Sony/Minolta pictures of the week | 15 July

Bishop Edward King Chapel, Ripon College, near Oxford; Niall McLaughlin Architects.

A7+LA-EA4+Minolta AF 24-85mm F3.5-4.5

Despite the flying sparks these chaps do not use eye protection.

Nikkor 50/1.4 on Sony A7

Bishop Edward King Chapel, Ripon College

, near Oxford; Niall McLaughlin Architects.

A7+LA-EA4+Minolta AF 24-85mm F3.5-4.5

Awsome shot of what looks to be an awesome building.

Despite the flying sparks these chaps do not use eye protection.

 

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Nikkor 50/1.4 on Sony A7

Ah, but he’s squinting!

Drying Off by David Stephens, on Flickr

Swallowtail Butterfly On Milkweed Bloom by David Stephens, on Flickr

Bee Takes Off From Thistle by David Stephens, on Flickr

All handheld, with Sony a9, FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS and FE 2.0x teleconverter.

Mark, what rig were you using on that stunning moon shot?

Sony A7RIII with Sigma 150-600mm C and a Sigma 1.4 teleconverter. Manual focus on a heavy duty tripod and used a timed exposure, I kept the ISO low too. I found pixel shift impossible as the moon will not hold still for 3 exposures. Lol.

Mark, what rig were you using on that stunning moon shot?

And the Metabones Canon EF Lens to Sony E Mount T Smart Adapter (Mark V).

I was pleased with the results as I was hunting for the Apollo Lunar Landers, lol. I have yet to attempt this with the Sigma 2x teleconverter. I was thinking it would be too soft, but I will give it a shot soon.

As I said, this attempt at using the Pixel Shift feature was not successful. There is too much delay between the four shutter activations and the moon is constantly moving across the sky. I would need some sort of tracking tripod or there would need to be a software update to compensate for the movement of the moon across the sky.

And the Metabones Canon EF Lens to Sony E Mount T Smart Adapter (Mark V).

 

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I was pleased with the results as I was hunting for the Apollo Lunar Landers, lol. I have yet to attempt this with the Sigma 2x teleconverter. I was thinking it would be too soft, but I will give it a shot soon.

 

As I said, this attempt at using the Pixel Shift feature was not successful. There is too much delay between the four shutter activations and the moon is constantly moving across the sky. I would need some sort of tracking tripod or there would need to be a software update to compensate for the movement of the moon across the sky.

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I'm not familiar with it, so this may be a dumb question but, would the pixel shift compensate for using a higher ISO to get a fast enough speed to allow the pixel shift to work?

I'm not familiar with it, so this may be a dumb question but, would the pixel shift compensate for using a higher ISO to get a fast enough speed to allow the pixel shift to work?

Not a dumb question. I don't think it would, but perhaps there could be some effect like image stacking in post. I was at ISO 100, 1/60 sec and f/13. Could I tweak that ISO a bit? Yes, I am sure I could. :oops: Still there was the Pixel Shift delay interval.

I am really new to this so I am still learning. From what I have read, the Pixel Shift increases the perceived resolution of the camera by 4 times sort of but not really increasing the physical size resolution if that makes sense. There are 4 images taken, so I think 4 times the resolution. The camera takes 4 images and each image shifts the sensor 1 pixel in every direction so the camera captures the full RGB of every pixel in 4 separate images, this gets combined together later in post software, not in the camera. At first, I thought it would increase the resolution so when I do the math 4 x 42.4 = 169.2, I would say this would be a 169.2-megapixel image. No this is not the case. You still have a 42.4-megapixel image, but the data in that file will have more detail resulting in much sharper images and better color while eliminating aliasing and moire. You just get a sharper crisper image. Still, pretty cool. The only caveat is the image can not move in those four shots.

Now about the Pixel Shift delay interval

I am running firmware 1.01. This has a selectable delay between the 4 images of 1-30 seconds. Maybe this is in case someone is shooting with flash and the flash needs several seconds to recharge.

