New lens

[p38arover]

On the Overlander forum they have a rule about new cameras and new lenses:


new camera = duck pic
new lens = first pic with it no matter how bad

So here's my first pic with my new Sigma 30mm f1.4 EX DC on a Pentax K-7.

I forgot to switch the camera to JPEG and the DNG file is quite large so here it is via Picasa.

We are currently caring for this 4-month old guide dog pup, Errol. He goes to a new puppy raising family next week. The last family returned him after he killed some of their chickens.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2012/11/1310.jpg

[s7000]

nice!

Seems a little soft, at the focal point... But it all depends at what stop you were at...

As for the duck picks? see POTN. :p

[Bushie]

From the exif
f:4 1/1000sec ISO400

and then there would be any compression induced softness via picasa/google.

Martyn

[p38arover]

As I said first pic - literally. I'd forgotten to change camera settings. Looks like 1/1000th at f4, ISO 400. Focus point was his right eye.

It was a mistake to choose a 4-month old puppy as a subject then trying to take a pic whilst laying on the ground with a crook shoulder!

I'll try a few more shots today.

[p38arover]

What's a good site for photo hosting that will allow one to post pics without too much degradation? I feel sure Picasa does degrade.

[lebanon]

I guess Flickr offers a high resolution upload.


What's a good site for photo hosting that will allow one to post pics without too much degradation? I feel sure Picasa does degrade.

[Bushie]

I've been using photobucket for around 6 years, now subscribed to the pro version.
Ron, do you do any post processing ? even a quick sharpen makes a world of difference.


Martyn

[p38arover]

No, I don't Martyn. About all I usually do is a contrast adjustment if needed. Nothing was done to that, that's straight from the camera as DNG and uploaded to Picasa Web Albums which I assume converted it to JPEG.

Perhaps I should try a sharpen and post of the result.

I had a free Imageshack account but it seems to have deleted all my pix.

[Yorkshire_Jon]

nice!

Seems a little soft, at the focal point... But it all depends at what stop you were at...

As for the duck picks? see POTN. :p

Filling the frame nicely with the young pup using a focal length of 30m and f4 was always going to result in the extremities of the head being a little soft.

Having said that, I like it. Sure 1/500 @ f8 would have given more sharpness in the head, but the background wouldnt have been quite so soft and therefore more distracting.

I like it.
J

[p38arover]

The lens is known to be a bit soft in the corners.

I'm going to have a photographic foray into Darling Harbour tomorrow evening.

Here's one taken the day after the first puppy pic - f8, ISO 200, 1/320th.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2012/12/745.jpg

[Chucaro]

No, I don't Martyn. About all I usually do is a contrast adjustment if needed. Nothing was done to that, that's straight from the camera as DNG and uploaded to Picasa Web Albums which I assume converted it to JPEG.

Perhaps I should try a sharpen and post of the result.

I had a free PhotoBucket account but it seems to have deleted all my pix.

Ron, if you camera allow it try to take the shots in raw or tif.
Do all the post processing but the sharpening on the full size image and after reducing the size and converting it to jpg do the sharpening.
My PP in a harry is:
Work on the raw
Level the horizon
Clean dirt marks from lens (do it at 100% size)
Adjust exposure, and work with curves and layers.
Select BG and denoise
Save the image in tif
Re size the image
convert it to sRGB
convert it to JPG
Do a selective sharpening
Save @ 250k (750 the largest side of the frame)
I do all my work in PSCS3 or 5

Cheers

[p38arover]

I can see I'll have to some courses on PP. I haven't a clue as to what some of those things mean.

I nearly always have to level the horizon (I do that in Picasa) as I get different tilts depending on which eye I have against the viewfinder (I'm left-eye dominant).

I usually take pix in RAW. My current Pentax K-7 camera will save in DNG which is useful as the older copy of CS that I have won't read Pentax PEF RAW files from my other Pentaxes (Picasa will read PEF). I only use CS to add text to JPEG images used in illustrating a post or an article, e.g.,

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2012/11/1012.jpg

[p38arover]

I've just bought one of these - Pentax SMC DA* 60-250mm f/4 ED [IF] SDM. See http://www.photozone.de/pentax/479-pentax_60250_4

I should have it next week. I want something better than my current lenses for motor racing photos.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/03/478.jpg