First shots with my "new" SD1 Merrill

Thanks so much to Scott for selling me his SD1M when he was done with his epic roadtrip!

It's quite an adjustment to lack liveview… feels like I'm back in the 90s (but in a good way).

I don't have any Sigma lenses yet, so I'm adapting my Nikon lenses with an AI-PK mount. Not ideal, I know.

The Nikon 55mm macro delivers:

no color aberration outdoors… such detail!

think there's some lateral (top to bottom) chromatic aberration here but the sharpness and detail makes me HAPPY

For funsies, I popped on this whacky single-element 1980s soft focus lens I grabbed off eBay because I want to explore pictorialist style landscapes:

it has major purple shift in the corners so I converted to B&W — but then again, it is a single element lens in a plastic tube sooo nbd, just adds to the antique look

I famously did not get along with the SDQ and the 30mm Art lens. But I LOVE the SD1 Merrill so far. I've enjoyed borrowing my husband's Nikon D750 but there's nothing quite like a Foveon file, zooming in to 200% - 300% and it still looks amazing.

On adapted lenses and fixing color shifts…

My husband's deep into astrophotography and uses "flat frames" to remove color distortion from his photographs. You take the lens, at the aperture setting you're going to use, and cover it up with a white material that allows in light like plastic or cotton. Then you take a photo. That captures the purple or green distortions. Then, in Photoshop or other tools, you "subtract" that white frame from your photograph, resulting in corrected color.

Has anyone tried this?

spiffariffic wrote:

atom14 wrote:

It's quite an adjustment to lack liveview… feels like I'm back in the 90s (but in a good way).

Yes!

It really is warm & nostalgic. And I was worried about it actually… my #1 concern.

...

My husband's deep into astrophotography and uses "flat frames" to remove color distortion from his photographs. You take the lens, at the aperture setting you're going to use, and cover it up with a white material that allows in light like plastic or cotton. Then you take a photo. That captures the purple or green distortions. Then, in Photoshop or other tools, you "subtract" that white frame from your photograph, resulting in corrected color.

Has anyone tried this?

It's "pretty" de rigueur in the Astrophotography forum.

Indeed!

I forgot to add the most important part of the question: has anyone tried this on the SD1M to eliminate the color distortions from adapting lenses?

It works, but is rather troublesome as the color shift also depends on the aperture.
I would go for Sigma (SA) lenses, many of which are now available at reasonable prices on ebay.

spiffariffic wrote:

Thanks so much to Scott for selling me his SD1M when he was done with his epic roadtrip!

It's quite an adjustment to lack liveview… feels like I'm back in the 90s (but in a good way).

I don't have any Sigma lenses yet, so I'm adapting my Nikon lenses with an AI-PK mount. Not ideal, I know.

The Nikon 55mm macro delivers:

no color aberration outdoors… such detail!

spiffariffic,

Well done with your "new" SD1M.

Can you say what AI to PK converter you are using  for the Nikon lens on the SD1M. Does it have a correction lens for Infinity focus in it and can you remove that correction lens for greater macro work. I have an M & F adapter, it works but I think the correction lens could be better. It tends to produce images brighter in the centre depending on the lens & circumstances. It is good with my 55mm f2.8 micro though.

S

5

spiffariffic wrote:

atom14 wrote:

It's quite an adjustment to lack liveview… feels like I'm back in the 90s (but in a good way).

Yes!

It really is warm & nostalgic. And I was worried about it actually… my #1 concern.

...

My husband's deep into astrophotography and uses "flat frames" to remove color distortion from his photographs. You take the lens, at the aperture setting you're going to use, and cover it up with a white material that allows in light like plastic or cotton. Then you take a photo. That captures the purple or green distortions. Then, in Photoshop or other tools, you "subtract" that white frame from your photograph, resulting in corrected color.

Has anyone tried this?

It's "pretty" de rigueur in the Astrophotography forum.

Indeed!

I forgot to add the most important part of the question: has anyone tried this on the SD1M to eliminate the color distortions from adapting lenses?

