mastering the 5dII

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mastering the 5dII

AhamB
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p.2 #1 · mastering the 5dII

sebboh seems to like magenta tinged blue skies.

Other than that, nice conversions.

@Phillip: One basic recommendation I would give for LR/ACR is to use the Camera Standard profile instead of Adobe Standard, if you aren't already doing that. Besides that I have not really established any good PP recipes myself.

Nov 23, 2012 at 05:58 PM

crazeazn
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p.2 #2 · mastering the 5dII

lenses

Nov 23, 2012 at 06:29 PM

sebboh
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p.2 #3 · mastering the 5dII

AhamB wrote:
sebboh seems to like magenta tinged blue skies.

Other than that, nice conversions.

yeah, sky is a different color in SF and i've grown used to having a hint of purple in the sky.

Nov 23, 2012 at 10:33 PM

freaklikeme
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p.2 #4 · mastering the 5dII

sebboh wrote:
AhamB wrote:
sebboh seems to like magenta tinged blue skies.

Other than that, nice conversions.

yeah, sky is a different color in SF and i've grown used to having a hint of purple in the sky.

It's the pollution. Or, to quote one of my favorite lines ever (though said about LA and not the Bay Area, but still applicable, I think), "I hear the f*^#*! smog is the f*^#*! reason you have such beautiful f*^#*! sunsets."

Nov 24, 2012 at 04:05 AM

cogitech
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p.2 #5 · mastering the 5dII

freaklikeme wrote:
sebboh wrote:
AhamB wrote:
sebboh seems to like magenta tinged blue skies.

Nov 24, 2012 at 04:11 AM

philber
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p.2 #6 · mastering the 5dII

Phillip, I had 5D II, 24-70L, 5N. From my experience, I could never get the colours from it that I could from my 5N and great glass. No way. The 5N has better native colours, the 24-70L isn't especially good for colours.
So, what to do?
First, and it comes free, I would get away from Adobe when it comes to RAW processing. I always used DPP, the free Canon software. The development part is very weak, but the RAW processor is IMHO significantly better than Adobe's. So, develo pin DPP, convert to TIFF, develop your TIFF in LR or CS. Of course, you can try and develop in DPP as well, if you can live with the reduced flexibility and options it gives you.
Second, and it is close to free, get another lens. There is one I have in mind that has great colours and sharpness, and cost pretty little, and can be resold for the same amount in 6 months. Contax C/Y 50mm f:1.7. I have not used one myself, but have seen enough pictures recommending it. It has a rendering that I feel is one you could like.
Hope this helps.

Nov 24, 2012 at 06:48 AM

JohnJ
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p.2 #7 · mastering the 5dII

Canons DPP does potentially get the best from the 5d2 files. Of course that's only practical if working on very small amounts of images as DPP is just a pain to use.

Using a different lens won't fix the problems with 5d2 files. It will make a difference to colours but it won't make the shadows any better and it won't allow you to recover slightly underexposed files any better. It's just shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.

Nov 24, 2012 at 07:27 AM

corndog
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p.2 #8 · mastering the 5dII

JohnJ wrote:
...and it won't allow you to recover slightly underexposed files any better. It's just shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.

Definitely seems to be the crux of this camera and you're not kidding when you say "slightly". There is very little leeway in the shadows before things start going to unrecoverable hell. The below was taken from a single shot, the sky was overexposed and everything below the horizon was underexposed. It looks okay at this size, but has completely fallen apart at 100% and would not print well.

This image is copyrighted by the owner

Nov 24, 2012 at 07:50 AM

philber
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p.2 #9 · mastering the 5dII

JohnJ wrote:
Using a different lens won't fix the problems with 5d2 files. It will make a difference to colours but it won't make the shadows any better and it won't allow you to recover slightly underexposed files any better. It's just shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.

I respectfully beg to differ, John. A different lens will give you different native colours and micro-constrast. It has been stated many times on various threads that this is all hogwash and that these colours and micro-contrast can be replicated in PP, but, try as they may, no-one has been able to back that claim with actual proof, meaning pics.
That said, recovery from overexposed and underexposed areas in the shots is a different story, where I concur with your opinion. No lens is going to help that. If anything, the greater contrast of the Contax over the 24-70 may actually make it happen more frequently.
This is why, after 3 1/2 years, finding out that 5D III was no better than 5D II in this respect, and substantially behind Sony, was such a letdown.

Nov 24, 2012 at 10:08 AM

timballic
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p.2 #10 · mastering the 5dII

philber wrote:
First, and it comes free, I would get away from Adobe when it comes to RAW processing. I always used DPP, the free Canon software. The development part is very weak, but the RAW processor is IMHO significantly better than Adobe's. So, develop in DPP, convert to TIFF, develop your TIFF in LR or CS.
Hope this helps.

