Fire off a bracket (the AEB will give you -1, 0, +1)
Move exposure compensation to +3
Fire off a bracket (the AEB will give you +2, +3, +4)

Its a hack. Some cameras like Canon have C1, C2, C3 dial settings that allow you to do this with one little turn of the dial, I’ve not looked at the D7000 custom functions so there may be an easier way to program it.

In the end Nikon decided NOT to give the D7000 the 9aeb its more expensive cameras enjoy. Canon does the same thing. 3aeb is better than no-AEB, but 3aeb just …. well…. sucks.

Canon 60D musings and AEB discussion

Posted on December 14, 2010 by admin

Random comments in the YouTube video about my new Canon 60D and using the Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 DC HSM. Also discussions about 3aeb vs 9aeb and Canon’s 1D/1Ds 7aeb custom functions.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma7TUysv7l8[/youtube]

Topics discussed:

Canon 60D
Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 DC HSM
Nikon D3
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G
Promote Control
1D / 1Ds AEB functions
3aeb sucks

Nikon D7000

Posted on September 15, 2010 by admin

Nikon D7000 = Two steps forward, one giant step back (for HDR)

The Nikon D7000 is limited to 3aeb. BUT! Nikon in their infinite lack of wisdom has decided to further cripple HDR shooters by making that 3aeb limited to maximum steps of only 1EV between frames (see update *****). Hence “one giant step back”.

***** 36 hours after the D7000 announcment, Nikon updated their website and marketing PDF to reflect a mistake on their part. The mistake was forgetting to show that the max EV step for the D7000 was 2EV not 1EV as they had previously reported. The below still applies to attempt to get in three bursts what you can get natively in a D300/D3/D700.

So why did I say “Two steps forward”? Because the main dial on the top of the camera has dedicated U1 and U2 settings for custom settings. One could set their U1 dial to have exposure compensation set to -3 and the U2 dial set with exposure compensation set to +3. That way with three 6fps bursts and two spins of the dial you can end up with a 9 frame bracket from -4 to +4 equal to the bracket you get natively with a D300/D3/D700. Slightly out of order and messy to deal with in LightRoom, Bridge, etc., but at least covers the scene.

One should be able to initially set up a 3aeb with 1EV steps and fire off a bracket at 6fps to capture the frames at -1, 0, +1, then turn to U1 on the dial (previously set for -3 exposure compensation) to capture -4, -3, -2 and then turn the dial to U2 (previously set for +3 exposure compensation) to capture 2, 3, 4 to complete a series from -4 to +4 with 1EV steps.

Simple? Clean? No, but at least its an option (based on how I am reading Nikon USA website and camera settings).

1-3-2011 Note:
New Post on Nikon D7000 HDR here…
http://hdriblog.com/nikon-d7000-hdr/

Pentax K-r

Posted on September 9, 2010 by admin

Pentax just slipped a DSLR in between their K-7 and K-x models.

Introducting the Pentax K-r

NOTEWORTHY MENTIONS

6fps for continuous shooting. Very nice for quick HDR captures.
New Night Scene HDR Mode
Improved HDR Mode (adds auto alignment in camera and better blending modes)
Same 921,000 resolution and 3 inch LCD like the K-7
1/6000 shutter speed
100-25,600 ISO

PENTAX USA K-r Product Page

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PENTAX IMAGING USA K-r YouTube VIDEO

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaD3E2FtkJo[/youtube]

Also, I still have my Pentax K-x, but don’t use it often enough. It’s a fun little camera and great image quality. The K-r looks like it inherited most of the goodies of the K-x and even better goodies of the K-7. My K-x reviews are:

HERE: http://hdriblog.com/pentax-k-x-review/

and

HERE: http://hdriblog.com/pentax-k-x-initial-test/

HDR Timelapse Video

Posted on August 9, 2010 by admin

Over the weekend I uploaded some HDR Timelapse Video to both my Vimeo and YouTube accounts (links below). It is part HDR Timelapse and part HDR Video. The HDR Timelapse segments are obvious because the tripod is locked off. What I am calling HDR Video is pseudo HDR video in my book. Those pans in the garden and architectural interiors are actually just still frames that are blended in video editing software to create frames between each still frame.

