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Sigma DP2 Merrill shots

scho

scho

Well-known member
Sapphie said:
Hi Carl

Thanks for the update. Most of your latest batch were taken at ISO 200 or 250 and not particularly long time exposures. So, what I gather from info on this camera is that for the very best results you need to use ISO 100 and the better the light the better the result? That, in itself is not a problem - after all, back in film days I often used to shoot slide film at ISO 50 (actually rated at 40), 64 etc and rarely went higher than 100! It wasn't that long ago that ISO 400 on digital would be considered noisy. I guess we have become spoilt in recent years by the apparent noiseless 'wonder sensors' such as those in the Pentax K5, Fuji X100 and X-Pro etc, though I wonder if that isn't often some sort of in-camera trickery that reduces noise and in the process just mushes detail, even in RAW. (As an aside, wouldn't it be good if cameras had an option 'best detail' versus 'least noise').

In some threads, it may even be this one, I have seen some advice to expose for the shadows and then recover the highlights in SPP, which is counter-intuitive - how far can you go with this approach?

Best wishes
Lee

UPDATE: Carl, I have clicked through to look at the many shots you have in your pbase gallery taken with the Merrill - fantastic stuff! Most of them are noise-free and also taken at ISO 50 or 100. So it does look like the lower ISOs bring out the true potential of the camera ...
Click to expand...
Lee,

I bought the Merrills with the intention of using them primarily for landscape work, basically shooting at ISO 100 on a tripod. The last series of shots was just a casual excursion, getting a feel for shooting handheld at higher ISO. I think with a bit more care with exposure and PP it would be fine in this mode as well. I used the accessory optical viewfinder and it was fine, as long as you don't need precise framing. The ISO 50 shots were taken with my old DP2S that I used about two years ago.

Best regards,
Carl
 
jminor

jminor

New member
Last fall I sold all my digital cameras & lenses with the single exception of the Ricoh GRD. *I'd hit the wall so to speak and felt my photography was going nowhere. *This spring the GRD snapped its last. *As the year went by I started seeing photographs, not in a gallery but out in the world. *I'd be driving along and look out at the passing landscape and "boom" a perfectly framed picture met my eye. *This started to happen more often. *A distant treeline with looming storm clouds, a half dead tree, a pattern of shadows on the lawn, ships in the harbor. *Photographs were everywhere! *So it's time to get back to it. *I love landscapes, and enjoy finding new things to photograph in old familiar places as well as exploring new locations. *I've had the nagging suspicion that I'd only be truly happy shooting landscapes with a large format camera. *After reading this article on the Large Format Photography site,

A closer look at a large format photo

That's exactly what I'd like to be able to do. *I enjoy looking at crops of my landscapes and finding things I hadn't noticed when I took the picture. *What a pleasant surprise to find this is possible a non conventional compact DP 2 Merrill. *I realize there is a big difference between the Merrill's output and a 4 x 5 sheet of film. But this small digital camera may be close enough for me. *After viewing Quentin Bargate's *(and others) photos and reading Mr. Reichmann's review I was sold. *And To get the most of what a practiced hand can produce with this camera I will take the advice of Mike Johnston of The Online Photograper fame, and work with this one camera, one lens, combo for a year to see what can be done with the DP 2 Merrill.
John
 
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Quentin_Bargate

Quentin_Bargate

Well-known member
jminor said:
Last fall I sold all my digital cameras & lenses with the single exception of the Ricoh GRD. *I'd hit the wall so to speak and felt my photography was going nowhere. *This spring the GRD snapped its last. *As the year went by I started seeing photographs, not in a gallery but out in the world. *I'd be driving along and look out at the passing landscape and "boom" a perfectly framed picture met my eye. *This started to happen more often. *A distant treeline with looming storm clouds, a half dead tree, a pattern of shadows on the lawn, ships in the harbor. *Photographs were everywhere! *So it's time to get back to it. *I love landscapes, and enjoy finding new things to photograph in old familiar places as well as exploring new locations. *I've had the nagging suspicion that I'd only be truly happy shooting landscapes with a large format camera. *After reading this article on the Large Format Photography site,