I'm interested in what exactly you do in DPP then in LR?
(At the moment I use DPP exclusively, having tried LR, Aperture and DxO, but always finding I can get what I prefer with DPP.)

Nov 24, 2012 at 10:49 AM

mortyb
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p.2 #11 · mastering the 5dII

Personally, I found DPP to give really dull results. But that's my taste, everyone's different. I used the C/Y 50/1.7 quite a lot on the 5D2, and it helps. But I sort of agree with JohnJ. I think if I would get a 5D2 again, I'd have to go for a certain look and not try to achive natural, nice vivid colors - I never managed.

Nov 24, 2012 at 11:33 AM

JohnJ
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p.2 #12 · mastering the 5dII

philber wrote:
JohnJ wrote:
Using a different lens won't fix the problems with 5d2 files. It will make a difference to colours but it won't make the shadows any better and it won't allow you to recover slightly underexposed files any better. It's just shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.

I respectfully beg to differ, John. A different lens will give you different native colours and micro-constrast. It has been stated many times on various threads that this is all hogwash and that these colours and micro-contrast can be replicated in PP, but, try as they may, no-one has been able to back that claim with actual proof, meaning pics.
That said, recovery from overexposed and underexposed areas in the shots is a different story, where I concur with your opinion. No lens is going to help that. If anything, the greater contrast of the Contax over the 24-70 may actually make it happen more frequently.
This is why, after 3 1/2 years, finding out that 5D III was no better than 5D II in this respect, and substantially behind Sony, was such a letdown.

Actually, I don't think we are not in disagreement at all. I didn't elaborate when I said " It will make a difference to colours...", but I completey agree that lenses will give you different colours, different contrast, this will even effect your shadow and highlight detail to some degree etc etc. But it's not enough is simply my point.

Nov 24, 2012 at 12:52 PM

AhamB
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p.2 #13 · mastering the 5dII

JohnJ wrote:
Canons DPP does potentially get the best from the 5d2 files. Of course that's only practical if working on very small amounts of images as DPP is just a pain to use.

DPP is probably best for colors and maybe also tonality, but detail and noise reduction are worse than most other raw developers.

It's just shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.

I like that metaphor.

Nov 24, 2012 at 02:15 PM

mirkoc
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p.2 #14 · mastering the 5dII

I like DPP for white balance best, especially for skin tones. LR3 kind of looks overpolished sometimes when used alone. For the critical stuff I export to tiff from DPP and end with LR.

What are the 5dIII files like compared to 5dII or 5dI, for those who have it?

Nov 24, 2012 at 02:30 PM

crazeazn
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p.2 #15 · mastering the 5dII

this is why we are here

Nov 24, 2012 at 02:49 PM

Mescalamba
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p.2 #16 · mastering the 5dII

Latest Canon DPP, ALO on medium, lens profile at 100%, disabled peripheral illumination. Guess it doesnt fix distortion or I switched it off? Landscape color profile.

Then quick PP in PS, just some sharpening, color and detail boost. Doesnt look bad when sized down, bit horrible at 100%. DPP really isnt comparable to regular RAW developers as far as detail/noise/DR goes.. But colors are better.

Nov 24, 2012 at 05:11 PM

timballic
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p.2 #17 · mastering the 5dII

I agree this looks horrible, all those blocked shadows, but then I wouldn't have used Landscape but Neutral (or occasionally Standard) profile in DPP.
I liked the one you posted using CP7,(What is CP7?)

Nov 24, 2012 at 05:33 PM

sebboh
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p.2 #18 · mastering the 5dII

timballic wrote:
I agree this looks horrible, all those blocked shadows, but then I wouldn't have used Landscape but Neutral (or occasionally Standard) profile in DPP.
I liked the one you posted using CP7,(What is CP7?)

i kinda like the blocked up shadows. sometimes that's the way the world actually looks.

something i miss about b&w film is that you would regularly see things completely lost in the shadows. now that we can recover them so easily everybody feels compelled to do so.

Nov 24, 2012 at 05:41 PM

mirkoc
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p.2 #19 · mastering the 5dII

sebboh wrote:
i kinda like the blocked up shadows. sometimes that's the way the world actually looks.

Shadow pushing to extreme is as popular today as the contrast boost.

Nov 24, 2012 at 06:27 PM

Mescalamba
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p.2 #20 · mastering the 5dII

I would say that DR in this pic is pretty ok, if you would look like camera did, you probably wouldnt be able to see much of those trees anyway.

Usually I like in my photos something between film contrasty look and bit "human vision". Hard to get tho..

If I was using 5DMK2, I would probably convert RAWs in DPP or build myself some decent color profile (to use with any converter I wish).

Nov 24, 2012 at 07:29 PM

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