Sigma DP1 | Carl Rytterfalk Fotografi

Archive for the 'Sigma DP1' Category

An old man in Dali

Published

on August 20, 2010

. 8 Comments

I was sitting in a small coffeeshop in Dali / China enjoying looking at passing people and this man turns up with some type of old looking scroll. (is it called that?!) Anyways, I’m not much for the tourist type of things so I declined buying although he insisted for a long time changing the price dramatically to make me buy it. He had this really nice way and we laughed together a lot. I didn’t want to buy and finally he continued his journey. I felt really bad about the whole thing, he was such a nice old man and he really just wanted a few coins to make this day work – he wasn’t a beggar and I’ve given them plenty of change but this guy who tried so hard I gave nothing but small talk.

I was hoping for him to return so I could give him something and to my great joy he did – about an hour or so later – and I gave him something similar to a dollar and his face shine like a small child’s. He said, Now I have dinner for tonight.

Picture taken using the wonderful little Sigma DP1. Full size image on flickr.

Sigma 530DG super + Sigma DP1

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on August 19, 2010

in Flash, Full size, Portraits, Sigma DP1 and Sigma Photo Pro

. 3 Comments

(Strobist info: Behind blue pillow is a gridded speed light. High left slightly infront of girl is a naked flash shooting at low power directly at subject). Camera: Sigma DP1 @ ISO400.

I couldn’t resist playing some today using my Sigma 530 flash – I brought with me a cheap transmitter from China as well that works pretty well, although not as smart as the one I have already from Elinchrom (Skyport). The Chinese version flashes as many times as it can until shutter is closed – so shooting indoors with low shutterspeeds and using the super fast Sigma gun, you will most likely get a strobe effect – lots of flashes in a short session. Nice if subject is STILL! People hardly ever is. Skyport never does this – it sends ONE signal not a continues flow. The Chinese version is a 10th of the price of the skyport.

Using the Sigma DP1′s fantastic ability to make colors is a sport in it self! Little sister holding the Sigma 530 and myself holding the second gun. Super simple setup. Without light this picture is totally dead. Camera, the Dp1 stands by itself on my Benro 91M8 tripodded monopod. Used in all shots above. :D

Playing indoors using the same two guns as in above shots. Myself being the tripod for the second gun. Not a perfect shot but still fun. :) (And yes, she was tired. :D)

Being outdoors a dull day as today isn’t always fun – incase you don’t have my gear! Then it’s FUN! One speed light (Sigma 530) with the grid, the tripodded monopod and a 2s delay. hmm.. perhaps it was 10s.

All shots edited using Sigma Photo Pro and uploaded using LR3.

Recent shots.. DP1s

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on July 21, 2010

in Full size, Sigma DP1 and Sigma Photo Pro

. 5 Comments

As internet is extreeemly slow here, especially the flickr site I will not link each shot as I normally do. That just took forever with that post before this one with the young girls. These are some mixed shots from Kunming and Dali – I really love life here, it’s such a pleasure to be back! Even if I had a little too many encounters with that washing room so far. Takes a little bit of time to get used. :)

All shots developed using SPP 4.1 and post processed using Lightroom 3.

Kunming is filled with scooters and they’re all electric. Just heard on the news that China just passed USA in electricity consumption – perhaps this is why? :D

A very common way to treat English. This one is rather good too. Not too many mistakes.

Linn now has short hair. :D

getting shaved vierd store place
Normally the guard lives in the little hut where cars passes by, but in this case it’s a barber store. Everything is possible here.

Searching for a job? Just write your number on the closest wall and you’re done! when you get one, go back and erase.. Easy? :)

Burial ground, Linns relatives showing respect for a resent loss. The little guys name is Tien Tien.

I’ll be back.

Two young girls in Kunming.

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on July 21, 2010

in Full size, High ISO/ASA (400+), Portraits, Sigma DP1 and Sigma Photo Pro

. 3 Comments

A couple of days ago Linn wanted to get her nails done as it’s extremely cheap in Kunming compared to Sweden (about 1/20th of the price) and while waiting I walked around a bit and saw these two young girls coming in a near by alley.

I walked a bit more and when I returned I saw the same girls standing outside the same store where Linn did her nails. I took another shot.

Now, they really did time pass fast and we had a great time together. They really wanted me to take lots of shots and their mother came too – but I didn’t get a picture of her. (or one of the girls mother as of the one child per mom rule).

All shots taken with the Sigma DP1s and developed using SPP 4.1 / but I really have no idea about colors as I sit on an old laptop only visually calibrated.

These are part of my China 2010 set. Almost all are higher ISO, 200 and above. lots at 400 and 800 as weather was pretty dark. Raining a lot. Also I’m not keen on the way SPP 4.1 handles noise at higher ISO, will perhaps redo some using SPP3.3.

