p.20 #1 · Sigma DP2 Merrill: Have any of you tried it?
Herb1911 wrote:
And just one more question.
When you focus manual do you do this at working aperture, or do you focus wide open and then close to the desired aperture?
Herb
I first choose the aperture and then focus. But since the display image brightness and noise is independend from the choosen aperture I assume that the DP2M closes the aperture just before the shutter is triggered. I don't know any method to focus stopped down with the DP2M.
p.20 #2 · Sigma DP2 Merrill: Have any of you tried it?
Bobu wrote:
Herb, which of these two (Standard + LR Saturation vs. Vivid) do you like better and why? At the moment I'm not sure which of these two settings I should use for my images (as a default setting).
Boris
Boris, in general I do not get the colors I want with all the SPP settings.
The one that gives me the best starting point is Standard, for further adjusting in Lightroom.
My concern is that the red/pink colors go way over the top with Vivid or just boosting saturation.
And the blue colors are in general a touch too purple for me.
So my choice would be Standard with adjustment to taste in Lightroom.
My Lightroom adjustments give me quite a realistic rendering of the ColorChecker chart. So this is for me the best starting point. Of course I would love to make a real profile but we have to wait until Adobe supports the Sigma raw files. Or Capture One.
One other thing is that the tone curves applied by Sigma are such that the shadows are really dark. Maybe they do this on purpose to hide the noise with higher ISO settings. Ideally the blacks must be a touch lighter and the whites a touch whiter while maintaining good separation of the greys. That is why I play with the tone curve as well.
I will never say that you must do it like this or this. Mostly there are a lot of ways that lead to Rome. And there is always the artist involved. That is you, so feel entirely free to find your own way.
p.20 #3 · Sigma DP2 Merrill: Have any of you tried it?
Bobu wrote:
I first choose the aperture and then focus. But since the display image brightness and noise is independend from the choosen aperture I assume that the DP2M closes the aperture just before the shutter is triggered. I don't know any method to focus stopped down with the DP2M.
Boris
Sorry Boris forget about the last question. I had the Nex camera's in mind.
We have to find out if there is a possibility of focus shift and /or field curvature.
But this will come along the way with making nice images.
p.20 #4 · Sigma DP2 Merrill: Have any of you tried it?
Thanks Herb, even if you go your own way it is often helpfull to know what works for other people.
I will do some more tests with the Standard Color setting.
p.20 #5 · Sigma DP2 Merrill: Have any of you tried it?
@Sandy Crane,
Hello Sandy,
I understand your question. I have a Nex 7 myself and in doubt if I would buy the Sigma 30mm for my camera.
So right now I cannot help with an image comparison.
What I can say is they are completely different camera's. I would pick the Nex 7 anytime for all photography except for landscape and still life work. The Nex is far more flexible to adapt to all sorts of photography.
This is how I experience it.
p.20 #6 · Sigma DP2 Merrill: Have any of you tried it?
I had the NEX7 and the 30mm f2.8 and its a great lens, it would be a great lens at double the money but at $200 its just a must have for the NEX.
I have long since sold my NEX kit, so I can't do a direct comparison but I know the IQ of each camera pretty well.
As good as the NEX is, it just doesn't compare to the DP2M. The NEX7 just can't capture quite the same level of clarity and 3D pop in its image. It resolves a lot of detail with a good lens, like the 30mm, but the images just look a bit flatter overall. Maybe a NEX7 with no AA filter would help.
Brute resolution does go a long way though and you could probably do a 3 image stitch on the NEX and downsize it to DP2M native size and they would look quite close
p.20 #9 · Sigma DP2 Merrill: Have any of you tried it?
By the way, thanks Hulyss for posting a link to my blog on the Chassimages forum. I would have prefered if the guy Benaparis who copied my images would have asked for permission, but that's of course not your fault.
p.20 #10 · Sigma DP2 Merrill: Have any of you tried it?
I confirm here the newest version of Cornerfix works for green edges, the hardest part of this process is creat the right lens profile, other steps as long and tortuous: Raw-->Jpeg-->.DNG, for Foveon users you need to jump in-out between SPP and LR and finish in Cornerfix, the result is acceptable.( I did a test of Contax N 28-80mm at 28mm on SD1 Merrill image has heavy green edges).
p.20 #11 · Sigma DP2 Merrill: Have any of you tried it?
Took my first DP2M pics today, very impressive, and that is me just looking at the jpegs SOOC, don't have the Sigma RAW software on my little netbook while travelling, will have to see what the RAW will hold, but I really like what I see in just the jpegs. On cue, the battery gave out at 42 shots today, don't like that, but love the IQ.
p.20 #12 · Sigma DP2 Merrill: Have any of you tried it?
timpdx wrote:
Took my first DP2M pics today, very impressive, and that is me just looking at the jpegs SOOC, don't have the Sigma RAW software on my little netbook while travelling, will have to see what the RAW will hold, but I really like what I see in just the jpegs. On cue, the battery gave out at 42 shots today, don't like that, but love the IQ.
Pretty nigh and day difference between the jpegs and the raw files. JPEG's aren't by any means bad, but the difference in the level of detail you can gain with the RAW files is quite apparent.
Perhaps shoot RAW+JPEG until you can get back home ?
I actually always shoot that way as I like having the JPEGs to look at and and then only on the real keepers do I mess with SPP
p.20 #18 · Sigma DP2 Merrill: Have any of you tried it?
@Boris,
Did a famous wall shot for checking centre/edge/corner sharpness.
I did 4 series, two manual focus, 2 auto focus. Two focus in centre, two focus at halfway towards corner.
One in upper right corner, one in lower left corner.
Distance around 2 meter.
Result: f/5.6 is sharpest and most contrasty in centre, edge and corners here.
So the end result might change a little with the distance. The result is very even across the frame. At f/11 clear softening starts due to diffraction.
Saw also a bit light falloff that has disappeared at f/5.6. There is also a slight barrel distortion that can be corrected easily; +5 in Lightroom lens correction.
I am not going to post all these wall shots here if you are ok
