Can MF take the heat

[LJL]

Playing around with them all now , made a slight adjustment in C1. See how it goes. Trying to find my happy spots in C1 . Interesting the blue shirts are of all different colors. Thanks guys help is always wanted to figure out a new software camera combo

Completely understand what you are saying. The wonder of the larger image with details in every crack and crevice just invite exploiting that at times. That usually means leaving those dark shadowy areas open, just because you now can without losing anything. However, you can still change the look and not lose those deeper details, which would start to block up in most DSLR frames.

This stuff is so cool.

LJ

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Umbrella's . LOL

It is a great question.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Completely understand what you are saying. The wonder of the larger image with details in every crack and crevice just invite exploiting that at times. That usually means leaving those dark shadowy areas open, just because you now can without losing anything. However, you can still change the look and not lose those deeper details, which would start to block up in most DSLR frames.

This stuff is so cool.

LJ

Opened the shadows a touch more , this is about as contrasty as it gets so it can look crunchy even with all the DR going on . Some of the flash stuff is inconsistent some hotter than others. But in these conditions hard to adjust when working fast, hail mary's come into play. LOL normally I would balance it better. My other issue is i simply don't trust this loaner body AT ALL. I know I will get better with the new body coming

 

[LJL]

Umbrella's . LOL

It is a great question.

LOL. I still cannot see me walking around with one of those umbrella head things, regardless of how practical they might me. Maybe get one of those lovely models to hold a golf umbrella next to me would be a nice solution :ROTFL:

LJ

 

[LJL]

Opened the shadows a touch more , this is about as contrasty as it gets so it can look crunchy even with all the DR going on . Some of the flash stuff is inconsistent some hotter than others. But in these conditions hard to adjust when working fast, hail mary's come into play. LOL normally I would balance it better. My other issue is i simply don't trust this loaner body AT ALL. I know I will get better with the new body coming

Guy,
Nobody tossing rocks at you here. I like what you are doing and understand the tough shooting conditions. I was just jumping ahead to the "finished" image thinking, and picturing them on a billboard

The flash thing does sound a bit harder to control at PJ pace. This is where the DSLRs have a bit of an edge, but I am sure you will have this dialed in perfectly once that new body arrives and you get comfortable with its improvements and capabilities.

Keep after it, and do not take any of my comments as criticisms, please.

LJ

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Thanks LJ I never take stuff like this as criticism and actually appreciate the help from you and Billy. Yes when the new body get's here I think I will get even more consistent results. I know and actually try to tell others the same 3 months is minimum to truly start nailing stuff down with a new system. So many variables and I have been away from C1 for awhile so getting back into the swing of it . I may even toss LR to be honest. The reds I get in LR are from every camera i own and system. Someone at Adobe likes RED

 

[Jack]

Re flash at PJ pace, the Mamiya AFD has TTL if you use a Metz with the appropriate foot -- I have one on a 54 MZ3 and it works very well, especially dialed down to around -1 for fill. The downside is recycle time, but that's the same problem with any small on-camera flash.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Yes I am using the SB 800 Nikon and no TTl just A mode. I could put the flash at 100 and camera at ISO 200 which BTW i shot this whole thing at ISO 200. may have to get the Metz again. Keep buying crap back I had. LOL

 

[Guy Mancuso]

The detail is just scary

 

[Dale Allyn]

As a "Canon guy" who does not (yet) own an M8, the absence of an AA filter on the P25+ is a real treat for me. It's so nice to look at a RAW file and say "wow", instead of having to work through x number of steps to try to get the details to show through on one of my Canon files. And then the Canon file might tend to look a bit "bruised" by the time it gets anywhere close.

Love your enthusiasm with this stuff, Guy.

 

[LJL]

Yes I am using the SB 800 Nikon and no TTl just A mode. I could put the flash at 100 and camera at ISO 200 which BTW i shot this whole thing at ISO 200. may have to get the Metz again. Keep buying crap back I had. LOL

Might that be backwards? Should you not dial the flash into ISO 400, not 100, in order to get a -1EV for your camera ISO 200? Otherwise, you will be throwing even more light into the scene, having the flash "think" it is ISO 100 and therefore increasing the output by +1EV to the camera.

To Jack's point....this is where the aux batteries for some of these smaller on-camera flash units really help. I have a small one that takes 8xAA batteries for my Canon 580EX unit and it gets recycle time way, way down....to the point that I can shoot it as fill at 8 fps for some things. Amazing. Not that you are ever going to need that speed with MF, but the boost in recycle time for the small flash is incredible. Even if you "only" got a boost to 1 sec recycle, it would easily keep up with your fastest shooting. Not sure if Nkon has such a aux pack for their flash, but for the Canon, it was the best $130 spent for that need.

LJ

 

[Dale Allyn]

I believe Metz has such a battery pack as well. I think it's the P-40 or something similar.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Might that be backwards? Should you not dial the flash into ISO 400, not 100, in order to get a -1EV for your camera ISO 200? Otherwise, you will be throwing even more light into the scene, having the flash "think" it is ISO 100 and therefore increasing the output by +1EV to the camera.

