Camera Settings for Halloween Photos

Here are some suggested settings for taking photos at Halloween.

A Bit Busy!

Sorry for being busy and not posting a lot, but I'm way excited with my new Zoom H1 mic and wired Lav mic, trying out different things and enjoying myself a little too much, if you're a car afficando like I am, you might imagine the possibilities, I was just recording the exhaust sound of a nice sports car by taping the wired Lav mic on the rear bumper, and plugging that into my Zoom H1 inside the car, while reviewing the audio recording realtime via headphones. Probably will start doing more video reviews, now that sound is too good.
 
Anyway here are a couple of pictures that I was keeping for the 5D Mark II review, I promise to be back soon.
 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Nikkor 85 1.8G with Nikon D600

Here are my preliminary impressions of the Nikkor 85 1.8G used on a full frame camera (the Nikon D600).

Nikon WU-1b Wireless Mobile Adapter for Nikon D600

I finally received the Nikon WU-1b wireless mobile adapter for the Nikon D600.  This wireless adapter is designed for two functions: it can facilitate review of your images using an Android or iOS smartphone, and it can help you take shots with remote live view.  I was really excited at the prospect of being able to use my phone as an external live view monitor to take shots at unusual angles that may even be impossible without remote live view.

Hit the jump to find out my preliminary review of how it performs.

10/31/12 UPDATE: Correction re AF Area Mode - You can use Face Priority AF Area Mode.

10/29/12 UPDATE: Added new section re compatibility

Heart, Mind, Soul: What I Seek to Capture in Photos

This post is a follow up to Shooting Technique, where my coauthor MShafik discussed the settings he uses to take photos.  In this post, I'll discuss my shooting technique, but the emphasis of this post will be different.  Instead of talking about my specific settings, I'd like to discuss my shooting philosophy and the concepts I have in mind.

Comment on the Nikkor 70-200 f/4 VR

So the Nikkor 70-200 f/4 VR got announced yesterday the other day.  Here is the official Nikon page:

http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/lens/zoom/telephotozoom/af-s_70-200mmf_4g_ed_vr/index.htm

Key specs compared to the 70-200 2.8 VR II:

- VR is better (Nikon claims 5 stops vs. 4 stops slower shutter speed than would otherwise be required)

- 40% lighter (850g vs. 1540g)

- Closest focusing distance is almost 30% closer (3.28 ft. vs. 4.6 ft.)

- Costs 40% less ($1400 vs. $2400)

- Slightly shorter (7 inches vs. 8 inches).

I would be interested in this lens except for the length.  At 7 inches, it is more than 25% longer than the Sigma 50-150 non-OS (5.5 inches) or Tamron 70-300 VC (5.6 inches).  When I had the Nikkor 70-200 2.8 VR I, its length (8.5 inches) was the main reason I didn't use it much.  But perhaps if the image quality of the 70-200 f/4 is reeaaaaally good, I might consider it.  We'll see...

RELATED POSTS:
Sigma 50-150 review
Tamron 70-300 VC review - TBA

Flash Portrait in Fayoum Desert

Flash Portrait - End Result

I want to share with you a few flash pictures I took during my second trip to Fayoum desert, you might remember my three-part post about my visit there four months ago. I repeated most of what I did before, but challenged myself not to take a single picture similar to the ones I took last time.

Nikkor 28-105 3.5-4.5D - Cheap, Sharp FX Standard Zoom with Macro

If you are looking for an inexpensive standard zoom for full frame, you may be interested in the Nikkor 28-105 3.5-4.5D.  It has a lot going for it:

• Sharp even wide open
• Small and compact
• Aperture is not so narrow
• 1:2 macro function
• Inexpensive

Is there a catch?  Hit the jump to find out and see more samples.  And if you're into Skylanders you can also see some buying suggestions (or find out what the buzz is about).

Shooting Tip: Prime Focal Lengths (Basic)

Part of the gang. 28mm

Do you want to be able to look at a shot and have a good idea of the focal length used without looking at the EXIF?  More importantly, do you want to be able to imagine the shot in your head and use focal length as part of your intended design?  Then here's a tip: become familiar with the prime focal lengths, such as 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, etc.

Instead of zooming for convenience, pick a focal length and shoot with that focal length until you become familiar with its 'look'.  If you don't have primes that's fine - just look at your zoom barrel which has these focal lengths marked on it.  Some point-and-shoot cameras such as the LX5 also have a "step zoom" function which zooms to the typical prime focal lengths.

