I'm beginning to Understand . . .

[xpatUSA]

. . . the need for lots of resolution and flash lighting. Up until now, I have been perhaps a little less than sympathetic ;-)

Lately, I've been going out into the Real World to snap local plants for my Better Half. Quite a change from bench photos of watches and bits under fixed lighting and a sturdy tripod. Today, as soon as I stepped outside, the sun went in and a breeze appeared, thereby making shots of some berries a tad difficult.

So back I go to the shack, attach a flash to the housebrick and . . . voila!



Wind motion frozen, courtesy of a pretty high (for me) shutter speed. Of course, her ladyship didn't want the entire image - just the pretty ones in the middle. Which brings me to resolution and I'm saying nothing new here, but it is nice to have some resolution in hand for such emergencies. I almost didn't. The image above is a 100% crop (i.e. not re-sampled) is just over a quarter the size of the original. It doesn't take much of a pixel-peep to reveal those little square things at the heart of it all.

Recently I figured another thing out about my 3MP housebrick. It really doesn't matter what lens you put on it, those big fat pixels completely ignore any subtle differences in the sharpness department. In fact, it's possible to crank the aperture number pretty high to get some DOF. Which is why this moth shot came out quite well at f/22.



Re-sized from original. Wingspan 31mm.

[mknittle]

We often get used to doing things one way and don't realize how different things that seem similar really are

[GrahamH]

One door opened, new world awaits exploration.
Lot more doors to open.
I love getting into the detail of things for exactly this reason.
May we all continue to learn.
Graham

[John Morton]

Lat week, I was at a butterfly exhibition which started at the Montreal Botanical Gardens on Valentines Day. I was shooting with a Nikon D700, using a Nikkor 105mm VR Macro lens and a SB 900 flash. I fitted the flash with its diffuser, and shot everything using manual settings. This photo was taken at 1/80th of a second, with an aperture of f/18 and an ISO setting of 400. I've often used the 105mm and flash together for butterflies and bees, but this time it really worked out well (thanks to all of the butterflies available).

[xpatUSA]

. . .I was shooting with a Nikon D700, using a Nikkor 105mm VR Macro lens and a SB 900 flash. I fitted the flash with its diffuser, and shot everything using manual settings.

Nice - if ever I return to Bayer-land the D700 would be top of my list and the D800 at the bottom (oops, shouldn't have said that).

[John Morton]

I definitely had my eye on a Foveon sensor camera when I made the transition from 35mm to digital back in 2008. I left behind the Olympus OM system and an OM-4 T, holding out for that long in the hopes that they would come out with a full frame digital camera (maybe even using a Foveon sensor); but it didn't happen and I finally jumped on the Nikon D700 when it was released.

I couldn't be happier with that camera but I think I might be happier with the D800 ;-)

Here's another recent example of of the flash/macro lens combo, same venue (also posted elsewhere here):



Manual setting
ISO 400
F/13
1/100 sec.

I had the flash powered up plus two EV units for both these photos, and the diffuser on the flash the whole time.

[xpatUSA]

I definitely had my eye on a Foveon sensor camera when I made the transition from 35mm to digital back in 2008. I left behind the Olympus OM system and an OM-4 T, holding out for that long in the hopes that they would come out with a full frame digital camera (maybe even using a Foveon sensor); but it didn't happen and I finally jumped on the Nikon D700 when it was released.

Yes, Foveon cameras are not for the faint-hearted, especially the RAW-only early models such as mine. And, in pandering to the God of resolution, Sigma cameras have lost something along the way to the SD1M model, IMHO. The Foveonistas over on DPR's Sigma forum keep mooting a FF sensor but it seems unlikely with their small market share and the sheer cost of producing 3-layer chips in that size.