sam_motskin

<p>There is no free lunch. If you want a zoom and quality you'll have to give up something.<br>

I'm quite happy with 28-70. It's on the heavy side but it's balanced very nicely on my D300</p>

<p>I use ViewNX to convert to TIFF and then process in ACR (the same engine as LR)</p>

<p>HP is not what it used to be in the days of Hewlett and Packard. Their service and product quality are at the very low end of the scale </p>

<p>Here is another angle. Exposure is a creative decision. You need to decide what are your key objects and tones, how bright you want the highlights, what level of detail you want in the shadows. You may sacrifice highlights to get shadow details or get rich black shadows and get details in highlights</p>

<p>Ton, in my simple thinking, sometimes it's composition/picture design, sometimes it's the subject/event, and sometimes it's both. If in your sample you crop at the bottom leaving about a third of an inch between the circular edge and the frame bottom, IMHO the objects have more tension and picture becomes more interesting</p>

<p>It all depends how you're going to use it. Looks like in its currrent state X1 is not good for street shooting. You can't have zone focusing, it does not have a lens hood, and I'm not sure you can put a UV filter on. The IQ and the autofocus quality and speed are unknown.</p>

<p>Looks like you have a pre-historical version. Go to the Adobe site and download the latest ACR version. For CS3 the latest version I believe is 4.6</p>

<p>I totally agree with Tom. That has been my experience as well all along. If you treat police with respect and behave with dignity and self-respect they'll treat you the same. They have a tough job to do being between a hammer and the hard place. If they prevent a crime they are accused by certain activist and political groups of profiling whatever that is. If they don't they are accused by the same people of not doing their job. I think we need to keep cool head, see the things for what they are, and avoid generalizations. </p>

<p>Yes, there are bad cops, but there are areas in big cities where I being a Caucasian can't go without risking my life</p>

 

<p>I think "philosophical" meaning in HCB pictures is a little too much. To me he was a superb documentary photographer who as he himself put it strived to observe and capture life. In that context, for me, the "kissing" photo has a message. It's a slice of life in a particular time and place, superbly composed. This scene would be impossible in some countries and shows, at least to me, the young generation of that time in France. </p>

<p>I use View NX for initial culling, editing, and conversion to TIF as it does a better conversion job than Adobe. I then process the TIFs in ACR/CS3. In my D300 I also set in-camera noise reduction for high ISO to NORMAL and bumped up sharpening a little. The ISO1600 - 2500 images I'm getting just have high frequency luminance noise that is easily removed by a third party NR software</p>

<p>HCB definitely had a way with words. He expressed his ideas very eloquently. To me, in a simple way, it boils down to two points. An event that conveys your message and the picture design that helps communicate it. In his early work, heavily influenced by surrealism, I sometimes have hard time understanding the message, but may be it's just me But in his later work his message just shouts at me and that was the major reason that inspired me for candid photography.<br />In his book "about Russia" documenting his trip to the USSR in 1972-73 he was able to come away with pictures that conveyed the tensions and undercurrents that, in my mind, no other photographer has ever come close to. And that in spite of the fact that he traveled with a government supplied interpreter/minder.<br />I think combining the event that communicates a deep message with the picture design that supports that message is what sets him apart and what made him a hard act to follow.<br />I also think he did not invent "the decisive moment". If we take a look at some paintings of Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Daumier's drawings we'll see "decisive moments".</p>

<p> </p><div></div>

<p>Zeiss ZF 25/2.8. It also doubles as a macro lens. The object can be as close as 2'' from the lens.</p>

<p>Patrick, thanks. I've been using PK for a long time but I'll definitely try your method.<br>

Now, I imagine Smart Sharpen uses a different algorithm and does not create halos so you don't need all those complicated masks that Bruce Fraser described in his book. I also remember that Bruce was not very enthusiastic about Smart Sharpen. He writes in his book that he would only use it for output sharpening. Could you comment on that?</p>

<p>Elmo, I think the message you had in mind does not come across. You need something: a jesture, facial expresion, some sort of an action, some background artifacts that would communicate it. I also think the objects right behind him interfere with (at least my) focusing on him.</p>

<p>You sure about that?<br>

------------------------------<br>

Andrew, I don't know the mechanics of either Nikon or Adobe algorithms but that's what I was given to understand. There are mathematical ways to have lossless conversion but how NIkon and Adobe do that I've no idea. All I do in ViewNX is to convert the 14bit NEF files into 16bit uncompressed TIFFs. I also back up the pristine NEF files.</p>

<p>I compared side by side the NEFs in ViewNX with the TIFF and DNG in Bridge/ACR, blown up to 200%. I have not perceived any color, tonality, or contrast shift. I think I'm getting the best of both worlds. In my view the Nikon software interface is cumbersome and it's a resoutce hog. So I'm basically getting in and out quickly</p>

<p>Thanks everybody for your interest and comments. My workflow is very straitforward. And that's what I was looking for: a simple and effective workflow solution. I do not use the DNG converter to create my camera profile. I have the latest Adobe camera profiles in ACR.<br>