Post processed using Lightroom 3.

Let there be light!

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on May 19, 2010

in Adobe Lightroom, Flash, Full size, How to, ISO50, Portraits, Sigma DP1, Sigma DP2 and Sigma Photo Pro

. 9 Comments

Decided that I wanted some practice using my Sigma 530DG Super and my Elinchrom Quadra. Today was a bright sunny day and I was hiding together with my students in the shadows trying to get optimum conditions for photography. I used both Sigma DP1 and DP2 and as soon as you see strong colors around the flash, that’s the DP1 used and It’s me forcing it by placing the light inside the frame (I enjoy those colors tremendously) . All shots processed using Sigma SPP4 and Lightroom 3 Beta 2. (from TIFF)

These above where the very first shots, I noticed that I had to turn on something in order to make it work. :) And as you might notice it has a very strong “flashy” feeling and by increasing shutter speed and lower the quadras power I got a more natural looking light. See below. Also notice that there is no “color” problems as long as light is outside frame.

Continue reading ‘Let there be light!’

SPP 4.0, the good and the bad! [edit]

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on March 29, 2010

in High ISO/ASA (400+), ISO50, Review, Sigma DP1, Sigma DP2, Sigma Photo Pro and Sigma SD14

. 27 Comments

Alright, I guess this will be the first in at least two reviews of SPP4 and I want to concentrate on differences between this version and the old 3.3 image wise (will come back to selective noise reduction a bit more later on). Most things with this new version is good. It’s faster, has better colors and you can adjust amount of noise reduction. But, and there is a big but! Sigma forgot about all of us that loves BW conversions. :´(

Now you might wanna try out different WB´s instead of just fooling around with the color wheel. Each pre-white balance has been altered some and correct WB can sometimes make your day, more so with this version than with old 3.3.

If you have lots of ISO50 images around then you can go ahead and redevelop them because they will most likely look much better in this version, especially if some of that highlight was burnt. Higher ISO shots now has a much more vibrant look, greens are more green, reds are less yellow and less saturated at the same time but in this case this is all good. Also, you can now select white balance for a big bunch of images instead of having to select them one by one. Nice!

First, SPP manage to squeeze much more colors and life out of old high ISO images. Also, have a close look at that fire!!

SPP3.3 on the left and SPP4 on the right. ISO400. You can see how fire has lots more dynamic range and the reflection in his face looks much improved. Also notice how the green trees behind looks more saturated and less dull. Both images has been treated the same, same settings, same WB (shade) and white balance picked from eye.

SPP3.3 on the left and SPP4 on the right. ISO1600. Sigma worked hard to improve image quality in bad indoor light. Be careful with your WB selection as this one looked terrible with the wrong one selected. Also play around with that new noise reduction. Some images don’t need so much and you gain some nice saturation to leave it at lower levels.

SPP3.3 on the left and SPP4 on the right. ISO50. What’s really amazing is how they improved ISO50′s dynamic range! Take a look at the sky, and remember this image has lots of fill light applied. I think 0.8 on both SPP3.3 and 4. Colors, especially reds looks better too. Less orange.

At first I thought SPP4 did a bad job, there seams to be less information in the highlight.

But after I pulled the exposure compensation slider back -2.0 you clearly see how much more dynamic range you get in this new version. Looks like a full stop or perhaps even more! ISO50 will certainly be more useful in the future especially with all these OS lenses coming! :)

SPP3.3 on the left and SPP4 on the right. ISO200. Green has been more separated and it feels like you have more tones of green to play with. a very welcome addition! Not sure if Sigma beats Silkypix though, I think they’re still is ahead in the green departement. I know someone over at Dpreview complained about SPP4s green and I tried to find issues with it with many different shots from various cameras but without luck (or should I say, with luck?!) – and couldn’t really find any bad or flawed situations. Help me! :)

SPP3.3 on the left and SPP4 on the right. ISO400. Inside a shop, mixed light. And as you see red has been mighty improved! Now contains much less yellow and has a more realistic tone – also lots more tones and detail inside the red. Nice! (same settings on both images, DP2)

SPP3.3 on the left and SPP4 on the right. ISO1600. Now to the BAD. As you know I’m a monochrome junkie and I love how SPP deals with black and white high ISO images. But that’s now history and we now have something that looks terribly bad.

I’m sure Sigma will do something about this and I hope that they at the same time realize the need of monochrome white balance in RAW mode so that we can enjoy high ISO shooting for real!

SPP3.3 on the left and SPP4 on the right. ISO1600. The only good is that with lower ISO (below ISO400) this mess isn’t applied.

Please Sigma, have an option to turn this strange massacre off!

Alright.. This was a first look. Comments?

Local contrast magic – with Ted.