I suggest first getting familiar with the equivalent of 50mm, then try the extremes - the widest angle you have, then the longest focal length you have, then work your way through the intermediate steps, becoming more familiar with increasingly subtle changes.  For example: 50mm, 24mm, 200mm, 35mm, 105mm, etc.

105mm

Better Point-and-Shoot Shots with an External Flash

Last weekend, one of our friends celebrated their daughter's birthday party.  On this kind of occasion, I don't usually bring a DSLR anymore - I feel it is a little too much when we're not the celebrants.  Instead, I brought our trusty Lumix LX5 (reviewed here).  However, to get the best image quality out of the LX5, I paired it with an external flash, the Yongnuo YN-560EX (reviewed here).

Yes, the 560EX is a manual not TTL flash.  (I don't have a dedicated TTL flash for the Lumix LX5.)  However, using a manual flash while shooting run-and-gun is actually easier than it sounds.  (See: Therapy for TTL Addiction: How to Use Manual Flash).

In this post, I'll discuss my thought process in setting the flash and ambient exposures.

Nikon D600 posts

We have a bunch of posts related to the Nikon D600. I will consolidate them but for now here is a link to the posts, sorted in reverse chronological order:
http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/search?q=d600&max-results=20&by-date=true

(This shows only the most recent 20 posts. Remember to click on "Next post" at the bottom to see the other posts.

UPDATE: All D600-related posts now on one page, organized by topic here
Nikon D600 Resource Page 

How to Fix Underexposure

In this post, we're going to talk about options for fixing intentional or unintentional underexposure.  This is for any camera, not just the Nikon D600.

Nikon D600 Dynamic Range in the Real World

You saw from our Nikon D600 dynamic range test that the Nikon D600 showed exceptional shadow recovery capabilities.  In this post, we'll show how that capability can be used in the real world, using some of the samples from the Nikon D600 and the Nikkor 24-70 2.8G.

Hands On: Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM Pancake

 
I couldn't stop myself from buying this lens, it's Canon's first pancake lens, it's extremely tiny (almost as thick as the rear lens cap), it's $200, it's f/2.8 (I know, not very fast, but WTH), it's very sharp and it has very pleasing bokeh. Hit the jump for more.

Updated: Nikon D600 oil spots

Updated the post re "oil spots" on the D600


10/15/12 UPDATE: Picked up the D600 from Bel-Air Camera today.  Their repair guys said they found no oil on the sensor, just dust.  They said they were able to clean it with just a blower.  I was surprised that the spots were just dust given all the characteristics I saw, and they said you can't really tell unless you look at the sensor with a loupe.

I took some test shots at f/8 through f/22.  The spots that I saw were gone (there were a few specks that were visible at f/22 if I maximized contrast).  See the test shots below.  So it appears I didn't have any problems with my D600 after all.  Meanwhile, one of the staff showed me how to use a sensor cleaning kit, which I will try on the D70 and I'll post about it then.

f/8

f/11

f/16

f/22

Review: Vanguard Up-Rise 15Z vs Lowepro TopLoader 55AW

Best Value For Money

 
This is a follow up post to my original Lowepro TopLoader 45AW & 55AW Review, this is an alternative camera bag to the TopLoader 55AW, albeit with slightly different characteristics, hit the jump to learn more.

Nikon D600 vs. Fuji S5 Pro Dynamic Range Retested

Last week I tested the highlight dynamic range of the Nikon D600 against that of the Fuji S5 Pro.  That test had flaws, among which was that official raw support for the D600 had not yet been released.  Now that there is Adobe raw support for the D600, albeit in beta, I ran the test again.

The test is simple -- I arranged a test scene that included:

• a white card
• a gray card
• a black card
• a subject with approximately midtoned red, green and blue
• a mannequin head
• specular red, green, blue, white, and silver subjects.

The correct exposure was 100 ISO, f/5.6, 1/100.  I shot the test scene from 5 stops underexposure to 5 stops overexposure, then I checked if any of the subjects showed clipping by normalizing the exposure and checking for lost detail or color.  In addition, for the S5 I shot up to 10 stops overexposure, and for the D600 I shot up to 10 stops underexposure.  The tests were taken with the subjects facing north during an afternoon with uniform cloud coverage.

In the case of the D600 I tested without Active D-Lighting and with ADL set to Extra High.  For the S5, I tested both the standard 100% dynamic range mode and the 400% dynamic range mode.  Here are the results.

