The essence of photography

[Sumit]

Sumit I am also looking for something similar and the Tamron seems to be the best bet as it has focused on the telephoto than Macro as well, which nikon and Sigma have done. it is also cheaper by INR 6K than the Nikon

If you do want Macro then Nikon is better, but only for telephoto the tamron seems to be a good bet. Still analyzing this. I also have a preference for VR for Tele as having shot with it on my older Olympus, i have shaky hands and dont usually carry a Minopod/Tripod with me..it is mostly for family events and not for serious photography.

Tamron Lens: Zooms - Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di VC USD SP AF (Tested) - SLRgear.com!

ARJ > I had a look at the tamron. It does seem like a good lens. The VC is claimed to be better than VRII of Nikon atleast as per some very informative youtube videos. Its a good contender.

I did check the price of the two lens.
Tamron 29,995/- and Nikon 32,450/-
Nikon has revised its recently. Earlier it was for 29,450/-
The price difference between the lenses is not much and i believe Nikon would have a better re-sale anyday. Also, this is a FX lens.

How did you come across a difference of 6k?

 

[ajay124]

sumit

Tamron 29,995/- and Nikon 32,450/-.

I would only consider a third party lens if it was 50-60 % the price of a similar Nikon lens.

 

[Sumit]

sumit

Tamron 29,995/- and Nikon 32,450/-.

I would only consider a third party lens if it was 50-60 % the price of a similar Nikon lens.

I agree. However, if the 3rd part lens is optically superior then perhaps one can pay more. In this case it is not so and difference between the lenses is not much.

 

[arj]

ARJ > I had a look at the tamron. It does seem like a good lens. The VC is claimed to be better than VRII of Nikon atleast as per some very informative youtube videos. Its a good contender.

I did check the price of the two lens.
Tamron 29,995/- and Nikon 32,450/-
Nikon has revised its recently. Earlier it was for 29,450/-
The price difference between the lenses is not much and i believe Nikon would have a better re-sale anyday. Also, this is a FX lens.

How did you come across a difference of 6k?

Check it out here
Nikon is 31.5 here

 

[gobble]

I just a saw a B&W Pic I liked. There may be better ones out there, but would a modern color DSLR sensor like d5100 or d90 or a Canon 1100D or 600 be able to produce B&W pics of similar or better tonality? Agreed lens may play a role here - would a budget lens do it?

--G0bble

 

[Sumit]

Check it out here
Nikon is 31.5 here

But you can get a discount of 10% on Nikon from exclusive cool pix zones. The net price difference between the lenses after discount would be around 2.5K - give or take 500 bucks.

 

[rjstyles]

I just a saw a B&W Pic I liked. There may be better ones out there, but would a modern color DSLR sensor like d5100 or d90 or a Canon 1100D or 600 be able to produce B&W pics of similar or better tonality? Agreed lens may play a role here - would a budget lens do it?

--G0bble

Gobble here is what a 5k worth lens can do from Nikon both grey scale and a non saturated one .

 

[Hiten]

Rahul,
I am not an expert on anything but In general black and white photography is always involving because sans colour brain has less data to process and our focus shifts to the subject of the photograph. Digital cameras have evolved to be very good in bringing out details with amazing color and composition. But I think they put in artificial sharpness and do heavy colour correction which tend to be little away from reality. Mostly in real world colour hues are not so bright. I have taken liberty to take a picture from this thread so parden me. And please don't misunderstand me to point out flaws in the digital photography. This is just an example to illustrate few points. For instance see below top part of the picture...

it is flooded with green and camera took it as important thing and emphasised it further. So depth and original colour are missing. I manipulated it somewhat in bottom picture where leaves are not washed with single green colour and each leave stands out, also in the little forest in back ground I have removed green cast on tree trunks which have added depth. This makes the picture a little bit more natural.

As for the picture you have posted, a year back I scanned few glass plate negatives of old vintage camera and tonal quality was amazing. I will see if I have kept those files and post. Meanwhile here is the sample taken from the net.

