AA-filter mod finalised

So my camera is now fully functional. WB is a little off, but nothing serious.

Here is a portrait (yeah, I´m overworked):

Crop from the eye (mod):

Crop from the eye (unmod):

Adam, I didn´t take these and I have seen that AF is totally inconsistent, so I took them off the server. I will try to get the LensAlign test shot from my studio partner who uses the unmodified S5 and the file is on his card. The LensAlign target should be focussed ...
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Greetings from Germany,
Pam

Some of my casual D3 images @ photoforum
http://www.fotografie.fr/n3-galleryPMeier-1.htm

pam, i don't mean to sound rude, but do we get to see some pictures? we've been waiting for this moment since forever, you know

Hi Miso, yeah, I know, it has taken ages. Here is the lens align comparison:

Guess which is which ;

The frame:

WB is slightly cooler on the modified S5, but nothing to worry about if you shoot RAW. Sharpness and contrast is enhanced.

Of course, I´m happy with the result, it´s just what I wanted. But I won´t do it on my D3 workhorse as of yet.
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Greetings from Germany,
Pam

Some of my casual D3 images @ photoforum
http://www.fotografie.fr/n3-galleryPMeier-1.htm

reywob wrote:

Very very impressive Pam!

Yes and no, in my eyes. What has really improved, is contrast and clarity, but the pure sharpness has stayed the same.

It would be necessary to see real world images with much small detail. Test charts with simple black and white forms are too abstract to judge on real world IQ.

regards
bernie

Yeah, real world examples: a little camera shake, a little AF problems and the extra sharpness is gone
--
Greetings from Germany,
Pam

Some of my casual D3 images @ photoforum
http://www.fotografie.fr/n3-galleryPMeier-1.htm

bloomoose wrote:

Yeah, real world examples: a little camera shake, a little AF
problems and the extra sharpness is gone

This would contradict my own experience: The S3pro delivers sharper results than the S5pro, image for image, and I mean real world images.

When I got the S5 it took me exactly 1 image to discover that the S5 is a step back in terms of resolution and detail.

So yes indeed, it should be visible in real world photos...

regards
Bernie

Torchwood wrote:

with that mod you get the S3 sharpness
(maybe a bit more) & Detail in the S5 Along with the more natural
colour, far better DR handling in JPGs, and of course the far better
body & battery system which the S5 beats the S3 for ..

I'd add minus a number of pics which will be ruined by moiré. It will probably not happen oftenly, but from time to time.

Otherwise that's how I see it too, and this is why I probably will get mine modified, too.

It would be interesting to see how a modified S3 would be, but those bodies become quite unreliable and to spend money (modification) on a body that may just fail shortly after is quite a risk.

Bernie

Hi Charles,

the last mod was very sensitive to IR and all the images were near IR polluted. I had to use a UV/IR-cut filter to correct for that.

I didn´t show any color images, but the original camera´s images are slightly reddish, whereas the mod is slightly blueish. Since I shoot RAW and use WB afterwards, I couldn´t see any differences.

After all, Rainer is a very knowledgable person and it took him 4 filter sandwiches for the best formula.

CWilt wrote:

I would interested if IR sensitivity has changed. IR contamination
can be a bigger problem than morie on some fabrics.

Two ways I can think to test this. Use a TV IR remote control. Set
remote the same distance from a modified and unmodified cameras, same
lens, same exposure. The other way is to shoot something like a black
camera bag in sunlight. My Lowepro can turn purple when shot with the
D2x without a filter. As it does with some P&S models as well.

Adam, I believe that using the S3´s aa filter isn´t possible, because the thickness of the material must be the same and the S5´s filter is the thickest Rainer had ever seen .... You would get AF problems (adjusting the AF module is very difficult). Then you could also run into significant WB differences, too.

I believe that the mod turned out successful and I´m quite happy with it. But then if I compare the modified S5 to my other cameras, it just goes to show it is a years old AF module and 6 Mpix camera. It may gain some resolution, but not as much as you would hope.