It's not a religious war, just looking for practical solutions.</p>

<p>I load the NEF files into ViewNX and save them in TIFF format. I then open the TIFF files in Bridge and do my usual processing in ACR and CS3. The difference is that the camera settings are embedded in TIFF and understood by Adobe. While in ACR I save the file in DNG lossless compression format just to reduce the file size. You could leave them in TIFF. When I get to CS3 I save the files as I've always done in PSD layered format.</p>

<p>I took a few pictures indoors in low light with ISO 2500. I set up an in-camera picture control with NR on and bumped up sharpening. The pictures turned out quite usable what I could not get in these conditions with strait ACR/CS3 processing. I just had to do a few adjustments in ACR and a little selective NR, and capture sharpening in CS3 using PK. I used Zeiss 25mm on my D300. I felt the pictures took on 3-dimensionality I could not get before.</p>

<p>Generally I find the colors are truer, the contrast and tonality are better, and the workflow is faster. May be it's lens or lighting dependfent but it works for me. </p>

 

<p>I do all my initial processing in ACR but I've been unhappy how it interpretes the colors and tonality from my D300. No reason to repeat why, we all know that. Granted, tweeking the sliders makes it better but still I had problems geting tonality, contrast, and colors right. So I've been trying to find a workaround.</p>

<p>After some experimenting I found a way that works for me. I initially load the NEF files into VIewNX, do initial vetting, and then save them in TIFF format. I then open the files in Bridge/ACR and do my usual processing. To reduce the file sizes I save them in ACR in DNG lossless compression format. The files are still larger then NEF but it looks like the initial NEF settings are wrritten into the TIFF files and recognized by Adobe. And the colors and tonality look very good </p>

<p>Has anybody tried something like this?</p>

<p>Cathy, I brought this issue up recently on the W/NW thread since I had the same problem when I uploaded my pictures.<br />The issue is often the browser that does not understand color management. Try the following. First when you convert to srgb you may have to tweak the image to make it look the way you like it. Then embed an srgb profile in case the displaying software and browser are color management savvy<br>

And it's always better to have the monitor calibrated</p>

<div></div>

<p>I use the katz eye with the brighter option on my D300. It works great with my MF Zeiss 25mm. Focusing is fast and precise. I found it is also very helpful even with my AF Nikkor zooms (17-35, 28-70) when I need precision focus on a small object. I agree that it is difficult to avoid some dust specks on the screen but it does not affect the picture file.</p>

<p>Damon, Not to me and I did not say that. They all did paintings too (well, Hokusai did color woodblock prints). But their drawings, lithos, and etchings are diffrent in compositional techniques with emphasis on lines, shapes, contrast, jestures.</p>

<p>When I do street shooting I look for expressions, jestures, postures, and "geometry" as someone put it it here. For me this is expressed much more dramatically in B&W. Each color evokes a certain emotion which may be at variance with the picture idea. But this is just me and somebody else may line up colors into a powerful composition.<br>

BTW,if we take a look at the old masters graphic work such as Honore Daumier's lithographs, Hokusai's drawings, and Rembrandt's etchings, I'm not sure that their work would be as powerful if they used color </p>

<p>Allan, I emphasize once more that I do not have problems with your pictures. You have the right to take and publish any pictures you like. It is your initial written posting that I objected to. There is no housing crisis in Toronto. Everyone who's willing to work can find accomodation perhaps not necesserily in the neighborhood of their choice. You and I know that Toronto is very much different from some big US cities. Even social housing like the Jane-Finch area is very much disfferent from rough inner city neighborhoods in US. Of course, there are always special cases but it is not a crisis. We really must avoid becoming propaganda tools if we want to keep our credibility.<br>

And BTW, I like your pictures</p>

<p>Eric, I know Toronto enough to say that Allan distorted the reality. There are all sorts of studies by various special interest groups. As we all know pictures and statistics don't lie but people lie with pictures and statistics.</p>

<p> I remember during one of my stays there a local business owner having read about grievances of the homeless came to their shelter to offer them jobs at 20 bucks/hr. He was laughed at and chased away.</p>

<p>Toronto is a beautiful, clean, safe city. Except for a very few relatively rough spots where drug addicts and winos congregate one can safely walk at any time day or night. The crime rate is a fraction of big US cities and their social contrasts can not be compared with ours. For the last 20 years that I've been visiting there the downtown has been renovated, rebuilt, and expanded. And this is ongoing today. A number of drug addict and wino haunts have been torn down. And that's perhaps the real reason for their protests.</p>

<p>I don't have problems with his pictures. But I object to his preaching here using dubious arguments to manipulate us. I think it's a disrespect to all of us</p>

 

<p> another case of using this forum as a soap box. Alan, you can tell these stories to people who are not familiar with Toronto. I know Toronto very well having family there and having been and stayed there numerous times. Find another place to push your agenda.</p>