So, as you probably can see, I like taking nature photos when I’m wandering around in the local woods around Boulder. It can be challenging to come up with creative ways to take new photos every time, when the surroundings appear to be the same. In the foothills of Boulder, we really don’t have too many big scenery shots other than the standard Foothills landscape. Our local pine woods are generally quite scrubby looking, with lots of visual chaos. I find that the tilt shift can really help in providing alternate perspective, as any ‘Perspective Control’ lens should! As you can tell I’ve really been getting into those lenses lately; they are the ones I go to when I want to just mess around. Too much fun!

Well the lens came today, and I’m pretty excited about a new lens that I’ve never owned before. I took a couple sample shots here in the office, to compare the 85 to the 45. The differences probably aren’t huge to the untrained eye, but to me they are pretty significant! To me it’s easy to see how the 45 still has a wide angle effect to it, as seen in this first shot of the loose change on the window sill.  In the 45 shot, it looks like the dime and the nickel are at different angles, while they appear more parallel in the 2nd shot.  Interestingly, the lens causes the camera to perceive that the coins are at different angles, as you can see that the amount of reflected light off the silver coins is much different in the 45mm image than the 85mm image.  Also notice how I shot the stacks of coins at an angle, but aligned the focal plane along the tops of the coins, leaving the change below blurred out. This is what I jokingly call using the tilt shift “The Right Way”, when you are intentionally aligning things with the focal plane. Both of these lenses are excellently sharp, even hand held wide open at f/2.8.

left- 45mm .:. right- 85mm

Secondly I took a couple silly pictures of Richie in the foyer. Once again, the 45 has more of a wide angle to it. In this particular composition, I like the 45mm better.  But I’m pretty sure that if I was doing a close in headshot, that I’d like the more flattering flatness of the 85mm. In both these shots I’m using the lens ” The Wrong Way”, where I use the angled focal plane to blur out everything but the eyes.

left- 45mm .:. right- 85mm

Now I acknowledge wasn’t a particularly scientific “test” by any means. I didn’t even do a very good job of keeping the subjects face at the same angle so that you can compare the shots.  This was just an excuse to play with my new toy and to make funny faces for the blog!

.: Nikon D700, Nikon 24-70 f/2.8, 1/8000, f/4, 640 ISO :.

]]> http://www.steve-z.com/steves-first-day-of-work/feed/ 0 http://www.steve-z.com/west-ridge-colorado-trail-keystone/ http://www.steve-z.com/west-ridge-colorado-trail-keystone/#comments Sun, 26 Jul 2009 14:55:11 +0000 stevez http://www.steve-z.com/?p=4782 It has been a hectic July for me workwise.  Sad to say, I haven’t done a single ride! But I’m rectifying that this weekend by doing some rides up in Keystone. Here is a shot from the Colorado Trail high above Keystone.  I lugged the tilt shift along and had a great day taking some trail and nature photos.  More posts to come in the coming days.

Meanwhile, I’ve been struggling with the skin tones that come out of many of my photos.  People appear very orange, very pink, and very saturated as a whole.  I’ve created my own Lightroom preset, called ‘Skin Shift’, which I use to adjust the skin tones on particularly bad examples, usually those people who are very red, and lit under tungsten bulbs.  But using the HSL color controls never really got me to where I wanted to be.  I knew that the Camera Calibration controls were available, but since I was never able to get the settings to a place I liked, I wasn’t sure how I could possibly come up with a profile that was better that what I was already using.  So I continued using the Adobe Standard profile.  It is Adobe’s attempt to make an average profile that works for every single camera out there that shoots in a RAW format.  You can imagine how well THAT works! ;>)

Then I found out about the Adobe DNG Profiles page.  Here there are specific profiles created for every camera out there.  Additionally, there are various modes for each camera, that are like the Picture Styles that you use in the camera if you are shooting JPG.  For the D700 there are:  Camera Neutral, Camera Portrait, Camera Standard, Camera Vivid, Camera Landscape, Camera D2X Mode 1, Camera D2X Mode 2, and Camera D2X Mode 3.  The last 3 Modes are similar to profiles that became available with the Nikon D2x camera body.  Additionally, there is a DNG profile editor where you can make your own profiles.  I haven’t gotten to that point yet.  In this article I’m just going to show you the differences between the Standard Nikon d700 profiles. One can also utilize these profiles using Photoshop CS3/Bridge CS2. I am blown away at the differences in the photos.  With these DNG profiles and/or the DNG editor, the adjustments to the color are much for fine tuned than is possible with the manual controls.  All my problems with Disney Cartoon skin appear to magically have been solved!  So here are some pictures to tell the tale. I picked this recent portrait because it was taken in natural daylight under overcast conditions without any flash. White balance is set to Daylight. Disclaimer: You may or may not be able to see the differences here depending on 1- your color trained eye (or lack of), 2- your color calibrated monitor (or lack of).

.: Nikon D700 NEF file converted using Adobe Standard Profile :.

.: Nikon D700 NEF file converted using Camera Neutral Profile :.

