I have been following the mass exodus from the current crop of sensor technology to the new improved and just gotta have group with great interest like everyone else here. Seems like we have gained a stop or two with a small tweak in DR and more pixels...many more pixels.
The current is strong...so much so that I placed a couple of calls to consider a switch from my like new H3DII 39 to something much much better...but in discussing it I found that I lose long exposure times in order to get a bigger file. For many of us...even those with an interest in landscapes, printing larger is not an option if we are not professionals selling to someone else. I do not need bigger than 17 inches wide as I do not have a good venue to display or view these.
I recently moved to a Sony A900 after deciding that Nikon was not in a major hurry to release a D700x body....and found that I needed to relearn my post processing as these files at moderate ISO could be very noisy...very fragile and did not take kindly to sharpening...
I decided to apply the information that I learned from the A900 files to those of my H3DII 39 and moved it off the base 50 ISO setting for the first time in a year this weekend. Previous attempts with Phocus prior to version 2 left me less than satisfied with the files at anything over 100...200 in desperation.
I was pleasantly suprised to see an improvement that allows easy use of 400 and 800 in a pinch with the new Phocus 2 and a combination of Dfine at varying fill levels on the layer prior to flattening the image.
The following pictures are small and JPG but I do hope they give a small idea of how well this works. Originals are 15x20 and really show no more noise than is evident here. I will continue to shoot at 50 for almost all of my landscapes but when I need to I can push the sensor. I feel somewhat better about keeping the H3DII 39 for the near term future. All the following were shot on a monopod at fairly slow shutter speeds as I wanted to show somewhat dark captures...histogram on capture biased to the right.
ISO 800 Equivalent:
Hurricane Lamps #1
Following ISO 400 Equivalent:
Hurricane Lamps #2
Gift in a Pot
Easter is Coming
There is definite noise but marginal so as to be acceptable in a print...the softness of the captures would be improved with a tripod.
Thoughts?
Bob
The current is strong...so much so that I placed a couple of calls to consider a switch from my like new H3DII 39 to something much much better...but in discussing it I found that I lose long exposure times in order to get a bigger file. For many of us...even those with an interest in landscapes, printing larger is not an option if we are not professionals selling to someone else. I do not need bigger than 17 inches wide as I do not have a good venue to display or view these.
I recently moved to a Sony A900 after deciding that Nikon was not in a major hurry to release a D700x body....and found that I needed to relearn my post processing as these files at moderate ISO could be very noisy...very fragile and did not take kindly to sharpening...
I decided to apply the information that I learned from the A900 files to those of my H3DII 39 and moved it off the base 50 ISO setting for the first time in a year this weekend. Previous attempts with Phocus prior to version 2 left me less than satisfied with the files at anything over 100...200 in desperation.
I was pleasantly suprised to see an improvement that allows easy use of 400 and 800 in a pinch with the new Phocus 2 and a combination of Dfine at varying fill levels on the layer prior to flattening the image.
The following pictures are small and JPG but I do hope they give a small idea of how well this works. Originals are 15x20 and really show no more noise than is evident here. I will continue to shoot at 50 for almost all of my landscapes but when I need to I can push the sensor. I feel somewhat better about keeping the H3DII 39 for the near term future. All the following were shot on a monopod at fairly slow shutter speeds as I wanted to show somewhat dark captures...histogram on capture biased to the right.
ISO 800 Equivalent:
Hurricane Lamps #1
Following ISO 400 Equivalent:
Hurricane Lamps #2
Gift in a Pot
Easter is Coming
There is definite noise but marginal so as to be acceptable in a print...the softness of the captures would be improved with a tripod.
Thoughts?
Bob
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