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.

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.

I’m very excited about this lens.  Moreso to use on the coming Sigma SD1, but I have been very pleased with the results on my Canon 60D.  A few samples here on this link:

http://www.digitalcoastimage.com/sigma/8-16mm/index.html

The new FD glass sigma implemented deals with glare quite well.  Perfect for bracketing for HDR in difficult lighting environments.

Previously I had discussed using the 60D with the new 8-16mm:

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

PROS

• I am obsessed with Nik’s patented U Point® technology to add control points to target very specific areas in an image.  In HDR Efex Pro this means you can dial in exposure to specific points of the image in 32 bit space that can’t be done in other apps.  You can adjust contrast/saturation, etc., (the same sliders which are available for the entire image) as well as adjusting the tonemapping method strength for that precise region of the image you are targeting… this is my number one favorite feature. What used to have to be done with multiple layers in photoshop with multiple tonemapped versions of a scene can now be done in HDR Efex Pro using control points.
• A large number of TMOs (Tone Mapping Operators) to choose from. Not only do you have a slider that adjusts the strength of the tonemapping operator,  you can chose from different tonemapping operators and each gives you slightly different results with some more aggressive than others to deal with night scenes and others more natural to deal with landscapes, commercial work, etc.
• Tons of presets to get you started. Categorized and named to give you one click looks as a starting point. And you can create your own presets as well.
• You can select brackets from LightRoom, Aperture, Photoshop CS3/CS4/CS5 or Bridge to launch into HDR Efex Pro.
• You can select (from Photoshop interface) to have HDR Efex Pro to be opened as a smart object so on the return back from Tonemapping, it remains in 32 bit space as a layer in Photoshop.  This means it can be relaunched again with the settings just made still intact so you can change them. If you copy that layer and relaunch you can make changes and then upon return from HDR Efex Pro you can choose to compare/contrast the versions in the layers palette and even mask in parts of one to the other.  The options are endless.
• You can use prior images you had saved to 32 bit formats to open and tonemap in HDR Efex Pro.
• The image you get in the preview window while tonemapping is what you are going to get when you hit save. Other apps don’t always give you an accurate preview image, but HDR Efex Pro is very precise and the preview window is very accurate.

CONS

• Highlights turn grey and lose fine detail as you pull down exposure in very high dynamic range scenes. This is mostly a problem for extremely high contrast scenes such as architectural interiors (Highlight rendering was improved from early beta versions, but still needs improvement to be useful for architectural interiors).
• Lacks a white balance tool to accurately correct for color. It only has a Warmth slider which of course is basically yellow/blue, but lacks magenta/green and cyan/red controls to correct for color casts. This is most relevant if you merge directly to HDR rather than make tweaks first in LightRoom/Aperture and then merge those tiffs to HDR Efex Pro.
• HDR Efex Pro still has trouble rendering reds even in the v1 release (reds are still over saturating and clipping in some images, but Nik is working on it)
• Still issues with crashing in 32 bit versions of Photoshop (CS3/CS4) as of release.  Nik is stating official support is for 64 bit applications and that 32 bit support is to be worked on further.  That said, it does work for me in PSCS3 and CS4 with some occasional crashes from time to time.
• No batch processing. Not a deal killer, but would be a great feature to add in future releases.

I’ll have another review with more example images at some point in the next month or so, but below is a shot of Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas to showcase a few issues I’m bumping into. In other apps I was able to pull down highlights without them going grey as fast as happened using HDR Efex Pro.  I liken this to going “muddy grey” and it attracts attention to the lack of detail in them as well.  Also, the reds are saturating and clipping using HDR Efex Pro on images with more orange/red hues, whereas other apps are not experiencing these issues with the same image. I love the control points, but the fact that HDR Efex Pro isn’t rendering highlights completely clean (yet) when tonemapping high dynamic range scenes makes it difficult to pull windows for architectural interiors.

Click to view 1200 pixel wide version

I’m very pleased when editing landscapes and more artistic scenes with HDR Efex Pro.  Until I find a workaround or until Nik improves the rendering of bright highlights compared to other HDR apps I won’t be using it for architectural interiors.

Click Image to View Larger Version

I’ve been using multiple applications to achieve the results I am getting with just PhotoEngine.  However, I’ve only run a few brackets through it so far and I’ve only tested landscapes, no architectural interiors.  I will report back what my results are for those much higher dynamic range scenes once I’ve had time to do so.  Here’s the biggest win using this app…

The slider to crush the dynamic range down does so WITHOUT introducing unwanted detail enhancement. So… You get to pull up shadows and bring down highlights with that slider and it has NO IMPACT on detail or sharpening.  Yipppeeeeeeee!!!!!

