koloskov

July 30, 2012

last week I've done this test-review, comparing Nikon D800E and hasselblad H4D40 cameras.

<h2 >Why to compare 35mm and medium format DSLRs?</h2>

For many years Medium Format DLSRs were separated from 35mm DSLR cameras by a huge gap in image quality and resolution (besides a price of course), and this seems to be always like this: twice larger medium format sensors without AA (blur) filter did not leave any chances for 35 mm cameras to match the resolution and image quality. I own an old Phase One P25+ medium format digital back on Hasselblad H1 camera, and I’ve seen a big advantage of this old digital back over to a much younger 35mm Canon 1Ds Mk III and 5D MKII cameras. Here are my in-depth review: <a title="Hasselblad H4D-50 against Canon 1Ds MarkIII: what do we get for the money?" href="http://www.photigy.com/hasselblad-h4d-50-against-canon-1ds-markiii-what-do-we-get-for-the-money/" target="_blank">Canon 1Ds Mark III vs. Hasselblad H4D50</a>

However, with the new Nikon D800E everything might be changed: with 36 Megapixel sensor without AA filter (only in D800E model), this is first time when non expensive (D800E is not the top-of-the-line of Nikon cameras) 35mm DSLR can compete with medium format. Theoretically…

I do not want to re-post the whole test here, as it will lose coo, "before-after" functionality. If you are interested, read a complete post on photigy: http://www.photigy.com/nikon-d800e-test-review-vs-hasselblad-h4d40-35mm-against-medium-format/

Soon I'll post a second part.

Alex

November 17, 2010

Just FYI: This is a Paul C Buff comment on the similar thread I have on another forum, regaring my 4FPS sequience:

<quote>

For what it's worth, you could have shot 4fps with Einstein at 100WS instead of 14WS and achieved almost the the same action freezing capability had you needed more 3f more flashpower. You can do 8fps at 50WS if the camera supports it. 50WS is roughly equivalent to a speedlight at full power that can do about 1/300second t.1 instead of 1/10,000 sec t.1 and one frame per 3 seconds or thereabouts.

....

Full power recycle time is 1.7 seconds (640WS)You can divide down from there to get recycle time at any fractional power . . . IE 1/10 power (64WS) takes 0.17 second. Fastest possible recycle is 1/12 second (12fps) (0.083 seconds) = 1/20th power = 32WS. Einstein can be fired before complete recycle so if you shoot at a faster rate than the recycle time, you will get good shotss that are progressively slightly lower in exposure value. I have done this purposely and color remains consistent and absolute exposure is easily corrected in RAW.

</quote>

November 15, 2010

Joseph,

Yes, AlienBees is not as flexible as White Lightning, for example: 6 f-stop range v.s 8-stop. Meaning X1600 WL unit will give you 1-1/128 power range , while AB 1600 is only 1-1/32.

The only downside of WL is a size and price (comparing to AB).

November 14, 2010

Matt is right: I usually was getting mine order next day after it was placed (standard delivery, Atlanta is close to PCB warehouse in TN).

It may not be a usual thing for you, spoiled Americans (:-))), to wait that long, but I remember how it was 25 years ago in Soviet Union: every valuable thing was "backordered": to buy a car an average waiting list was 5-6 years long, a few years less for a refrigerator and similar merchandise. Despite the fact that least expensive car was priced around 5000 and average salary was around 2400 per year, we had such difference in offer and demand. That was such a "great" time! :-))

Seriously speaking, I think PCB will have them in stock in January 2011: I've ordered my first unit in April and second in June: there was a week between I received them. Meaning they ship about a month of orders per week.

November 12, 2010

Michael,

Einstein should give you the same stopping power as broncolor. Only the difference will be in a max usable" power to stop action: Based on my experience, 1/2000 and shorter will freeze an average splash 9not talking about popping balloons, etc; speeds are much higher there).

So, Einstein will have about 1/2500 sec of duration at 1/4 power (160 Ws from one unit, or 480 Ws from 3 "heads"), while broncolor will produce 1/2000 sec duration at a higher power.. probably around 1200Ws (talking about grafit 3200) However, I can't find Bron's flash duration charts, so these numbers is my guess.

So, shooting f22 iso 100 with only one Enstein and stopping action tells me that 3 Einsteins will be more then enough for most of my studio work with water.