I never have, but it seems like an easy way to do it, compared to the processes I've read about. I guess the white balance setting and lighting used to make each shot would influence the color, so I'm guessing it might be a bit more difficult than one might first think. I also wonder if the color distortions change with focus changes. I never bothered to try editing away the color distortions. I was never really affected much by them. I only shot a little with my adapted lenses though. Here is my best shot with an adapted lens:

Shot with Asahi 55mm f1.8 on SD Quattro H

atom14 wrote:

spiffariffic wrote:

Thanks so much to Scott for selling me his SD1M when he was done with his epic roadtrip!

Congratulations to you, and I'm sure Scotty is missing it (though I reckon he's got a spare snaffled away )

It's quite an adjustment to lack liveview… feels like I'm back in the 90s (but in a good way).

Yes!

I don't have any Sigma lenses yet, so I'm adapting my Nikon lenses with an AI-PK mount. Not ideal, I know.

So far so good. It's the IQ you want to maintain.

...

My husband's deep into astrophotography and uses "flat frames" to remove color distortion from his photographs. You take the lens, at the aperture setting you're going to use, and cover it up with a white material that allows in light like plastic or cotton. Then you take a photo. That captures the purple or green distortions. Then, in Photoshop or other tools, you "subtract" that white frame from your photograph, resulting in corrected color.

Has anyone tried this?

It's "pretty" de rigueur in the Astrophotography forum.

Is that "subtract" as in a layers' blend mode i.e. put the white frame layer over the scene layer and set the white frame layer mode to 'Subtract'?

For example, going to extremes with green:

Lowering the brightness on the green layer adjusted the amount of green removed ...

spiffariffic wrote:

Ceistinne wrote:

spiffariffic,

Well done with your "new" SD1M.

Can you say what AI to PK converter you are using for the Nikon lens on the SD1M. Does it have a correction lens for Infinity focus in it and can you remove that correction lens for greater macro work. I have an M & F adapter, it works but I think the correction lens could be better. It tends to produce images brighter in the centre depending on the lens & circumstances. It is good with my 55mm f2.8 micro though.

S

Happy to share. This is the one I bought (eBay).

Yes it's one with a corrective lens. There is definitely an effect on image quality, the more photos I took, I started to notice some softness and highlight blooming. It's not bad at all… in the close-up images. But the further away the focused object, the worse it got.

No, the corrective lens doesn't seem to be removable. I've ordered one without the lens for macro work. I have a Nikon F bellows system and multiple macro lenses, so it's well worth it to me and a win in my book. We shall see if that produces color casts…

I have one of those adapters, and the big Nikon PB4 bellows. It works very well, particularly with enlarger lenses.

A cheaper (and lighter) alternative would be an M42 bellows with a K mount adapter glued to it. Again, enlarger lenses are the easiest to use.

Don

spiffariffic wrote:

Ceistinne wrote:

spiffariffic,

Well done with your "new" SD1M.

Can you say what AI to PK converter you are using for the Nikon lens on the SD1M. Does it have a correction lens for Infinity focus in it and can you remove that correction lens for greater macro work. I have an M & F adapter, it works but I think the correction lens could be better. It tends to produce images brighter in the centre depending on the lens & circumstances. It is good with my 55mm f2.8 micro though.

S

Happy to share. This is the one I bought (eBay).

Yes it's one with a corrective lens. There is definitely an effect on image quality, the more photos I took, I started to notice some softness and highlight blooming. It's not bad at all… in the close-up images. But the further away the focused object, the worse it got.

No, the corrective lens doesn't seem to be removable. I've ordered one without the lens for macro work. I have a Nikon F bellows system and multiple macro lenses, so it's well worth it to me and a win in my book. We shall see if that produces color casts…

spiffariffic,

Thank you. That is similar to the one I have, but I believe there is one that the correction lens can be removed from as required but I could not find it anywhere.

The ones we have are, as you say, good close up but less so for further away scenes.

For macro I might get another one and grind it out to convert it to an extension ring.

S