Spirit of Photography
Photography Gear and Equipment => Cameras, Lenses and Shooting Gear => Topic started by: Cindy Miller Hopkins on October 25, 2010, 04:11:57 PM
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GOOD NEWS - Well, I just got my new D7000 a few days ago and have been playing with it. It is very light weight (compared to my two very heavy D2x's that I LOVE) but it does seem to be well made and hardy. The SD double card door works smoothly and seems to have a good lock on it. The buttons are very similar to my D2x and D200, so the learning curve is not too bad. The large viewing screen is very bright and clear. They have a new way of displaying image information that I find quite handy (shows everything on one screen.) I have not tried the 1080 HD video yet, but it is the real reason I got this camera. Canon has been out with a 1080 HD pro camera for almost a year and Nikon is way behind the curve on that one. Nothing worse than getting behind my pro Canon shooters! I was planning on taking it on a quick trip to Barcelona next week .... but ...
BAD NEWS - Apparently, Nikon has changed the NEF raw files ... and Adobe CS3 or CS4 will not display the new file format yet! Yeeks! I shot a project all morning in RAW for a workshop that I will be teaching soon and low and behold when I up-loaded them to my computer, they would not display in Bridge. Did all the normal stuff ... went to Adobe to be sure I had the very latest version - but still no go. Adobe / CS4 and or Lightroom will not open the image to even change or re-save the image as a Jpeg ... so right now I'm sorta screwed ;( I have been online for the past few hours and I'm not the only one with this problem. Apparently, Adobe is working on a "patch" but it is not out yet - TBD ... uggggggggg. Seems like a nice camera ... but it looks like they released it a little too soon without all their ducks in a row. I also tried to buy a second back-up battery to take with me ... BUT they are not on the market yet. Really? Why would you release a new camera and not have availability to get an additional battery?
Any advise or additional information from other Spirit of Photography users as to information about the Adobe patch would be greatly appreciated. THANKS.
Once the software will actually talk to the camera and computer ... and everybody "gets along and plays nice" I will give you all a better review of the camera.
Cindy
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Congrats on the new camera. I wish mine would get here. I've been watching this whole product launch fiasco closely. Right now it looks like the only thing you can do is install the view nx2 software that came with the camera and convert it to jpg or maybe tif. Not sure what all the options are because I haven't used the software yet. The other option is to shoot jpg or raw+jpg. I think the extra battery shortage is kind of crazy. You think they'd have loads of them ready to sell since it's completely new.
I'm really disappointed in the way this whole thing has played out. It makes me less confident in Nikon as a company. I have no doubt the camera will perform well but it makes me wonder if there will be good service if I need it. I contacted my retailer about my order today and they still have no idea when they will get their shipment. They say they have not received any information from Nikon. At this point I don't think it makes sense to cancel and try to get it from somewhere else. They will get them at some point. Best Buy is supposedly sold out. All the other retailers will ship theirs to fill their current orders. Who knows when the next round of cameras will arrive in the USA and they still have the rest of the world to supply.
To make things even less exciting for me, http://bythom.com/ says Nov. 1 there will be a rebate on the 70-300mm lens with the purchase of the D7000. It would not have bothered me if the camera had shipped with the lens when I ordered it or even a little later when the other vendors started selling them, and before I knew about the rebate. If I don't get the camera before the rebate is available I'm going to be even less happy. I have half a mind to return the 70-300 and reorder when the cameras come in. I have to wait anyway I might as well get the discount.
I also asked them about changing my order to the D90. It's available now and has a $250 discount with the 70-300 and they said they could adjust my order and apply the instant rebate, That would give me a good camera now at a much lower price but I really want the D7000.
I have bought a number of high demand electronics at launch over the years. I know they aren't always perfect and not everyone is able to get the hot new toy on the first day but, this is the worst one I have been part of. It also has the highest price tag so I guess I just expected a better launch from a company that has been around as long as Nikon.
