Review | Carl Rytterfalk Fotografi

Archive for the 'Review' Category

Sigma 50-500 OS vs Canon 100-400 IS

Published

on April 19, 2010

in 50-500 OS, Adobe Lightroom, Review, Sigma Photo Pro and Sigma SD14

. 29 Comments

[Update: There is a second test in the comments section in this article]

Alright, let me put it like this, today I was going to test how the Canon 100-400 4,5-5,6 IS compared to Sigma 50-500 4,5-6,3 OS and I was a bit afraid of testing these two cameras against each other because the 5D has 21MP and I got 4.6MP. There’s a slight difference. :)

First image has been shot using ISO200 on both cameras, Sigma at F7,1 and Canon at F6,3 .

I used Lightroom 3 beta 2 for Canon and Sigma Photo Pro 4 for the Sigma.

SD14 vs 5D. <a onclick= 50-500 OS vs 100-400 IS" width="500" height="313" />
Original Canon 100-400 IS has a VERY sweet bokeh! Yummy! (right shot)

Continue reading ‘Sigma 50-500 OS vs Canon 100-400 IS’

The fabulous 70-200 revisited! (updated)

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on April 15, 2010

in 70-200, Full size, Portraits, Review, Sigma Photo Pro and Sigma SD14

. 3 Comments

I almost forgot that I had the 70-200, and I decided to take it for a spin with my students - equipped with both the new 50-500 and the 70-200 we had an outdoor, long zoom, reflector class. Sun was setting and because I didn’t have any yellow toned filter / gel for my Quadra I used a circular golden reflector instead.

Original size

I was really amazed with how snappy my old 70-200 was and how precise it hit the eye – shot after shot after shot! I did calibrate it more than half a year ago and didn’t really use it since then (dark winter) but now I realize how well I did, and how friendly it have become! I didn’t remember the bokeh to be this beautiful! It’s really awesome!

Original size. Above shot might have been taken by Niklas, I don’t remember this to be my framing.

The above girl is one of my students, her name is Elke Knorr and she took the picture below of me. I was also surpriced to find that all her shots were all in focus as well. I will definitely use this lens more!. :) Perhaps I should make a 120-300 vs 70-200 thingi..

Also notice the light. Sun comes in from the left and a golden reflector from the right.

Niklas, here enjoying the 50-500. No reflector.

And this one shot by Martina. Look at those colors!

Click me and see what happens! :D

Oh, and yes. This is me with the 50-500. Look at that sweet bokeh – and those colors all came out so nice. And this is the old 70-200 2.8EX, (not the oldest oldest) without any macro – so it’s a bit irritating to have to go back in order to focus. I think 1.5m is the closest.

No extra sharpening on these images. Some PS levels but that’s more or less it. All shots at f3.5. SPP4. You can find them all as full size, plus some more here!

Sigma 50-500 OS – First look!

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on April 13, 2010

in 50-500 OS, Full size, ISO50, Portraits, Review and Sigma Photo Pro

. 27 Comments

Sigma <a onclick= 50-500 OS - First shots!" width="500" height="333" />
1/160s, f6,3, ISO200, 413mm

Today a nice little packade arrived with something latest and greatest. The Sigma 50-500 with optical stabilizer! YES! I really never had any long zoom to talk about – nothing longer than 300mm and that really wasn’t enough when I did those cranes a week ago or when doing any animals on a distans. So, here’s a first preview.. (ask questions if you have any).

The first thing that strikes me is how clear the view is. Lots of Sigma lenses has a warm touch which for most users is fine, and sometimes even wanted (Sigma users tend to dislike that as we have enough of green/yellow as it is). And I think the clearness of the view is due to that new glass that they developed together with Hama or something. Was it? (it’s too late now and I should be in bed, just wanna finish this alright?!)

So and but, All of the images below has been developed using SPP4. Two images has been “cleaned” using Dfine (a first timer) although only on background and very little. Almost all images has been sharpened some in photoshop – very slight. Only to get a little extra for flickr view here. Someone complained!!! (can you imagine!)

All images are not perfectly sharp – sometimes me, sometimes OS – but it worked pretty much as expected all the time. It was a terrible feeling to turn OS off – sooo hard suddenly! All images has been taken handheld. All images except one has been taken wide open.

