H4D-40: Sample files

[Dick Roadnight]

Dick, did you use a lot of fill and/or recovery in this image? It shows that typical orange translucency in the skin that you get when you add this too much.

I thought I was going nuts doing so much work on white. Good to see I am not the only one

It looks very underexposed, too underexposed to be rescued well.

This was taken in overcast conditions, in a narrow street where all the light was coming from above.

In the unadjusted image in phocus there was little difference in colour between the hair and the forehead.

I could have adjusted the colour temp, but did not.

I had to use recovery on the shirt, and moire for the glasses.

-1.5ev
+10 contrast
83 recovery
100 clarity

By getting back the colour in his face I revealed his less than perfect complexion ( he is a Brit, and not a film star, and would not contemplate using make-up).

I used curves to darken the mid tones (face).

Phocus can miraculously recover very under-exposed (parts of ) images, but that is not a problem here. On some of the picture I took that day I would have to use recovery on the foreheads (my solution for that is to turn the camera upside-down and use fill-flash).

The picture looks rough largely as it is about 1,500 Mpx cropped from a 50Mpx file showing four people 3/4 lemgth. (Remember I posted it to show that you could get an acceptable image from a small crop) Maybe I over-adjusted it... but it is amazing how much adjustment you can get away with in Phocus.

This (below) is about three Mpx cropped  from 50Mpx... the ambient light was better there (it was in a more open area, so there was more low fill) and I have made no adjustments. His complexion looks pale on my laptop, but OK on my Eizo (which I have not calibrated yet). Here too, the lower part of the face is lighter than the forehead, and using a fil-flash under the camera might have helped.
[attachment=21155:Nadhim__...up_girls.jpg]

Clive (the gray-haired Gentleman ) is our District Council candidate, and Nadhim Zahawi, on the left, is our (Stratford-upon-Avon) selected parliamentary candidate, as our current Member of parliament, John Maples, is retiring at the next General Election.

[robert zimmerman]

But it still might not fit the way you do things?

Why would you not try yourself?

try what, making a production video/shoot for hasselblad?
I'd love to, i'll need an h4d40 and a production budget...

seriously, who is served by the kind of stuff just posted?

is that a joke? the guys sideburns are orange!

[David Grover / Capture One]

try what, making a production video/shoot for hasselblad?
I'd love to, i'll need an h4d40 and a production budget...

I meant - if you were interested in an H4D, it would make sense to test under your own conditions, as opposed to making a decision based on anything else... i.e Youtube Hasselblad video.

[David Grover / Capture One]

I had to use recovery on the shirt, and moire for the glasses.

-1.5ev
+10 contrast
83 recovery
100 clarity

Dick,

Having to use -1.5ev and then 83(too high!) recovery would point to an extremely over exposed image.

Then adding +10 contrast would ruin highlights even more.

100 on clarity is also doing no good to the highlights.

I suggest you start again?

David

[bcooter]

I meant - if you were interested in an H4D, it would make sense to test under your own conditions, as opposed to making a decision based on anything else... i.e Youtube Hasselblad video.

As far as a video, I think you've got it covered by this  Atlanta WiredUp guy,  that did  the "any 10 year old can be a professional photographer video".

http://www.youtube.com/user/HotwireDigital#p/f/4/80K2fvIl-dY

That shows workflow so maybe Hasselblad can license it from him.

BC

[fredjeang]

As far as a video, I think you've got it covered by this  Atlanta WiredUp guy,  that did  the "any 10 year old can be a professional photographer video".

http://www.youtube.com/user/HotwireDigital#p/f/4/80K2fvIl-dY

That shows workflow so maybe Hasselblad can license it from him.

BC

   
Okay BC. This time I agree with you.

Fred.

[pixjohn]

If I am going to test drive a Porsche, I want to go fast on winding roads. If I am going to test a H4 I want to shoot on a hi end project.  Nobody wants to test drive their Porsche on the 405 freeway at 5pm why test your H4 and have it look like its a high school portrait.  

