I recorded a series of videos for Sigma America and they have them in their youtube channel, but somehow they’re unable to upload them in higher quality so I uploaded them myself – although without their intro. You have to imagine it. :) I hope you find something useful and don’t forget to watch in HD!
Archive for the 'Movie' Category
A basic tour in how to produce nice black and white images with the help of Sigma Photo Pro. And in case I didn’t make myself clear in the video, no flash or strobes has been used in any of these images. Only halogen “flood” light, a 1000w of it -- pretty bad really and therefor black and white is a really good solution. Also, camera used? Dp2. Surprise! :D
You made some successful attempts? Please add images to your comments. :)
I never really wanted to make a second post about this, but I was perhaps a bit fast to post the first one so here comes a second.. :) My thinking is that lots of photographers such as myself often has this artistic gene that somehow has to be let out – with the iphone you can do that using various different software. Also, I’ve been searching for a good tool for long time and couldn’t find any tests between these two. Brushes are more known to the public because of the “new yorker” and iPad release show – and sketchbook more known to people already using sketchbook for Mac or PC I guess. I can’t wait to try either of these two on the iPad. :D Or another dream, why not add a pressure sensitive pen sending some pressure blue tooth signal to the iPad – what a drawing tool!
Now, I wanted to make a little test – I was at the dentist this morning and in the waiting room I painted this colorful tree image – first using sketchbook and later using brushes. I used three painting tools – the pen, the brush and a spray. Pen for outlines, brush for background and spray for the foggy effect. And the way that oil brush thing works is very different from app to app. Also I noticed that it’s nearly impossible to make dots in Brushes, you have to make the dot as a tiny line in order to make it work. In Sketchbook it’s very easy. I tried to show that by adding some stars and some, not sure, mosquito looking things on the right side of the foremost tree.
Conclusion..
Sketchbook:
Gives more realism, better brushes and more sensitive to small touches. You feel and it looks like you’re actually doing something on paper. Preferable a iPhone 3Gs should be used as it gives you more layers and bigger canvas. (I only have the old 3G model). It’s sometimes tricky to zoom in, as either the menu opens or you by mistake draw a line. Easy to fix but still irritating. This is never a problem in Brushes.
Brushes:
It feels faster, but after testing both beside each other I don’t think it is. Gives me the feeling of doing everything with a marker pen (although with more options). If you work longer with a painting you get a much better result (duh!) and you can create stunning visuals. Too bad resolution on working canvas is so low, you zoom in and everything becomes pixelated fast. The good, you can resize on the mac later with the “re-paint” function and make movies such as above. Very very cool.
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.
Alright, it looks like I’m more or less in panic mode here but that’s true. ;) I made so many edits, took scenes away and this and that – and after each time I processed the movie and was ready to upload – there was something that I wasn’t satisfied with. I have five different versions of the same movie with four different “pre talks” and finally I settled for this one. It has the worst beginning but hey, it’s me. :D – still it’s a bit long. It’s also supposed to be fun for my sister and her family to watch. :)
Download the original output from Final Cut – 1280×720 – less compressed than youtube version and more smooth in playback.
So how do I like the 5D Mark II compared to what I’m used too? Well, first of all – it’s a great tool! It’s easy to work with even if I’m missing some buttons – as a movie camera it’s great! After a day or two you feel that you have it all under more or less control and you can start to relax. It’s such a nice feeling to be able to go up to ISO6400 (or even higher) and still feel OK – and in really bad light too!
But, as a still camera even in good light I don’t like the output as much. I can’t get “that” from it – and I’m not that impressed with the 21mp resolution. Strange feeling zooming in to these large files and feel like like there should be more. Never feel perfectly satisfied. Oh well. The burden we three layer lovers have to bare.
But when light is bad, and ISO goes up then it leaves my Sigmas in the dust – you can take brilliant shots in ISO3200 (didn’t try much higher, only with video) and I always felt secure without extra light or the need of a flash. So would I like to own one myself? For sure! I can easily imagine myself doing weddings filming and taking pictures at the same time. At least try. :) Especially inside church where I today feel a bit bound by Sigmas bad light performance. But why is Canons shutter so loud?? aaaaa
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).
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.
Before
After
And how this is done and some more, watch this movie in HD and full screen. :)
What do you think? :)
Updated! Now including the RAW from Flyingrooster and Biggydogs english fix.
Movie is now OK. ;)
I also baked a nice little raw pack for you so that if you don’t currently have a Sigma, you can at least play around with some files. It’s a small collection of recent pictures taken with SD14, DP1 and DP2.
The above movie is recorded as HD (1280×720) so view full screen with HD turned on for best experience. It’s currently processed and might be done when you watch. :)
Download the Silkypix Raw Pack.. 109MB ZIP file.
Get the Silkypix beta software, go here for info.
Get flyingroosters test RAW file (used in his comments below). Download.
Get BiggyDogs English menu fix (read comment for install help). Download
You want to make my next video together with me? With Screen share it’s easy and all you need is a Leopard equipped Mac with microphone. Also, you should be interested in talking Silkypix and image quality. But that includes most people visiting this site? :D It’s nothing advanced or fancy just a bouncing ball of thoughts and images..I have lots of good and bad images, and many developers installed to make it more fun.
Are you with me? iChat: Rytterfalk
Here’s the RAW from the video if you wanna play some yourself. All Raw developers links can be found on the right side. –>
Playing some with RD’s monochome settings. It gives something cool. Pretty dirty if you press the original, both is higher ISO too – a little bit above iso200 (so no extreme amounts) mostly because they came out underexposed.
Now when youtube allowed higher quality videos I decided to upload my two short happy videos I made in China. :) The second video, “Spinning faces” is still processing so image quality looks bad still. Will be ok in a couple of hours I hope.
Wanted to share how to use a Cokin filter with this little movie. I’m currently making my DP2 video review and I’m more or less testing my gear to make it possible. We’re experimenting with a new microphone from Röre.. And I think my voice is pretty clear.
Here’s photos used in above review. They’re pretty quick and dirty so I don’t want you to see them at 100%. That thing we stood on was moving some etc.. :D Btw, when I developed them they looked fine but right now I think they’re bit dark and too saturated. Oh well. :) (I place them under a “more” thing so you don’t find them easily.. haha)
I got emails from users asking me to show what to do to get images from SPP look the same on the web. So here’s the public answer. Note that I use gamma 2.2 on my Mac – I’ll make a another movie soon with a guide to better colors (info about Gamma and calibration). Tip! Select HD and click full screen for best viewing experience. Enjoy!
Get the latest Safari web browser for PC/Mac here.
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I have two smaller movie clips for your enjoyment. They’re in the original form and all you have to do is click above image for it’s .mov file. You need Quicktime to play.
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