On Fri, Aug 13, 2010 at 4:01 PM, Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I imagine you take the 410 and kit lens along in preference to larger,
> heavier kit, not to improve your images, but to
> make the process easier, more comfortable.
Well, since you ask, I bought the 410 for the lenses. If the body had
been the most important thing, I'd have tried to get a 400 to get the
Kodak sensor, but they just don't pop up over here in NA much. The
lenses I wanted (yes, for their size and weight) first came out with
the 410. I might have selected the 420 but was somewhat swayed by a
review or article comparing the 420 and 410, suggesting the AA filter
was revised for the 420 and was consequently made stronger as a
result. I find the capture to be a tiny bit less refined than the E-3
but just very satisfying. The DZ 14-45 kit lens was not as good as
Ken's PL 14-50 when I made comparison shots, but it still competes
quite well. His is the best lens I have ever messed with on an E
body. The drawbacks are less reach than I might like, slowness, and
relative inability to focus close. One might find the plastic mounts
to be a drawback, but it's part of their being light, so that's a
neutral feature at worst.
When I shoot 120 with my Voigtlander folder I use the E410 for proof
shots and as my light meter. As I have been shooting the Perkeo as
much as possible, the E410 has been my shooter of preference lately.
I find it does indeed make the process easier at times and more
comfortable without too much compromise on quality, at least for my
bloodlines.
> So I was assuming that, like me, your 410 kit was an intentional compromise
> between ultimate sharpness and practicality.
> I'll take the thousands of images I've taken with my less than perfect kit,
> many, many of which I love, over the images
> I would have missed with the best kit.
OK, my frosty heart is now warming to your explanation. As you may
have already picked up, I am becoming convinced that I really ought to
give another marque a try. Some flavor of 5D seems obvious, but my
Nikorn lenses languish on the shelf, and if I ran away with my kids'
college money I could mess around with an M9. But, as you say, I have
managed to get a few pictures I love with Olympus. The marque has
been good for me. For many of the same reasons you are content to
head out without your best kit, I am content to slum along with
Olympus as a whole. It's really a whale of a lot better equipment
than I am a photographer, and that's certainly true of the 410 as much
as the E3.
>> The appearance of a halo in the previous version is an artifact of the way I
>> sometimes use the highlight-shadow tool (and the fact that haste makes
>> waste), not over-sharpening.
>
> That's what I thought. I've been moving slowly to less use of the Shadow tool
> for exactly that reason. There are other
> ways to accomplish much the same thing without the halos. I still use
> Highlight a fair amount.
The highlight tool is a major element of my process too. Olympus's
highlights are often just a little too hot and exposing to compensate
means the shadows need to come up a tad. These are extremely small
tweaks that still make a lot of difference. I really don't like
pulling up shadows too much. Something always looks a little off.
With black and white scans, though, the case is a bit different. It's
possible to use the highlight/shadow tool to make adjustments
comparable to a full paper grade, perhaps more. The "tonal width"
slider offers enormous refinement of the effect. It would be
extremely hard for me to describe the interaction of the "amount" and
"tonal width" sliders. I didn't use "tonal width" for a long time and
just worked with very small amounts, but now it is all interplay.
Sometimes I am satisfied just with some curves manipulations, but I
get refinement beyond my very best efforts with curves by using the
H/S tool. It is worth every penny I have ever spent on Photoshop.
Joel W.
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