[fredjeang]

If I am going to test drive a Porsche, I want to go fast on winding roads. If I am going to test a H4 I want to shoot on a hi end project.  Nobody wants to test drive their Porsche on the 405 freeway at 5pm why test your H4 and have it look like its a high school portrait.

What you say is=of course!
But then, what would you do? Go to the shop, hire the porshe and drive it on your own, with your own style and THEN, you and only you, decide if this is a car for you.
Or am I wrong?

Fred.

[Quentin]

Dick, did you use a lot of fill and/or recovery in this image? It shows that typical orange translucency in the skin that you get when you add this too much.

I thought I was going nuts doing so much work on white. Good to see I am not the only one

This was taken in overcast conditions, in a narrow street where all the light was coming from above.

In the unadjusted image in phocus there was little difference in colour between the hair and the forehead.

I could have adjusted the colour temp, but did not.

I had to use recovery on the shirt, and moire for the glasses.

-1.5ev
+10 contrast
83 recovery
100 clarity

By getting back the colour in his face I revealed his less than perfect complexion ( he is a Brit, and not a film star, and would not contemplate using make-up).

Isn't this the sort of image that 35mm DSLR's were made for?  

[Dick Roadnight]

Isn't this the sort of image that 35mm DSLR's were made for?

If you had read the above posts, you might have realized that this is a 1.5Mpx crop from a 50 Mpx file, and was taken in less than ideal light, so, if it is the same quality as a 35mm DSLR picture, my Hasselblad is doing very well, thank you for the compliment!

[TMARK]

This is from an H3D11-50 picture of four people 3/4 length.

It was a semi-photojournalist type picture of politicians canvassing.
[attachment=21152:Clive_4_...Spencer2.jpg]

Fresh from the mortician.

[Dick Roadnight]

Dick,

Having to use -1.5ev and then 83(too high!) recovery would point to an extremely over exposed image.

Then adding +10 contrast would ruin highlights even more.

100 on clarity is also doing no good to the highlights.

I suggest you start again?

David

Thank you, David.

It is very easy to over-adjust.

I now find that setting the white balance colour temperature to 6000 and ev- .5 produces better results.

It seems that the orange sideburns and the moire on the glasses were caused by the adjustments.

[attachment=21164:clive_4_...pencer_5.jpg]

[gwhitf]

As far as a video, I think you've got it covered by this  Atlanta WiredUp guy,  that did  the "any 10 year old can be a professional photographer video".

http://www.youtube.com/user/HotwireDigital#p/f/4/80K2fvIl-dY

Yet again, Victor Hasselblad rolls over in his grave, and then shakes his head in disgust.

[Steve Hendrix]

Thank you, David.

It is very easy to over-adjust.

I now find that setting the white balance colour temperature to 6000 and ev- .5 produces better results.

It seems that the orange sideburns and the moire on the glasses were caused by the adjustments.

[attachment=21164:clive_4_...pencer_5.jpg]

Uh, Dick, you might want to pay some attention to the view through the right side of his spectacles....  


Steve Hendrix

[Nick-T]

This is from an H3D11-50 picture of four people 3/4 length.

It was a semi-photojournalist type picture of politicians canvassing.
[attachment=21152:Clive_4_...Spencer2.jpg]

Umm Dick

Turn the Moire filter off while you're at it I think you have it at 4 or 5... That is what is causing the funky-ness in the skin...

[gwhitf]

Turn the Moire filter off while you're at it I think you have it at 4 or 5... That is what is causing the funky-ness in the skin...

Nick,

Stuff like this is exactly what would make a simple YouTube video so useful. Imagine some knowledgeable photographer, or digital tech, and he'd have a file open, and he'd go down the list of all the settings, and he'd talk in real world language about what his Default settings were.