A closer look at a large format photo

That's exactly what I'd like to be able to do. *I enjoy looking at crops of my landscapes and finding things I hadn't noticed when I took the picture. *What a pleasant surprise to find this is possible a non conventional compact DP 2 Merrill. *I realize there is a big difference between the Merrill's output and a 4 x 5 sheet of film. But this small digital camera may be close enough for me. *After viewing Quentin Bargate's *(and others) photos and reading Mr. Reichmann's review I was sold. *And To get the most of what a practiced hand can produce with this camera I will take Mike Johnston of The Online Photograper fame, and work with this one camera, one lens, combo for a year to see what can be done with the DP 2 Merrill.
John
Click to expand...
Hi John

I'm a pretty difficult guy to please. I used to shoot large format film, 5x4 and 10x8 occasionally and now shoot with a Hasselblad H4D-50 which is broadly equivalent to 4x5 film (there are no exact comparisons of course, between such different technologies as digital medium format and film). I also have several other (too many!) cameras that come and go.

Which in a sense is why the DP2M is such a surprise. So much more that I had expected, and better. Perfect? No, it has faults but it is very capable and at its best, able to come close (better be careful here...) to the Hasselblad. Possibly it is even better in some areas. Its completely ridiculous in such a compact, boring looking camera, but I know what I see and it is my "go to" camera for a lot of work. I just love using it...all the time!
 
jminor

jminor

New member
Hello Quentin,
I've enjoyed your DP 2 Merrill photos and realize this camera requires patience & experience to get the best from it and am looking forward to working with the camera. Your "Evening Shops" above is a perfect example of a very nice photo you're not supposed to be able to get from this camera, if you were to listen to the naysayers.
 
T

Thorkil

Well-known member
jminor said:
Last fall I sold all my digital cameras & lenses with the single exception of the Ricoh GRD. *I'd hit the wall so to speak and felt my photography was going nowhere. *This spring the GRD snapped its last. *As the year went by I started seeing photographs, not in a gallery but out in the world. *I'd be driving along and look out at the passing landscape and "boom" a perfectly framed picture met my eye. *This started to happen more often. *A distant treeline with looming storm clouds, a half dead tree, a pattern of shadows on the lawn, ships in the harbor. *Photographs were everywhere! *So it's time to get back to it. *I love landscapes, and enjoy finding new things to photograph in old familiar places as well as exploring new locations. *I've had the nagging suspicion that I'd only be truly happy shooting landscapes with a large format camera. *After reading this article on the Large Format Photography site,

A closer look at a large format photo

That's exactly what I'd like to be able to do. *I enjoy looking at crops of my landscapes and finding things I hadn't noticed when I took the picture. *What a pleasant surprise to find this is possible a non conventional compact DP 2 Merrill. *I realize there is a big difference between the Merrill's output and a 4 x 5 sheet of film. But this small digital camera may be close enough for me. *After viewing Quentin Bargate's *(and others) photos and reading Mr. Reichmann's review I was sold. *And To get the most of what a practiced hand can produce with this camera I will take the advice of Mike Johnston of The Online Photograper fame, and work with this one camera, one lens, combo for a year to see what can be done with the DP 2 Merrill.
John
Click to expand...
Very nice words and statement!! it just fits in my niche.
Thorkil
 
S

Sapphie

Member
jminor said:
Last fall I sold all my digital cameras & lenses with the single exception of the Ricoh GRD. *I'd hit the wall so to speak and felt my photography was going nowhere. *This spring the GRD snapped its last. *As the year went by I started seeing photographs, not in a gallery but out in the world. *I'd be driving along and look out at the passing landscape and "boom" a perfectly framed picture met my eye. *This started to happen more often. *A distant treeline with looming storm clouds, a half dead tree, a pattern of shadows on the lawn, ships in the harbor. *Photographs were everywhere! *So it's time to get back to it. *I love landscapes, and enjoy finding new things to photograph in old familiar places as well as exploring new locations. *I've had the nagging suspicion that I'd only be truly happy shooting landscapes with a large format camera. *After reading this article on the Large Format Photography site,