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on March 23, 2010

in All, How to, Sigma DP1, Sigma DP2 and Sigma Photo Pro

. 4 Comments

Ted Johnson wrote to me the other day about LCE or Local Contrast Enhancement and we decided to make this video together. Lightroom calls this “clarity” and has a slider for it, but in this tutorial we will give you an enhanced look into how you can do it yourself inside Photoshop (or Gimp) -- and be in full control.

ToonPAINT iPhone app..

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on March 22, 2010

in Sigma DP1 and iPhone related

. 4 Comments

Well, I don’t ever get any cash for anything I do but alright, why not just continue to be nice? :) Here’s one app that I really LOVE! I used this quite some recently and I find it so easy to work with and.. I’ll let this shot speak loud, it’s taken with Sigma’s DP1 and imported to my iPhone:

Introducing DP1x and DP2s!

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on February 26, 2010

in All, Sigma DP1 and Sigma DP2

. 8 Comments

and

As many of you know, I’m a full blood lover of Sigmas smaller cameras – the DP1 (24mm) and DP2 (42mm) – Cameras known for their extremely nice optics and fantastic sensor.

Now, the DP1s was introduced not long ago and for me it was a disappointment as it didn’t get the TRUE II that we love from the DP2 – and it also lacked those cool color modes that many of us discovered as fun and useful. And the last part, with heavy use of both DP1 and DP2 you soon realize that different buttons doing different things on two similar looking cameras is very frustrating. And the DP1s didn’t change any of this. Dp1s did get a better coating and therefore getting better coloristics.

Now, The DP1x comes with answers! Both the TRUE II processor as well as a new AF algorithm, providing high speed auto focusing. In addition, the user interface has been unified with the DP2 series by changing the Set Up Menu and adopting the QS (Quick Set) button. Finally both cameras can be handled without making life hard! In addition to the addition there is a new power save mode that enabled a greater number of pictures be taken on a single charge.

Back of both DP2s and DP1x:

The DP2s has all the goodies from the DP1x added and both cameras can do ISO50 all the way up to ISO3200 in RAW mode and finally Sigma has introduced a new very welcome slider in Sigma Photo Pro 4, a noise reduction slider! This will greatly enhance photo processing in the future for all of Sigmas cameras. At least we hope they will enable the slider for all and not only TRUE II equipped models.

Sigma!
Still there is no monochrome WB mode! Why you say, there is a black and white mode? Yes, up to ISO800 and only when using JPEG. Now, true black and white artists uses RAW only – and seeing the world in black and white when you want black and white result is MUCH better then the current noisier color view when shooting in bad lit situations. So, PLEASE Sigma – add monochrome white balance mode! It’s so simple and yet sophisticated and will truly help a lot of photographers to further enjoy your amazing cameras!

Please Please Please!

Video from Schillerska.. (NEW, IMPROVED)

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on December 17, 2009

in 12-24, 18-50, How to, Movie, Sigma DP1, Sigma DP2, Sigma SD14 and Studio

. 9 Comments

EDIT: You saw it? Please check it out again as it’s now much nicer looking, especially full screen” Make sure you have HD selected.

This video is made for Linn to show on her last day at work for colleges. But I think it might be fun for you to see it as it shows how I work a bit. :)

And here’s a picture of Linn, in case you don’t know what she looks like. She’s the shorter of them two.

Åstol, Tjörn. Redeveloped using SPP

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on October 25, 2009

in Full size, ISO50, Sigma DP1, Sigma DP2 and Sigma Photo Pro

. 5 Comments

View this shot at full size.

I haven’t worked much with Sigma Photo Pro (SPP) in a long time, mostly because Silkypix has come out and some recent shoots had to be developed quickly and at those times Lightroom comes in handy. But tonight I gave SPP a chance to show it’s true self – These are developments exported as 16bit tiffs and post processed in Photoshop using Nik Viveza. It’s fair as Lightroom has tools very similar to what’s possible in Viveza.

You find Lightroom 3 beta versions here.

View this shot as full size too..

And this one. :)

Åstol island, Tjörn

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on October 24, 2009

in Adobe Lightroom, Full size, Sigma DP1 and Sigma DP2

. 6 Comments

DP1 – Full size Original (Please view as they’re stunning at 100%)

Dp1 – Original

In one of our trips we went to the small island, Åstol. It has 200 inhabitants and is very beautiful. These shots I took with DP1 and DP2 – used Sigmas polarizer and Cokin ND graduated filter. And of course a tripod. :) Weather was really boring, cloudy and cold. Pretty windy too.

So, looong shutter speeds as I used maximum aperture for all nature shots. (1-4s) Why? To make water look cool! :D ISO50 and 100 used. Oh, and Adobe Lightroom 3 has developed all shots.

DP1

DP1 – View original

DP1

DP1 – Full size Original (Bob and Olga is sitting somewhere in this shot!)

DP2 – Full size Original

Ã…stol
Åstol seen from Google Earth.