The slider just below the tonemapping strength slider is the one that seperately controls detail strength. Finally an application that gives you the results of Enfuse/Enblend without introducing unwanted detail cranking.  Oh, and did I mention halos?  No.  Because I’ve been unable to create any halos thusfar!!! Crazy!

I’m just addressing the default setting here which is the local tonemapper. There is also a drop down that allows you to switch to a global tonemapper or you could use the more detailed Advanced Local Tonemapper which has more controls surrounding how detail is enhanced.

Also, Oloneo PhotoEngine also has a very effective HDR DeNoise feature that reduces noise WITHOUT blurring/smoothing the image details.  Another major feature of PhotoEngine is that it is a very capable RAW processor.

And if that wasn’t impressive enough, the Relighting module allows you to take separate frames (that you took from a tripod) of a scene that was shot with different lights turned on/off for each frame.  On the merge PhotoEngine recognizes the different light sources and then get this…

… it allows you to control each light seperately for both white balance, hue and luminance controls.  FRIGGIN’ AMAZING!!!  It actually creates separate controls in the user interface for each light source so that you can control them all separately for lighting.  Its easier to watch it in action then explain so watch the YouTube video on their landing page for that Relighting module.

OK… so the app has some pitfals.  No mac version (that’s going to upset a ton of folks).  I don’t see any way to save recipes/settings and I don’t think it has any kind of batch processing.  I know it doesn’t have any ghosting controls either.  That said, there’s a lot to like.

Here’s the link again which has a gallery showing you various controls of the user interface and some sample images:

http://www.digitalcoastimage.com/photoengine/index.html

Oloneo’s Home Page:  http://www.oloneo.com/

Oloneo on Twitter: http://twitter.com/oloneo

1. It handles color/saturation/hue very well for HDR/Tonemapping.
2. I like that it has a Photoshop plugin so that PS can open their proprietary .bef file format.
3. If you don’t read the manual or watch their YouTube videos, you’ll waste valuable time.
4. White balance, color tuning, saturation & noise reduction are all VERY useful tools in the pipeline.
5. Recipes will come in handy when I get back to playing with the app (think presets).

This is a quick follow-up post with three images I merged to HDR then tonemapped in HDR Studio Pro 2.  I’m still new to the software so I’m sure I could have done a better job on these, but the only way to learn these apps is to get face time and just tinker (after reading the manual!!!).  I always finish off by exporting 16bit tiffs and then do spot removal and/or final tweaks in Photoshop CS3.

The shots are too large to post on the blog (1200 pixels wide for the landscape shots) so I’ll give you the gallery link I uploaded them to.

IMAGE GALLERY of shots edited in Unified Color HDR PhotoStudio 2

Just a first run using it.  It is so very different from any other HDR/Tonemapping app I’ve used.  The color fidelity is tremendous.  It took me an hour to really figure out how to tame the app.  At first the windows/highlights were blown out and I could not figure out how to clamp down the exposure.

Full review once I have run it through its paces.  Here’s a sample from my first attempt using it.

So why is a blog that focuses on HDRI (high dynamic range imaging) mentioning a photoshop filter?

Redgiant Software Magic Bullet PhotoLooks 1.0 works in 32 bit space.  That means the looks and tools provided in PhotoLooks 1.0 can be used on your HDRs.  Yeeessssss!

So if you haven’t yet thanked Stu Maschwitz for birthing the original concept and product that became Magic Bullet Looks, we can all thank him again and even moreso for getting that wonderful plugin over into the photo community via Photoshop.  Thanks Stu!!!

I grabbed a handful of shots from a few model shoots I’ve done and threw them into a collage to show how the looks can really change the feel of a shot (reference image linked directly below)

I tried to grab images with different primary colors and different contrast ratios (not a perfect mix, but good enough).  I then created a screen capture as I cycled through the images after launching PhotoLooks 1.0 from the Photoshop CS3 filter menu.  This is a compressed video (vimeo & youtube versions) so the quality is not tremendous, but I uploaded a 720p HD version to both services.  Also noteworthy, some of the presets were meant to be applied to one image, not a collage of images so vinetting for some presets won’t apply perfectly to the collage.