Notes:
1. The maximum image size allowed by Picasa is 20mb per photo.  At that limit, I had to reduce the quality of the JPEGs to 80 and the long edge to 3200 pixels.
2. I only tested at 100 ISO.  The dynamic range will decrease as you increase ISO.  In the case of the S5, the extra photosites that allow 400% DR mode don't function above 800 ISO.

Shooting Tip: Custom Reset

It's a good idea to check your settings after a photo session to make sure they're back to where you want them.  However, it can get tedious checking every single setting.  And sometimes I miss one or two settings.  For example, my camera defaulted to JPEG instead of raw and I didn't see that until it was too late.  Or the time when with my D600, the Auto ISO shutter speed got reset to its default of 1/focal length (I prefer 2 stops faster than that).

Some cameras have the option to save settings, which I use to reset my settings to my preferences. 

1. I set all the options to where I want them.  I only have to do this once per camera.

2. I save the settings to the memory card.

3. At the end of the photo session, before I remove the card to upload my shots, I load the settings from the memory card.  This step resets the settings to my preferences.

4. When I insert a new memory card for the next shooting session, I reformat it.

5. After reformatting, I save the settings to the memory card again.

Repeat 3 to 5.

Nikon cameras that have this feature include all FX cameras (including the D600), and higher-end DX cameras (D300S, D300, D7000).

Nikon D600 Oil Spots

The Nikon D600 has generally been free of complaints such as the AF point focus issues that plagued some D800s.  However, one complaint I had heard about sometimes is oil spots on the sensor.  Sometimes there's a little too much lubricant on the shutter.  This is an issue that has affected the Nikon D7000 as well.

Oil spots look different from dust in a couple of ways: first they are visible at wider apertures like f/5.6 or f/8, unlike dust which is more likely to be seen at f/16 or f/22.  Second, oil spots have varying brightness.

I took shots yesterday, and found what indeed look like oil spots on mine. :(  See the top part of the shot above.  I'm going to request Nikon to fix it.  Hopefully they won't tie up the camera too long.  Alternatively, I might ask for an exchange at Bel-Air Camera, where I bought mine (that's one benefit of buying from your local camera store).  I'll update this post with the results of my request to Nikon or Bel-Air.

10/15/12 UPDATE: Picked up the D600 from Bel-Air Camera today.  Their repair guys said they found no oil on the sensor, just dust.  They said they were able to clean it with just a blower.  I was surprised that the spots were just dust given all the characteristics I saw, and they said you can't really tell unless you look at the sensor with a loupe.

I took some test shots at f/8 through f/22.  The spots that I saw were gone (there were a few specks that were visible at f/22 if I maximized contrast).  See the test shots below.  So it appears I didn't have any problems with my D600 after all.  Meanwhile, one of the staff showed me how to use a sensor cleaning kit, which I will try on the D70 and I'll post about it then.

f/8

f/11

f/16

f/22

11/13/12 UPDATE: Follow-up post after around 4500 shots here.
10/22/12 UPDATE: LensRentals' Roger Cicala has a related post http://www.petapixel.com/2012/10/22/the-nikon-d600-has-sensor-dust-issues/

RELATED POSTS:
Nikon D600 Resource Page (see under "Dust Spots")
Firefly DSC-2000 Review

Nikon D600 + Nikkor 24-70: A Day with My Precious Ones (and my kids too)

Last weekend I took our kids to Disneyland - just the three of us.  It was my first time to bring them there by myself, so instead of my usual two camera combo, I just brought one camera and one lens - the Nikon D600 and the Nikkor 24-70 2.8G.

In this post I will discuss how the combination performed in terms of:
- versatility
- image quality
- autofocus speed and accuracy
- low light performance (autofocus and image quality)
- dynamic range

(Click on the pictures for higher-resolution versions.  FYI no additional sharpening was used - only LR defaults.  All shots were handheld with no flash.  Except as otherwise noted, I did not apply noise reduction, clarity, vibrance or saturation.)

Shooting Tip: Blinkies v. 2.0

One tool for setting the exposure is by checking the clipped highlights using the blinking highlights display. If a relevant highlight is getting clipped then you know you should reduce the exposure. However, the blinking highlights are usually not accurate. On my cameras, the highlights will often flash, signaling clipping, even though they haven't actually been clipped.

I found a more reliable alternative to the blinking highlights display: in-camera raw processing. Many new cameras have an option for raw processing in-camera, which allows you to create a JPEG version of the shot with certain settings dialed in.

