D800 vs. Medium Format Video

[BSEH]

ETTR - no why ? You can probably do whatever you want to get the histogram of your choice !

Regards
Stefan

I try to understand this :lecture:

Do I need to change my way to expose my rawfiles, shoting with the D800 ?

Now I shoot with + 2/3 EV (RAW). To get the optimum performance out of the digital image sensor. (ETTR).


But it appears, from posts here on the Forum and the video, that the D800, sensor is better to use shadow than the bright areas. In other words, more expose the left.

QUOTE : It just means you will have to shoot it a bit darker overall maybe half or 3/4 of a stop, giving better saturation and - matching the measurements by DXO.

Right? or Im way off ? :loco:

 

[Stefan Steib]

Actually- if your file is not clipping on the right it should be ok.
but of course there are images which can take blown highlights whereas there are others which definitely need a tone everywhere. It depends.....

Regards
Stefan

 

[ustein]

>To get the optimum performance out of the digital image sensor. (ETTR).

I interpret the rule this way: Shoot as much to the right that you can safely recover all the highlights. This differs from camera to camera, scene to scene and different exposure meetering.

>Now I shoot with + 2/3 EV (RAW).

This is clearly not similar for all cameras. I actually try to have at least 1/3EV latitude in the highlights. Once highlights are gone they are gone and fake recovery does not get you quality highlights back.

Try to photograph white Egrets in sun light and you will see when it clips . Check these images on the internet and you see how many are oure white (clipped).

 

[BSEH]

Q: > I interpret the rule this way: Shoot as much to the right that you can safely recover all the highlights. This differs from camera to camera, scene to scene and different exposure meetering.

The 2/3 EV was a average, and sure I'll take care of the clipping The light is often not that harsh, as you get with the the Cali sun...

It was more if the D800 maybe better of shooting -2/3 (in general) then +2/3 (in general)... but i think i have the picture now...:salute:

 

[yatlee]

I took some test shot with D800E against one of the phase one back. I process both RAW file in capture one, but I can't seems to get the skin tone and color to come closed to the MF even with a grey card reference. The Nikon color on the skin tone when shooting indoor look dull. How do you get process and profile the color?

 

[FredBGG]

Pretty lame comment at the end of the video about the client having the same camera as the photographer.... He say's that as a professional he can't have that happen.....
That's sort of the bigger d@#k theory at work. From my experience it's skill that counts, not who has the most expensive tool.

The truth is that there is very little difference between the cameras.

If there was a significant side by side difference you can bet your bottom dollar that MF
manufacturers would be showing comparative tests all over their websites. There is a smaller and smaller advantage to MF over high end 35mm DSLR. Now that very fast 35mm DSLR lenses are producing high quality even wide open the shallow depth of field advantage is no longer there.

The part about blown out skin tone recovery is not really very relevant. IF you look at the quality of what is recovered , while the Hasselblad can recover more, it still looks nasty.

 

[FredBGG]

I took some test shot with D800E against one of the phase one back. I process both RAW file in capture one, but I can't seems to get the skin tone and color to come closed to the MF even with a grey card reference. The Nikon color on the skin tone when shooting indoor look dull. How do you get process and profile the color?

You will most likely get better results using Nikon's software.

 

[paulraphael]

I'm baffled by the idea of "recovered" highlights. There's no such thing. Digital sensors are linear up to 0db where they clip; then there's nothing to recover. When there's what looks like recoverable highlight detail, it just means that the default raw processing settings are placing the white point somewhere south of the sensor's actual clipping point ... so there's room to adjust it upward.

Dynamic range, from a post-processing standpoint exists purely in the shadows. It's all about how many stops of information have exist above your threshold of acceptable SNR. The d800 acquits itself very well in this capacity.

 

[ustein]

>I'm baffled by the idea of "recovered" highlights.

You are right and also not. You can recover some of the clipping seen in standard raw processing. Recovering means to adjust the clipping done by the standard processing. Standard/default processing is often very harsh to the highlights. There is often more data available than the default processing shows. If of course the sensor data are really clipped you are out of luck. Although a single clipped channel can sometimes be "fixed". Not perfect but it may save your day.

 

[Bill_Green]

From my experience it's skill that counts, not who has the most expensive tool.

You know that and I know that. However, some of us have hobbyist photographers as clients who can't quite wrap their minds around the concept of skill. Every little thing we do and every way we represent ourselves to and around our clients contribute to our brand and how we are perceived and valued. A 5DII with a decent lens may be more than enough camera for the job, but if I can shoot it with a medium format camera just to differentiate myself from my clients with their 5ds and 7ds, I'll do it.

Silly? Perhaps. But a lot of marketing and branding is. You and I both know that all that matters is the final image and whether or not it met the client's needs, but the realities of an ongoing business relationship are a little bit murky. If I am trying to position myself at a higher level in the market and to higher level clients, every little thing helps. Never mind that nothing will ever be run at a size or resolution that would have challenged my Canon 10D from a decade ago.

Some years ago, I did a test with a friend when we had a bunch of head shots to do. We did half on a Hassy (501 or ELM, not that it matters) and half with a 35. People reacted very differently to each camera.

 

[paulraphael]

Recovering means to adjust the clipping done by the standard processing. Standard/default processing is often very harsh to the highlights.

Yes, I realize, but in this case the variable is the default processor settings, not the camera. If the settings lop off more high values, you'll be able to "recover" more. But the limit of what's there is a hard one.

Shadows are a different story.

 

[ustein]

>but in this case the variable is the default processor settings, not the camera.''

The problem is that people often talk about the camera and they only see the output from one RC.

- Colors
- Clipping

Of course there are hard fact about the sensor, the color sampling and such. But we only see this indirectly via any RC.