About a week ago I received the much awaited (at least by me) close up lens made by Sigma. I must say that I was happily surprised about the little leather box that came with the lens! Soooo retro and beautifully crafted! WELL DONE SIGMA! Now, is the lens as good as the box it came in? :D
I’ve read numerous threads over at dpreview on different solutions and I’ve seen magnificent macro shots with all sorts of filters - some good, some not so good. Now, when the Sigma AML-1 was announced I was a bit surprised on the closest distance which is 20cm - not very Macro on a 28mm lens is it?! :D and in order to show you just how close 20cm is and what it feels like - I made this little video. If you watch it on Youtube then you can see it in higher resolution. Embedded is low res.
The lens is very bright - not sure you loose any light. Can’t really see any difference in shutter speeds and the lens says nothing about it. You can’t focus to infinity with it on - but it’s made for closeups so it’s not really a problem. OOF becomes BEAUTIFUL! Especially welcome when you’re making movies. Along with the extremely sharp lens and sensor it becomes almost unreal. Take a look at the shot of Linn, click it and the full version will load. It’s so so detailed. If the DP1 only had MORE resolution when making movies!! :D
The AML-1 as a slight negative distortion in corners - The opposite to the type of distortion we’re used to with normal lenses. But it’s not noticeable in day to day images. The picture below shows the effect, look at the window and you’ll understand what I mean.
Conclusion. I should have had TWO lenses or even three and stacked them, that would probably give very nice macros. Right now you don’t get close enough for that type of photography with only one lens. For movies and portraits such as the ones above it’s a wonderful solution and gives you new views - plus that the extreme OOF is perfect for videos.
Btw, the lens / filter itself is very very well made and NO CA can be found. At least not in any of my photos so far. Contrast and sharpnes are really top notch.
Listen carefully in the end and together with this movie you can go and create your own great DP1 epic thing. AEL + WB + Close focus + ND = great stuff!
1. Lock white balance to dominant light source (or whatever you want) in this case “sunlight”
2. Move camera around and press AEL (lock exposure) when you think you got a good overall working exposure. Sky skin should be ok.
3. Press the “Focus” button (one time up on the four way dial on the DP1) this gives you close up mode or Macro mode (focus is now about 30-40cm from camera)
4. It helps to have a ND grad filter ready. Most occasions are perfect for this, makes a nice moody feeling. Very much used by the film industry. You can of course try different colors etc .
5. If you attach a polarizer it gives even more dramatic feeling to your movie. Deep nice colors with cool skies and less sweet in faces. If you have the wrong size you can hand hold it. haha
6. Upsize your video using “super resolution” with Video enhancer software (free 30day trial). PC only. I use VM-ware to run it on my Mac.
You don’t need a close up lens. I don’t have one. I will try to find one though. :D Film in macro mode MUST be cool!
What is a nice, sunny spring day on the cliffs at the swedish west coast like without a cold beer? Well. Ole tried to get rid of it using a tire - but soon decided to pick it up again. Watch the action here!
This was FUN! I took a lot of photos this way too, a cool way to frame your subjects but a bit tricky to balance it all. One hand filming and trying to keep sturdy and control the polarizer at the same time. AND walk. I’m not a woman am I.
Video clip hosted by the Norwegian photographer Yvind giving us important info on the 120-300 and how to use it properly. Inside you’ll find people like Ole, Filip, Oliver and myself. We also try to find another lost soul - the danish dragonfly photographer Fritz. - these are regular posters over at Dpreview and we had a little “get together” here at my place this very weekend. We had really great weather and much to talk about. And of course to shoot. I will post several un-cut videos.
These are all taken with the Sigma Dp1. If you wonder why you can’t see the SD14 display in this clip, that’s because I looked exposure by using AEL (because sunlight was very strong at the moment) and therefore the LCD will not show.