November 12, 2010

Thi sis my mini-test of PCB Einsteins, hope will be ineresting for the community:

I was waiting for this monolight for a long time, and eventually got it few days ago. Talking about latest Paul C. Buff invention (intervention to hi-speed strobes market? :-), all digital <a title="THE NEW PAUL C. BUFF EINSTEIN" href="http://www.paulcbuff.com/pcb2009/einstein.html" target="_blank">Einstein 640 monolight</a>. I’ve ordered few of these units back in spring 2010 “to try”, ordered separately (meaning soon I’ve receive another one:-). That was a longest back-order line I remember, but the good thing that I’ve received Einstein V2 unit: it <a href="http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-10056-10979" target="_blank">suppose to be</a> improved from the original one I’ve ordered.

The main reason I was so anxious to try the unit is that currently I desperately seeking a solution for my studio high-speed photography, mostly for action-freeze of liquids. We’ve started to get more and more assignments in this area, and I do not feel very comfortable working with my <a title="Canon Speedlite 580 EXII strobe" href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/486706-GREY/Canon_1946B002.html/BI/5495/KBID/6292" target="_blank">Canon Speedlites</a> (have four of them).

I am not going to try to go through a full test with my Einstein 640 strobe: there are so many already posted online. The best one I know is Rob’s Galbraith review on the same subject: <a title="Rob Galbraith DPI: Stopping action with the Paul C. Buff Einstein 640 review" href="http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=7-10053-10715" target="_blank">Stopping action with the Paul C. Buff Einstein 640 monolight</a>. My goal is to share results of the real, in-studio tests of flash speed duration by shooting a liquid splash: nobody has calculated the speed of water drops firing from a glass, even Rob’s test with spinning disks was not enough for me:-) Obviously I knew that Einstein strobes will be fine at freezing splash, but I did not know if flash power of that “stopping action” duration will be enough for my work. The main question was the distance and F-stop number I can use at ISO 100 at that power level (at full power Einstein is usual mid grade strobe, the magic begins when we dial power down).

So, I’ve started from F22 and my favorite lens for water splash photography: <a title="Canon 180mm F3.5L macro lens" href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/112541-USA/Canon_2539A007_Telephoto_EF_180mm_f_3_5L.html/BI/5495/KBID/6292" target="_blank">Canon 180mm F3.5 L macro</a>. Long focal distance allows me not to worry about protecting the camera and lens from the water while F22 will give me enough DOF to cover my subject:

I really like how the Beauty Dish gets reflected from a stream of water:

100% crop from above:

Looks nice, is not it? The last thing I did is a continues shooting mode: Camera was set to F5.6 1/250, continues shooting mode, strobe had 14Ws of power. My canon 1Ds MKIII could do only 4 frames per second shooting RAW, so this is how the sequence looked:

Not as impressive as <a title="10 pfs shooting with einstein srtobe" href="http://www.ppmag.com/video/einsteintest_ppmag201006.mov" target="_blank">this </a>video, but it was cool to run this test:-)

The original article, with the video from the test, showing how it was performed (I've used CyberCommander), and few more photos posted is on the blog, as usual:

<a href="http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/?p=2695">http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/?p=2695</a>

The similar set, done earlier with canon speedlites strobes:

<a href="http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/first-akelstudio-live-masterclass-water-apple-flash-duration-test-and-one-shot-of-scotch-whiskey/" target="_blank">First AKELstudio LIVE! masterclass: water, apple, flash duration test and one shot of scotch whiskey</a>

Enjoy :-)

Alex

September 27, 2010

Guys, got the video from the test:

/> Not much new will be here, but at least you'll see how we did it and, when played full 1080p HD, it s cool to see transitions between different f-stops on the image Alex P.S I've updated blog post as well.

September 22, 2010

@Charles

Right, this is exactly what i wanted to show in this test; the real life difference between photos produced by both cameras, trying to judge for myself does Hassy worth the money.

Obviously, there are much more differences between these two, but test was about the final image only.

Regarding what you said about Canon can do almost the same job:

Mainly I agree with you, however, there are several tasks I now (may be more, but not in my area of photography) where MF will give you something which can't be achieved with 35mm camera, even with help of PS.

Example: interior shots (with or without TS adapter): Because MF has much larger filed of view, the images will have less distortion, right? I am not talking about barrel distortion (which can be fixed in PS), but the actual look will be very different: when I shoot interior with my Canon 14mm F2.8L lens (which is almost distortion free, an excellent lens), the whole thing still look "wideish", comparing to the same composition done with Hassy HCD 28mm f4, or Sinar ARTEC.