Bob, Olga and Anastasia was here!

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on October 24, 2009

in Adobe Lightroom, All, Full size, Sigma DP1 and Sigma DP2

. 10 Comments

Above Picture taken by Anastasia Vasilkova

Tuesday evening Bob van Ooik, Olga and Anastasia Vasilkova showed up – on Linns birthday. They stayed a couple of days and we had no real plans more than having a great time. They followed me to my photography classes for young people, and my new film making class. And not only that, we also took a cover photo for a music album – a local rapper that I’ve shot in the past – and we painted with light – you know long exposure and then try to make things look nice running around with the light when it’s dark outside. Really cool. :D But I can’t really show that just yet.

This shot is taken with Sigma DP1 and by Linn. The rest above is taken with the Nikon D700.

We also went to the ocean where we played with my Elinchrom Quadra. Bob brought his D700 (perhaps it belongs to both?) and I enjoyed playing with it a lot. It’s fun with full 35mm and the possibility to shoot when it’s really really bad light. Oh, and it’s so fast too! :D

Olga painting my students while I’m taking a 30s shot.

Above shots are taken at one of my classes, all taken with the D700 – at ISO ranging around 4000-6400. Pretty amazing really. They would probably look better too if I was used to dealing with Nikon raw and if I used other software then Lightroom. :)

If you want to visit Bob and Olgas homepage click here!

Thoughts of today – Canon 1D Mark IV & Nikon D3s

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on October 20, 2009

in All, Canon, Movie, Nikon and Sigma DP1

. 6 Comments

Much can be said about the specs of each of these beasts – but nothing for me more interesting than the possibility to grab stunning video or perhaps I should say film – it’s far from “video” in my book. Myself has been waiting now since forever for Red to release the Scarlet but it seams to be delayed – and the biggest difference I think between these two new players is RAW footage. And that’s probably also why I will wait a bit more before jumping on. I think I have a movie director inside that wants to come out. That said, I’ll continue to use Foveon equipped products.

Canon 1D Mark IV video example by Vincent Laforet..
If you can’t play, go here to his smugmug page or his blog.

Nikon D3s video example Video example from Vincent Munier..

Impressive, isn’t it? Consider that both these cams can go all the way up to ISO102400, which is really insane! Compared to RAW footage possible with a RED, above shots still looks good but somewhat video. Did you notice how Canon footage look Canon? A special brownish tone to skin and enviroment that’s always there in low lit situations. Still impressive. :)

Red one footage: Right click and save as!
(HD720, h264 around 500MB size, but well worth looking at) – Oh, the Mysterious-X is on it’s way too – the next generation sensor from RED that will be even more impressive. Starting at a clean ISO800. You surely need lots of ND’s to do outdoor footage with any depth. You can follow some of that here.

Now, looking at all these mighty riders in shiny armor – when do we see the Foveon sensor do film? (except DP) It would probably not be able to go as high ISO wise but colors and definition will surely be in another league. Especially if it will be able to record in some type of RAW format. Should be possible if you consider what RED team has been able to do.

I still enjoy the possibilities provided by the DP1 and DP2 – and it shows that it’s possible. But still, resolution is way too low. :(

Sigma DP1 – my Sigma AML-1 lens adapter review (sorry, nothing new to share).

Bleeding noise..

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on October 14, 2009

in 18-50, Movie, Portraits, RAW, Sigma DP1, Sigma DP2, Sigma Photo Pro, Sigma SD14 and Silkypix

. 1 Comment

Movie below shows what I mean with bleeding colors in Silkypix and how you solve it – but I must admit that in many pictures, this type of noise reduction is clearly visible in a way that I really don’t like – especially in bokeh areas. Lucky for us you can reduce and perfect it to your liking, but only almost. Sigma Photo Pro has a better way of noise reduction. I guess they should have being the master of everything Foveon but still.. Also, Sigma has a really really nice sharpening that is somehow not affecting areas out of focus in the same way as the rest of our developers. (RD, Silky and LR included). The Video below tries to somehow show what I mean. Also the RAW is available in this post.

I’m sorry for not being very clear when speaking. I hardly hear myself sometimes. grr.

Carl Rytterfalk Fotografi

Archive for the 'Sigma DP1' Category

An old man in Dali

Sigma 530DG super + Sigma DP1

Recent shots.. DP1s

Two young girls in Kunming.

Let there be light!

SPP 4.0, the good and the bad! [edit]

Local contrast magic – with Ted.

ToonPAINT iPhone app..

Introducing DP1x and DP2s!

Video from Schillerska.. (NEW, IMPROVED)

Åstol, Tjörn. Redeveloped using SPP

Åstol island, Tjörn

Bob, Olga and Anastasia was here!

Thoughts of today – Canon 1D Mark IV & Nikon D3s

Bleeding noise..

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