I have had one chance/day to use the "Manfrotto Compact Monopod Advanced Black", it did work out quite well. It was a sunny day but a strong wind. The monopod provided the necesarry stabilisation.
I do think it needs a adjustable head but the Joby ballhead I bought is a bit heavy for the Merrills. With hindsight the Novoflex Ball 19P would be more appropiate/lighter. The Joby is nice though, but more then twice as expensive as the Monopod.
But I'll be using it more intensive in the next few weeks.
Thank you for that Amrit. When I got my latest tripod I made sure the ball head was small. Really holding the Merrills stable nothing to large is needed, which is a good thing. I do also know that feeling of buying something to find there could have been a better choice but hope this one works out ok for you. I've just spent out on a kiln controller, nothing to do with photography but expensive so need to hold on a bit longer for the Monopod.
Very nice shots! The Foveons are definately great for monochrom. I'm a bit surprised though that the red filter didn't have a stronger effect. When I use a red filter with monochrom film the effect is a lot stronger.
I have a load of 52mm filters, unfortunately the DP1 has a 49mm thread instead of 52mm which was a very common filter size. I'm very curious how it would work out with a green filter.
I assume you used the monochrom setting in the camera itself, or in post processing?
juju1958 wrote:
Thank you for that Amrit. When I got my latest tripod I made sure the ball head was small. Really holding the Merrills stable nothing to large is needed, which is a good thing. I do also know that feeling of buying something to find there could have been a better choice but hope this one works out ok for you. I've just spent out on a kiln controller, nothing to do with photography but expensive so need to hold on a bit longer for the Monopod.
Hi JuJu, I do not regret the Joby ballhead, for now it's a good compromise. It works great on the gorilla pod I use (the strongest version), on the Monopod it combines very well with an SLR's and it has Arca Swiss type of plates. And it turns the monopod in a sort of battle axe
A Kiln controller? I did try to look it up, you're into brewing beer or something?
Amrit wrote:
Hi JuJu, I do not regret the Joby ballhead, for now it's a good compromise. It works great on the gorilla pod I use (the strongest version), on the Monopod it combines very well with an SLR's and it has Arca Swiss type of plates. And it turns the monopod in a sort of battle axe
A Kiln controller? I did try to look it up, you're into brewing beer or something?
Ha no not brewing beer, alcohol does not interest me at all. Kiln as in ceramics/pottery. I make pottery and fire it in a kiln. The controller I can program to ramp up to a certain temperature at a certain rate such as 100 degree centigrade an hour until it reaches a determined temperature, maybe hold if wanted at that temperature for a chosen length of time and then ramp again at say 150 to 200 degree centigrade an hour until say 1280 centigrade or high enough to either vitrify the clay if stone ware or lower temperatures if earthenware. The controller takes a lot of guess work out of firing. But they are quite expensive, hence I'll have to save to get the Monopod, but actually that Advance black is not that expensive, so maybe I'll look into it soon.
veroman wrote:
Former Sigma/Foveon owner jumping in here with questions. No pics to post. Not yet, anyway.
1) A great many of the images posted here are startling in their levels of detail and sharpness. But I can't help but sense that these same images ... most of them anyway ... seem sharper than in real life. I'm not judging that. After all, Richard Avedon's classic portraits revealed every skin pore and nose hair. But the Foveon images do have a "sharpness character" that, to my eyes, can often overshadow the subject matter. That is ... the technical aspect of the shot becomes more of an allure than the subject itself. Thoughts?
2) There's a definite "granular" quality to so many of the images posted ... like ultra-small sprinkles of pepper or, more accurately, like super-fine film grain. Is this the DP camera at work or is this effect created in p/p? Is it just plain and simple noise (although I doubt it; I think it's too fine and way too orderly to be Foveon noise). Like my "sharpness" comment above, the fine granular quality sometimes overshadows the subject matter and brings technique to the forefront. Is that intentional?
BTW: I'm thinking of investing in a DP2. I have my reservations about the Foveon cameras in general ... high ISO noise being my most overriding concern ... but I might give it a try anyway. Hard to resist ....
You have a lot of control over the acuity or micro contrast in post production.
You can emphasize it or even remove it.
You should be able to dial in your image to what you like.
I suggest you download Sigma Pro Photo and a raw file or two and play with it.
Some settings to try would be
+/- sharpen
+/- x3f
+/- Chroma
+/- HL recovery
If you want to push it to the max try this + 2 sharpen +2 Chroma -2 Luminance Highlight Recovery -max neutralize + X3f to taste.
If you use Lightroom clarity +/- can profoundly affect the final image.
I could post some 100% crops if interested to illustrates some differences in settings and the affect it has.
Also have a look at my next post of the tree photos only difference is in processing.
Amrit wrote:
Very nice shots! The Foveons are definately great for monochrom. I'm a bit surprised though that the red filter didn't have a stronger effect. When I use a red filter with monochrom film the effect is a lot stronger.
I have a load of 52mm filters, unfortunately the DP1 has a 49mm thread instead of 52mm which was a very common filter size. I'm very curious how it would work out with a green filter.
I assume you used the monochrom setting in the camera itself, or in post processing?
They were converted to monochrome in SPP with some tweaks in LR. The effects can intensified in SPP when choosing different settings on the color wheel. I use 52mm filters with a step-down ring. Here are two similar images shot 5 minutes apart. The first with a yellow and second with a red filter. Default monochrome conversion in SPP with basic highlight/shadow adjustment and contrast applied equally. Exposure adjusted slightly to each to just below highlight clipping. Sorry for the rather ordinary photos, just seeing how the filters worked.
Using one raw file I made 4 versions with different exposure, contrast, shadow, sharpen etc settings in SPP
Took it to photoshop photo merge exposure
Then to Lightroom and adjusted some more.
In Lightroom I made a virtual copy and converted the copy to BW
Then re adjusted for the BW conversion, Including boosting clarity I think to +40
I also did a number with the tone curve. It looks like a shepherd's staff.
and quite a few tweaks to the Black & White color mixer
The image on the right was one raw file converted in SPP
Imported in Darktable
Converted to monochrome
Added Graduated Density filter to the sky
"I wish I had spent more time in this step to avoid the minimal banding that it introduced here"
Imported to Lightroom
Adjusted most settings here with overall intent towards a much softer look
with more effort on smooth tones and underlying shadows.
Very minor tint to shadows applied.
They both have amazing detail that is just not able to be seen when downsized for the web.
Thanks for the steps Intimistic, I think I prefer the one on the left. I favor it mostly because of the sky and I like the lighter tones of the foliage on the main tree. A nice image in color and b/w.
edwinIII wrote:
They were converted to monochrome in SPP with some tweaks in LR. The effects can intensified in SPP when choosing different settings on the color wheel. I use 52mm filters with a step-down ring. Here are two similar images shot 5 minutes apart. The first with a yellow and second with a red filter. Default monochrome conversion in SPP with basic highlight/shadow adjustment and contrast applied equally. Exposure adjusted slightly to each to just below highlight clipping. Sorry for the rather ordinary photos, just seeing how the filters worked.
Thanks for showing us, I have read about Sean Reid's testing of the cameras, and I am intrigued to try some filters. I will need to wait for some nice dramatic skies.
instead of 52mm which was a very common filter size. I'm very curious how it would work out with a green filter. 