There are many flaws in the architectural segments because the video software guessed at pixel movement between each frame shot and you’ll see wavy lines appear briefly a few times. Also, because I panned the camera by such a large amount between each still frame shot, the software had trouble creating all the in between frames (which also contributes to the large stair step feeling in the pans). I was tempted to not include these shots because they are flawed, but figured I might as well to at least showcase the fact that each still is a tonemapped image from a 9 shot bracket taken with a Nikon D3 (each merged to HDR, then tonemapped of course).

Again, each frame is actually a bracket of images that were merged to HDR and then tonemapped. Many sequences were shot with a Nikon D3 set to auto bracket 9 shots from under exposed to over exposed with 1EV jumps between each of those 9 frames. I also shot a few segments with a Canon T2i set to 3aeb.

(MORE DETAILS OF THE SHOOT BELOW THE VIDEO LINKS)

Vimeo 720p DIRECT LINK HERE (crisper than YouTube version) (embedded below)

HDR Timelapse and HDR Video from Michael James on Vimeo.

YouTube 1080p DIRECT LINK HERE (embedded below)

The D3 segments were shot via HDR Timelapse using the D3′s built in intervalometer. The intervalometer on the D3 allows for shooting brackets in addition to standard single frame timelapse. You just set the camera up initially as if you are going to shoot an automatic exposure bracket like you would any other AEB burst, but then go into the intervalometer setting afterwards and set it up for timelapse mode… presto… HDR Timelapse capture at your fingertips. (The D3 can fire 3, 5, 7 or 9 frames from under exposed to over exposed in AEB mode)

With the Canon T2i I had to “trick” the camera per se by using in camera AEB plus connecting a Promote Control via USB to it to fire it off. However, this was prior to the Promote Control having the new firmware which adds HDR Timelapse functionality. When I shot the sequences with the T2i it was when the Promote Control would only do standard timelapse or HDR bracketing, but not both.

So what I did was set the Canon T2i to 3aeb on the camera itself and then I set the Promote Control to standard timelapse with it shooting one frame off in 5 second intervals. So the T2i was firing off the full 3aeb sequence over 10 seconds per bracket because of the timelapse delay. Basically, the promote control was assuming it was just firing off a timelapse sequence with shots fired every 5 seconds. But the T2i I set in AEB mode instead of manual mode so that the shots fired off each 5 seconds were in fact the AEB sequence the T2i was set for.

Shot 1 would go off (normal exposure), then 5 seconds later shot 2 would go off (the under exposed frame), then 5 seconds later the shot 3 would go off (over exposed frame). Another 5 seconds would pass and start over on the normal exposure, and on and on.

Because of the 5 second delay between each AEB shot, there was time for trees/sky to move slightly, but the sequences I used the T2i on were not hurt badly because of the delay. The T2i HDR Timelapse sequences were: the bedroom shot, the shot from the top of a home showing trees/beach/water in distance and the Vegas Skyline sunset shot through a VERY DIRTY hotel window (no balcony to shoot from). So the delay between frames was not as apparent as it would be shooting other subject matter.

I used this same technique with the Promote Control to do other HDR Timelapse sequences too, but just have not gotten around to processing yet. I even shortened it up to firing off every 3 seconds in some cases, but it eats through memory cards too fast and doesn’t encompass as many changes in lighting / clouds, etc. Now that the Promote Control’s firmware is updated to support HDR Timelapse, I won’t have to use that work around in the future.

Finally, a lightly tonemapped image of the D3 in progress of shooting the HDR Timelapse sunset sequence. (Shot with a Sigma SD14)

CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGE VERSION

HDRI Blog

Michael James

Category Archives: DSLR Gear