So, some images from today. (yes I know, a bit many of the same type of bird.. shhhh)

Sigma <a onclick= 50-500 OS - First shots!" width="500" height="333" />
1/250, f6,3, ISO100, 500mm (not top notch sharp but beautiful anyways)

It was hard to catch them sometimes. This one is 1/30s.. :D Still in focus. hehe

First birdshot. :)

Reminds me of the beautiful colorations made by the Dp1 – although I just saw this once, I think it’s beautiful. And it was there for only a millisecond or so. (didn’t count) f5, 1/30s, iso100

1/60s, f5.6, ISO50, 203mm

And the wife I assume. Behind fence and all. buhu. But look at that bokeh! It’s to DIE for!
1/60s, f6.3, ISO50, 332mm

The two above has same exposure and I think she walked a bit.. hmm.. sharp feet! :D Also, she has been both cropped and straightened some. So din’t be too picky on her.
f6,3, 1/400, ISO100, 500mm

1/400s, f6,3, ISO100, 450mm

And the last one is of my friend Conny, it was too sunny really and this is not really a shot to show but, hey – it shows some of the magic this lens is capabel of!

1/80s, f6,3, ISO100, 56mm I was surprised to see how close I could get! This lens will actually be useful in weddings too I think.. hmm.. maybe. I might scare them.

Link to all full size.

Other posts on the 50-500 OS
http://www.rytterfalk.com/category/lens/50-500os/

Having fun with Canon 5D Mark 2.

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on April 2, 2010

in Canon, Full size, High ISO/ASA (400+), Portraits and Review

. 8 Comments

5D2 ISO320 | <a onclick= Quadra" width="500" height="333" />

It fits perfectly to have a post about my Canon 5D experience after my article from yesterday don’t you think? :D Anyways. Every wednesday evening I have open photography classes in a near by high school and this time I brought the Canon 5D Mark 2 with me – much because it’s still dark at this time of the year and indoor light isn’t perfect for any of my current Sigmas. So I went coupled with a 24-70mm and my Elinchrom Quadra. (Quadra is only used when I say so, or you see it).

OBS. None of these images will hurt your eyes. I promise! :D

Continue reading ‘Having fun with Canon 5D Mark 2.’

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?

Canon EOS 5D mark II as a video camera! :D

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on November 5, 2009

in Canon, Full size, Movie and Review

. 27 Comments

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

Silkypix and skin tones.. Really something!

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on October 7, 2009

in 30mm 1.4, Movie, Portraits, Review, Sigma SD14 and Silkypix

. 9 Comments

Before

After

And how this is done and some more, watch this movie in HD and full screen. :)

What do you think? :)

Silkypix First look and Mixed raw pack!

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on October 7, 2009

in Flash, Full size, How to, Movie, Portraits, RAW, Review, Sigma DP1, Sigma DP2, Sigma SD14 and Silkypix

. 60 Comments

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

A Silkypix development..

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on October 5, 2009

in 18-50, Flash, Full size, Review, Sigma SD14, Silkypix and Studio

. 4 Comments

Original, full quality.

Above shot is taken in a studio yesterday (the place I worked with jpegs only – this shot I took as RAW though). The shot came out underexposed and has been adjusted solely inside Silkypix (except for the white border). Even the copyright text is inserted inside Silkypix. (Really good control over watermarks btw).

So what do I think about Silkypix? I have found both greatness and the other way in the way Silkypix does its processing. The good thing about silkypix is that you can go back to the start, take away all noise reduction, all sharpening, all whatever they applied when you first open the shot – and slowly adjust to you liking. You have very nice control over colors and contrast – better than Lightroom (at least better for SD / DP shots) and also parts of it is better than SPP.

I’m now putting together a video showing the good and the bad. With some comparisons with SPP and RD. Perhaps LR and Darkroom too? If my RAM is big enough. hehe. Poor iMac.

FlyingRooster has posted his findings as a comment in this thread. Including comparison images. Well worth reading.

Fun using Cokin filters..

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on July 1, 2009

in 10-20, How to, ISO50, Movie, Polarizer / Filter, Review, Sigma Photo Pro and Sigma SD14

. 10 Comments

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)

Continue reading ‘Fun using Cokin filters..’

MacWorld review..