Finer details may be missing but there is fantastic tonal balance right from shadows to highlights in above picture.
I also think that herein lies the difference between Digital and Analogue audio. A high resolution digital audio will sound more detailed (Clear) but some raw naturalness of sound may be missing.
Regards

 

[Hiten]

Few more glass plate negative samples

Interesting read
Ansel Adams Relatives and Trust Still Skeptical of Garage Sale Negatives
Regards

 

[ajay124]

Cutting my daughter's hair is not an easy job. It is a nerve wracking ordeal for the barber.... because she does not sit still for more than one micro second. She belongs to the restless, rebellious generation X of 21st century Indian girls

My wish for her....that she walks alone.... and never has to lean on the crutch of an arrogant male who thinks he knows, or deserves, more than her.

haircut | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

[Hiten]

Rahul,
Continuing what I meant was even glass plate have capability to produce excellent tonal details* so lens may not be important at the start of the hobby. Here is an example from may be a cheap camera. (Only Raw format other is photoshop corrected)

Old Films were no exception either. Some films (Fuji ?) produced artificial vividness. From my basic understanding of graphic designing personal opinion is colours should be natural. I guess what clicked for you in Gandhi Nehru picture may be is, it has moderately good contrast, Good tonal range, subjects are in focus than rest of the image, details and sharpness is good (definitely not a glass plate camera).

*Off topic : Though authenticity of Ansel Adams glass negatives in posted link will remains a mystery. He did work on both the media.
Regards

 

[Hiten]

These are glass plates I scanned. What can be achieved with just single lens, glass plate and chemicals is amazing. No loss of shadow details and no overexposure of highlights. (White shirt, Skin texture, Ornaments) Only correction made on computer was two ends of tonal range were targeted. I think modern digital format achieve this by calculating shadow or highlight zones and expose them accordingly. Though no sharpness was applied even lower resolution compressed JPG format have preserved some details...

...these are around 100 years old glass plates which survived time and rough weather.
Regards

 

[gobble]

Wow! Hiten! Where did you get these from? Family heirlooms?

I looked around on flickr and it is clear for me that digital B&Ws do not have that analog look - the mind can perceive it although it is hard to lay a finger on exactly what it is. I guess it is something in between the pixels that does not flow and overlap into the next.. I dont have the words for it. The boundaries between pixels are too solid or well defined in digital? (Oops another digital versus analog debate! )

Quick question - is there any post-processing tool or trick that can give a more analog feel to B&Ws? I'm not talking about the adding grains trick.

Actually I had a look at the OMD E-M5 a few days back was trying to decide between two m4/3 lenses the Lumix 7-14mm f/4 versus the m.Zuiko 9-18mm f/4-5.6. It has been an agonizing yesterday trying to decide. While the Lumix is superior on specs, the Olly I can use with my existing 52mm B&W (the German company not black&White) filters. (Maybe I will even get a Singh-Ray warming polarizer one day when the dollar falls ...) The Lumix does not accept filters and at 7mm its not possible to use any I guess. In all the pics I saw the Lumix felt superior and the Olly collection of flickr definitely looked softer all around. I loved some of those dramatic shots below 9mm for landscapes, but then these angles can only be used 3 or 4 times a year max when out in the wilderness as our country is so full of filth in every corner no decent snaps are possible with wide. The 9mm should allow a few archeology perspective shots.

Does sharpening in software provide good results (hence the olly wins!)? I have not used the professional tools yet and for example Picasa screws up landscape pics when the sharpen tool is used.

The other lens I may possibly pick up is the m.zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II R but I am resisting the idea. should I simply get the 45mm f/1.8 and skip or get both?

For Tele zoom I could consider the m.zuiko 40-150mm for close-up of temple sculptures but it is only great beyond 100mm. Actually it has been sold for $100 discounted on the web and a steal at that price. But If I am charged $199 locally I will have second thoughts. OR should I wait until the wallet shock subsides and get the 75mm f/1.8. I would have really considered it if it were weather sealed. I have not seen any comparisons of the 14-42mm versus the 14-150mm in the lower end of the zoom to help me decide if skipping the 14-42mm lens will be more practical.

Help me decide - maybe with some selective shots linked that show a more analog feel (and with little barrel distortion for the UWA) guys! Maybe there are some pics out there that will make the decision a snap!
I will be purchasing this week.

