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I have not left the planet. ;) But my SD15 is currently in the hands of a friend and the SD1 just arrived back from Bengt Werner who wanted to try it out.. Now, seeing that the new Firmware is out (1.03) I upgraded and went out a couple of times this week, these shots are all from yesterday and they’re all low ISO (max 200) but I did take a few ISO800 a couple of days ago that looked stunning. It feels like the SD1 has grown a lot since the first firmware and it’s now more quick in respons and I also feel that exposures ends up much more controlled than before. A lot better. The sunny shot below was well balanced but the strong evening sun was problematic for ISO100, but to my big surprised it wasn’t a ruined shot as it would have been in the past but it was all nice looking in SPP 5.1. See screen of what it looked like before processing! 

Btw, the PhotoScala wooden shell for the SD1 isn’t my cup of tea. Perhaps if they made something that fits truly tight and made out of beautiful leather. :D That would be super awesome.

Another note, these shots are all hand held using the super great 120-300 OS and luminance is turned to the lowest setting in SPP so that no detail would be left out. Some has been slightly sharpened after and some has not. I’m not sure how the new SPP 5.1 does sharpening so I feel a bit unsure about it yet.

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What do you do when you have set day to shoot, and that day turns out to be very dark and rainy? You could reschedule or.. use your SD14 and the Sigma 120-300 OS for every single shot. Why SD14 when I have SD15? Well, it wouldn’t be as much fun now, would it? No. :) And it was tricky to get colors the way i like them – and these are more or less straight out from SPP5 beta.

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The 120-300 OS is such nice lens to work with – I had a monopod and nothing more. I wasn’t afraid of the rain as I know the SD14 can take quite some – and the 120-300 OS is weather sealed so the combo should work fine and as you see in these shots – even if it was raining it wasn’t like cats and dogs.

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I tried to keep a nice distance between me and my objects – Above shot is taken using the full 300mm – they’re all electric bikes so I thought it was a bit fun to shoot with the old gas thingi in the background. Sort of fit the retro look of those bikes as well.

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There was some foldable bike that I had to shoot – I used my little brother as my model, he’s very proud of his work. :) I might also add that the bluish / magenta tint that’s slightly over each shot is more or less a side effect of bad light and sd14. SD14 has a strong tendency towards green and well, I could have fought back using flash and more light which normally solves the issue but this time I didn’t wanna risk them due to the weather. So bare the slight tint – and try to look beyond.

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So, these are all taken using the old SD14, using it’s 4.6MP capability. Please have a look at those full sized versions to fully appreciate the quality.

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Been fooling around with my mirror adjustments and one of my old SD14′s got helped and asked for a last ride – we had our glorious moments in the past and I must say that although the SD15 is a much improved camera with it’s awesome LCD and more realistic colors – the SD14 does indeed have another stop or two of highlights and those colors are much more playful and “foveonish” than later cameras. (including the DP series). Having used the SD15 as my main work horse since it was released the SD14 feelt very old, perhaps mainly because of the tiny LCD! It’s so hard to evaluate anything useful from it compared to it’s bigger brother, the SD15. I was also reminded that bigger buffer is better. :)

I will not write much here, but let these pictures do the talk. It’s some of what’s been passing by the last two days and well.. SD14 is a great camera and somehow I feel that it has a wider spectrum of colors compared to anything out there – especially in ISO50 mode and that will also be the reason for me to keep using it. It has a depth that’s really hard to beat.

The two bird shots are both highly cropped.

Alright a third post with only 120-300 OS images! As heavy as it is, it’s also very well balanced which makes you stable – that plus stabilizer and you will be able to take hand held shots in situations you didn’t think possible (or it only feels heavy.. ). Although, most of these shots was taken at 1/160s and above.

As a street lens it’s kind of big – A bit bigger than what people normally see, and especially bigger than you would mind pointing at you which also makes it kind of harder for someone like me wanting to “blend in”.. That’s also one of the great reasons to why the DP1 / DP2 is such great street cameras.. They blend.

This Dove is one of those great examples of shots where that tremendous amount of resolution shines thru. Have a look at the 100% crop just below and think for second about how it would look if it was taken using the SD1. mmmm.. Yummy!

As someone already pointed out, these are some really yellow flowers! :D Yes, and the secret ingredient is SD15 + color modes! And to get that spicy yellow tone found in nature you need to use “landscape” color mode as I did on the above shot – but beware – some shots just doesn’t look right with it so test but use your eyes and mind. Also at times you might tune saturation down a notch to make it more natural.