Last and important to remember.  I’m applying these presets on WEB JPEGs.  Results will differ if working in higher bit depth than 8 bit.

I decided NOT to embed the videos here because you really need to see them full screen or in larger format to appreciate Magic Bullet PhotoLooks 1.0 as I apply them to the larger image.  Links to vimeo and youtube below (vimeo generally has higher quality …. generally speaking).

VIMEO LINK

YouTube LINK

I initially discussed the Pentax k-x some time ago and you can see my comments and test shots from that post: http://hdriblog.com/pentax-k-x-initial-test/

I still do not like the results from using the “HDR Strong” which is also HDR 2 under the two in camera HDR settings.  ”HDR Standard” which is also HDR 1 under the menu settings is less dramatic and the following workflow is what I used to get the image results above.

If you’ve never tried this k-x setting you need to do a few things to your camera settings…

1. Press the MENU button to go into the Menu settings and change file format to JPEG and press the menu button again to get back to the typical LCD settings.

2. Then press the INFO button which is just above the Menu button. On the top line over to the right four squares is the menu option “HDR OFF“.  You can change this option two ways.  You can highlight that option and then use the scroll wheel with your thumb moving it to the right to flip to HDR 1, then HDR 2  –OR– you can highlight HDR OFF and press the OK button and then a screen pops up with the three options and just select the one you want and hit OK again.  Obviously, the fastest way to do this is the first way I described.  Highlight HDR OFF and then use the scroll wheel to change it to HDR 1 or HDR 2.  You’ll see shortly why that scroll wheel is the better option.

Each of the images above are a combination of two captures that I brought into photoshop.  Those two captures which were shot from the EXACT same location on a tri-pod were taken by….

1. First taking a shot using the “HDR-1″ setting (also called HDR Standard).
2. Press and hold the shutter so that it takes the 3 consecutive shots (it is auto bracketing and will then immediately process the three shots over the next 10-12 seconds).
3. Then hit the INFO button & scroll the wheel to the right once to select “HDR-2″ (also called HDR Strong) and again press/hold the shutter to fire off the second bracket.

Now here’s the key… Before taking each exposure I forced the exposure compensation to at LEAST +1EV for each of the above outside shots and adjusted the interior shots up by almost +2EV.  That can be changed by using your right index finger and holding down the button just to the left of the shutter then use your right thumb to scroll the wheel to the right to increase the EV number.  Why do this? …

.. because I found if you fire off the camera when in either of the two HDR modes with exposure compensation set at ZERO, the merge to HDR and in camera tonemapping seems to over crush the highlights and you end up with very “dirty” mid tones and darker shadows than you would want ideally.

The camera is of course firing off three images. One under exposed, one middle, one over exposed.  It then merges those 3 bracketed shots to HDR in-camera, it then processes and tonemaps the HDR and saves the result as a JPEG.  You can’t get anything but a JPEG as a final file (unfortunately).

When I got back from shooting, I would then open the first shot (HDR 1 / HDR Standard) in photoshop.  Then FILE>PLACE the second image  (HDR  2 / HDR Strong) over top of the first image. I then drop the opacity of the top layer (HDR Strong) to about 30% as a starting point and then change its blend mode in the layers palette to either OVERLAY or SOFT LIGHT.  Then I just adjust opacity of that layer up or down to get the feel of the image to a satisfying level.  Save and export.

You may find that you like the HDR Strong layer better than the HDR Standard (your call and whatever floats your boat).  If so, simply reverse the layers so that the bottom layer is HDR Strong image and with the standard NORMAL blend mode and then have the top level be the HDR Standard image and change its opacity and blend mode as described above.

GOTCHAS - If you moved the camera slightly when you switched the camera menu settings between shots, you may need to use Photoshop’s align feature.  You click the bottom layer and shift select the other layer so they are both selected.  Then from the file menu EDIT>AUTO ALIGN LAYERS to have photoshop align the pixels.

UPSIDE:
You don’t need to do any MERGE to HDR and tonemapping because the Pentax k-x HDR Mode is doing that for you.

DOWNSIDE:
Fast moving objects make this two pronged approach a challenge and works best with static scenes. You need to use a tri-pod for best results. The time the k-x takes to process each shot can slow you down when shooting like this. You need a program that utilizes blend modes like Photoshop or a free application like GIMP (which is an open source, photoshop “like” app).

http://brianmatiash.com/blog/2010/03/04/gear-review-the-promote-control-a-canon-hdr-photographers-story/

He is also an editor over at HDR Spotting