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Author Topic: Which SLR has the best tonality/resolution balance ?  (Read 5421 times)

larkis

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Which SLR has the best tonality/resolution balance ?
« on: June 28, 2011, 03:41:53 pm »

I want to go on a 6 week trip to nepal and india in october and do some landscape as well as street shooting. I have used a range of cameras in the past, both film and digital and i'm thinking of getting another body for the trip. For landscape i primarily shoot 4x5 but want to get a pentax 645D, but for street shooting and longer hikes I want to get a camera that is as light as possible but still has decent quality. My recent purchase has been a GH2 as a second body to my GF1 which did all right on the street in cuba, but my concern with most digital offerings now is that they all look like high resolution video stills and lack that lush/subtle tonality in a lot of the subjects. This can be observed in portraits of people (everyone's skin looks like a mannequin) unless the image is manipulated with curves and some shadow and highlight detail is lost. Pictures of things like flowers also show clipping in certain colours.

Is there any camera system short of medium format digital or older full frame bodies like the D700 that can render subtle tones and transitions while being 14mp or higher ?
If you are not sure what I mean, the difference I'm seeing in the current breed of cameras is that they all look like high resolution DV video compared to something shot on a RED camera at the same resolution. There is something about it that just feels different and does not seem to be just a function of final file resolution alone.

hjulenissen

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Re: Which SLR has the best tonality/resolution balance ?
« Reply #1 on: June 28, 2011, 03:48:50 pm »

I am no seasoned camera pro, but I am interested in this stuff both from a techy side and as a practitioner.

Are you requesting a camera with a higher native dynamic range, with better auto-exposure, or a raw development program with preset curves that appeal to you?

Did you try HDR/tone-mapping? Are you evaluating the results on screen or on paper?

-h
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larkis

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Re: Which SLR has the best tonality/resolution balance ?
« Reply #2 on: June 28, 2011, 04:05:19 pm »

I evaluate both on screen and paper, as a day job I work in post production on commercials and films so I can tell that there is a big difference between let's say a high end "HD" camera and something like a RED or competing panavision product. One looks sharp the other looks sharp and smooth at the same time, the colours and tonal transitions in the image have a more sophisticated feel, it's hard to explain without looking at both side by side i guess but the same thing seems to be going on with sill cameras.

John Nollendorfs

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Re: Which SLR has the best tonality/resolution balance ?
« Reply #3 on: June 28, 2011, 04:58:16 pm »

With the higher resolution sensors, noise became a factor. This was seemingly resolved by using noise reduction algorithms. This noise reduction tends to give a certain "plastic" look to the images if carried too far. Maybe this is what you are referring to? In any event, try raw processing your files, instead of using in camera j-pegs, if that is what you are doing.

BTW, recently picked up the D5100, and am very pleased with the results it renders. Quite light in weight, and I love the articulated hi rez screen for taking pictures in awkward situations.

John Nollendorfs
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telyt

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Re: Which SLR has the best tonality/resolution balance ?
« Reply #4 on: June 28, 2011, 06:21:34 pm »

Is there any camera system short of medium format digital or older full frame bodies like the D700 that can render subtle tones and transitions while being 14mp or higher ?

Is full color gradation what you're looking for?
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KevinA

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Re: Which SLR has the best tonality/resolution balance ?
« Reply #5 on: June 29, 2011, 03:03:46 am »

Not found that in digital yet, colour, tonality etc It's why for my fun stuff I still shoot film. It has all that .

Kevin.
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Kevin.

telyt

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Re: Which SLR has the best tonality/resolution balance ?
« Reply #6 on: June 29, 2011, 06:13:08 am »

Not found that in digital yet, colour, tonality etc It's why for my fun stuff I still shoot film. It has all that .

I prefer the DMR for color tonality.  Kinda big & heavy though.
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stamper

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Re: Which SLR has the best tonality/resolution balance ?
« Reply #7 on: June 29, 2011, 07:36:33 am »

Not found that in digital yet, colour, tonality etc It's why for my fun stuff I still shoot film. It has all that .

Kevin.

