DP2m: first images, first problems

mclaudio wrote:

I started my last thread a long time ago, in the meantime I bought a Fuji X-E1, tested with my short telephoto Voigtlander lens, re-sold it (liked the camera and the color, but not at all the rendering of textures), my DP1s is now frozen with the lens extended (an evident design mistake that Sigma never recognized, this is not serious at all), my DP2 emits strange sounds but it is still working, I decided then to try the DP2m

(•) First images
My first images are accessible following the link below,

**USE UP/DOWN KEY ARROWS OR MOUSE WHEEL TO NAVIGATE**

the gallery (just a collection of images, not a project) is optimized for 1400px wide or wider screens, it works also for smaller screens but you need to rely on the downsizing capabilities of your browser

you can enjoy (I hope) the images and stop here avoiding the bla bla about technical problems

http://www.photografeet.org/2015dp2mfirst.html

(•) First (usual) problems
(1) My main concern regards the purple/green areas in the clouds that I obtain in highly contrasted skies. Following the recommendation found in this forum I tried (in LR5): desaturating the purple/magenta channels; moving the hue of the purple channel towards the blue; using color noise reduction; using local moire/fringe correction. Nothing really works for me, there are some improvements in some cases but the purple/green areas often do not completely disappear, you can find some of them also in the images I posted. Maybe this is linked to the (incorrect) exposure of the photo, even though, honestly, I’m not sure of that. But the exposure is a sort of nightmare with this DP2m. In highly contrasted situations the meter is off up to 2 stops, the live view histogram and the screen preview are totally useless (in some cases the histogram does not change even correcting the exposure of 4 stops, it does not move at all, the same for the preview (my firmware is v1.05, the DP2 is imprecise but it is relatively consistent)) and highlights are quite easy to clip.

(2) My second concern is about micro contrast. In some case it is really too high for my taste, I like better the one of the original DP2. To reduce it I decrease the contrast and the presence (in LR5), but still I’m not completely happy with the results.

(3) The WB and the colors are improved w.r.t. the ones of the DP2. I use AWB that I correct to my taste in SPP, but some times it is quite difficult to find a good WB. I know that somebody hate AWB, but when I try all the other WB options in SPP they are really far from the one I like (in general they have a strong yellowish cast). I never understood if there is a difference to change the WB in SPP or to use directly a specific WB when one takes the image.

Every comment/advice/suggestion is very appreciated. Many thanks in advance.

My experience when starting with the Merrill was that it took a long while to change habits from the pre-Merrill cameras and I still there is a way to go to get the best out of the Merrill files.

With regards to the blotching - I use ISO 100 and with careful exposure find that I can now have the chroma in SPP down/off (slider moved fully left) and have very little purple green noise. If I need to I will use the colour noise reduction (slider moved to about 15) in ACR or Lightroom to fix.

Micro contrast can be too high with some subjects - my approach after all else fails in terms of good exposure, reduction of contrast, levels adjustment etc is to increase the luminance noise reduction in ACR or Lightroom which smoothes the image.

WB is generally best, I find, if I make a Custom WB using an Expodisc.