Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => Cameras, Lenses and Shooting gear => Topic started by: BernardLanguillier on June 29, 2017, 02:11:42 am

Title: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: BernardLanguillier on June 29, 2017, 02:11:42 am
Average comment on the web: Zero innovation, incremental upgrade, OVF based DSLRs are dead, Nikon is confirming its accelerated fall to the bottom and is about to be bought over by Sony.

No? ;)

Cheers,
Bernard
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: RobertJ on June 29, 2017, 03:00:16 am
That's probably what they would say, and many are saying the same thing about Canon, except for the part about being bought out by another company. 

Canon seems to be incredibly successful with just about everything they do, regarding sales and patents, and they keep their products out for a very, very long time.

It's crazy to think the Canon 6D was announced on September 17th, 2012.

Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on June 29, 2017, 04:14:16 am
Average comment on the web: Zero innovation, incremental upgrade, OVF based DSLRs are dead, Nikon is confirming its accelerated fall to the bottom and is about to be bought over by Sony.

A naive reader might gain the impression that you believe the world to be a fair place, Bernard  ;)

Jeremy
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: BernardLanguillier on June 29, 2017, 04:20:23 am
A naive reader might gain the impression that you believe the world to be a fair place, Bernard  ;)

There is nothing wrong in trying to make it more fair, is there? ;)

Cheers,
Bernard
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: Paulo Bizarro on June 29, 2017, 07:36:10 am
The Canon 6D was my last SLR; it was probably the best stills camera I ever used, in terms of no-nonsense performance and delivering the goods.

Indeed Canon must have pixie dust to sprinkle on their products, they seem to be able to deliver what most folks want:)
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: TomFrerichs on June 29, 2017, 07:17:35 pm
Bernard,

You haven't been lurking on DPReview, have you? 

It sounds SO familiar.  :D

Tom Frerichs
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: BernardLanguillier on June 29, 2017, 07:37:01 pm
You haven't been lurking on DPReview, have you? 

Not in a long time. ;)

But I'll be fair and post the reversed version in one month when the D820 is announced.

As you understood this isn't "Nikon is better", the message is that both brands are equally pathetic (Canon even a bit more I would dare to say) yet only Nikon gets the bad press...

It is also interesting to note that in a world where you announce steam locomotives after the market went electric, the company announcing second wins because it somehow leaves hope it will surprise us. :)

Cheers,
Bernard
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: kers on June 30, 2017, 07:40:42 am
...
It is also interesting to note that in a world where you announce steam locomotives after the market went electric, the company announcing second wins because it somehow leaves hope it will surprise us. :)

Cheers,
Bernard

If Nikon would introduce something new and exciting for me  it has to be a full frame mirrorless camera with an image  quality that surpasses the d810 and combine it with a sturdy fixed shift/tilt mechanism on it. ( ala the pce 19mm)
Now that would be great.
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: NancyP on June 30, 2017, 04:58:47 pm
OK, so the 6D original and now the 6D2 are not "leading" cameras. These are assigned the "first full frame camera" slot, not the top-of-the-line slot. Frankly, the original 6D proved to be a good general-use camera for non-action use. It could have better dynamic range, but it has been a fun-to-use (and lug) macro, landscape, and night landscape camera - well suited for manual focus and vintage lenses due to ability to swap screens and due to compatible lens mount-sensor distance. I am still using old AIS Nikkor lenses on occasion, as well as modern Canon mount lenses. don't know that I would upgrade unless the sensor was spectacularly better - a TS lens or a trip appeals more right now. But I am an amateur and print only up to 13 x 19".
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: Bernard ODonovan on July 01, 2017, 10:58:41 am
OK, so the 6D original and now the 6D2 are not "leading" cameras. These are assigned the "first full frame camera" slot, not the top-of-the-line slot. Frankly, the original 6D proved to be a good general-use camera for non-action use. It could have better dynamic range, but it has been a fun-to-use (and lug) macro, landscape, and night landscape camera - well suited for manual focus and vintage lenses due to ability to swap screens and due to compatible lens mount-sensor distance. I am still using old AIS Nikkor lenses on occasion, as well as modern Canon mount lenses. don't know that I would upgrade unless the sensor was spectacularly better - a TS lens or a trip appeals more right now. But I am an amateur and print only up to 13 x 19".