I found that I could use the in-camera raw processing tool to give a better indication of whether any relevant detail was truly clipped. I take a shot, and apply these settings:

- decrease exposure compensation

- apply a custom picture style that has the minimum contrast, maximum sharpness, minimum brightness, and either above average or maximum saturation

- AdobeRGB color space (makes the image look more flat)

With the resulting image I can more easily see whether anything was clipped. On my cameras I don't actually have to create the JPEG file. The resulting preview is enough to see.

Tips:

1. You can use the same concept to check for shadow clipping, by applying the maximum exposure compensation and applying a different picture style that has maximum brightness.

2. On my cameras (D90 and D600) I don't have to go through all these options all the time. I just enter the settings once. The next time I pull up the raw processing tool, these settings have been set.

3. To access the raw processing tool quickly, either assign it as a My Menu item, or in the case of the D90 and D600, you can press the OK button during the review which will bring up the retouch menu. You then select NEF processing. Next time you press the OK button during playback, NEF processing is preselected. You just press OK again, and presto you'll see the preview with the preselected options. So after setup, pressing OK twice doesn't take significantly more time than going to the highlights display, and this method is more accurate.

Lightroom Tip: Adjusting More than 5 Stops of Exposure

Lightroom's exposure adjustment has a range of -5 to +5 stops.  You can exceed that limit by using an adjustment brush.  You can paint the entire screen with a large brush or apply it to any portion of the image as usual.  The effect of the adjustment brush is cumulative and you can apply it more than once.

Note: Of course, this only makes sense if your camera captured detail in the first place.  This won't magically bring back clipped details.

Nikon D600 Hands-On Review Updates 10/10/12

• Autofocus: Added link to the more detailed post regarding the D600's autofocus.
• Colors: I am noticing that bright reds sometimes appear more saturated.  For example, I've had to tone down the red of the lips on my subjects on occasion.  This may be an issue with the beta version of Adobe raw support.
• Battery life: The first time I ran down the battery, I only got a little over 400 shots.  But at that time I was using a lot of live view (for testing purposes).  This past weekend, I took 512 shots and the battery life was still 77%.  I was using a lens that didn't have VR, I wasn't fiddling with the menus too much, and I only shot one short video.
• Circular Polarizer - the effect of a circular polarizer is observable on the screen in live view.

Nikon D600 autofocus: speed, accuracy, low light, and clustering

10/11/12 UPDATE: Added Nikon D3 shots for comparison
10/22/12 UPDATE: Added shots showing AF speed

Nikon D600 + Sigma 50 1.4 @ f/2.0

Because my subjects often move, one of the most critical components of any camera for me is its autofocus system.  What's the use of a very high resolution sensor with extremely low noise if the shot I capture is blurry - not because of subject movement but because the subject is out of focus?

In this post I will discuss my experience regarding the Nikon D600's autofocus speed and accuracy.  I will also discuss the clustering of autofocus points.

(And even though you may not be in the market for a D600, you may be interested in reading about a couple of alternatives to focus-and-recompose.)

Limits of Highlight Recovery With Lightroom and ACR

I love many things about Lightroom, and one of them is that it is very good at highlight recovery.  However, the highlight recovery tool has limits.

Shooting Technique – Part 1 (mshafik)

Self Portrait - Canon 60D, 35mm f/2, 580EX II

I never posted about my shooting or processing techniques, but according to our reader comments, this is a requested post, so here it is, this will be part 1, my own shooting technique, as a Canon user. Now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense to write about this topic, which is one of my favorite reading material, along with post processing and "what's in my camera bag?" posts.

Updated: A Miracle Happened Today

Wheeeee! 5D Mark III + 100 Macro L @ f/4, click to see 1200px version

I took sharp, in focus, photos of my kids playing on the swings today, while they were actually swinging.

The Nikon D600's Unique Custom Setting Capability

I found out that the Nikon D600's custom settings can do something that Nikon pro bodies can't do: the custom settings can store the metering mode.

The Nikon D600 uses a button + dial combination to change the autofocus mode (from AF-S to AF-C to AF-A).  The same is true for the D4 and D800.  However, it also uses a button + dial combination for the metering mode (from matrix to center to spot) whereas the D4 and D800 use a dedicated dial.

Because the D600 uses button-based controls for the autofocus and metering, it can include the autofocus and metering settings in the custom settings.  In my case, I've set the U2 custom setting to spot meter with a +2.7 exposure compensation.  That way, if I want to just meter for the highlights for a contrasty scene, I can just switch to U2 and spot meter off the brightest highlight.  Then switch back to normal matrix metering after that.

