Bob, love your pics with EFEX! Though, to my eye, the first and thrid are just a bit "overcooked", and the second looks just brilliant!
Martynas, a gorgeous set! Too many for me to discuss each one on its merits, unfortunately. My faves are the large one of Union Station, and the one marked "contrast". One question: why did you let the sign "refrigerated" look slanted to the right?
Fracas, love your last two, the last one in particular...
Diploneis wrote:
carstenw: first class portrait! Great tones! I only would try to keep both eyes in focus.
Thanks Martynas, and yes, I agree. I need to get a more instinctive feel for the depth of field of my lenses. I like the shallow DoF look, but not when it is exaggerated, like a little bit here.
My latest experiment. This is an LF-look-alike image made with 4 rows of 10 vertical shots with the 200/2 VR on a D3. I used the 200/2 to get the narrowest depth of field possible at some distance (curtain of sharpness in front of blur). I have also, at great effort, manually resized and sharpened in Photoshop, so I am interested in comments about that too. Too bad that spring isn't more advanced, to make a more beautiful shot, but I can easily go back, and will.
[Edit: Doh! Removed since it isn't a ZF/ZE/ZM lens. Left the the link for those who would like to follow it.]
Anecdotally, the originals aren't all that sharp, so I really need to go back and examine the lens/camera combo and my long lens technique. This is not the first time recently that I have gotten images less sharp than expected (although the portrait worked out well, so at least my 100MP is beyond reproach). I suspect my technique. There is more than enough resolution for such a heavily downsized copy, thankfully.
Oh, I also got my 30" monitor working with my laptop, so I am posting this in 1200 pixel width. I won't do that in general, but I think this shot needs it (at least).
Cant help watching these Zeiss-threads since quite some time and enjoy the pictures. Martynas, Denoir, Makten, Carstenw and others continously post outstanding shots + PP. Very inspiring, thank you!
Having had a 5D2 for some time now (moving up from a 7D) I've recently started to turn my attention to MF because of the lenses that then become available. I recently bought my first MF which is a Samyang 14/2.8. Together with an AF-confirm adapter and some practice on when the "AF-confirmation" actually means that the focal-plane is exactly where it should be, it produces very sharp images. For the money it's almost ridiculous.
Now, being a Canonguy theres another non-L lens-vacuum around 35mm. So I am thinking of the Zeiss ZE35. You did this to me ;-)
But what is your preferred way of acquiring focus dead-on? I am not a tripod-person that want to invoke LVx10 - I want to set focus dead-on reasonably fast. As said, the AF-confirm works very well, but on the other hand it's at 14mm and that is by definition more liberal than when moving up to 35 - or 85, 100 for that matter. I don't want to trust the machines... 8-)
Micro-prism, split-image or how do you do it? You cannot really get it right with an un-messed Canon focusing-screen (Ee-S which also dims the VF when using slower lenses), can you? Any input from you Zeiss-pro's would be very helpful. Thank you.
I don't see any problems Carsten, very sharp and beautiful shot
My only concern might be about the light, i wish it was a few hrs later so that the colors would show themselves better.
carstenw wrote:
My latest experiment. This is an LF-look-alike image made with 4 rows of 10 vertical shots with the 200/2 VR on a D3. I used the 200/2 to get the narrowest depth of field possible at some distance (curtain of sharpness in front of blur). I have also, at great effort, manually resized and sharpened in Photoshop, so I am interested in comments about that too. Too bad that spring isn't more advanced, to make a more beautiful shot, but I can easily go back, and will.
Anecdotally, the originals aren't all that sharp, so I really need to go back and examine the lens/camera combo and my long lens technique. This is not the first time recently that I have gotten images less sharp than expected (although the portrait worked out well, so at least my 100MP is beyond reproach). I suspect my technique. There is more than enough resolution for such a heavily downsized copy, thankfully.
Oh, I also got my 30" monitor working with my laptop, so I am posting this in 1200 pixel width. I won't do that in general, but I think this shot needs it (at least)....Show more →
Technically your photo looks fine to me, but I think that the simulation of the LF-look is a bit wasted on this motive because the foreground blur is hardly perceivable on the ice and the background blur is disguised by the willow trees, at least at a first glance. In spring at least the foreground should contribute more the LF-look, while the willow trees with more green will probably encompass even more of an in-focus-background.
Lotusm50 - rolling bushes were giving me goose skin on my first drives in NM deserts and CO... Nice BW.