The pundits are suggesting the 6D2 will have a fixed focusing screen...

It will be interesting how sharp the 6D2 will be as the 5D4 seems very soft for its megapixel count and I suspect it may be the split pixel AF and not just the filter used. The 6D2 will have a similar set up. Having said that the first to handle them have suggested it looks sharper than the 6D but they have not fully tested yet...

Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: Bernard ODonovan on July 01, 2017, 11:29:12 am
Average comment on the web: Zero innovation, incremental upgrade, OVF based DSLRs are dead, Nikon is confirming its accelerated fall to the bottom and is about to be bought over by Sony.

No? ;)

Cheers,
Bernard

The OVF has legs to it yet...

The A9 may become a good example of why ;-)

The really silly bit you did miss that they are moaning about is the lack of 4K...  I miss the days when most posted about stills features and wish these folk would just go and buy a video camera...

The other moan is they used the latest 45 point APS-C AF module and not a bigger full frame only AF module. However it actually works better on the outer points than all of Canon's AF modules and has all cross type sensors giving better AF spread than the 1DX2 etc on some macro lenses that are harder on the light flux... On the more expensive full frame DSLRs the usable AF points are restricted more on certain lenses to the central points...

The other moan is 1/4000 shutter and 1/180 sync... They miss the fact that a faster shutter will need more stabilisation and shock control for the mirror that is more associated with higher end bodies... This camera is built to be small light and smooth and not need mirror lock up for most shooting...

I could go on, but if the image quality is good it will be another best seller...

Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: John Cothron on July 03, 2017, 09:38:21 pm
The  6D or 6D2 is the "entry level" FF for Canon.  I've never owned one but everyone I know that has really likes it for the image quality.  It is great for stills but challenged in the action arena due to the AF. This release may be improving on that.

I have owned the 5D, II, and now the IV.  i can't say that I would consider the IV to be soft, nor the previous versions for that matter. The IV in particular seems to have a far weaker AA filter, which I am liking.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: BernardLanguillier on July 20, 2017, 12:58:12 am
The fiction continues, the 6DII goes on with the encouraging trend observed with the 5DIV and offers impressive DR... ;)

https://www.dpreview.com/articles/3416153698/canon-eos-6d-mark-ii-dynamic-range

Cheers,
Bernard
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: Paulo Bizarro on July 20, 2017, 03:50:59 am
The fiction continues, the 6DII goes on with the encouraging trend observed with the 5DIV and offers impressive DR... ;)

https://www.dpreview.com/articles/3416153698/canon-eos-6d-mark-ii-dynamic-range

Cheers,
Bernard

Ok, so at low ISO, if you need to boost the shadows by +3EV, you start to see noise. I have used 5DII and 6D in the past, I shoot travel and landscape, and never had to do that. I just learned to expose properly.

At higher ISO, the problem goes away.
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: Rado on July 20, 2017, 04:01:21 am
As a 6D owner I was in line for this upgrade because a tilty-flippy touchscreen would be useful for me. Canon put improved sensors in their APSC bodies but sticks with the old tech for 6D2? I don't get it (and they won't get my money).
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: BernardLanguillier on July 20, 2017, 07:30:08 am
Ok, so at low ISO, if you need to boost the shadows by +3EV, you start to see noise. I have used 5DII and 6D in the past, I shoot travel and landscape, and never had to do that. I just learned to expose properly.

At higher ISO, the problem goes away.

True enough. I use a D5 a lot that is close at low ISO and without shadow noise patterns it is fairly ok. I wouldn't use it for landscape work though, mostly because there much better options.

