Ah, I’m so late. :D I’m back in Sweden and I’ve been busy at work since hour one. But, thanks to some of you I also noticed a welcome note about the release of a new firmware which I now know makes my SD1 a bit less useful as it’s more responsive during write – and a new SPP5 that has much improved colors on saved files (profiles included). I did notice however that it’s not a 100% fix for Mac users.

Person wrote:
NEW FIRMWARE AND NEW SPP are here!!!!
The SD1 color problems have FINALLY been fixed.
You can even work in Pro Photo and save as Pro Photo with no issues. The whole thing looks and works like a normal camera now!

Rodzyn wrote:
New soft SD1 :

http://www.sigma-sd.com/SD1/firmware.html

new wersion SPP5:

http://www.sigma-sd.com/SD1/jp/photopro.html

So, as I’m too busy for the moment I can’t fully test everything but I do have a shot from yesterday using the new SD1 firmware and the new SPP. 12-24 used.

Linn’s grandmother died recently and Linn wanted to send a little something from Sweden to her (our) relatives in China – and we asked my Sister Kerstin if we could make a recording of her singing “come away with me” as we just love her voice – So equipped with the Canon 5D Mark 2, the Sigma 12-24 and an iphone4 for sound (Linn’s holding it) we recorded this little video.

SPP, Another lens. (slightly tilted?)

How many photos can one take of a bridge, I asked myself. It was freezing, some time after 8:00 and the strong snowy wind never took a breather. Lucky me I had lots of clothes and a warm car to return to in case I had a near death experience. Oh, and Martin was there too, another photographer using the little DP1, the PEN and a Canon 5D M2. My bag was filled with three lenses and a trusty SD14. Oh, four lenses.. The fourth being the one I’ve used most of the time. A very nice zoom lens that I will get back to later.

Above shot only to demonstrate what things looked like for us. Shot taken with the new lens using ISO800 to get a fast(er) shutter speed. (1/60s)

We had decided to go out this morning a couple of days earlier we saw on the weather report that it would be very cold. Maybe down to below -20C we had hoped to get frosty trees in morning sunlight but instead we got cloudy, windy and around -12C (10,4 F). And the beautiful frost was nowhere to be found except in it’s more boring form. Oh, yes. We got real star shaped snow flakes on the lens, over and over and over again! :D

And that bridge, Tjörnbron as it’s called here.

I played around a bit with WB to see what could be made, but it never really looked warm and cozy did it?

Above is 12-24. Color from picture to picture has a slight different tone change and I think it’s because clouds where sometimes not as thick and sky had this yellow / magenta tint – and sometimes it was just very very gray. We hoped to get a clear sky, and it felt like there was a possibility a couple of times but it ever happened. Instead we got these shots that could have been soo much more fun – but well. :) Still OK I think.

Here’s some other shots.

View full size. Taken with the other lens..

Above: just some shots taken with the new lens. Also higher ISO is used on the BW version. ISO800+

Below: Shutter speed demonstration. :) What does ISO100 look like compared to ISO1000+? Shutter speed color: 1/25s, the black and white version: 1/800s. Oh, and below you also see a 100% crop of each example.

And now, give it up for the mighty Sigma 12-24mm!!! (and the Cokin ND4 filter, and well, the holder is included as well!!) :) Why use a ND filter a day like this you might as.. Well, answer is two things: For fun and to get less “in air” snow. These shots has around 2s of shutter speed and therefore snow isn’t visible the same way.

Over and out. Hope you enjoyed my boring day shots. :D Not easy to be creative a day like this but we had fun. At least with the driving part. Hand brake corners!!!

All above shots can be viewed full size in this flickr set. Should be viewed full size if you wanna see snow in it’s full glory.

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.

I must admit, I’m still in love with how SD14 handles monochrome white balance. It’s so rich! I had three classes to photograph today and I selected a few pictures to show. Everything is shot using SD14 + 18-50 2.8 or 12-24 except the very last shot shown. ISO is set between 100 and 800. Elinchom Quadra used in some way(s) in every shot. Some shots has been perspective corrected (bw group shots) – every development is made in Sigma Photo pro. Some shots has two other shots combined inside (No, Linn has no twin sister).