I am sure it would been less agrivating if I had just ordered the camera instead of having 2 new lenses and a flash sitting in a bag just waiting for a camera that won't be here for who knows how long.
Sorry for the rant. I hope my first part helps.
:)
Chris
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http://www.dpreview.com/news/1010/10102503adobecameraraw.asp
Lightroom 3.3 RC1 is available for download today. It's supposed to suppord D7000 and several other new cameras.
http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/lightroom3-3.html
I don't know if you're interested in pre-release software but it usually works pretty well. I'm not sure how it will affect your current installation of lightroom. If you have a second computer it might be worth a try.
Camera Raw 6.3 may be another option. It is also a release candidate.
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/cameraraw6-3/
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Good information Chris.
Cindy, I'd go with the release candidates of ACR 6.3 that Chris provided the link for. I can't remember if you upgraded to CS 5 yet, but as usual with Adobe, the newer versions of ACR will only work with the latest versions of Photoshop. (Forces that constant software upgrade, so Adobe gets your money one way or another :-) ).
While this might be the first time you all have experienced this type of release fiasco, I've experienced much worse in the past. It comes with being on the "bleeding edge," or one of the "early adapters." I am surprised however, that Nikon hasn't released an updated version of Capture NX 2. I can only guess that they hit some last minute snags with the software testing that held up the release.
There's always the free version of View NX that came with the camera. It does a fine job converting the D7000 NEFs, you just have to save them out as a high quality TIFF or JPEG before bringing them into Photoshop.
Adobe is actually getting much better about releasing updates for the new cameras than they ever have been in the past. Given the popularity of the D7000, I suspect many people will "feel the pain" of waiting on Adobe to work out the kinks. (Happens every time. Adobe really blew it with the early versions of ACR with their implementation of processing for the Nikon D3 files, which drove a lot of people to other alternatives.)
Keith
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While this might be the first time you all have experienced this type of release fiasco, I've experienced much worse in the past. It comes with being on the "bleeding edge," or one of the "early adapters." I am surprised however, that Nikon hasn't released an updated version of Capture NX 2. I can only guess that they hit some last minute snags with the software testing that held up the release.
Thanks Keith. I know it could be much worse.
I was just getting a little frustrated. :)
This is my first Nikon purchase and a big one at that. They just haven't made the best first impression. If they would release some kind of statement it would help.
Edit: Maybe I'm just too used to getting a tracking number as soon as I order something. lol Good thing we're not waiting on the pony express i guess. I would have different expectations though.
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Thanks all ... yes, last night, while I was thinking clearly ... I was able to open the files in ViewNX2 and convert them to Jpegs for my workshop. Whew. Thanks for the links Chris, I will check them out. I have not up-graded to CS5 yet ... waiting for my next royalty check (Keith, you know all about that!). Hopefully, it should cover the cost of the camera, my up-grade AND a pizza! ... might be wishful thinking, but I have a few nice photo sales that should be on this one ;)
I did call Adobe ... waited on hold for 48 mins! ... talked to India TWICE ... their answer is "should be out soon" .... but no real answer.
Personally, I would hold out for the D7000 and not change your order to the D90. I have several friends with the D90 and it's indeed a fine camera, but when this all shakes out I think the 1080 HD and other features will keep the D7000 at the head of the pack. The body has a nicer feel than the D90 and I think that body material is a bit higher quality. It just feels tighter to me. It's also rated much better in dust & moisture protection, which is very important to me and to most buyers that plan on shooting the camera for years to come.
My plan is to take it to Europe and play with it. I normally shoot in just RAW, but I will shoot in RAW and FINE until the software can catch up to the camera. At leas this way I can access my images while on the road ... but still have my RAW files for later.
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I'm glad you were able to get it to work.