Cheers,
Bernard
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: Bernard ODonovan on July 20, 2017, 03:33:41 pm
https://www.imaging-resource.com/?ACT=44&fid=17&d=7228&f=z-6d2-vs-5d4-iso100.jpg
ISO 100: Canon 6D Mark II (left) vs. Canon 5D Mark IV (right)

Some areas of the scene it seemed the Canon 5D Mark IV struggled not really reflecting the high Mega Pixel count. Now they have posted the new Canon 6D Mark II, it is doing better...

For someone shooting jpeg and not intending doing any raw processing they would be better off with the Canon 6D Mark II

The Canon 5D Mark IV also cannot run at full speed with all the lens correction turned on. No limits on the Canon 6D Mark II

The Canon 6D Mark II has better processor to the more limited specs ratio, so is unlimited...

The Canon Japan samples posted some time ago looked quite punchy, so it is no surprise to find out this has the same DR as its predecessor... Once again, the jpeg shooter not wanting to process files, will not notice the difference...

It is staggering how the internet has turned into a crying baby about DR... Often files that are reworked look awful on these high DR cameras...

Canon seem to have another winner on their hands...

The Canon 5D Mark IV makes sense for pros that need dual card slot and are more likely to work RAW. The DR is probably higher that anyone really needs but it will give them some security for tricky shots...
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: Rado on July 20, 2017, 04:36:29 pm
Should the internet be praising Canon for reusing 2012 era tech instead? Back then they didn't have anything better, but they do now and chose to not use it in this model.

Also, who spends 2000 dollars on a full frame DSLR (and possibly much more money on lenses) and shoots JPG?
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: BernardLanguillier on July 20, 2017, 04:49:59 pm
Should the internet be praising Canon for reusing 2012 era tech instead? Back then they didn't have anything better, but they do now and chose to not use it in this model.

Also, who spends 2000 dollars on a full frame DSLR (and possibly much more money on lenses) and shoots JPG?

Taking into account the fact that the iphone 7 in HDR mode already offers more useful DR in many real world situations... and the very real possibility the iphone 10 will offer as much native DR as the 6DII by the time the 6DIII is announced...

The DSLRs still have the lenses and elder shooters, like us at LL, will continue to like our grip and the weight of our dollards. But we are a tiny community.

Frankly, the 6DII was already pretty lame with the assumption it offered at least as much DR as the 5DIV, not sure how to describe it now that it doesn't. The only credible working theory is that an infiltrated Sony double agent specced it, because I can't think of a better way for Canon to push their 6D users in the welcoming arms of the a7III... ;)

The reality is that Canon probably wants their customers to wait for their own FF mirrorless and offer this lukewarm update to generate some needed cash while hoping that not all 6D users will buy to save their cash for the more strategic release that will follow?...

Anyway, not my problem, just expressing my disbelief about the way some decision making is done in Japan. I am confident I'll have the opportunity to write something similar about Nikon soon too.

Cheers,
Bernard
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: Bernard ODonovan on July 20, 2017, 06:06:09 pm
Should the internet be praising Canon for reusing 2012 era tech instead? Back then they didn't have anything better, but they do now and chose to not use it in this model.

Also, who spends 2000 dollars on a full frame DSLR (and possibly much more money on lenses) and shoots JPG?

First dual pixel AF sensor late 2013...

First plus 50 mega pixel full frame 2015... If you want to include pixel density on the front end...

First full frame dual pixel AF sensor 2016...

2012 back end of the Analog stage of the sensor, yep... Albeit it has the extra dual pixel circuit...  :D

With regard to 2000 dollars... That is the issue, photo gear is insanely expensive... I am sure the price will come down

All full frame cameras have larger sensor lower yeld production costs. It is a shame they cannot get the price down...




Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: hogloff on July 20, 2017, 06:56:03 pm
First dual pixel AF sensor late 2013...

First plus 50 mega pixel full frame 2015... If you want to include pixel density on the front end...

First full frame dual pixel AF sensor 2016...

