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Fun with MF images - ARCHIVED - FOR VIEWING ONLY

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Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Re: So what are you shooting with that MF back?

Lovely series, but I thought we already had the "fun with MF images" thread.
We did, but I figured it was getting long enough it was loading slower, so maybe time to start a fresh one? I can easily merge them if folks feel better about having them all in one spot.

Cheers,
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Re: Fun with MF images, part 2: What are you shooting with that MF back?

Nice bud. You got the nice weather , i got to fry my butt off this morning . Yuks.
 

David K

Workshop Member
Re: Fun with MF images, part 2: What are you shooting with that MF back?

Wow, Jack, these are amazing. The subtle colors were made to be captured by MF.
 

jlm

Workshop Member
Re: Fun with MF images, part 2: What are you shooting with that MF back?

very nice shots, Sutro never looked so good!
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Re: Fun with MF images, part 2: What are you shooting with that MF back?

Thanks guys. Was a lot of fun to finally get out and just shoot some "real" images with my new baby! The light was soft and pastel to begin with and there was a light layer of fog blowing in and out which added to the effect.
 

LJL

New member
Re: Fun with MF images, part 2: What are you shooting with that MF back?

Nice shots, Jack. I too love those deep color to pastel gradients. Provides a very interesting look for sure.

Question for you, and others: Do any of you guys ever shoot a reference frame for WB, either custom while shooting, or for post processing? Not saying that there is anything wrong with these, or that others have posted, but was just thinking about this more. No need for a full MacBeth color checker, just a WhiBal or some other good neutral gray.

That would at least provide a good balanced starting point, and then one can tint, warm, cool or whatever to taste, and still have a good neutral WB if needed. (I was thinking about this from Guy's other posts that had the early morning light and the conversion set on Flash or something. Trust me, I am not a slave to WB, and Jack's shots convey a wonderful mood. I just have been thinking about it more lately as folks have been talking about software, conversions, etc.

LJ
 

Dale Allyn

New member
Re: Fun with MF images, part 2: What are you shooting with that MF back?

Nice shots, Jack. I too love those deep color to pastel gradients. Provides a very interesting look for sure.

Question for you, and others: Do any of you guys ever shoot a reference frame for WB, either custom while shooting, or for post processing? Not saying that there is anything wrong with these, or that others have posted, but was just thinking about this more. No need for a full MacBeth color checker, just a WhiBal or some other good neutral gray.

That would at least provide a good balanced starting point, and then one can tint, warm, cool or whatever to taste, and still have a good neutral WB if needed. (I was thinking about this from Guy's other posts that had the early morning light and the conversion set on Flash or something. Trust me, I am not a slave to WB, and Jack's shots convey a wonderful mood. I just have been thinking about it more lately as folks have been talking about software, conversions, etc.

LJ
I'm new to MFDB (Phase P25+) and this is something that I'm playing with. I have been a bit surprised by the white balance of images as first opened in C-1 or ACR/Bridge. Auto WB is not looking to be useful to me, but Daylight seems better. I have included a reference in some testing/learning shots and this makes for easy work. Of course, some scenes provide their own "gray card".

I did some indoor stuff under fluorescent light for which I made a quick custom white balance setting, shooting a white sheet of paper, and the result was as near perfect as one could hope for IMO. With the Phase back, generating a custom white balance reference is the easiest I've ever experienced. And fast.

Bradley mentioned of his new Hy6 Sinar that the WB was as wonky as he'd come to expect with MFDB (my wording) and I found this comforting (along with other readings and observations) as I saw the earliest files out my new back. In my experience, Canon and Nikon have white balance far more perfected as the files roll off the camera.
 

woodyspedden

New member
Re: Fun with MF images, part 2: What are you shooting with that MF back?

Dale

At least with my H3DII-39 I find that shooting at a fixed Kelvin of 4900 gets me to a really good starting point for most outdoor files. Of course some tweaking is required (as it is for all settings e.g. daylight, cloudy, shade etc) but it is usually pretty small.

Just my humble experience

Woody
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Re: Fun with MF images, part 2: What are you shooting with that MF back?

Good question LJ.