A closer look at a large format photo

That's exactly what I'd like to be able to do. *I enjoy looking at crops of my landscapes and finding things I hadn't noticed when I took the picture. *What a pleasant surprise to find this is possible a non conventional compact DP 2 Merrill. *I realize there is a big difference between the Merrill's output and a 4 x 5 sheet of film. But this small digital camera may be close enough for me. *After viewing Quentin Bargate's *(and others) photos and reading Mr. Reichmann's review I was sold. *And To get the most of what a practiced hand can produce with this camera I will take the advice of Mike Johnston of The Online Photograper fame, and work with this one camera, one lens, combo for a year to see what can be done with the DP 2 Merrill.
John
Click to expand...
John

Fantastic post, if I could give you multiple 'likes' I would.

Lee
 
S

Sapphie

Member
jminor said:
Hello Quentin,
I've enjoyed your DP 2 Merrill photos and realize this camera requires patience & experience to get the best from it and am looking forward to working with the camera. Your "Evening Shops" above is a perfect example of a very nice photo you're not supposed to be able to get from this camera, if you were to listen to the naysayers.
Click to expand...
I am not a naysayer but I do suspect some 'trickery' or at the very least 'we don't notice at this size image via the web'.

I want to get to like something like this camera, believe me, but I don't want tob believe it is the 'be all and end all' and then to be dissapointed.

Lee
 
Quentin_Bargate

Quentin_Bargate

Well-known member
Thorkil said:
Splendid!, was it handheld? And something particularly done about noisereduction?
Thorkil
Click to expand...
Hi Thorkil

Thanks. Standard settings Sigma Photo Pro. Handheld, but -7 exposure. There is some noise, but not excessive. I would really prefer to experiment a bit more using Neat Image etc, but I won't be able to for a week or so when I get back from my travels...
 
T

Thorkil

Well-known member
Hi Lee
But sometimes it’s some sort of getting paralysed, with all that gear available. Thinking back at our early stage, from young on, I lived happily with my Rollei 35, handy, made splendid pictures, got it with me all around all the time…until the unlimited possibilities went berserk, and one got confused and unsatisfied, because one never knew what was around next corner…same issue like the youngsters and net-dating, result: there have never been so many lonely young ones (well, at least in Denmark…I guess).
So, if one is getting close to the target (as here), grab it, and close the eye for all the other thousands of possibilities…and be a happy man…(anyway one will never know if it’s the best camera in our own world…but the best thing that can happen is if one do succeed in the task believing that…then the shooting continue)
:)
Thorkil
 
T

Thorkil

Well-known member
Quentin_Bargate said:
Hi Thorkil

Thanks. Standard settings Sigma Photo Pro. Handheld, but -7 exposure. There is some noise, but not excessive. I would really prefer to experiment a bit more using Neat Image etc, but I won't be able to for a week or so when I get back from my travels...
Click to expand...
Hi Quentin. But I do think this pictures doesn't need lees grain, the old 400 film had it too, in my eye its just superb(sometimes better hit the target 95% than 100%, the artist's allways(at lot of them) builded in some odd thing, just to trick the eye, the slightly unperfected thing looks sometimes more perfect:). Best shooting down there in Cannes!
Thorkil
 
R

retow

Member
My first DP2M shots. The sensor and lens combo are incredible. This shooter will have to work hard to live up to the potential of the gear.
 
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scho

scho

Well-known member
Today I tried doing some stitched shots of a local landmark, Ithaca Falls. Harsh and shifting lighting so I need to go back and try again when the fall colors come in and lighting is better.

A four shot stitch. Blown sky was cropped out, but I left the two lovers in the shot for scale. They seemed mildly concerned about being photographed, but eventually just ignored me and went about their business:rolleyes:


LARGER (50%) IMAGE

A two shot stitch.


LARGER (50%)IMAGE

A final, two shot stitch of Fall Creek below the falls. I waited patiently for a passing cloud to avoid harsh, dappled lighting.


FULL SIZE IMAGE
 
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Michiel Schierbeek

Michiel Schierbeek

Well-known member
Called Sigma Benelux and they don't have the DP2 M for at least for another 2 weeks, so I changed it to the DP1 M spontaneously! Will have it tomorrow.
I hope the lens is as good.... Sunshade is not available yet.

Michiel
 
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