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on June 30, 2009

in Review and Sigma DP2

. 0 Comments

I normally don’t link to reviews like this, but in times like these when it’s sooo warm outside that I can’t really post anything useful I better post something and this is pretty nice reading and for those of you that don’t know about Sigmas three layer sensor concept it might be educational reading too. They like these cameras very much and write:

“The Sigma DP1 and DP2 produce the most outstanding low ISO (100 to 400) images of any compact camera I have ever used. Their image quality is truly on the same scale as entry-level SLRs. You get sharp, accurate colors, wonderful tonality, and the ability to isolate your subject with shallow depth of field—all in a package that resembles a rangefinder and slips into a jacket pocket when turned off.”

As I said, it’s good reading. :) Oh and btw – If you think ISO800 and above is too noisy (which often is the case in bad lit situations) then turning to monochrome white balance using RAW gives you so much more. Black and white IS cool!

Link to the Macworld article.

Elinchrom Ranger Quadra AS – Mine!

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on June 16, 2009

in Review, Sigma Photo Pro and Sigma SD14

. 8 Comments

Ranger <a onclick= Quadra test" width="500" height="333" />

I bought myself a new toy yesterday – Always been a “natural” light fan and using reflectors if light wasn’t to my liking. Now I decided to become more pro and at least give a flash system a try. I waited for the “right” weight for quite some time and finally Elinchrom made what I needed. A battery packed – light weight – two guns – small – asymmetric (25 – 400W on one and 8 – 135W on the other with an impressive 1/6000s) and it also have this 20w LED help light that works well. It’s sooo tiny. The batt pack itself weight only about 3.4KG and it’s good for 150 full power flashes. Oh well.. I tried it yesterday and will use it on thursday for the first real assignment where I need it.

I’m thinking now that I might wanna get one of those light meters. I never became friend with one before, I tried several times but somethings missing in my way of handling it. My own method does take some time and it’s not very pro. Test, test, test, look at histogram, test, done.

Continue reading ‘Elinchrom Ranger Quadra AS – Mine!’

Canon 500D video clip

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on June 5, 2009

in Movie and Review

. 7 Comments

Available in HD resolution.

DP2 in Camera Raw 5.4 vs Sigma Photo Pro 3.3

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on June 3, 2009

in Adobe Camera Raw, All, Full size, How to, Movie, RAW, Review and Sigma DP2

. 18 Comments

Go to my youtube channel to play in HD (too big for my blog).

Here’s the RAW file used in the movie: Right click and select save as. This is a naked RAW and might be read as some text junk.

Alright, this is my very first public test of ACR 5.4 and as you will hear this is a test done in realtime! Which also means that whatever I say might have a different solution. I have never been a fan of how Adobe reads any of my Sigma raw files (with Lightroom or ACR) and I thought that perhaps this time would be different. I saw many comparisons made over at the dpreview Sigma forum but none of them really sticked (whatever that means).

So I selected a random shot from yesterday, a 6s exposure done in evening just before sunset, you will see how I develop in SPP (might give you a few clues to how things are done my way) and you will see what I do in ACR in order to really make a mess. ;)

This movie is uploaded with a very very carefully compressed x264 codec (open source) so that gamma info is correct and uploaded with 1280×720 to youtube – I’m corny as usual but you can live with that!

DP2 ISO50 revisited

Published

Carl Rytterfalk

on April 27, 2009

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

. 11 Comments

[Update! Links fixed!]

<a onclick= DP2 at ISO50" width="500" height="333" />
Original

ISO50 can do wonders! If you can live with a blown sky and concentrate on the subject then ISO50 will make you a very happy shooter. These shots are all done hand held yesterday afternoon using ISO50. (except last one)

Original

I must say it was difficult to find correct WB, I’m not sure I did always – some seams a bit warm etc but well, hope you like them anyways. The original version is like WOOOAAA I’m sooo impressed with the smoothness of ISO50 – it really adds another dimension.

To make sure I got the exposure right (which can be tricky in nature) I took three different exposures for each picture. (Auto bracketing +1). It’s fast and easy to do and gives you the choice of selecting later (I’m NOT making an HDR, that’s very tricky do with hand held shots such as these. I’m simply giving myself more options). Today when memory cards are cheap it’s a good idea to use. Also note that these shots hasn’t been altered in photoshop, some could perhaps use a little bit off added sharpness but I think el naturale is nice too.

Here’s a ISO200 shot too with the often not used mode, Vivid color mode.

Original