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Re: [OM] Latest attempt at shameless plugs and sample photos

Subject: Re: [OM] Latest attempt at shameless plugs and sample photos
From: Bob Whitmire <bwhitmire@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 4 Dec 2011 04:40:18 -0500
On Dec 3, 2011, at 6:27 PM, Moose wrote:

> 1. "Smart" scene modes are working their way up into lower level DSLRs. I've 
> never used them, but I think the 60D has 
> such a thing. I believe the same is true for other makers.

This is very true with Esteemed Wife's little pocket Nikon. It takes remarkably 
well exposed pictures with nothing more than selecting a mode. It was even true 
back with my last Olympus product, the E-510. I recall using the scene modes 
for a couple of days just for giggles and being surprised at how well they 
performed.

> 2. I haven't kept up with all the endless DSLRs out there. I do know the D60 
> has a mode that modifies the shoulder of 
> its response curve to have a much shallower roll off - and up to a higher 
> level of subject brightness, than the standard 
> setting. In effect, it compresses the highest tones, rather than clip the 
> very highest. Given the very large number of 
> value steps available at the top of a 14 bit image, this allows much greater 
> recovery of highlight details in post.

The idea is to sell cameras, and the more technology is, (forgive me language 
mavens) leveraged to make the final result good and decent after setting a 
wheel and pushing a button, the more money they are going to make. I could be 
wrong here, what with this being anecdotal and all, but I suspect that 
consumers (read: the great unwashed) are, as a rule, producing happy-snappies 
of higher quality today than they were back in the days of film. The processing 
power in those itty-bitty digital engines is just, well (forgive me again) 
awesome.

> The price is a minimum ISO of 200, and the slightly higher shadow noise of 
> 200 vs 100. Overall, I have found it pretty 
> effective in extending practical DR and guarding against unintentional lost 
> highlights.

For 4x6s, who cares? Digression Alert! If you use a program such as Adobe 
Lightroom, noise is not an issue until you get into the ridiculously high 
ranges, and even then it can be rendered in such a way as to add to the effect 
of the photo. I don't know anything about Apple's Aperture, but I suspect it 
shares a lot with Lightroom . . . which is to say for anyone who can and does 
splurge for some decent gear, I can't understand why they don't go the 
Lightroom/Aperture route if they want to avoid the full Photoshop option. I 
would not have said this a few months ago, but I've been playing with Lightroom 
3 ever since Adobe sent me a ridiculously ginormous discount coupon, and I 
gotta say Lightroom (another plea for forgiveness) rocks. Sure, CS5 is still a 
must, but the organizational and printing modules of Lightroom alone make it 
worth the price. I assume Aperture is in the same ball park.

> It directly addresses the issue you raise with the 5D, of setting ETTR using 
> the histos, and still having some clipping. 
> The 5D is a great camera, but pretty old technology in some areas.

C'mon, guys, where would be the fun in having a camera that could switch into 
live view, read all the pixels instantly, and give you the perfect exposure? 
And why would you want the perfect exposure? As a pulpit-pounding member of the 
wabi-sabi of photography set, I firmly believe that our little imperfections 
make for the beauty of what we do. Perfect is, well, boring.

Of course that's just my humble opinion.

--Bob


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