2012 back end of the Analog stage of the sensor, yep... Albeit it has the extra dual pixel circuit...  :D

With regard to 2000 dollars... That is the issue, photo gear is insanely expensive... I am sure the price will come down

All full frame cameras have larger sensor lower yeld production costs. It is a shame they cannot get the price down...

Yeh, but what have they done for me lately...laid a rotten egg named as the 6D2. Bunch of old tech rebaggaged into a new camera...yawn!
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: Paulo Bizarro on July 21, 2017, 03:42:59 am
Yeh, but what have they done for me lately...laid a rotten egg named as the 6D2. Bunch of old tech rebaggaged into a new camera...yawn!

Canon have been doing this for more than a decade, and apparently the "old tech" is still more than good enough to keep them in the top position. Apparently, Canon's "old tech" is pretty good, except for those that wish to boost shadows 5 stops just because.
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: hogloff on July 21, 2017, 11:16:16 am
Canon have been doing this for more than a decade, and apparently the "old tech" is still more than good enough to keep them in the top position. Apparently, Canon's "old tech" is pretty good, except for those that wish to boost shadows 5 stops just because.

If you judge quality by the number sold.. then I guess you much prefer eating at McDonald's rather than the brew pub.
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: NancyP on July 21, 2017, 09:28:52 pm
My $2,000.00 goes to a TS-E 24 II to put on the old 6D.
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: scooby70 on July 23, 2017, 04:15:44 am
Ok, so at low ISO, if you need to boost the shadows by +3EV, you start to see noise. I have used 5DII and 6D in the past, I shoot travel and landscape, and never had to do that. I just learned to expose properly.

At higher ISO, the problem goes away.

Rubbish.

Do you really believe this?

I don't know if my patience is wearing thin these days but it does seem that the quality of posting on this site is reaching DPR levels now.
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: Paulo Bizarro on July 24, 2017, 06:47:01 am
If you judge quality by the number sold.. then I guess you much prefer eating at McDonald's rather than the brew pub.

Neither for me thanks. I don't like big M and I don't like pub food.

As for number sold versus quality: numbers sold are auditable and factual, quality is subjective and dependent on one's purse.
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: Paulo Bizarro on July 24, 2017, 06:51:16 am
Rubbish.

Do you really believe this?

I don't know if my patience is wearing thin these days but it does seem that the quality of posting on this site is reaching DPR levels now.

Yes I do. I used to shoot Velvia slide film 25 years ago, it's a great learning experience. You replied by insulting me, fine, it's your choice.

I can show many images I shot with the 6D that were fine, thank you very much. Again, unless you need to regularly boost your shadows by 3 or 5 stops, the 6D is a fine camera.

In my case, to avoid boosting the shadows that much, I just learned to expose properly. Could be rubbish, but it worked, and works, fine for me.
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: Bernard ODonovan on July 24, 2017, 05:57:52 pm
As this is a Nikon fiction thread, it is only fitting we check in to see how they are celebrating their new 6DII...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hQPlPP6mWVA

 :D
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: hogloff on July 24, 2017, 06:33:20 pm
Yes I do. I used to shoot Velvia slide film 25 years ago, it's a great learning experience. You replied by insulting me, fine, it's your choice.

I can show many images I shot with the 6D that were fine, thank you very much. Again, unless you need to regularly boost your shadows by 3 or 5 stops, the 6D is a fine camera.

In my case, to avoid boosting the shadows that much, I just learned to expose properly. Could be rubbish, but it worked, and works, fine for me.

Please enlighten us with your secrets to exposing a scene which has a dynamic range greater than what your camera can handle. You either have to use GND filters which are troublesome if your light area is not a straight line or you can shoot multiple exposures and merge in post, which has problems when your subject is moving.

You keep mentioning you learned to expose properly...please elaborate on this some more.
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: BernardLanguillier on July 24, 2017, 08:36:14 pm
Paul is right.

It is possible to take great images with 4 stops of DR, we've been doing this with slides for years.