This is something you can't fix in photoshop.

Same thing in a studio, with view camera and attached MF back I can do more than can be done with canon. But you are right, this is somehow specific tasks, in general 1DsMKIII can satisfy most of the photographers/customers.

The question is when I switch to a MF, will it be easier to ask for more compensation for the same work? In other words, will client agree to pay more knowing that i shoot with $$$$$ camera? I am afraid I would have to change the clients the same time as I change camera:-)))

Thank you.

Alex

September 22, 2010

John,

I can borrow almost any Hassy equipment for free... at least for now.

I simply does not have such demanding assignment yet:-) In any case renting is a very good option, I agree with you.

September 22, 2010

@John A,

I do have a view camera (adapted to work with canon: <a href="http://bit.ly/9cmLaO">http://bit.ly/9cmLaO</a> ), so digback would be a great addition to it, as i really like to use view camera in studio. Right now the usage is quite limited, it is not such great with canon attached to it.

Major AD jobs is one of my goals, so this is why I said when:-) I know I'll need medium format. Not sure though if it will be hassy: phase one has less expensive backs.

@Matthijs,

Exactly! 5DII is the best camera for the money.

September 22, 2010

@John A,

I do have a view camera (adapted to work with canon: <a href="http://bit.ly/9cmLaO">http://bit.ly/9cmLaO</a> ), so digback would be a great addition to it, as i really like to use view camera in studio. Right now the usage is quite limited, it is not such great with canon attached to it.

Major AD jobs is one of my goals, so this is why I said when:-) I know I'll need medium format. Not sure though if it will be hassel: phase one has less expensive backs.

@Matthijs,

Exactly! 5DII is the best camera for the money.

September 21, 2010

John,

what you have suggested would a useless to test for me, as I wanted to see real advantages of the Hassel, and it's resolution is one of them.

you've missed the point:-)

September 21, 2010

Hope this review will be interesting for the community:

I had a great opportunity to test-drive a new <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/671884-REG/Hasselblad_70480542_H4D_50_Digital_SLR_Camera.html/BI/5495/KBID/6292">Hasselbald H4d camera</a> with its huge 50 Megapixel digital back, thank to John Williams from Hotwire-digital.com. Knowing specification of the Hasselblad, I did not want to simply compare those 2 cameras: they are very different animals, with different purpose… besides the fact they both capture images <img src="http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":-)" /> Ease of use, camera controls, weight, focus speed and other “external” parameters is not interesting for me, as all of this parameters is highly subjective, both cameras has a big list of fans among professional photographers.

What I was curious to see is an actual difference in the image quality, especially in macro and around macro world: this is most important for me as a product photographer. What is image quality for me? First of all, amount of visible details, then sharpness of those details and then dynamic range of the image. The way lens and camera handles high pitch glare pieces was also interesting for me to compare. Obviously, lens is also responsible for most criteria, so we can call it a lens test as well.

Hasselblad had <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/264713-REG/Hasselblad_3023120_Macro_120mm_f_4_HC.html/BI/5495/KBID/6292">120mm F4 HC macro lens</a>, Canon was wearing <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/647011-USA/Canon_3554B002_EF_100mm_f_2_8L_Macro.html/BI/5495/KBID/6292">100mm F2.8L IS macro</a>.

Here is the full article, can't really post it here as i won't be able to have before-and-after roll-over image functionality, it really cool to see the difference that way : <a href="http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/hasselblad-h4d-50-against-canon-1ds-markiii-what-do-we-get-for-the-money"></a><a href="http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/hasselblad-h4d-50-against-canon-1ds-markiii-what-do-we-get-for-the-money">http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/hasselblad-h4d-50-against-canon-1ds-markiii-what-do-we-get-for-the-money</a> Enjoy:-)

Alex

June 8, 2010

This is the most enjoyable photo-shot I had for last few month: not only the most technically challenging but the end result is the most eye-catching and outstanding, and now I am glad to show you the results: <img src="http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/water-advertising-photography.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="818" /> The idea was to use a water as a ultimate background to emphasize the product: water can be transparent or 100% reflective (well, not a water itself, but the water-to air boundary), the effect called total internal reflection. Long story short: when we see the water surface at relatively sharp angle, it become almost 100% reflective, acting as a mirror. Now, if we'll disturb the water surface so it will form a waves, some part of the wave will be a mirror-like (due to an angle) , and some will be transparent, allowing light to be transmitted. Lets look on this from below the surface. The lighting setup, side view:

<img src="http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Atlanta-photographer-advertisement-underwater-lighting-setup.png" alt="" width="700" height="636" /> I've used gray backdrop behind the tank because gray can be easily darkened or highlighted. The floor under the tank is white, we need this to work as an additional reflector. There are two lights from the top: one, more intense (1600WS full power) 10 degrees spot to be reflected from the surface (follow the dot line), 20 degrees spot to highlight a background visible through the tank. Two spot lights were used to highlight the object, one from the front-top, shown on the schema drawing. the second was from the right behind.... Getting lost? :-) To make it easier to understand, here you go, the real setup: <img src="http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/still-life-underwater-photography-lighting-setup.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="467" /> Lights by number: 1. 20 degrees spot with gold gel to highlight a large spot on a background, visible through the tank. It was placed to be on the front to spill some light on the object making a tiny gold accent. 2. White 10 degrees spot light, only to highlight the object. Placed high on top to let reflection form the bottom of tank highlight the object from the bottom. 3. "Hair" light. You know what it did to our bottle, right? Just look at right side (left if it was flipped upside down) of it. :-) 4. 10 degrees Spot hitting right on the behind of the tank, to be reflected from the surface at given camera angle. Few more images using the same setup: <img src="http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/water-advertising-product-photography.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="851" /> <img src="http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/under-water-studio-photography.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="661" /> Behind the scene video, I was trying to explain and show the whole process: <a href="

youtube channel </a> There is also a detailed shoot specification on the blog article: <a href="http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/water-in-still-life-and-advertisement-photography-episode-one">Akelstudio blog</a> Sure this will be interesting for the community, would be glat to hear your opinions. Alex Koloskov

May 9, 2010

^^ 100% agree with Ian.. This is why I said this is simple object and it was relatively easy to do such walk-through.

Yesterday I was dealing with GE Kettle with chrome parts and back glossy body.. That was a challenge!:-) One day I'll release the process, but now can't really disclosure anything due to the agreement.

Thank you!

May 8, 2010

^^Well.. You are right, but.. from other side, it is simple. Simple, when you know how to do it, right? Like Ian said: everything simple when you know it:-)

May 7, 2010

Working on our latest assignment, a catalog shoot for Refrigiwear, I decided to show how proper lighting can make a big difference by using one of the boots from the catalog as an example. The object I've selected is a simple to photograph. Really simple. Why? Because it has well visible texture, and does not have highly reflective or transparent surfaces. However, having an easy to shoot object does not mean you should not worry about the lighting. It is so easy to do a crappy image just because it looks "nice" as is, with one light source, for example. Believe me, I am not against simple lighting schema, but more lights gives me more control over the look of the subject, just need to narrow them down. Here I am going to show you how each additional light source will change the look of the boot and explain why I need it.

Let's start from this well textured boot and only one light in front-top of it (White Lightning BD in my case):

<img src="http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/product-photography-lighting-lesson-step-1.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="802" /> It may look good, but not for our catalog, where white background is required. It needs to be completely white (RGB: 255.255.255). We do not clip out the whole object, but use instead a different technique explained <a href="http://www.perfectphotoblog.com/is-the-white-background-really-white/1044/">here </a>, it allows the shadow to remain under the boot and is much faster to do. So, one strip box added to fill the background: <img src="http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/product-photography-lighting-setup-lesson-step-2.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="779" /> Does not look bad, right? However, it won't be good for a catalog shoot, as it does not have clearly visible product details. Now it is time to add some backlight to highlight the texture: intense directional (from 20° honeycomb) light hits boot on a very low angle, from behind (right side) and adds more volume to our boot: <img src="http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/product-photography-lighting-lesson-step-3.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="788" /> Now, the last one. Same spot light (20° honeycomb) was added from behind on the left side, to show the texture on this side of boot. Additionally, top-front light (BD) was decreased by 1.5 stops (approximately, I do not use flash meter) to compensate additional light source. Now it is more like a fill light. Background was whitened during post-production as well. <img src="http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/product-photography-lighting-lesson-final.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="715" />