Fracas - I like your shots with 85mm and it seems like very pleasant lens.
carstenw - a very cool shot and I believe you could post it larger for bigger impact! Now I am waiting to see your future shots with fresh green foliage!
Philber - Thank you! I am not yet so good with architecture and stuff. So glad you like them. I could correct the perspective of Refrigerated and I did try so, but somewhat I didn't liked as it didn't looked true to me... I shot it from bellow and at angle, so is my bad....
Thanks Uzay and Martynas! Much appreciated. I couldn't have stayed later, since I had about a two-hour window before having to be at home again (the trouble with having a child...), and I had enough trouble getting the sequence done without people walking through. One woman stood almost in the same spot for 15 minutes, trying to get some titmice to land and feed off her hand, and I am just standing there, on the other side of the pond, waiting for her to walk away. I will go back in the spring, but as Ulff says, I am afraid that the foliage will cover so much of the background that I might as well just shoot it with a sharp 50mm lens. We'll see.
Ulff, I will keep looking for better motives In Tiergarten I might be able to find one or a few solitary trees where there is more room to show the separation to the background. I didn't have the time to go there this past Sunday though.
wfrank, I have used the ZF 35/2 on my D3, and find that manually focusing works well. The 5DII finder is darker, the screen not as good for manual focus (although there are aftermarket solutions for this), the focus-confirmation lights are less accurate than the Nikon, and of course, the camera has much higher resolution, putting things in the critical area, at least wide-ish open, close-ish up. With practice, I think it ought to be possible to get a high keeper rate, but you will never nail everything. For me, when I really want to nail things, I am using live view on a good tripod. Otherwise I accept that I have to throw away some, and you will have to throw away more unless you are much better than me.
Hugo, i can't view your last photos, all i see is a frog trapped in a ice cube and it says "domain unregistered: to register please imageshack, bla,bla, bla..."
Thanks. Yes, I will go back in a few weeks and try again. I might even try when the trees start getting buds, since it might be a visible improvement, without the blocking of full leaf coverage.
Nice shots, especially #2 and #3. Brilliant the way the warm light is on the one side of the bridge, and the cool light on the other.
Doh! I just realized that I posted a 200/2 VR shot in the ZF/ZE/ZM thread, sorry about that. I guess I was still think about my 100MP since I was choosing on-site whether to use that or the 200/2 VR. I won't remove it now, since a bunch of conversation came after, but will remove the photo. It can be seen in the Nikon Forum's 200/2 thread.
wfrank - I use the canon eg-s screen and it works well also @f/2. I tried a Brightscreen: focus is very easy with split-image, but the spot metering does not work well. From f/4 also the standard screen is acceptable for me, who often focus through the distance settings more than looking into the screen.
The last weekend I rented the ZE85 to try manual focus @1.4 with the eg-s screen (before purchasing a ZE 85 or a ZE100) and overall I was satisfied (even if sometimes you have to take two or 3 shots to be more sure of the focus...), so I advice you to do the same before purchasing the lens.
Diploneis wrote:
Every time I look is bigger and bigger selection of amazing images here of all sorts of styles! Good to be part of such a bunch of artists!
alkanphel: your black & white flower images are very beautiful with wonderful tones and composition and in most cases show that legendary Zeiss 3D'iness. I especially like the last shots in both sets!
Luka: you always find that perfect light and perfect composition no matter what you shoot! Images always crisp and done to the highest standard.
pingflood: lovely interaction and moment! Is amazing how dogs love children and what they allow for them! I like vibrant colors!
Uzay: a lovely variety of shots on variety of subjects - I particularly like architectural pieces (though I still can't figure out the 5th shot - it just confuses my brain) and the shot with the hat stand!
mshi: seeing these shots I feel very sad you sold out your Zeiss lens... Wonderful set, great black & white conversions and I just love how you see.
John: great cloud! Dramatic sky and nice view. I would just brighten up a bit the foreground.
carstenw: first class portrait! Great tones! I only would try to keep both eyes in focus.
pingflood: good looking doggy!
akul: what a set! The last one is grand and you already know what I think about it and another black & white! The one with two sail ships is just awesome too!
Makten: you are master of bringing color and texture in your wonderfully composed abstract images! Very enjoyable!
Bob: I see you are having great time other there! I just love how you composed the first shot!
I also want to thank you all for kind comments on my train series!
Vallejo: I am very sorry, but I am not very keen on revealing my PP recipes - I hope you understand!
And here is a bunch of shots (worse and better) from my recent walks in Denver. All with 21 and 100.
Nice BW.
I