Why so many black and white? The heavy yellow light made it hard to get what I wanted + that I needed to go higher with ISO as I wanted a natural light and not “flashy” as I got yesterday (see group shot from yesterday and compare with todays). Yesterdays problem was that it was way to dark outside to have any use into the scene. Today was very dark too so I put them in the window.. hehe.

In above shot I used the 12-24, and it’s not very sharp wide open so I had to use a smaller aperture – I experimented with different ones but didn’t want to go above 1s exposure. So I ended up using ISO800. But as you know, using the monochrome mode that’s never a problem. I wanted F11, but was only able to get 6.3. Worked well.

Above: I sort of wanted a serious overall look so I asked them to look .. ehh.. cool? They tried.  This particular class was pretty small so I didn’t need to go as wide as the one before so I used 18-50 – picture is wider in reality but perspective corrected to get straight lines. Do you notice any other changes made? – and 18-50 is faster and sharper than the 12-24 so I was able to do this one at ISO100 and. Jaij!

We also had lots of fun in a small studio, a bit too small for groups like above. :) Shot using the Quadra as main light from right and above. Worked out pretty good.

Below, just some extras…

This last one was shot using the DP2 and light was two 1200(w?) tungsten lights. Pretty cool but didn’t allow for magic shutter speeds – but very easy to work with, did realize how fun it was to model with it. So easy. :)

A house once belong to Surte glasbruk. Surte glasbruk is the glass factory famous for designing the very first Coca Cola bottle. But that’s another story. Now the house has since the last 13 years been the home for people with difficulties – in some cases drugs, some health others money etc. Now, a new road is under construction and within a month the house will be emptied – and luckily for the people inside most of them has a new place to go – probably a better place too – this one has really seen the best of days and were never meant to be lived in at all – as it was built and used as an office.

Now, I’ve been visiting them to help my way and I consider them all close friends. I hardly showed them a camera before mostly because I don’t want anyone to think that I’ve been there because of a shot – but today I just couldn’t hold myself and I went there and took a few pictures. No one had any objections..

I brought the SD14 coupled with the 12-24mm lens and I had my friend Bengt assisting me with my quadra. I tried hard to recreate the light that I felt was in the room to begin with – and often going above 2s exposures. tricky. :)

Also all shots has first been developed using Sigma Photo Pro and then post-processed in Lightroom 3 – mostly adding vignetting and some contrast adjustments.

SD14 + DP1, 12-24 and 120-300 used most on these. Sigma Photo Pro for all color pictures and Raw Developer 1.80 used on all Black and white shots. Aperture for post and publishing.  Click more for more! :D Full size images for all.

120-300. Sigma Photo Pro.

Alright – with my new Mac I had to get started! These are produced with the help of Sigma Photo Pro 3.2 (color shots) and Raw Developer 1.8 (black and white shot). All pictures ends up as 16bit tiffs in Aperture. From aperture I add some final adjustments – sometimes with the help of Viveza and sometimes with a little bit of vignetting etc – it’s mostly for the easy upload to flickr and possibility to add my signature without hazel.
 
Look, it’s me!! :D 12-24, cokin, SPP + aperture. Sky enhanced with Viveza. 

120-300. Sigma Photo Pro. Too warm? Version two.

12-24. Sigma Photo Pro. Cokin filter. (ND Grad)

12-24. Raw Developer 1.8.  

All pictures are available as full size shots. Just click each picture.

Another really fun wedding session, this time a bit north or everything in a town called Mariestad – more famous for it’s fine beer. It was a bit tricky as Linn is now working down south as a guide on a castle and she couldn’t be my assistant. I really wanted that – so we improvised and used the best man for the job. Lucky for Jon and Carolina, it worked great! You can actually see him on several shots.

Oh, I also improved my car shooting style thingi – fun stuff! Lucky for me we had the time needed to play.