I know, some may say that the very first shot looks better then the last one... This may be true if we were talking about individual preferences, each has his own vision. I like it better the way I did it on the last image, plus, there are unwritten standards for the catalog photography which I need to follow to be successful in what I am doing. Lighting setup: <img src="http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/product-photography-lighting-setup-boot.png" alt="" /> That was shoot for the catalog. Nice, but regular catalog with products on a white glossy paper. This is how I make money these days, but I always wanted to do more creative photography, AD-oriented, much more innovative, edgy, stylish and technically challenging. So, why not now? Customer did not ask me to do such shoot, but it will be a good exercise for me to produce something more creative. One additional hour spent in the studio, and here we go:

<img src="http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/advertisement-photography-example-by-alex-koloskov.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="857" /> The full article is on the blog: <a href="http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/product-photography-lighting-it-is-simple-when-you-know-how/">www.akelphoto.com/blog</a> Enjoy:-)

Alex Koloskov

April 14, 2010

Timothy, great job! Post the images of your system here, will be quite usefull for others to see how you did it too.

This is how I did my bellows:

Currently using Rodenstock APO Rodagon-N 80mm F4 lens, works amazing:

Alex

http://www.akelstudio.com/blog

March 16, 2010

BTW, few photos of my kids in the studio with only beauty dish on top of them:

They are perfect models:-)

March 15, 2010

Andres,

Agree, there are always ways for improvement of any picture, especially if we consider subjective taste of the person who look at the photo.

I like the way she looked here, it is very in her nature, if you'd know her:-) She is very strong and self controlling girl, I must tell.

-Alex

Signature URL removed. Not allowed per photo.net Terms of Use.</a>

March 14, 2010

Gary, John,

You absolutely right: shadows are too deep.

This is why we added light and changed reflectors on a hair lights on a next shoot. ( I though you looked at my blog post.) But here it is:

And the setup. One more light for the eyes, book was used instead of a reflector.

Remember, it was a workshop, we started with a very simple one + and reflector setup, adding lights while moving to a better ptortrait.

The one I've showed you is not the best, but an example.

Matt,

Well, I am not only stealing the traffic, but provide an interesting info right on phot.net. But I see your point, I'll re-post my whole blog post here next time.

-Alex

March 14, 2010

Forgot to add:

There is a variation of the same setup, with less shadows: <img src="http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/atlanta-photographer-workshop-ligting-setup-with-snoot1.png" alt="" width="600" height="635" />

The result (it is quite different then photo I posted above) is here:

<a href="http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/2010/03/atlanta-photography-workshop-update-lighting-setup/">http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/2010/03/atlanta-photography-workshop-update-lighting-setup/</a>

March 13, 2010

Recently we had our first photography workshop, I would like to share what we did: the lighting setup and the actual portraits of all our students. Here is one of them: <img src="http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/workshop-studio-lighting-setup-11.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="812" /> Here how it was done: <img src="http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/atlanta-photographer-workshop-ligting-setup.png" alt="" width="600" height="635" />

Ther rest on our blog: Links removed. This is not the "blog link" forum. I hope this has been helpful and would love to hear your comments. -Alex <h2>Signature URL removed. Not allowed per photo.net Terms of Use.</h2>

March 13, 2010

Recently we had our first photography workshop, I would like to share what we did: the lighting setup and the actual portraits of all our students. Here is one of them: <img src="http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/workshop-studio-lighting-setup-11.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="812" /> Here how it was done: <img src="http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/atlanta-photographer-workshop-ligting-setup.png" alt="" width="600" height="635" />

More portraits of our students is here:

<a href="http://www.perfectphotoblog.com/our-first-studio-workshop-and-master-class-in-atlanta/565/">http://www.perfectphotoblog.com/our-first-studio-workshop-and-master-class-in-atlanta/565/</a>

I hope this has been helpful and would love to hear your comments. -Alex

February 16, 2010

I continue to use my tilt-shift adapter for DSLR, and now I explore the limits of the system. Below is the watch, at a very narrow angle, shoot by using Rodenstock Rodagon APO 80mm F4 lens at aperture set to F16.

The lighting schema is simple: two narrow soft boxes on top, each highlighted top and the bottom part of the watch. There should not be direct reflection form a watch’s glass, as it immediately become dull and low contrast. More info including the lighting schema on my <a href="http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/2010/02/watch-photo-shoot-advantages-of-tilt-shift-camera-adapter/" target="_blank">blog</a> . Let me know how you do such low angle photography.

Sign In

Profiles

Forums

Blogs

Events

Downloads

Gallery

Store

Posts posted by koloskov