Thanks
--G0bble

 

[Staxxx]

Hello Gobble. I thought I would reply to your post since you are in bangalore as well. I use the OMD and opted for two prime lenses rather than the zooms. The picture quality of these are superb and it is a wonderful camera. However, I wanted to mention that I absolutely love PP (Post Processing).
One of the best software packages for B&W processing is called Siver FX Pro 2. Don't knock digital photographs processed by this software; it even allows you to emulate different types of B&W film. Fantastic. However for most of my PP work I use Photoshop CS6. I am sure I only use 1% of its capabilities, but it is utterly amazing what you can do to save or edit a photograph today !
For sharpening to be done well you need to read up (or watch on youtube) some tutorials. There are several types of sharpening and you can adjust/feather till you get to a setting that you really like. Many of the more simpler programs just use a generic "sharpening" algorithm, but I am happy to let you play with my CS6 to see the flexibility on offer, whenever we get a chance to meet up.

 

[gobble]

Hello Gobble. I thought I would reply to your post since you are in bangalore as well. I use the OMD and opted for two prime lenses rather than the zooms. The picture quality of these are superb and it is a wonderful camera. However, I wanted to mention that I absolutely love PP (Post Processing).
One of the best software packages for B&W processing is called Siver FX Pro 2. Don't knock digital photographs processed by this software; it even allows you to emulate different types of B&W film. Fantastic. However for most of my PP work I use Photoshop CS6. I am sure I only use 1% of its capabilities, but it is utterly amazing what you can do to save or edit a photograph today !
For sharpening to be done well you need to read up (or watch on youtube) some tutorials. There are several types of sharpening and you can adjust/feather till you get to a setting that you really like. Many of the more simpler programs just use a generic "sharpening" algorithm, but I am happy to let you play with my CS6 to see the flexibility on offer, whenever we get a chance to meet up.

Great! So should I only the a starter kit of the 9-18mm and the 45mm f/1.8?

I can only use Linux for software - does this tool run on Linux?

--G0bble

 

[Staxxx]

Hitten: I second that they are wonderful portraits !!
Gobble: I thought I would reply to your post as you are in Bangalore too and I am using an OMD. It is a superb camera and you will not be disappointed. I use two primes instead of the zooms but can see someone going the other route too.
On the matter of Post Processing (PP), I absolutely love it and spend a lot of time on my choice photographs. It is amazing what you can do with good software today. For B&W I recommend SilverFX Pro 2. Don't knock the analogue feel of digital processing. This software allows you to emulate tens of different types of B&W film! Superb.
For regular post processing work I use CS6. When you venture into digital photography more than just to point and shoot family and the odd landscape pic, I suggest that you make a budget for some good software. Once again I don't believe you will regret it.
When it comes to sharpening - there are many kinds of sharpening and you can get it to a point which you can save as your profile. Many simpler software programs use a generic "sharpening" algorithm, but in fact you can adjust where and how much (feathering, opacity etc.) to an incredible degree. It is too complicated to explain all the alternatives here but you are welcome to play with my CS6 if we ever get to meet in Bangalore. I don't think I use more than 1% of this program!

 

[Staxxx]

Oops sorry for the double post. I did not think the first one went through !!
The starter kit is excellent value and a super set of lenses. Multiply by 2 to get the full-frame equivalent.

 

[gobble]

Oops sorry for the double post. I did not think the first one went through !!
The starter kit is excellent value and a super set of lenses. Multiply by 2 to get the full-frame equivalent.

I have to see if it will be offered as a starter kit at a more conomical price than seperates. Will find out today.

--G0bble

 

[gobble]

Quick Question - How will barrel distortion at the widest angle affect curved lines? I am concerned with influence on the beauty and proportions in Indian scuplture taken within tight spots.

--G

 

[Staxxx]

Gobble: Photographing still objects like sculpture in a studio setting is quite an art and you need to get the appropriate set up to make sure the light is bouncing off correctly to minimize shadows etc.
This is quite different to barrel distortion or convergence of parallel line (which by the way will not be all that bad I think at an 18mm ff equivalent lens) which will be evident if you take a photograph of a brick wall or large building using a particularly wide angle lens. Many reviews of lenses provide a picture of a wall to show you how a particular lens performs with this regard.
I used to use a tilt and shift lens with my Canon rig, which was just superb but over GBP 2.000, to get perfectly parallel lines. Nowadays distortion can be easily correct in PP.