Cross-Camera Profiles for Lightroom

When Lightroom 4.2 was released, it included raw support for the Nikon D600 (hands-on review here), albeit in beta.  One of the issues is that there was only one camera profile, unlike other Nikon cameras, where you could change the camera profile to Standard, Neutral, Vivid, etc. to mimic the picture styles of Nikon cameras.

I found out that you can apply the camera profile for one camera to another.  In this case, I used the camera profile for the Nikon D800 to create a profile for the Nikon D600.  The concept can be applied to take the camera profile of any camera (not limited to the same maker) and apply it to another for some interesting effects.

Accurate and free AF fine-tuning/microadjustment method

Tried this free AF fine-tuning / micro-adjustment method, which I found through a post on DP Review forums:

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/cameras/1ds3_af_micoadjustment.html

I found the method to be accurate and fairly easy. Summary: you download the test image, show it on your laptop screen (not print it out). Then you view that laptop screen image with your camera on Live View. You adjust the focus manually in Live View to maximize the moire pattern, resulting in perfect focus. Then you turn off live view, then autofocus with your lens. If your lens is correctly calibrated then the autofocus should not move. If it moves, you adjust AF fine-tuning until it does not move.

Tip 1: To observe whether your autofocus is moving, look at the lens' distance scale as you focus. I find it easier to notice whether the lens is front- or back-focusing.

Tip 2: When you focus in live view, ideally you should use manual focus. However, if your manual focusing isn't good for whatever reason, then you can try autofocus instead. In live view most cameras use contrast detection (not phase detection) which is immune from backfocusing or frontfocusing errors.

Updates

Hi everyone. Just an update to let you know what I'm working on (besides the extremely long backlog of planned articles).

Nikon D600 related posts:

1. Nikon D600 autofocus. I took some shots in more challenging real world conditions to see how well the D600 autofocus performs. I also want to talk about the clustering of the D600's AF points.

2. Fuji S5 and D600 Dynamic Range Recompared. I retest the S5 and D600's dynamic range, this time with Adobe raw support for the D600.

3. Nikon D90 vs. DX-Cropped Nikon D600.

4. Nikon D600 Hands-On Review part 3.

Posts that are not just about the D600.

1. Alternatives to focus and recompose. The techniques here can be used with other cameras, not just the D600.

2. Lightroom's highlight recovery. Lightroom's highlight recovery is awesome but I found out there are a couple of strings attached.

3. Fast Telephoto Lenses: Nikon 70-200 VR I and Sigma 50-150.

4. Tamron 70-300 VC. I was looking for an inexpensive telephoto lens and was about to buy the Nikon 70-300 VR but instead I got the Tamron 70-300 VC. How well does it perform?

Traveler

I had the opportunity to take a brief look at the Space Shuttle Endeavor before it goes on its way to its permanent home at the California Science Center.  Up close, it was every bit as magnificent as I imagined.





These shots were taken by a Nikon D600 (hands on review here) and Tokina 10-17 Fisheye (reviewed here).

Nikon D600 Raw Supported in Lightroom 4.2 - now available

The title says it all.  Link to download: http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/thankyou.jsp?ftpID=5488&fileID=5498

Raw support for the D600 was a total surprise because the 4.2 release candidate didn't have D600 support and DPReview was mentioning that they used a 4.3 private beta to convert D600 raw files.

LR 4.2 includes this disclaimer about the D600 support:
* Please note that the support for Nikon D600 is preliminary and there is a minor risk that the appearance of your images may change when the final support for Nikon D600 is available in an upcoming release.

Nikon D600 vs. Fuji S5 Pro highlight dynamic range

Many recent DSLRs from Nikon have been tested to show a very wide highlight range.  For example, DPReview reports that the Nikon D800 has as much as 5 stops highlight range with Active D-Lighting at Extra High.

The D600 looks to have promising highlight range.  The D600 has been tested by DXO to have a dynamic range similar to that of the D800.  In my own testing, the D600 also appears to have a fairly wide highlight range, based on the latitude I have seen for recovering highlights.

In this post, I compare the highlight dynamic range of the Nikon D600 with that of the Fuji S5 Pro, a unique DSLR that has unparalleled highlight range.  I wanted to see whether the Nikon D600 has met or even surpassed the S5's highlight dynamic range.