I got good news today! I'm 90% happier with my situation now. I decided to keep my order the same. I really wanted the D7000 more than the D90 for the reasons you mentioned. This will probably be my only DSLR for as long as it lasts, and I hope that is many years. Anyway, I called the company I ordered from and asked if they had an ETA yet. They said Nov. 23! While that's still a while to wait it's much better than unknown. That's also why I'm only 90% happier today instead of 100%. The main reason I'm so much happier is because I asked them about the $200 rebate on the 70-300mm lens with the D7000 purchase. They gave me the discount! I was prepared to argue my point and threaten to return the lens because I was still within the return period but I didn't have to. This is all working out nicely. Hopefully the ETA is accurate or better yet an over estimate.
I still wish it had been here last week though. It would have been handy Thursday night. I'll post some of the pictures I got from my current camera in the portrait assignment album. They're ok considering the poor low light performance of the P&S I have.
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Looks like you can order a battery now.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/735929-REG/Nikon_27011_EN_EL15_RECHARGEABLE_LI_ION_BATTERY.html
Who knows when you'll actually get it. Price seems kind of high for a battery.
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I think you've done it right Chris. Even Iliah Borg have already declared the D7000 to be an "excellent" camera - he was even surprised when he compared it to D3x! So, just have more patience. Keep on looking at other stores that may have it ready for delivery.
Meanwhile, start already knowing the D7000 really well.
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Wont be waiting much longer! I'm so excited today!
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Cool! I'm very sure you will enjoy the camera. I've been reading lots of good things about it.
Keith
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I bet if I drive up to the interstate I'd see my camera go by in a big truck in just a few minutes. Too bad brown doesn't deliver on saturday. I really like their tracking though.
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Chris and Cindy,
I'm sure that you've been following this: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1034&thread=36887819
How excited are you now? Keith have cautioned to hold our horses until the raw-converter softwares have catch-up with the ISO-less D7000/K-5 sensor technology.
Here's how I understand this: When the raw-converter software becomes adequate, the digital medium (as opposed to film) paradigm in photography can now be implemented by any newbie - meaning: optimally capture the light of subject that the digital sensor can maximally record according to the photographer's pictorial intent (DOF and motion blur) and decide about exposure latitude/choices in postprocessing. So, with the D7000 - at ISO 100 all the time, pick your aperture and shutter speed, compose and focus and shoot away - only look at histogram/LCD to make sure there's no overexposure - then decide your desired exposure in postprocessing.
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Hi Jaime,
I think you have a good understanding of the theory, as it was presented in that thread. I'm still a bit cautious about believing that the D7000 can be considered "ISO-less." There are concerns about quantization errors when pushing that much, and Iliah has alluded to the fact that not all the information is included in the NEF that a raw converter would need to eliminate the banding. RPP is also the best processor to achieve this push, and folks that are using other raw processors might be deluded into thinking they can match RPPs capabilities, which isn't quite true, yet.
I'm also a bit sceptical of the need to push 6 stops in post processing. You should expose so that you preserve "important" highlights, but there is no need to try to protect the highlights in zones 9 or 10 (and significant reason NOT to), and therefore very, very rarely a need to push 6 stops in post processing. I think the idea of a "paradigm shift" is distractor to good photographic technique, and will encourage many photographers to become sloppy, and consequently get less than optimum results.
There's great work being done by the folks on DPreview that will help us all better understand the characteristics of our camera sensors, but I still advocate for good technique over the convenience of a not quite proven "paradigm shift."
Keith
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Thanks Keith. I should have said "So, with the D7000.......to make sure there's no unintended overexposure...". I also see no reason to preserve zones 9 & 10 highlights.
With the D7000, doesn't it make sense though: why prefer a lower absolute exposure and lower DR with ISO higher than 100 when there's no benefit?
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Hi Jaime,
You asked, "why prefer a lower DR with ISO higher than 100 when there's no benefit?" I think the key to the answer is "when there is no benefit." The simple example posted on DPreview demonstrated that there is a benefit to selecting a higher ISO in camera. The camera (or manufacturer software) knows to apply different processing to a higher ISO image to obtain optimum results. Right now you can't gain these benefits from exposing lower and pushing in post.
