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Sigma DP3M

Hulyss Bowman

Active member
Love them both, biglouis. I know you didn't ask, but I'll say I prefer the DP-2 version!
Thats normal. Beyond framing you should know that the DP3m shoot is done at F16, over the diffraction limit of this combo, by far.

The DP3m is not made for this kind of landscape at first (with foreground).
 

biglouis

Well-known member
Thats normal. Beyond framing you should know that the DP3m shoot is done at F16, over the diffraction limit of this combo, by far.

The DP3m is not made for this kind of landscape at first (with foreground).
Not sure I understand you point, Hulyss. In this case of the DP3M I focussed at a distance from where I stood so that I compensated for the short dof at close distances. Whereas, with the DP2M I pretty much shot it where I stood on a small aperture to increase the dof to the maximum.

The DP3M makes a good landscape camera as long as you realise, as you say, that you must focus in the distance and not on the immediate foreground.

LouisB
 

biglouis

Well-known member
Stained glass window - St John the Baptist Church, Little Missenden, Buckinghamshire.



Worth viewing the full size image at Flickr to see the extraordinary detail capture by the sensor.
 

biglouis

Well-known member
I seem to be keeping this thread going singlehandedly!

I decided to indulge myself (which, ok, I do all the time) and buy a second hand EM140 ring flash which is compatible with the DP3M so I could (obviously) increase my f-stop, speed and decrease iso in search of really detailed macro photography.

Some early results below. These were all handheld, incidentally.









There is to my mind one major advantage of using the DP3M over other macro solutions. You really can crop to 100%. Otherwise, it is frankly a pain in the butt to use for macro photography, although size is not one of the issues. AF speed and focussing is the big issue, imho.

LouisB
 

biglouis

Well-known member
Chris - excellent macro - be interested to know how you took that.

Lee - great landscape shot!

Louis
 

Sapphie

Member
Thanks Louis - I have all 3 Merrills now, thanks to the cashback scheme. Not had a great deal of time with DP3M yet but she seems a little harder work than DP2M but this sort of shot does show the level of detail she can provide that lesser (Bayer) cameras seem hard pushed to achieve.

Also, whilst I have the Voigtlander finder (Robert White do it for a reasonable price), I think I really need to also get the Hoodman Loupe ...

http://www.wexphotographic.com/buy-hoodman-3-inch-lcd-screen-loupe/p1031516

That stained glass shot of yours is amazing, BTW.

Lee
 

Sapphie

Member
With the DP2M I regularly add 0.3-0.7 positive exposure compensation and am able to dial down the highlights in SPP. With the DP3M I am more likely to blow the highlights if I do this, seemingly risky to use more than +0.3. Anyone else see the same? Maybe it's to do with the angle of view meaning that any highlights will occupy a larger area and be more noticeable ... or maybe it's just my bad technique!

Lee
 

ChrisSearle

New member
She was buzzing about in our kitchen this morning, I set manual focus and with a Hoodman loupe attached, got as close as I could. I got three decent shots and about 20 out of focus before she flew off.

Tabanus sps 1 by Jeaunse23, on Flickr
 

biglouis

Well-known member
Thanks Louis - I have all 3 Merrills now, thanks to the cashback scheme. Not had a great deal of time with DP3M yet but she seems a little harder work than DP2M but this sort of shot does show the level of detail she can provide that lesser (Bayer) cameras seem hard pushed to achieve.

Also, whilst I have the Voigtlander finder (Robert White do it for a reasonable price), I think I really need to also get the Hoodman Loupe ...

Hoodman 3 Inch LCD Screen Loupe (H-LPP3) - Wex Photographic

That stained glass shot of yours is amazing, BTW.

Lee
Thanks. I've also been thinking of the Hoodman loupe with the cinema strap. Maybe next month as I've just spent a ton of money adding more filters to my Lee 75 system.

LouisB
 

usathyan

New member
With the DP2M I regularly add 0.3-0.7 positive exposure compensation and am able to dial down the highlights in SPP. With the DP3M I am more likely to blow the highlights if I do this, seemingly risky to use more than +0.3. Anyone else see the same? Maybe it's to do with the angle of view meaning that any highlights will occupy a larger area and be more noticeable ... or maybe it's just my bad technique!

Lee
Lee, i have noticed this as well. I had tried +0.3 with center-weighted and still find myself doing a -0.7 or sometimes more in SPP. Evaluative is worse.

I now shoot at 0 compensation just to make sure i get more ability to move back in SPP if required. I have never blown highlights even with 0....Are others finding the same? Shooting a gray target gets me a spike exactly in the middle...the camera is quite tricky in how it does exposure...although, most of my images are pretty good (in terms of exposure) with little tweaks.

I would love to hear other's experiences on this.
 
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