Somehow the movie became squeezed, not sure when or how. hehe
Red is a new camera (brand) embraced by directors such as Steven Soderbergh and Peter Jacksson - Red is the new cool thing in the world of cinema. And what you probably didn’t know - the DP1 is like a tiny Red. Extremely simplified, but still.
The Red has a sensor-size of 24.4×13.7 mm and DP1 has 20.7 x 13.8 mm. (see comparison) This means that the Red sensor is slightly wider (as in 16:9) than the Foveon equipped DP1. This makes them very similar - the depth of an actual movie using a f4 lens at 28mm would look more or less the same (at least at extremely small size).
Now, what would happen if the next Sigma SLR would have the DP1s movie mode AND with higher resolution. Wouldn’t that be a real killer?! (plus mic in etc) :D
I’m even sure that the Dp1 will get much improved movie mode with time. Sigma is known for good firmware upgrades (at least on the SD14) and hopefully this will continue with the Dp1.
Link to Red.com
Here’s a small little video showing depth from Dp1. :)
Sigma will come out with a easy to use solution within SPP itself or by firmware, until then we can do it our self’s in Photoshop (or other software such as Gimp).
Alright. I took a deep look into my growing DP1 video library and made a music video out of it. Upsized to 640×480.m4v (which is the iPhone format). Some quality is still lost but I think you get a feeling for what the DP1 can do. It’s not a HD killer cam - but useful! :D - Also remember that DP1 video format is 320×240 to begin with I made it bigger using Final Cut.
What does a 320×240 resolution DP1 video look like when upsized to 480p and 720p? That question has been on some peoples mind and one reader took action and made two versions of the above video. Resized by Dik Hoek with something called “super-resolution”.
“Super-resolution” is a term for a set of methods of increasing image or video resolution. All these methods are based on same idea: using information from several images to create one upsized image. These methods try to extract details from one frames to reconstruct other frames. This approach differs a lot from some sophisticated image upsizing methods which try to synthesize artificial details”. - To get your hands on a 30 day trial version of the software doing this - Click here!
And I can just say, Wow! It really works and it does look awsome! Sure, pixalation etc but it looks very cool indeed and using this you can cut together movies much easier in software such as Adobe premiere and Final cut without coming out with lower resolution video. (useful to take away the hi pitch “cut” sounds) I use the video-part of the DP1 quite often and results are very good. I really love the feeling it gives - something super8 like. :)
He’s another DP1 user that doesn’t come from the world of SD-cameras. He is a professional photographer and journalist - he’s mainly using his Canon 5D but been waiting for something to replace his Ricoh GX100. Said is now an DP1 owner and reading his blog is very interesting as it gives a little different view then the one from me. :) - But maybe best of all, he’s really good with the camera.
Photo and copyright: Said Karlsson
And more from the east: Euyoung’s Soliloquy..
We have a Ricoh GR fan site that have tested the DP1 against the Ricoh’s - it’s in Chinese but interesting. Especially the part where they compare out door, real life images between GRD2 and DP1. Go, check it out. (The good and bad thing about visiting a Ricoh fan site is that they’re really not trying to hide any flaws. :)
Sound level is HIGH! Unless you LOVE my voice turn down your volume! This movie shows how I work with DP1 raw files in SPP 3.1 on a Mac. If you wanna try this at home, download some of the raw files to get started. Step two? Get the camera!
I’m currently trying to upload to youtube - resolution will be much worse but faster to load and divided into two parts. This movie is 500×375px, 128MB small and 16 minutes long. Download it for local playback using VLC or other flash player.
I decided to see how good the battery was and how much juice I could squeeze out before dead - It’s not a perfect test but a real world sort of version. I manual focused more or less 99% of the time - I did try some AF shots but decided that manual focus was a bit more cool. I’m sure that AF + no LCD would give you lots and lots of more shots.
I turned off the camera very often. I’m not sure if that’s draining or some, but I guess that there is a good sleep mode that could have worked instead. Of course I looked and showed everyone around me so lots of peeking done.