There is also the matter of color fidelity that we didn't bother covering in that post on DPreview. Iliah has said many times in the past that color fidelity of sensors is not linear. That's one of the reasons he recommends no more than a 2.5 stop push. (He alluded to this in the post, but didn't actually come out and say it.) While it may be possible to compensate for the color fidelity issues in the raw processor push, the software is currently not optimized to do so.
The bottom line is that people are trying to use the sensor in a way that the system was not designed to operate. Their frustration I believe, is that Nikon (Canon, etc.) might now have the capability to design the system to work as an "ISO-less" system; however, Nikon, et al have chosen not to do so. (i.e, they haven't made their methods of optimizing the high ISO images public, or available to other software developers, of which by the way, Iliah is one.) With just a "simple" improvement in software, these folks believe they can have this magical ISO-less system. I think Iliah has cautioned that it might take more than a "simple" adjustment in software.
I hope this helps explain my thoughts a bit more?
Keith
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Thanks Keith. I guess until proven otherwise and further development in camera's UI's and raw-converter softwares, exposure based on film paradigm is still the best approach for digital photography.
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I'm even more excited about it since I have started reading about it. Should make my newbie mistakes easier to fix in post. ;D
I still plan to try to get my exposure right(or at least close) in camera because I don't like to edit them. Mostly because I don't really know what I'm doing so it takes a long time with trial and error. I have learned that with my current camera, most pictures need a boost in contrast and lower brightness so thats all I do other than crop and/or resize. I'm limited anyway because it records jpegs.
That reminds me...
Keith, I tried the hack to enable raw on my camera. It was more trouble than it was worth to me. It's not a regular Canon raw format so it's was hard to find something that would open it. The menu's were difficult to navigate too.
My D7000 will be here tomorrow morning and I can't wait! It's really bad because I know it's been in town since friday evening. lol
The manual i downloaded would be a lot more interesting if the camera were in my hands. :D
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Hi Jaime,
Well, I 'm not so sure I go as far as to say the "film paradigm" is still the best approach. I think there is a middle ground. I advocate for underexposing where necessary to preserve important highlights, and then bringing up the shadows and mid tones as needed in post processing. I just don't think it is a good idea to go overboard with push processing when you don't need to.
Each sensor/camera combination is different, and a diligent photographer will try to understand the characteristics of their sensor in order to maximize the quality of the output. Some cameras (D2X for example) have a very step drop in dynamic range as the ISO goes up. Other cameras (D700 and D3 for example, and D3s even more so) have a relatively flat slope at the lower end of the ISO scale where dynamic range doesn't drop appreciably until you reach a certain "break point" where DR available becomes less than the DR of a "normal" photographic scene. For the D700 or D3, this is around ISO 1600, for the D3S closer to 3200. This means I can raise my ISO without loosing significant dynamic range until I reach that "break point." (It's not really a "break point" since the slope is fairly flat for these cameras, but more a point at which I have to become conscious of the dynamic range I am losing by raising the ISO. (For the D7000, this point is somewhere between ISO 800 and ISO 1600.)
So, accepting "less" dynamic range (from the higher ISO) is not a bad thing, if I don't need that dynamic range to begin with. This especially true if raising the ISO helps me to avoid quantization or banding effects, or helps me to preserve color fidelity (or just generally makes my post-processing workflow easier).
Does my thought process make sense to you?
Keith
P.S.
It's interesting to note that if we truly had an "ISO-less" camera, then we would loose one of our tools for understanding sensor performance at specific ISOs. It's very interesting that Bobn2, who is currently one of the strongest advocates for an "ISO-less" camera uses ISO as the horizontal axis on all of his charts for characterizing sensor performance. If the camera manufacturers were to truly produce a camera without ISO controls (or insight into the ISO that the image was captured at), then how would we chart the sensor performance? :) (We could still do it using EV, or lumens, or another measurement of light intensity, but that's not the current way we think about exposure.)