I have just read there is a firmware 1.10 release that reduces the Pixel Shift interval to 0.5 seconds. Link to the article. Whether this is enough and playing with ISO and shutter speed and F-Stop to pull off noise free sharp image will remain to be seen in my experimenting.

The moon is moving in orbit at 2,288 miles per hour. That is 38.1 miles per second. And of course, we are on the earth that is spinning. I am not an astronomy guy, I do know you can see the moon moving across the viewfinder when the camera is locked in position on the tripod and zoomed in at 840mm with a big lens. So the time to complete a Pixel Shift shot will equal (3 x 0.5 seconds) + (4 x shutter speed) and I imagine the pixel density of the camera sensor, how fast the camera can process and write to the memory card will all factor in. We are talking 1 pixel of movement here. The image can't move. Perhaps the software could be tweaked to compensate for moon orbit. I am sure the serious astronomy photographers will have this all worked out. For me, it will be experimentation. :)

Not a dumb question. I don't think it would, but perhaps there could be some effect like image stacking in post. I was at ISO 100, 1/60 sec and f/13. Could I tweak that ISO a bit? Yes, I am sure I could. :oops: Still there was the Pixel Shift delay interval.

 

I am really new to this so I am still learning. From what I have read, the Pixel Shift increases the perceived resolution of the camera by 4 times sort of but not really increasing the physical size resolution if that makes sense. There are 4 images taken, so I think 4 times the resolution. The camera takes 4 images and each image shifts the sensor 1 pixel in every direction so the camera captures the full RGB of every pixel in 4 separate images, this gets combined together later in post software, not in the camera. At first, I thought it would increase the resolution so when I do the math 4 x 42.4 = 169.2, I would say this would be a 169.2-megapixel image. No this is not the case. You still have a 42.4-megapixel image, but the data in that file will have more detail resulting in much sharper images and better color while eliminating aliasing and moire. You just get a sharper crisper image. Still, pretty cool. The only caveat is the image can not move in those four shots.

 

Now about the Pixel Shift delay interval

 

I am running firmware 1.01. This has a selectable delay between the 4 images of 1-30 seconds. Maybe this is in case someone is shooting with flash and the flash needs several seconds to recharge.

 

I have just read there is a firmware 1.10 release that reduces the Pixel Shift interval to 0.5 seconds. Link to the article. Whether this is enough and playing with ISO and shutter speed and F-Stop to pull off noise free sharp image will remain to be seen in my experimenting.

 

The moon is moving in orbit at 2,288 miles per hour. That is 38.1 miles per second. And of course, we are on the earth that is spinning. I am not an astronomy guy, I do know you can see the moon moving across the viewfinder when the camera is locked in position on the tripod and zoomed in at 840mm with a big lens. So the time to complete a Pixel Shift shot will equal (3 x 0.5 seconds) + (4 x shutter speed) and I imagine the pixel density of the camera sensor, how fast the camera can process and write to the memory card will all factor in. We are talking 1 pixel of movement here. The image can't move. Perhaps the software could be tweaked to compensate for moon orbit. I am sure the serious astronomy photographers will have this all worked out. For me, it will be experimentation. :)

Nice explanation. I didn't realize there was such a big delay between shots. I can't think of any reason why there needs to be. Everything is happening at microprocessor speeds, so must have intentionally built that delay into the system.

Nice explanation. I didn't realize there was such a big delay between shots. I can't think of any reason why there needs to be. Everything is happening at microprocessor speeds, so must have intentionally built that delay into the system.

That is a good point. If the A7RIII is capable of shooting at 10 Frames per second, why the 0.5 sec Pixel Shift delay interval? The camera should be able to handle one or two pixel shift captures per second depending on shutter speed. All it is doing is capturing 4 images and writing them to the card, there is no processor combing of the 4 images going on in the camera. Does the shifting of the sensor 1 pixel really need to be 0.5 seconds.