File this under "attracting interest and getting connected" with your product. Of course, everyone would love to demo a new camera easily, in person. In my case, it's a four hour drive to my nearest Dealer. So I might want to watch a simple YouTube video first, just to begin to get my head around a camera, or back, or piece of software, before I committed eight hours on the road, plus a possible hotel. Yes, of course, the Dealer might come to me, but I'd rather learn on his turf, with the software already installed and tweaked, rather than spending two hours beforehand, just getting stuffed installed at my place, or that he realized he left some vital cable back at his home office.

The purpose of the video is a simple, non confrontive way to just put your foot in the water. No driving necessary. If the RAW files look promising, then maybe the next step is to call the Dealer and commit the time to doing the demo.

Imagine how many Hasselblad dealers that there are. And then imagine how many potential customers. And then imagine how many of those customers would have a sizable travel day, just to reach a dealer. And as it is now, all there is on the Hasselblad site is a bunch of corporate-speak, making everyone (read: me) doubt everything they're hearing, since it's not coming from a working photographer. The video doesn't have to be fancy; in fact, it would probably score more "honesty points" if it was just some guy sitting there, with red eyes, with two empty coffee cups on his desk, and an ashtray, with Pandora running in the background, rather than some overly-groomed Hasselblad employee with a shirt with a logo on it. Anything they do, they ought to run it thru you first, so that you can run your Bullshit Radar on it, (including the insulting video of the 12 year old girl).

Just a suggestion.

[John.Williams]

I agree with ghwitf on the youtube videos - definitely would be an asset to address the points brought forth.

To be fair, the message in the video with the young girl was to address the topic of "Phocus is too hard to learn/use." All things in perspective, it is a non-sales-y, no logo-on-the-shirt, non-corporate-style video, much like the points mentioned. Humorous and coy, but could be viewed as surreal if taken out of context.

Posting can be a contact sport on LL, and the preceding posts were opinions of how difficult Phocus is to use. Now there's a reference of the difficulty level.

Here are professionally produced videos of photographers speaking about the H4D, (not going through the workflow:)
Michael Grecco,
Kevin Then,
Steve McCurry

John "Atlanta WiredUp guy" - bcooter, excellent

[gwhitf]

Making money in commercial photography is a contact sport. Finding a professional camera that you won't have to fight with, or wait on, is a contact sport.

I would assume that you view your own business in the same way. How about a video of a twelve year old girl selling Hasselblad cameras, and running a Dealer-based retail business, day to day. Would that insult you? Fuck yes. Nothing wrong with a little humor, but in the appropriate context. I can laugh with the best of them. But don't insult me, and then ask me to write a check for $25k for a camera with an unproven history.

PS. I sat thru the Steve McCurry video, and waited for any real information on the Hasselblad camera. In the end, it's an ad for Steve McCurry. Do you not see that? Can you guys miss the point this much?

[ziocan]

PS. I sat thru the Steve McCurry video, and waited for any real information on the Hasselblad camera. In the end, it's an ad for Steve McCurry. Do you not see that? Can you guys miss the point this much?

I could not make it through half of it and I was already skipping some bits.
it is pretty easy to get bored listening and looking at the obvious.
Those videos are aimed to dentists.

[Streetshooter]

Making money in commercial photography is a contact sport. Finding a professional camera that you won't have to fight with, or wait on, is a contact sport.

I would assume that you view your own business in the same way. How about a video of a twelve year old girl selling Hasselblad cameras, and running a Dealer-based retail business, day to day. Would that insult you? Fuck yes. Nothing wrong with a little humor, but in the appropriate context. I can laugh with the best of them. But don't insult me, and then ask me to write a check for $25k for a camera with an unproven history.

PS. I sat thru the Steve McCurry video, and waited for any real information on the Hasselblad camera. In the end, it's an ad for Steve McCurry. Do you not see that? Can you guys miss the point this much?

I think the only people impressed by these promo videos using well known photographers to sing the praises of a new piece of equipment are the 'dentist' and rich amateur customers. Far more useful would be a set of short informative YouTube videos. Also do these guys really use the equipment they promote or are they getting paid to say they do. I've just got back from India and saw Steve McCurry working for the best part of a week and all he had hanging off his shoulder was a Nikon D3s........

Pete