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That's how I shoot with my D700 for almost just a year now - ISO 800 for Zones 1 to 6 lights (and for i-ttl flash), ISO 200 for Zones 1 to 7 (or beginning of Zone VIII); maximum at ISO 1600 if deeper DOF and/or faster shutter speed is/are needed; push up to 2 - 2.5EV in CNX2 (Exposure Compensation slider and/or Master Brightness curve in LCH) as needed for my taste.
Thanks also Keith for making so much sense too in dpreview: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1018&thread=36912461
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Chris,
The more reason that you should always shoot raw (NEF files) with your D7000, so when you become more comfortable with NEF conversion and postprocessing - you will always have a bigger data to manipulate when you come back to those images. I for one, now appreciate more what I have captured when I started postprocessing more.
Have a very good night sleep now because you will have a lot less, starting tomorrow when you have gotten hold of your D7000.
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First pic from the D7000 with 18-105 kit lens.
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With the 50mm f1.4. A mode , high speed. This was the last of a 10 shot burst. Man this thing is fast. I can tell already, I'm going to love the 50mm. I can also tell I have a lot to learn.
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It will be interesting to see how the 50mm handles bokeh (out of focus rendering) when shot closer to your subject in a typical portrait fashion. The out of focus areas in this shot are a little more "edgy" than I prefer, but might smooth out if the subject is closer.
Keith
P.S.
Yes, I think you're going to have a lot of fun!
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I'll play with it and try to get some more examples posted later today. I have class tonight though.
I set it to raw+jpg, put my 8gb card in slot 1 and 4gb in slot 2. Should work out ok since the nefs are more than twice the file size of the jpegs.
I discovered that Picasa opens the nef files.
ViewNX2 seems to be pretty decent software so far. Don't think I'll be in a huge hurry to change but I can get student price on photoshop and lightroom. Might be worth it.
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Congratulations on the new camera. It's going to be a great creative instrument, and I'm really looking forward to your posts here.
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Thanks Dave. I hope I can learn to use it well.
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A few more things.
I have changed from raw + jpg to just raw. I see now that large memory cards are useful. I could put thousands of jpegs on the 8GB card but only a little over 200 nef. I can get about 350 using both cards. It's quick and easy to make jpegs anyway.
I had some trouble with viewnx crashing but a reboot seems to have cleared it up for now. I was looking at the help menu in viewnx and there was a link to CaptureNX trial. I have only played with it for a few minutes but I have already found a few features that view doesn't seem to have. I may have to upgrade. The trial doesn't seem to have any trouble with D7000 files.
I found another reason to try to get the exposure right in camera. View and Capture both only seem to allow + or - 2EV for exposure compensation. I assume you could save a copy at say +2 then open that copy and raise it another 2 and so on. I havent tried it but that seems silly anyway. :D
I stuck the sb900 on the camera lastnight. seems to work really well in full auto mode. I'll work on learning to use the flash once I learn to use the camera. ;D The built in flash does it's job ok but bouncing it off the ceiling is nice, lights up the whole room. Glad I got the sb900. I didn't get to try it off camera. I might try that tonight.
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A few more things.
I have changed from raw + jpg to just raw. I see now that large memory cards are useful. I could put thousands of jpegs on the 8GB card but only a little over 200 nef. I can get about 350 using both cards. It's quick and easy to make jpegs anyway.
Yup, I think most folks discover that. Like you said, it's easy enough to make jpegs if and when you need them.
You will find that the estimate of number of NEFs that will fit on a card is "conservative." The estimate is based on a conservative estimate of how much space each compressed file will need. Many images need less space than this conservative estimate, and so you will find that although the "initial estimate" might be only 200 images, you'll probably get closer to 300 before the card is full, especially if most shots are at a lower ISO. (Because of the way files are processed and stored, higher ISO images will take more space.) But like you said earlier "storage is cheap."