To Jack's point....this is where the aux batteries for some of these smaller on-camera flash units really help. I have a small one that takes 8xAA batteries for my Canon 580EX unit and it gets recycle time way, way down....to the point that I can shoot it as fill at 8 fps for some things. Amazing. Not that you are ever going to need that speed with MF, but the boost in recycle time for the small flash is incredible. Even if you "only" got a boost to 1 sec recycle, it would easily keep up with your fastest shooting. Not sure if Nkon has such a aux pack for their flash, but for the Canon, it was the best $130 spent for that need.

LJ

Okay was up early. Took wife to airport at 6 am. Brain dead. LOL

 

[LJL]

Okay was up early. Took wife to airport at 6 am. Brain dead. LOL

hey, this is why I keep looking at your disaster shots.....trying to scout the gear in order to configure an I.V. system that I could attach to my espresso machine :ROTFL::ROTFL:

LJ

 

[charlesphoto]

I have a book coming out in the fall on breakdancers, Now most people would automatically reach for their (d)slr for that. I shot it all with Medium Format FILM! Yes, I had to reload the camera every twelve shots. So MF can be used for a lot of things - it's just a matter if you want to. Of course I wasn't working for a client, just myself. I would be scared of losing images because of the slower moving quality of the gear on a job like Guy's.

I used a Turbo Quantum flash mostly with the b ig diffusion dome head. Often on a bracket but also sometimes on cord off camera. I was shooting b&w. I had to do a lot of burning of blown areas - almost always the case with flash and much easier in b&w than color. That would be one critique of these pics is that the flash feels a bit heavy. More diffusion and getting it off camera would help. It also may mean more time spent in PS. Of course one could take it to the other extreme and make the flash use an obvious style point, such as Martin Parr (Magnum) does with his MF work.

I also prefer deeper blacks and saturated warmer colors, but Guy's clients might not. If these were headed for a gallery wall I would say that one would want to emphasize the surreal nature by trumping up the colors and contrast but that's not the end purpose.

Personally I love shooting MF but have really no interest in digital, esp as for what it costs I could shoot and scan 1000's of rolls of gorgeous full frame MF with the cameras I already have and love (Mamiya 6 and 7 rangefinders, Hass SWC and Rollei TLR). Doesn't hurt to own an Imacon as well. But I can see the temptation of digital for sure, just as I have with 35 (and only recently).

One of the issues I see with 35 digital is that as it gets sharper (such as my recent addition of Zeiss lenses to my D3) it becomes much less forgiving of focus and exposure errors. I would think this would be magnified in MF. Am I right in that? Something about a really high resolution pic that's slightly out of focus that is really wrong. Grainy (and dark) sets a mood that focus problems are okay and expected. Super hi-res sets up an expectation of needing to be crisp and clean. Film tends to mitigate, digital exaggerate. Just something to think about.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

BIg Trucks . Love these things. You think we have toys.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Well I screwed up , freely admit I was having issues that I did not realize and was over compensating in C1 and found some answers and pass along that might help someone else. When I brought all these images in to C1 just seemed a lot looked like it was blowing the highlights so i over corrected them not realizing there was no need to do that. Couple things threw me off . One and I recommend everyone do this . The warning in C1 is default at 250 so if you are near 250 and you see the red warnings in area's you tend to bring them down with the highlight control than need to adjust the shadows and your really starting to work it more than you should and exactly what I was doing wrong. First change the setting in your preferences to 255 for the highlight warning. This immediately cuts down on all the blown red warning so all you really need is just a small tweak on the highlight control like just a couple points. I was going way overboard on this because i was trying to knock down below 250 which really just getting it below 255 is much easier and very little needs to be done after that. So first thing is lower that warning it really makes a world of difference. The other issue was i used easy grey and I was really better off using the outdoor profile instead it does actually bring down the highlights a touch and is actually better.

Now one thing I need to check again when you copy settings from one image and apply to others , make sure you check in the adjustments tab all the settings you want to copy and apply. I messed up here also. So right off the bat there where three things going against me that I did not realize. Also i had a fourth and that was I had Soft proofing on in PS to CMYK ,make sure that is off also. Now I have not used C1 in some time so getting back into it there are some adjustments you need to make and get used to the program again. Simply case of getting intimate with your software and system. So I learned a couple things from this and honestly you can't learn unless you try things out . So now correcting all these things from the start the files need very little adjustments at all maybe a touch highlight control in some images but not nearly the amount I was doing. Get a good WB on your shots and to me I like about 5400 -2 on the color for the outside light stuff looks very good . having correct WB is one thing but having what you like is better , I tend to go warmer but that is me. So for users of C1 just some idea's going forward

 

[robsteve]

Guy:

Can you repost the image in post 29, with the changes made in your processing?

 

[LJL]

You beat me to the request, Rob.....;-)

The big trucks look good, but something still seems a tad odd. I think Guy's explanations of all the little things that were set differently from more "normal" processing makes sense with some of the color issues we were seeing in the posts.

None of those changes will impact the detail and sharpness of the images, so nothing lost there, but the colors of some things may come more into line with what Guy may have wanted to start, as well as what most of the viewers would come to expect.

Thanks for the update, Guy. I was not "worried", but knew something looked a bit off.

LJ

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Robert not going to change that blue. It is what it is a faded blue T shirt and the red face is exactly what it is. RED. LOL