Re: Catching the blue haze sunset light in dog park with DP2 M :)
richard stone wrote:
JojoChuang wrote:
richard stone wrote:
JojoChuang wrote:
Recently got my DP2M from Sigma outlet and keep messing around with it.
Compare to DP1M, DP2M's 45mm lens is even better for daily point and shoot.
Took it out to dog park with me before sunset, try to catch the nice blue haze with it.
The stealth look and film like quality of X3 always makes me smile.
Although never own a Leica, the DP series pretty much match what lots of people describe what Leica is... and I love it.
using from iso500--800, handheld, MF, SPP 6.5.3. minimal color adjustment. Raw to jpg :
I like the pictures, although some of the color ones look too blue for my taste. Maybe it's my settings? I would be tempted to use a correcting white balance in even SPP. On the other hand, I know you were trying to capture the blue light.
For me the point is that getting past ISO 100 only makes the camera much more versatile and, even if the images suffer a little in terms of various issues, so would CFA cameras suffer, but not so much. Meanwhile, you have the images you like? Where's the problem?
And I would add that so many people post dog and cat pictures that I am, after so many years, getting accustomed to it.
As for constructive criticism? Good work so far.
Best wishes,
Richard
Thanks Richard,
The color I saw on those photo are actually pretty close to actual light, which is the blue haze happens before sunset, before things get too dark for Merrill to even capture. And true, that might be too blue if we use normal white balance as standard, for me, catching what the eye sees with it is the goal, which Merrill surprises me!
I know they are not great photo by any means. The thing I like about them is how Merrill reacts to light. The way Merrill reacts (with minimal raw editing) is really close to film, as I remember how sensitive and the wide variation you can get from them, makes X3 gear in general a really poetic camera compares to modern digital cameras.
Another thing is, I were surprised by the usability of iso500-800 (if using black and white, 1600 below is good as well!) on the Merrill. Like you said, it loses the image quality (which is it's glorious strength among anything else lol) for the versatility. The versatility of the Merrill is something I really want to push, to make it possible for daily use, and the way these photo turn out encourages me on that path
There is a vibe I sense from Sigma's new product line (Merrill and Quattro, mostly Merrill in this case) that they are aiming at niche market + forming a luxury feel through the construction, quality and PR (ex. their gorgeous site for DP and SD series) with fair but not cheap price.
That vibe leads to me thinking that they want to separate themselves from "normal" but is that even possible for people to compare them with luxury brand like Leica (or is that part of their intention?) And use them in a similar fashion as a Leica? (feel free to disagree but I am a proud Sigma user, feeling different and luxury from others Quattro line tells a different story, they are really pushing the "different" aspect and I love them as well, want to get one!!)
I guess my point of posting them is just to say, I want to see more X3 lovers sharing their photo, not just those beautifully crafted one but more daily and casual ones as well, use them daily and shoot more, dig the fun and possibilities in them. At the end, the enjoyment and memory from the photo we took is the core of photography, not the argument about how the gear behaves...
Cheers!
I think Sigma intends to create lenses at and for the top of the market, competing with Zeiss and to some extent Leica. The phone cameras are now so good that anything less than a very good lens is not going to be much of a selling product. For now they have to include price in that equation. After they have established themselves in the luxury lens market they may have to figure out if they want to change their pricing structure. Alternatively that may take care of itself if the Art series is their high-end lens line.
I like how they price the new SGV lens, happy to see them stay underdog but offer killer sharpness and great build. (Kind of contradicts to me wishing them move toward luxury and niche but anyway, it seems to be good balance now.)
In one sense the new cameras, the sdQ and the sdQ-H version, require high performance lenses, and lenses that work wide open, because the Foveon sensor is capable of such great resolution and the sensor needs lots of light to work best. But still, really, most "ordinary" lenses do quite well when stopped down a little and the camera put on a tripod.
I also agree that the idea of saving the Sigma cameras for special use, or for special events, is way too limiting, and I have had some good results just shooting jpgs in the sdQ. That also means being able to use the camera at ISO 400 - 800 and making it work. My issue with the camera in reduced lighting and jpgs has been the purple blotches in hair, which I know can be removed (the blotches, not the hair...). I probably have to get a photoshop (or similar) program if I want to get rid of the blotches. I have been using Raw Therapee, but not on every image, and I have not figured out if that program can get rid of the blotches.
as I said, treat them like a Leica film camera, carry them like Brad Pitt, What a feeling
(the hair joke gave me a smile. Good one.)
i don't know the best way about reducing the purple blotches, although I know photoshop pretty well. Hope to see someone knows about that. In my experience, when we see purple blotch, the photo kind of half dead even we spent lots of effort , isn't it?
My set-up now is the sdQ with the 17-50 2.8 OS lens almost all the time, which covers almost all I want to do, in a small-enough package. (It's still big.) I like sharp images, but I am also very interested in colors. I have been (properly) questioned about what I mean by the term color "gradation" but I think the sdQ provides excellent color accuracy. What we do after we get that is up to us.
There is definitely something special about X3 color, hard to theorized but there is. Which gives me a hard time look at Bayers image. (Makes our photography life way harder for now a day standard lol.)
I also highly recommend the images posted on this site by "LWW."
will check his work, thanks
Richard