This last shot was taken using the SD14 and I’m really happy that I have some of those around as it’s color rendition is quite different and quite interesting compared to the SD15 which is more neutral and perhaps more correct, but not as fancy and the SD15 also lacks some of that extremely wide DR! A bit like changing film in the days.

Just wanted to tease a little bit more with some 120-300 OS shots.. So I’ll skip most of the talk and let you see a couple of shots – most of which is taken with the Sigma SD15 but some that (ducks) comes straight out from the Sigma SD9 ones more. Unable to let go it seems.

You can almost use the 120-300 as a Macro lens. If you stay at around 250mm then you can go fairly close and get some really nice close ups.

Over and out. :) Oh and all images are uploaded at their full size over at my flickr account.

A while ago I was asked to take sample images for Sigma using their new 120-300 OS. So a month ago they sent me a working beta sample which was said to be alright optically but perhaps not perfectly refined in terms of AF and OS. As an owner of the older 120-300 2.8 and knowing it’s ability to really stun and also having heard that the new lens being among the very best that Sigma ever done – let’s just say I was eager to make it sing..

One of the very first things I noticed was that the stabilizing system (OS) that wasn’t optimized worked tremendously well.  Actually much better than any of my other OS lenses – No, wrong, the very first thing I noticed was that’s it was bigger and perhaps a tad heavier than it’ predecessor, and that the tripod mount came to better use when turned to the top – easier to carry the whole package that way and less intrusive while shooting handheld. And handheld is how this gun is supposed to be used.

Now you wonder, how is it? And I’ll tell you – It’s the very best! It’s so sharp, straight ahead from 2.8 – a good example is this shot of a goose (or whatever) that was sleeping in a lake – and I shot it at 269mm at 2.8. That’s wide open.

And if you’re a bokeh fanatic, then you’ll love this lens as the bokeh is truly awesome. It has it’s own life, especially the part of off focus going your way – but it’s really nice!

Or this seagull, taken at 300mm, 2.8 and using the Sigma SD14.

And I know what you’re thinking – this lens is like MADE for the SD1! And I think it’s the ultimate lens both in terms of sharpness and build quality – as it’s also weather protected as the new SD1 body.

I also did another thing – I bought some freash 123A batteries – and a new package of AA’s – this is something I wanted to do for quite some time! The 2002 Sigma SD9 body amazed me ones more and I’ll tell you, if you have it somewhere around or if you’re thinking about getting one – DO IT! It’s like starting to use a different type of film – a film that is just impossible to duplicate using any other camera. The SD9 is, the SD9.

And two more SD9 images.. I have plenty more but will save those for another post in a couple of days. I’m busy as we speak with a little something, the little something is partly the reason to why I haven’t posted anything in weeks. I’ll be back! And this is only the first post of at least two about the 120-300 OS.

Sigma SD14, 120-300 @ 2.8  1/500  ISO50 (hand held)

The 120-300 is a classy lens, here I’m trying hard (especially the second shot) to shoot it against the 50-500 and I might add it was a bit tricky as the wind was blowing and I could feel how much movement I was making. Now, these shots are both ISO50 and both wide open at 2,8! Quite a bit faster than the 50-500 can do. Also, colors came out quite different compared to the 50-500 shot. Now, I used two different SD14s and they have a little bit different coloristic, and I’m not sure how much is down to the lens, camera or work in SPP.

But take a peak at the portrait version – (below) and enjoy that bokeh which I think is amazing! The shot itself isn’t that sharp but it’s hand held and 1/125s on  a long zoom, so I forgive myself.  Lots of talk about bokeh lately, but also light has finally come to Sweden and – that makes me happy! :) – Bengt assisted me with the reflector. (golden from the right)

Sigma SD14, 120-300 @ 2.8  1/125  ISO50 (hand held)

Amazing lens, so clear and crisp results. These are all ISO50 and of course still using the SD14.. Sigma Photo pro 4 might not be the very best at everything but with lower ISO, it’s king!  Also notice the danger of using ISO50 on birch trees with their light white parts. I should have been more careful but I thought I could save some but no no. Still cool I think. :)

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And us, the people. :) I’m hiding behind the 17-70 OS.

Went to the famous Hornborgarsjön today, it’s famous because every year tens of thousands of Common Cranes come here to play and so do tourists. And me. The lake is located about 100km from where I live so it’s a bit stupid that I don’t go there more often. It’s such a nice place for the 100-300 to play. Perhaps the SD15 plus 50-500 OS would be even better?

