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The 500 on Landscapes doesn't look GFX Crisp to Me....
- Thread starter Greg7579
- Start date
Greg!
Be sure to stop by The Brookover Gallery in Jackson Hole. Say hello to my good friend David Brookover, drool over his beautiful images. Not to be missed! You won’t be sorry. David is a great person, and shoots w/ GFX these days as part of his kit.
https://www.brookovergallery.com
And… I’m 99% sure the softness you’re seeing is atmospheric distortion. Jim nailed it, again!
Here’s my take of an icon of the area:
Rand
Be sure to stop by The Brookover Gallery in Jackson Hole. Say hello to my good friend David Brookover, drool over his beautiful images. Not to be missed! You won’t be sorry. David is a great person, and shoots w/ GFX these days as part of his kit.
https://www.brookovergallery.com
And… I’m 99% sure the softness you’re seeing is atmospheric distortion. Jim nailed it, again!
Here’s my take of an icon of the area:
Rand
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Rodenmg
Veteran Member
I’m going to say this only once and that’s it. I’m not going to argue or debate it. Take it or leave it. 
When shooting big glass on arguably one of the sturdiest (and most expensive) tripods money can buy, hands free and locked down with no outside source of vibration; regardless of shutter speed, use a shutter delay, E-shutter, and IS off.
Under these conditions why on earth would you want your sensor floating around fighting you?
... Mike, formerly known as Rod.
... https://www.flickr.com/photos/198581502@N02/
When shooting big glass on arguably one of the sturdiest (and most expensive) tripods money can buy, hands free and locked down with no outside source of vibration; regardless of shutter speed, use a shutter delay, E-shutter, and IS off.
Under these conditions why on earth would you want your sensor floating around fighting you?
... Mike, formerly known as Rod.
... https://www.flickr.com/photos/198581502@N02/
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I think it's much more likely that we're looking at atmospheric effects, which are not uniform across the frame.
Look at this crop and I feel that the left part of the image is sharper than the area away from left middle . There also has to be some amount of atmospheric blur going on also due to the fact that 500mm vs 120mm and the more you zoom in with atmospheric blur the worse it gets. You may not have had IBIS on so my whole idea is moot.
Great sky! nice shot. Also not many realize that the tri-teton's look great also from the Idaho side.
Hope the gear is all OK. GFX stuff is tough.
Paul
--
the last word the last word - Photography meets digital computer technology. Photography wins -- most of the time.
Photography meets digital computer technology. Photography wins -- most of the time.
blog.kasson.com
Greg7579
Forum Pro
Mike, that is a good point, but I shot it both ways with no difference. I have now proven to myself that leaving the stabilization on for these fairly fast shutter speed shots does no harm and can help with any shutter shock, vibration or drift of any type.I’m going to say this only once and that’s it. I’m not going to argue or debate it. Take it or leave it.
When shooting big glass on arguably one of the sturdiest (and most expensive) tripods money can buy, hands free and locked down with no outside source of vibration; regardless of shutter speed, use a shutter delay, E-shutter, and IS off.
Under these conditions why on earth would you want your sensor floating around fighting you?
... Mike, formerly known as Rod.
... https://www.flickr.com/photos/198581502@N02/
I have been doing some more shooting and it was atmospherics for sure.
DavidMillier
Forum Pro
No shortage of fantastic scenery in the US. Nice!
Greg7579
Forum Pro
Jim, yesterday we drove up through Grand Teton National Park along the road that goes by Jenny Lake and was much closer to the Grand Teton Peak - 2 miles probably.
It seemed very clear and was around 78 degrees. The Grand was right there....
I set the tripod up and mounted the 120 and locked it down. I pushed the back-magnify button, and the scene in the EVF was waving and shimmering all over the place!
I shot it and got this. It is razor sharp - none of that fuzzy mess that I had with the 500 at 14 miles the other day. So ... the EVF at full mag was shimmering, but this image is sharp with the 120....
View attachment d25535d14d1a40dea1c661462726d39c.jpg
Below is from basically the same spot as the above 120 shot, but with the 20-35 at 35mm. I cropped it - it is not a pano. I think my 20-35 (that was part of the big drop) was not damaged.
View attachment 55f31e09503d4408a8f6712fac79b4f5.jpg
And below, as we were driving out of the park, there was some relief from the bald blue skies, so I shot this with the 37-70.
View attachment 2a3ca016e94e471ea749d6789b772618.jpg
Greg Johnson, San Antonio, Texas
Greg Johnson’s albums | Flickr
www.flickr.com
--
the last word the last word - Photography meets digital computer technology. Photography wins -- most of the time.
Photography meets digital computer technology. Photography wins -- most of the time.
blog.kasson.com
Greg7579
Forum Pro
Great photography Jim! Superb! I wish I had your eye....
Quite nice.
Thanks. You like the way I lined the outhouse up with Grand Teton?
John Crowe
Veteran Member
I think you will have to pick and choose appropriate subjects for the 500mm. I'm thinking distant sunsets/moonscapes or highly compressed landscape shots. Picking out details in a landscape, for what I call portraits, may just not work well, especially with atmospheric conditions.
Heck, I'd even have a go at it with some sports photography! It's been many decades since I shot whitewater rafting with a Mamiya C330 and 250mm f6.3 lens. Now that was a challenge, especially with the waist level finder!
Heck, I'd even have a go at it with some sports photography! It's been many decades since I shot whitewater rafting with a Mamiya C330 and 250mm f6.3 lens. Now that was a challenge, especially with the waist level finder!
Greg7579
Forum Pro
I don't like the 500. I'll probably never use it again unless I get really lucky and have it on a tripod when an animal walks by. Landscape compression or tele at 500mm is too much fuzz and I don't shoot sports.
That lens is going to sit in my closet.
Rodenmg
Veteran Member
Jared Willson
Senior Member
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As Jim suggested, almost certainly just atmospheric turbulence. I fight this literally every single frame in my astrophotography. The longer the focal length, the more the image resolution is determined by our air rather than by the quality of the lens and the skill of the photographer. Image stabilization won't help. A good tripod won't help. The one thing you can do if you run into this again (and you definitely will run into it again with a 500mm lens shooting through a few miles of air) is to use short exposures and take a bunch of them. Even mediocre atmospheric conditions--what astronomers call "poor seeing"--will have moments that are better than others, often much better. Those moments are often quite brief, on the order of a 30th of a second or less. Try taking 20-30 exposures with a fast shutter speed (like 1/500s or faster), even if that means bumping up the ISO a bit. You might be surprised at the variability of the atmospheric seeing. A few of the images could well be significantly sharper than the rest.
Aside from that, the best thing to do is choose a period of more stable air. Either a different day or, as Jim suggested, around dawn.
- Jared
John Crowe
Veteran Member
Wow. Wish I could put that money in a closet. Sell it now while people are still excited about it.
Rodenmg
Veteran Member
For Sale. Only rarely used and fell out of the back of a SUV at low speeds once.
John Crowe
Veteran Member
Gosh. Right. Rent one, when available, and thoroughly test it. Then sell. You'll still get a lot.
I have done worse to lenses with absolutely no apparent change in image quality, with over several years of use on both sides of incident.
I have done worse to lenses with absolutely no apparent change in image quality, with over several years of use on both sides of incident.
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