Now, the trick is not just to expose right, it is to shoot less, a lot less.

The trick is to give up on perhaps 50% of the shooting opportunities provided by cameras with more DR, just like slides forced us to give up on all these opportunities negatives provided.

However, digital makes it easy to process any scene as if it had been shot with slides, which kills the main downside negatives had compared to slides, so I personnally prefer to shoot with modern digital equipment unless it has major other issues.

Just like I prefer to shoot with a color camera in raw. I prefer to limit myself as little as possible at the time of capture. Why do I use a D5 then? Because it's AF is so superior that it compensates for its low ISO DR weaknesses for what I do withit. Besides its amazing AWB and very accurate/consustent metering mitigates further somewhat its DR weakness.

I personnally don't get why anyone would want to pick a 6DII except for its price compared to a 5DIV (arguably quite over priced for what it offers, but...) because there is nothing it does better. If I had little budget I wouldn't remain a Canon user much longer because I would see the obvious. Canon decided to use DR against me to force me to spend 3,500 $ to buy a 5DIV while other brands give their lower end customers access to their best sensor technology at reasonnable price oiints.

Cheers,
Bernard
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: Paulo Bizarro on July 25, 2017, 05:09:35 am
Please enlighten us with your secrets to exposing a scene which has a dynamic range greater than what your camera can handle. You either have to use GND filters which are troublesome if your light area is not a straight line or you can shoot multiple exposures and merge in post, which has problems when your subject is moving.

You keep mentioning you learned to expose properly...please elaborate on this some more.

Someone better than myself already explained (see Bernard's post above). Other than that, I can recommend some books from which I learned almost 20 years ago. They are by John Shaw, who at the time shot with Nikon and used slide film. Or you can take a basic course on photography.

If you shoot slide film, you need to learn to expose properly, everybody knows that. Slide film exposure latitude is unforgiving, but fantastic images by many photographers are witness to that. From 2002 and 2009 I worked in Oman, and shot slide film on that beautiful country; if you are interested, you can visit my website and check my Oman portfolio.
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: Paulo Bizarro on July 25, 2017, 05:36:08 am
Please enlighten us with your secrets to exposing a scene which has a dynamic range greater than what your camera can handle. You either have to use GND filters which are troublesome if your light area is not a straight line or you can shoot multiple exposures and merge in post, which has problems when your subject is moving.

You keep mentioning you learned to expose properly...please elaborate on this some more.

Here is an interesting story about how a Nikon D3 (same landscape DR as the 6D, according to DXO - around 12 EV) was used to make the cover of NatGeo:

https://www.dpreview.com/articles/4139659692/this-nat-geo-cover-was-shot-with-a-10-year-old-dslr-and-an-iphone-flashlight

For those who learned on slide film, 12 EV sounds like a dream come true:)
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: Rob C on July 25, 2017, 06:29:13 am
Someone better than myself already explained (see Bernard's post above). Other than that, I can recommend some books from which I learned almost 20 years ago. They are by John Shaw, who at the time shot with Nikon and used slide film. Or you can take a basic course on photography.

If you shoot slide film, you need to learn to expose properly, everybody knows that. Slide film exposure latitude is unforgiving, but fantastic images by many photographers are witness to that. From 2002 and 2009 I worked in Oman, and shot slide film on that beautiful country; if you are interested, you can visit my website and check my Oman portfolio.

John Shaw. Yes, a great landscape, nature, close-up and and technical photographer too. And he is also able to explain, in writing, what he knows. I have three of his books, including one on business, and he understands of what he writes.

I'd recommend his books to anyone.

Rob
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: hogloff on July 25, 2017, 09:07:41 am
Someone better than myself already explained (see Bernard's post above). Other than that, I can recommend some books from which I learned almost 20 years ago. They are by John Shaw, who at the time shot with Nikon and used slide film. Or you can take a basic course on photography.