Cameras used was SD14 and DP1 – I had many lenses with me – more or less all but I ended up using the trusty 12-24 the most as I love the cokin filter border effect so much. Second place I think is 30 or 50mm 1.4 not sure as 50 is so new for me I tend to reach for the 30mm. 120-300 does give me joy when needed. It’s not very easy to find good occations or locations for it but when it’s time then it’s great!

I also noticed a slight magenta cast in some of the “just out of the church” shots – just so you know. :D

When open the whole article more pictures appears as well as some whom has been shown already above. Don’t be frightened about that, it’s perfectly normal.

Rainy day going out with my little brothers boat. Windy and dark sky made my day. Light changed rapidly as sun sometimes came throu and I must say there is lots more easier tasks than correct white balance a day like this. :D – So bare with me. Btw, we went out to fish – the only fish we saw was this one. (see below shot)

And above shot shows myself doing one of those – don’t know how to behave in FRONT of the camera. I really do have a problem with that. Behind me is Xiao Gang – the guy that I used to live together with during some of my years in China.

Minath Tirith?! No, it’s some huge river flow balancing tool. They do look monstrous.

And some from the day before at the cliffy beach.. :D
Wide open at 2.8! The 70-200 has recently given me really nice pictures.

Lenses used: 12-24, 24-60, 70-200 and 120-300.
Camera: SD14
Developer: SPP2.5 + Aperture.

Another wedding session, and I’m happy to announce that DP1 is a great b camera! :D Linn had hers with her all the time (she assist me) and she took quite a few really nice shots. I used mine as well and I got more keepers from the DP1 (compared to amount of shots taken) than with the SD14. More time to think? I think one or two of Linns are among these too.

My workflow has slightly changed and looks like the following. I make the basic adjustments from SD14 and DP1 RAW in SPP 2.5 Windows. After adjustments are done I import all into a new project in Apple Aperture.

In Aperture I use the new plugin called Viveza to further adjust certain spots – add light to face or simply to enhance black and white images. I also use Aperture to dodge and burn, crop and straighten, add vignetting and my little watermark. I don’t apply vignetting to all but to many shots. So don’t judge lenses because of my images. hehe..

During all this I also add stars to my favorites, this I later use when publishing to the couple and the very best here on my website. I ended up with 44 images in this post and 133 to the couple, I started with about 300 from SPP and around 700 in total from field..

The two above shots are DP1

DP1

There is all in all 44 images in this post. Click each image to view the full size image. Remember that this is copyrighted material.

DP1

DP1

DP1

DP1

Linns shot, 10-20mm

DP1

DP1

DP1

DP1

Turn volume down! Sounds like old radio with broken speakers. And, beware, you might need to know your RD in order to really follow – anyways. It’s a simple workflow. :)

I’m taking this seriously! I realized that the more I learn about high ISO BW – the more I love the feeling of what comes out. These are all more or less taken at 16mm (28mm) – so this is what the DP1 would produce more or less. And the Dp1 has a sharper lens – it will produce nothing less than magnificent black and whites for sure!

All of these are developed using Raw Developer and the profile Monochrome XDR. PS has pleyed a minor role with burn tool and vignetting on some shots.

Been working with a photographer in HK with an very interesting photo book. The book contains photos taken mainly with tmax iso3200 film and I wanted to know how far the SD14 could go, especially with the “film alike” three layer technology that we’re blessed with.

So I set my camera at -1 exposure (-2 and -3 depending on wanted ISO) at ISO1600 and started to enjoy my new faster shutter speeds and everything you see here is handheld and most of the would be impossible with anything slower (camera shake). Speed varies between 1/15 to 1/100 and most of them are shot wide open. I used P mode.

Result? Noise characteristics and dynamic range feels very similar to black and white film. I have bought a Sigma SA-300 film camera and will in the near future take same shots in order to really see how well they compare. :)

Click each picture for full size.

Note: Most of these has absolutely no sharpening and noise reduction turned off. Especially extremely high ISO 6400 – 12800 has some noise reduction applied from Raw Developer.

And yes, my brother has a sauna and we had a great time – even if I look very .. mm.. not to happy at this picture. I wanna be behind the camera. It’s around 75 degrees in the sauna when this picture was taken.