It looks as if you have yet to master the digital process?

Rob C

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Re: Which SLR has the best tonality/resolution balance ?
« Reply #8 on: June 29, 2011, 10:42:15 am »

It looks as if you have yet to master the digital process?





Oooh that's a brave statement, Stamp; I am quite sure that digital (35mm format - I don't know anything about digital MF other than I can't/won't afford it) has not caught up with film on subject matter such as skin. It has begun to strike me that the plastic skins so currently in vogue are not altogether intentional, but a handy way of losing the native failings of the systems by the simple expedient of exaggeration. Apart from my opinion, the ongoing discussions about whether Nik or Can offer the best skin pallette must mean that neither, in fact, has cracked the problem; there shouldn't be a difference; they should both render the same result. That's supposedly one of the advantages of sensor over film: perfect flatness with no maker's bias... yeah; lenses contribute enough difference already without the need for sensor personality to intrude.

Given in-house E6, and my old 'blads back, plenty of client money etc. I would love to be back with film and pretty girls.
I'm not so sure about the 35mm Kodachrome though, because I think as one ages there also comes a change in outlook: the rapid-fire technique that often results in serendipity and wondrous, unexpected magic isn't forever what stirs the juices; the calm, considered construction of a picture in the viewfinder also has a tremendous kick with suitable subjects.

Perhaps that's partly the explanation for the continued presence of the view camera today, but even when I had to, I disliked using them. But I was a kid then...

Rob C

hjulenissen

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Re: Which SLR has the best tonality/resolution balance ?
« Reply #9 on: June 29, 2011, 01:41:47 pm »

Apart from my opinion, the ongoing discussions about whether Nik or Can offer the best skin pallette must mean that neither, in fact, has cracked the problem; there shouldn't be a difference; they should both render the same result. That's supposedly one of the advantages of sensor over film: perfect flatness with no maker's bias... yeah; lenses contribute enough difference already without the need for sensor personality to intrude.
1. Your argument does not really make much sense to me. Driving a Porche is different from driving a Ferrari. Does that make any of them any worse than driving a Honda? Not claiming that either digital or analog belongs to either cathegory, only showing the flaw in your logic.

2. Internet discussions about just about every topic imaginable and then some can be found. This only proves that people will discuss anything.

3. Different digital cameras will have different color filters. Different raw processors will have different trade-offs in relating those sensitivites to some standard color space. I think that most people doing "color-critical" work have switched to digital because of its repeatability and precision? For the rest of us, anything that just "looks good" will do.

Discussing digital vs analog really does not bear any fruits. There are many reasons for choosing either, and there are enough fundamental differences for anyone to defend whatever they chose before considering the arguments (because we all conclude before trying to find arguments, dont we?)

-h
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Lonnie Utah

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Re: Which SLR has the best tonality/resolution balance ?
« Reply #10 on: June 29, 2011, 02:49:31 pm »

but for street shooting and longer hikes I want to get a camera that is as light as possible but still has decent quality.

If I were you, I'd really look hard at the Sony NEX offerings....
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feppe

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Re: Which SLR has the best tonality/resolution balance ?
« Reply #11 on: June 29, 2011, 05:11:52 pm »

If I were you, I'd really look hard at the Sony NEX offerings....

And if we include lenses in the equation I'd also look at Micro Four Thirds :P

Yes, I know this is quickly becoming the next Canon vs Sony debate :)

Lonnie Utah

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Re: Which SLR has the best tonality/resolution balance ?
« Reply #12 on: June 29, 2011, 05:55:59 pm »

And if we include lenses in the equation I'd also look at Micro Four Thirds :P

Yes, I know this is quickly becoming the next Canon vs Sony debate :)

Yeah, and since sony released the e-mount specification to 3rd party manufactures back in Feb, that isn't going to be much of a debate for very long....
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BernardLanguillier

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Re: Which SLR has the best tonality/resolution balance ?
« Reply #13 on: July 01, 2011, 05:49:20 am »

I would go for a D7000 or K5 with a 50mm f1.8 and stitch.

Cheers,
Bernard
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