Most folks are probably aware the proper WB goes a LONG way to helping on getting a good exposure to begin with, so it is important to be at least in the ballpark from the start. I have found AWB accurate enough for good exposure -- at least with my Mamiya AFD2 and P45+ combo -- but often not to my liking for absolute color. So when I have time, I do create a custom WB and use that. However, for almost all my "outdoor" landscape shooting color is subjective anyway, and I find the default "Daylight" closer than Auto most of the time. In post, I''ll use it as-is or can tweak it if desired. FWIW, I used it as-is in the above series since that's exactly what the light looked like.

For the custom WB I use two methods. One is the Capture Integration translucent WB card -- under $20 from CI and you use it kind of like an expo disc. The other is a holdover from my Betterlight scan back days and is the Betterlight digital Gray card. This card is NOT a typical 18% gray card but lighter in tone, non-reflective and for whatever reason works exceptionally well with digital sensors. It's under $20 too and can be bought directly from Betterlight. Lastly, I do carry a mini McBeth in my bag at all times as well, so if I'm really concerned I can drop it in any image for a more perfect color correction later. (The McBeth is ridiculously expensive for the amount I use it, but when you need it, you need it...)

Cheers,
 

Dale Allyn

New member
Re: Fun with MF images, part 2: What are you shooting with that MF back?

Dale

At least with my H3DII-39 I find that shooting at a fixed Kelvin of 4900 gets me to a really good starting point for most outdoor files. Of course some tweaking is required (as it is for all settings e.g. daylight, cloudy, shade etc) but it is usually pretty small.

Just my humble experience

Woody
Woody,

Thanks for this tip. I'll play with that and see how it compares to other settings.

One thing I have learned (and Jack alludes to in his post) is that proper exposure contributes heavily to WB in these backs (or at least mine). The histogram is not as easy to read as with DSLRs and the metering is sufficiently different that I simply need a bit more time with it to avoid single channel clipping. Also, scenes which are quite contrasty (not my normal shooting subjects, but have been part of my practice stuff this week) seem to result in less accurate WB for me – even those which are well exposed.

When I say "the metering is sufficiently different" I mean in the way my Mamiya meters a scene in comparison to say, my Canons. It's just a matter of learning the quirks of the system and that's coming along fine. I appreciate that these topics come up in the forum.
 

LJL

New member
Re: Fun with MF images, part 2: What are you shooting with that MF back?

Dale and Jack,
Thanks for your thoughts. I was not asking to be critical, and you guys understood that part, which is great. My thoughts have been that folks have been getting themselves in a bit of a twist on color issues when they are testing their new backs or systems, and the easiest leveling element is to do a WB and exposure check for openers.

Hey, I am just like everybody else....cannot wait to get shooting with the new stuff ;-) What I have found, especially shooting with the M8 and even my Canons, is that WB is not always correct nor neutral. For specific effect, that is not an issue, as in Jack's shots. Those convey a mood and time that do match what he wanted to capture.

Like Jack, I do carry a few things in the bag all the time too. My problem is not getting into the habit of using them more often :-( I can always pull stuff to where it needs to be or where I want it to be, but when shooting a lot, I have found that some shots get overlooked when sorting through them because my WB was off and I may be too lazy to fix them at the time.

Really did not mean to take this off topic. It has just become something that I again am starting to pay more attention to for my own shooting, rather than trusting the conversion algorithms or the camera. My Canons are pretty spot on for AWB, and the fixes to the M8 have made a huge difference. I was just getting the impression that the MFDBs, may be a bit more sensitive or spotty on AWB, so either knowing to shoot at something else, or doing a custom WB or taking a frame would be good.

Jack, I agree on the color checkers. I have them, and they are worth it when you need it, but find that a good black/gray/white card or small reflector actually works wonderfully, as it gets both the WB and helps you set the black and white peaks on the exposure side so you do not blow things out or crush the blacks. These MFDBs seem to be very much more accommodating there, and that is wonderful.

LJ
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Re: Fun with MF images, part 2: What are you shooting with that MF back?

Thanks Mark!
 

mark1958

Member
Re: Fun with MF images, part 2: What are you shooting with that MF back?

Jack were any of these images taken with shifting???
 

Bob

Administrator
Staff member
Re: Fun with MF images, part 2: What are you shooting with that MF back?

Very nice!
-bob
 

Terry

New member
Re: Fun with MF images, part 2: What are you shooting with that MF back?

Jack,
I can't wait to see these on my big monitor when I get home tomorrow night. They look great and you know how I like early morning blue skies. I especially like the pinkish reflections in the still water.

And yes, this does make me miss San Francisco and living on the left coast.
 
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