If you shoot slide film, you need to learn to expose properly, everybody knows that. Slide film exposure latitude is unforgiving, but fantastic images by many photographers are witness to that. From 2002 and 2009 I worked in Oman, and shot slide film on that beautiful country; if you are interested, you can visit my website and check my Oman portfolio.

Paul, guess what. John Shaw used GND filters extensively. Why...did he not know how to expose properly? He used them because the scene's dynamic range exceeded the film's dynamic range and he wanted to tone down the bright areas so he would not blow them out.

There is NO magical way of exposing if the scene exceeds the dynamic range of your film or sensor. You keep mentioning proper exposure, but you evade my request of detailing this proper exposure when the scene's range is much greater than what your limited DR camera can handle.

What Bernard said was you ended up skipping scenes where the dynamic range is too great. Is that how you properly expose...you just walk away from challenging light?

I'm still calling BS on proper exposure handles all DR issues.
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: Rob C on July 25, 2017, 05:14:51 pm
Paul, guess what. John Shaw used GND filters extensively. Why...did he not know how to expose properly? He used them because the scene's dynamic range exceeded the film's dynamic range and he wanted to tone down the bright areas so he would not blow them out.

There is NO magical way of exposing if the scene exceeds the dynamic range of your film or sensor. You keep mentioning proper exposure, but you evade my request of detailing this proper exposure when the scene's range is much greater than what your limited DR camera can handle.

What Bernard said was you ended up skipping scenes where the dynamic range is too great. Is that how you properly expose...you just walk away from challenging light?

I'm still calling BS on proper exposure handles all DR issues.


No, that's neither quite right nor fair.

There certainly is a thing called proper exposure. And it depends entirely upon the job you're trying to do.

I shot Kodachrome professionally for many, many years, and it suited my work perfectly, not only due to its colour plan, but to another vital property: it travelled much better than any other colour film I ever tried out. As long as I kept it in a cooler bag, out of direct sunlight, it didn't really requ¡re processing all that soon after exposure; two or three weeks on location wasn't a problem.

Yes, it didn't have as wide a DR as digital seems to have, but even digital's DR isn't infinite, so one's just talking about relativities here - not perfection. One worked within the parameters of the material, and if anything, the way that tones were recorded or lost was a contributing factor to the look one could get, how shadows would look relative to highlights. Hell, if everything's recorded equally well, then how flat it all gets to seem. So this thing about huge DR's a bit of a manufacturer's game, a selling point that may actually be counterproductive: have you never seen anybody complain here about a subject looking too HDR'd?

As I indicated, it all comes down to how well you know your materials and what you have or want to do. Were that not so, there would have been no marvellous photography pre-digital, which is patently nonsense, and I suggest much of it was "better" than what goes down today.

Rob
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: hogloff on July 25, 2017, 05:28:43 pm

No, that's neither quite right nor fair.

There certainly is a thing called proper exposure. And it depends entirely upon the job you're trying to do.

I shot Kodachrome professionally for many, many years, and it suited my work perfectly, not only due to its colour plan, but to another vital property: it travelled much better than any other colour film I ever tried out. As long as I kept it in a cooler bag, out of direct sunlight, it didn't really requ¡re processing all that soon after exposure; two or three weeks on location wasn't a problem.

Yes, it didn't have as wide a DR as digital seems to have, but even digital's DR isn't infinite, so one's just talking about relativities here - not perfection. One worked within the parameters of the material, and if anything, the way that tones were recorded or lost was a contributing factor to the look one could get, how shadows would look relative to highlights. Hell, if everything's recorded equally well, then how flat it all gets to seem. So this thing about huge DR's a bit of a manufacturer's game, a selling point that may actually be counterproductive: have you never seen anybody complain here about a subject looking too HDR'd?

As I indicated, it all comes down to how well you know your materials and what you have or want to do. Were that not so, there would have been no marvellous photography pre-digital, which is patently nonsense, and I suggest much of it was "better" than what goes down today.