I made them BW because it’s so nice, colors looks perfectly ok too but.. and these are all SPP 4, which actually, believe it or not makes pretty nice BW’s from ISO400 and below. (not above). I had to underexpose some in order to get  decent speed, light was so so.. So BW’s the way to go. Might show you color version another time.

Oh, and do you know what’s so cute about these birds? Once they found their mate, they stick together! :)

Above: Cropped image.

Another way to crop the above shot. :)

Please enjoy the bigger version. Click to get it.

First some DP2 shots.. (all images, mixed ISO between 50-400)

Full size: Coffee and milk (ISo200) | Moon above house | Big snow (ISO100)

Then, SD14 + 17-70 and 50mm 1.4 (ISO400). Oil paint shots are both ISO50

Full size: Dad, the man. (ISO400) | Mom, the women. (ISO400) | Tools of art F5 (ISO50)

And some more DP2

Above as full size

And finally some SD14 + 50mm 1.4

Farmer as full size

All images can be found as full size at flickr.com/rytterfalk

(See full size version)

Happy New Year 2010!! Well, I’m late, I know. But I just came back from celebrating the new year up at my big sisters place in Brålanda. It’s so far away from everything and Internet hasn’t reached them just yet.. (not). I’m not too often up at her place, it’s a 100km drive (that’s the only good excuse I have not to go there more often and I know she reads this)..

Ah, and you might wonder why I have no splendid pictures of cool firecrackers – Well, it all comes down to luck and really, really bad timing. In Brålanda (a small town of what seams to me to be around 10 people) people have firecrackers but they all live randomly around my tripods position and none of them had ANY understanding of photography or photographers. They could have said: – I’ll let another rocket up right now, and I’ll wait for your signal Carl. But no, they just let them up a little here and there and always in the wrong direction from where I stood with my 20-30s exposure.

Oh well, there is always another one coming!

Now, all these shots has been taken with my Sigma SD14 – some of them using the 120-300 and others using a new lens that I will get back to in a while. (all wider shots). 90% has been developed using SPP with minor adjustments using LR3 before flickry upload. The rest (two shots) has been developed using Silkypix.

Flickr gallery with all shots in full size.

(All above shots except the bird has been shot using the other lens..)

Now, the new year started with lots and lots of snow. We had to stay one extra day because of it. Below you’ll find “extra day with snow and my sisters family”, pictures.


Above shot taken in high speed inside car – zooming out with speed (ever tried that??) trying to get a stable shot.

This guy was driving on a road and he really had no clue where the road was and ended up in the ditch. We stopped and helped. We’re sooo good. :D (Linn helped too) – and YES I do know that car is in focus and not the guys eyes! :P

Not sure how to make a correct white balance when it’s taken when it’s really dark and really cold. This shot is hand held at ISO400 and 1/10s and is mysteriously sharp. hmmm… :)

(Last one is a 100% crop of the picture before that – Snow gives the shot a almost painted effect that I like). :)

Just came home from a car photo session – an old Ford Escort from the 70th with about 700hp. We drove into a beautiful landscape, my assistant Bengt drove my car, I sat in the trunk with back open. It was cloudy with strong sun now and then, a bit chilly – three nights in a row with frost. Well, the car broke and we were stucked in the middle of nowhere with these little fellows as company. Sun was really low and I tried to shield the 120-300 with my hand without too much success. :D (to my delight)

I developed once more with Raw Developer. I did first with Lightroom but RD gave more filmic feeling. These are ISO200 and 100 – noise reduction turned off. All available as full size at flickr.

Just wanted to share two late shots taken during the session that you saw previously and they’re both taken with the Sigma 120-300 at ISO50 and SD14. It was a VERY bright sunny day so  stayed in the shadows under some huge trees – Tried to equal the light so that my elinchrom quadra wouldn’t be too noticed, used a white umbrella and without a meeter I had to test shoot some before setting the correct power and exposure. But I never really used a light meter before so I’m not sure it would make things faster. As long as my assistant was staying on the same distance exposure would stay about the same. My biggest problem was that clouds would come and go, so light would change LOTS in a couple of seconds – and so would exposure. Lots of shots trashed because of this.

Raw Developer used for these. :)

Some of the exposures from the other day (very cold day I might add). These are all taken with the wonderful Sigma 120-300 2.8 lens and although it’s a bit on the heavy side it’s so much fun. I should definitely take more walks with it. All images has been processed using Sigma Photo Pro and later post processed using PS, reality is sometimes boring. :)

All images available on flickr in full size.

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.