On a calibrated monitor viewed under proper lighting, the difference is huge! In the first photo the general tone of the man’s face is magenta, but that isn’t really the way he looks in real life.  His skin tone is much closer to the second image, a normal orange-brown hue.  I’m now going to include some close up, side-by side images of some of the profiles to give you an idea of the differences. But basically, ANY of them are better than using the Adobe Standard!  Keep in mind, the only setting changed between these images is the Camera Calibration Profile.

.: Nikon D700 NEF file converted using (L-R) Adobe Standard, Camera Neutral, Camera Portrait :.

.: Nikon D700 NEF file converted using (L-R) Camera Standard, Camera D2X Mode 1, Camera D2X Mode 2 :.

As you can see, the differences between the D700 specific Camera Profiles are more subtle, but the difference between the Adobe Standard is huge! In a large printed image, the differences would be easily discernible even by the untrained eye. Camera neutral is a good place to start. The profile itself is a bit flat, but contrast and saturation can easily be added. One of the other settings can also be a good starting point to have an image with more punch, straight out of the editor without any tweaking.

Even with as much improvement these standard camera profiles are, there is still room for improvement. I’ve seen some examples on the DWF where some advanced users show examples of odd discoloration and blotchy-ness in shaded or complex areas of photos using Camera Neutral. So there are still further steps to take to achieve true color mastery. The next step is to be to create a custom profile, using the DNG profile editor, based upon calibrated images taken from my actual cameras. Added to my personal recipe will be a little bit of my personal style and taste, that will make my color profiles truly unique, and unlike any other photographer. I will create one profile that is a ‘do it all’ type file, where I can process an entire wedding with all of its varying light conditions and backgrounds, and come up with natural looking, true color images that have a little extra pop of saturation and contrast.  After that, I plan to create some additional ‘artistic’ profiles, that I can use for particular conditions that I shoot often. These additional steps are icing on the cake for me.  Currently I am super happy to have found an immediate and easy solution to a nagging skin tone problem. All I had to do was download a simple executable file, install, and change one setting in Lightroom. Epic Win!

.: Nikon D700, Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 @ 200mm, 1/800, f/2.8, 200 ISO :.

Last year I decided to switch from Canon to Nikon. Switching and upgrading the level of my cameras and lenses was quite expensive, so I made a few decisions to try and cut costs. One of those decisions was to try and shoot a prime lens instead of a zoom in the telephoto range. So instead of replacing my Canon 70-200 f/2.8 IS with a Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 VR or a Nikon 80-200 f/2.8, I bought a Nikon 135mm f/2.0. I was hoping that I would be happier on a wedding day by having a lighter lens which can also shoot more wide open and achieve a creamy blur at f/2.  That was the intent, but in practice that isn’t quite how things have turned out, so I bought a Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 lens to try out.  I compared this new lens to my Nikon 135, to try and find out if I was really gaining any performance by shooting a prime. Read about it after the page break…

What I’ve been finding out is that during the fast paced action of a wedding day, I was really missing the zoom capability.  I like to switch focal lengths a lot, so I’m always changing lenses on my two D700 bodies on my person.  My last two wedding ceremonies were also in churches with restrictions to where I could stand, so I was missing the extra reach of a 200mm focal length. Additionally, the extra stop of low light performance does not really compare with the performance increase of Vibration Reduction (VR) which is roughly 3 stops improvement.  So it can’t really be argued that the prime has better low light capabilites.

But beyond the lack of a zoom, I’ve found that the Nikon 135 f/2.0 is not terribly sharp wide open at f/2.  The sharpness and local contrast performance of that lens improves significantly by f/2.5 to f/2.8.   I’ve also found that when shooting the 135mm f/2 in bright sun, the lens is subject to significant purple and green fringing known as birefringence or blooming.  These artifacts also clear up around f/2.8.  Well, if the lens doesn’t get good until f/2.8, then why aren’t I just shooting the Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 VR, which is regarded to have excellent performance at f/2.8?  Oh, right, because I don’t have the $1900 to spend on the lens right now.

So I decided to try out the Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 lens.  I did a basic little comparison of some photos.  I mounted the camera on a tripod and tried out the lenses at different apertures to see how they compared.  I tested the Sigma and found that it focused accurately on my Nikon D700, and did not need to be micro-adjusted.

Detail Resolution

First I did a series of tests to see how well the lenses can resolve detail  I took a photo of the oh-so-exciting parking lot out in front of my office.  I focused dead center on the red sign in the middle.

.: Nikon D700, Nikon 135mm f/2.0 @ 1/2000, f/2.8, 200 ISO :.

.: Nikon D700, Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 @ 135mm, 1/2000, f/2.8, 200 ISO :.

As you can see, at web size there isn’t too much difference in the images. The Nikon prime lets in a little bit more light, in general.  There is a bit more detail in the shopping cart in the first (Nikon) image. However, the Sigma offers the undeniable advantage of allowing one to get the following two shots from the same position.

.: Nikon D700, Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 @ 70mm, 1/2000, f/2.8, 200 ISO :.

.: Nikon D700, Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 @ 200mm, 1/2000, f/2.8, 200 ISO :.