Rob

Rob, sure great photos were made 50 years ago...so what. I shot chrome for years, both 35mm and medium format and still use film cameras ( Fuji 6x9 and Tach 4x5 ) and I know there are huge limitations when using chrome...and a lot of those limitations are due to it's very poor dynamic range. When shooting landscapes with chrome ( I didn't use much Velvia as the colours were just too over the top ), I almost always had to use GND filters to tame down the exposure range in the scene. This had problems when the horizon was not straight or other things sticking into the bright areas. Many scenes I just walked away from knowing the chrome film just could not capture what I wanted.

Today, with the expanded DR in the latest cameras, I have reduced using GND filters ( or merging multiple exposures ) by I'd say at least 75%...which is a good thing. I also shoot in much more challenging exposure conditions because I know my camera can handle the dramatic range.

I equate having much more DR today as having great high ISO abilities. Fifty years ago we made photos taken in dark venues using flash and strobes...today we can just pump up the ISO and shoot a much more natural scene. The same is true with cameras that have expanded DR abilities...it just makes photography simpler and allows shooting in more situations.

I don't understand this argument against expanded dynamic range sensors...sounds more like spilt milk since one's cameras don't have it so they make up excuses why its not needed. Yeh...expose correctly is a bunch of BS...once you hit the brick wall, there is no magic...only crappy blown highlights or black featureless shadows.
Title: Re: [Fiction story] Nikon announces the 6DII
Post by: shadowblade on July 27, 2017, 01:35:24 pm

No, that's neither quite right nor fair.

There certainly is a thing called proper exposure. And it depends entirely upon the job you're trying to do.

I shot Kodachrome professionally for many, many years, and it suited my work perfectly, not only due to its colour plan, but to another vital property: it travelled much better than any other colour film I ever tried out. As long as I kept it in a cooler bag, out of direct sunlight, it didn't really requ¡re processing all that soon after exposure; two or three weeks on location wasn't a problem.

Yes, it didn't have as wide a DR as digital seems to have, but even digital's DR isn't infinite, so one's just talking about relativities here - not perfection. One worked within the parameters of the material, and if anything, the way that tones were recorded or lost was a contributing factor to the look one could get, how shadows would look relative to highlights. Hell, if everything's recorded equally well, then how flat it all gets to seem. So this thing about huge DR's a bit of a manufacturer's game, a selling point that may actually be counterproductive: have you never seen anybody complain here about a subject looking too HDR'd?

As I indicated, it all comes down to how well you know your materials and what you have or want to do. Were that not so, there would have been no marvellous photography pre-digital, which is patently nonsense, and I suggest much of it was "better" than what goes down today.

Rob

You didn't answer the question.

What is your definition of 'proper exposure' when the DR in the scene exceeds the DR of your recording medium?

Do you expose for the highlights and leave the shadows as detailless, black blobs? Or do you expose for the shadows, blowing the highlights? Do you split the difference and aim for the midtones, blowing smaller areas of both highlights and shadows? Or do you just walk away and not shoot at all?

A common enough scenario in landscape photography, and one that can't always be solved by filters (uneven horizons and increased vignetting) or HDR (movement).

As for badly-tonemapped images with too much midtone compression, that has nothing to do with HDR, or even dynamic range, and everything to do with bad tonemapping. I could make a single exposure with 3 stops of DR look like that if I wanted to. In fact, most photos would somewhat look like that with a linear response curve.

Every digital image needs to be tonemapped. You don't normally have to think about it because the RAW converter does it automatically, and you don't normally get midtone-compressed images because most converters apply pretty good tonemapping curves. People run into trouble when merging HDR files because they then have to create a curve manually and actually think about the structure of the curve and where their highlights, midtones and shadows are, instead of just applying an automatic setting. Done properly, an HDR image looks no different from a distance than a non-HDR image, except, once you get closer, you can see that the shadows aren't just featureless blobs of black, but areas with as much detail and texture as the rest of the image.

I could easily put up a number of HDR and non-HDR images here and you'd never know which one was which.