Result? I have a total files of 182. Among those is 26 movies, 3 audio recordings and 151 RAW files. No Jpegs. Sorry, have a hard time getting used to the ability to shot JPEG’s since my early days with the SD9/SD10.. :) And camera is fast with RAW so there is no reason not to use it.
Movie clips direcly from the DP1:
Now to some of the images: All hand held. Click for full size.
Alright - I have a movie clip made from a cool little camera known as the Sigma DP1. It’s my sister performing a well known song outside our home. Despite the size (320×200) I think it’s really nice and the sound quality is MUCH better than I thought it would be, there is a certain depth to the picture that you will not get with a small sensor camera and it looks very filmish, do you agree?. Enjoy 12MB worth of sister singing for the love of the 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 a small vacation for the internet and computer. Will use it for images and work only but I will try to spend tops two hours a day with it if possible. At least till new year.
Until then you might wanna see this little flash movie that I’ve shown to some of my readers but I decided that maybe everyone could get a little something from it. It’s a “in action” movie showing me working with Lightroom and Raw Developer. A screen cast thing.
Download rd.flv. (you might need a player such as VLC or some flash thingi from adobe)
So if a comment goes unanswered you know why. :) Happy Christmas!
I was visiting Göteborg today and I brought my pano equipment with me and decided to try a HDR (High dynamic range) movie. I set the camera at HI and at tripple exposures. This is the result. Click the image for a closer look. The full is too big, so this is a smaller one. Besides, with three exposures per image in a city that moves - not everything will be perfect. Tree is moving, birds are flying and people isn’t still. Even buses and cars are playing games with me.
My sisters husband (Thomas Wetterstrand) found this strange little creature on a straw and I ran to get any camera. I didn’t have my SD14 with me so my little brothers GS400 3CCD Panasonic had to do. (Very important information, not!)
First we thought we had found some sort of alien creature but after a short conversation with google we realized that it was only a parasite (!). Apparently it’s taking control of this poor snail only to be eaten (if seen enough) by a bird. Not sure though if it will eventually kill the bird or only live inside.
I’m currently playing a lot with the German version of Raw PhotoStudio Darkroom 1.59. I can’t find an English OS X version yet. If you know, please tell. This flash movie shows high images ISO only, 800 to 1600. It’s not made to show the software too much, much because of language and I feel a bit clumsy still. But I must say that I like it, very much. I will make a test between all four developers. (SPP3, Lightroom, RAW Developer and Photostudio Darkroom). But for now:
[EDIT] Open recommendation: Please convert to DNG in order to make Raw Developer 1.7.0 stable and retrieve maximum information from your X3F’s.[/EDIT] Alright, it’s time again for yet another movie. Should play in correct size too! I’m trying to find WHAT it is that makes Raw Developer a nice complement to Lightroom and SPP. (I know I need to keep them all). The built in advanced sharpening does help together with true color rendition (I do not know this for sure, but my eyes tells me ;)
1. Lock white balance to dominant light source (or whatever you want) in this case “sunlight”
2. Move camera around and press AEL (lock exposure) when you think you got a good overall working exposure. Sky skin should be ok.
3. Press the “Focus” button (one time up on the four way dial on the DP1) this gives you close up mode or Macro mode (focus is now about 30-40cm from camera)
4. It helps to have a ND grad filter ready. Most occasions are perfect for this, makes a nice moody feeling. Very much used by the film industry. You can of course try different colors etc .
5. If you attach a polarizer it gives even more dramatic feeling to your movie. Deep nice colors with cool skies and less sweet in faces. If you have the wrong size you can hand hold it. haha
6. Upsize your video using “super resolution” with Video enhancer software (free 30day trial). PC only. I use VM-ware to run it on my Mac.
You don’t need a close up lens. I don’t have one. I will try to find one though. :D Film in macro mode MUST be cool!