The interesting part, is what the sign looks like at 100% magnification in these images. Here are the two lenses at 135mm.

.: Nikon D700, Nikon 135mm f/2.0 @ 1/2000, f/2.8, 200 ISO :.

.: Nikon D700, Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 @ 135mm, 1/2000, f/2.8, 200 ISO :.

The Nikon prime lens does a superior job with the detail between the letters of the sign, as it should. The Sigma zoom lens loses a little bit of contrast in the red areas, as well as displays a slight amount of purple hue (birefringence). But overall, I think the Sigma does quite well, considering that it is cheaper then the Nikon and offers the zoom range.

Here are some shots comparing the performance of each lens at various f stops. First,the Nikon 135 at f/2, f2.8, and f/4.

.: Nikon D700, Nikon 135mm f/2.0 @ 1/4000, f/2, 200 ISO :.

.: Nikon D700, Nikon 135mm f/2.8 @ 1/2000, f/2.8, 200 ISO :.

.: Nikon D700, Nikon 135mm f/4 @ 1/1000, f/2.8, 200 ISO :.

As you can see, there is a significant difference in the stop between f/2 and f/2.8.  I don’t really use this lens any more wide open than f/2.5 unless I know that I will only be using the image for web publication, and that 100% crop details will not matter. These photos were shot in overcast conditions. In bright sun conditions, the negative effects are much worse, particularly if the sign was black with white letters. You would have seen significant lines of purple on the white edges at f/2. There is not too much difference between f/2.8 and f/4 in these photos.

And now the Sigma 70-200 at f/2.8 and f/4.

.: Nikon D700, Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 @ 135mm, 1/2000, f/2.8, 200 ISO :.

.: Nikon D700, Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 @ 135mm, 1/1000, f/4, 200 ISO :.

Wide open at f/2.8, the Sigma displays a similar loss of contrast as the Nikon at f/2, but not nearly as bad.  However, the Sigma is able to add detail and contrast pretty quickly.  I took additional images at the 1/3 stops (not published), and I can tell you that there is quite a bit of improvement from f/2.8 to f/3.2, and at f/3.5 the image looks nearly the same as the f/4 image.  So the Sigma trails the Nikon in this particular test in the neighborhood of 2/3 to 1 stop.  Not too shabby for a third party lens.

Lens blur (bokeh)

So why don’t I just shoot at f/4 all the time, since the performance of the lens is better?  Well, I’m addicted to the creamy blur of wide open apertures.  I really like the look when the subject is in focus and the background is out of focus.  It really makes the subject stand out, and can add a dreamy, surreal quality to the image.  Different lenses have different qualities to them, so I took a some shots showing the increase in blur at different aperture stops to compare.

.: Nikon D700, Nikon 135mm f/2.0 @ 1/1600, f/2, 200 ISO :.

.: Nikon D700, Nikon 135mm f/2.0 @ 1/800, f/2.8, 200 ISO :.

.: Nikon D700, Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 @ 135mm, 1/800, f/2.8, 200 ISO :.

.: Nikon D700, Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 @ 135mm, 1/400, f/4, 200 ISO :.

The differences in the blur between the first two photos (f/2 and f/2.8) are quite subtle. More pronounced is the vignetting at f/2. In my opinion the hard to tell difference in the blur is not really worth the very noticeable degradation of image quality.

The difference in blur between the Nikon and the Sigma at the same aperture is also very close. I might prefer the Nikon a little bit, but the exposure is also slightly brighter in the Nikon which could be swaying my opinion.

The difference in the blur at 135mm between f/2.8 and f/4 is clearly quite noticeable.

There is one more thing that the Sigma has in the bokeh department that the Nikon prime does not. The significantly smoother blur at 200mm f/2.8.   This image is the one at the very top of this article.  As you can see, one can achieve a much smoother blur at 200mm f/2.8 than at 135 f/2.

Conclusions

Overall, I’m pretty impressed with the Sigma 70-200 f/2.8. I think it is an excellent value for the money. Wide open at f/2.8, it’s performance falls slightly behind the Nikon 135 f/2 prime, but less than I would expect considering that that the 135 is already stopped down  at that point. I’m less than impressed with the performance of the Nikon wide open.  Not performing well below f/2.8 doesn’t make the lens terribly useful.  (A side note, I have tested the Defocus Control (DC) on this lens in a similar manner, and have found it to be pretty much useless.)   I would be very interested in comparing the 135 f/2 to the 70-200 VR at f/2.8, to see if there is any benefit of the prime at 135mm and f/2.8 at all.  The Nikon zoom also offers the advantages of  AF-S silent auto focus motor, plus modern lens coatings which combat birefringence.  Clearly, this D series lens is due for an update.

Eventually I would like to add the Nikon VR to my collection, as the image stabilization technology would be very useful for dim indoor conditions. But in the meantime, I will gladly use the Sigma for my wedding photojournalism duties, and take advantage of the flexibility of the wide focal range.  I will report back in the comments if any of my opinions change after I shoot the Sigma in real world wedding conditions next weekend.