I found another reason to try to get the exposure right in camera. View and Capture both only seem to allow + or - 2EV for exposure compensation.
Lots of reasons for that. Color fidelity suffers if you are off by more than 2 stops, and you can introduce other problems (color shifts in the shadows, etc.) if you try to push more than that.
I stuck the sb900 on the camera lastnight. seems to work really well in full auto mode. I'll work on learning to use the flash once I learn to use the camera. ;D The built in flash does it's job ok but bouncing it off the ceiling is nice, lights up the whole room. Glad I got the sb900. I didn't get to try it off camera. I might try that tonight.
Bounce flash typically provides much softer light than direct flash, and allows you to balance fill with ambient much more effectively. Yup, bounce is good. I don't have the SB900 yet, but it seems like a really nice flash. (But upgrading from the SB-800 is lower on my priority list right now.)
Glad you're having fun!
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Chris,
First, a disclaimer: I am an occasional amateur hobbyist that started only 2.5 years ago with only one DSLR (D700).
For Nikon's Flash System: http://nikonclspracticalguide.blogspot.com/
I'm sure you've read Keith's "Understanding and Controlling Exposure" in this site. Find out where's Zones V and VII in your D7000's light-meter using spotmeter when shooting in 14-bit NEF. The fun is when you're the artist and not the camera.
Remember the 3 things that you cannot change in postprocessing: focus, DOF and motion blur.
Nikon's Focus System is very fulfilling - you'll be very unhappy if you don't master it.
In photography, there is no reason to "disconnect" capture, postprocessing and ouput (print or web).
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Chris,
By the way, I really like your "first pic" above. Nice light, beautiful skin tones and color rendition and nice and sharp.
Keith
By the way, I think you'll find the "sweet spot" for the 50mm is between f2 and f4.
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For Nikon's Flash System: http://nikonclspracticalguide.blogspot.com/
Thanks. I'll check that out.
I'm sure you've read Keith's "Understanding and Controlling Exposure" in this site. Find out where's Zones V and VII in your D7000's light-meter using spotmeter when shooting in 14-bit NEF. The fun is when you're the artist and not the camera.
I have read it but am reading it all over again. :) I may have to read it several more times.
Nikon's Focus System is very fulfilling - you'll be very unhappy if you don't master it.
So far I have figured how to set a single focus point and move it around. Much better than the full auto I think. I like it better for now at least.
In photography, there is no reason to "disconnect" capture, postprocessing and ouput (print or web).
So far I have found that editing the nef files is much easier than jpgs. Editing won't be such a big deal anymore. That's one thing I've been looking forward to.
By the way, did you see my Fixed and out of whack pictures in the gallery?
Fixed: http://spiritofphotography.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=0&pos=0
Out of whack: http://spiritofphotography.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=0&pos=1
I could have never done that with a jpg but it was so easy with the nef.
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Chris,
By the way, I really like your "first pic" above. Nice light, beautiful skin tones and color rendition and nice and sharp.
Keith
By the way, I think you'll find the "sweet spot" for the 50mm is between f2 and f4.
Thanks Keith.
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Keith, you said in the comment on the out of whack picture, " Do you have the RGB histogram option turned on? "
I figured out how to turn it on in playback. Should I be able to turn it on in the viewfinder? I haven't found any info on that yet. I know I can turn on the histogram in the viewfinder of my canon but it is an electronic viewfinder just like the lcd on the back of the camera, only smaller.
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Keith, you said in the comment on the out of whack picture, " Do you have the RGB histogram option turned on? "
I figured out how to turn it on in playback. Should I be able to turn it on in the viewfinder? I haven't found any info on that yet. I know I can turn on the histogram in the viewfinder of my canon but it is an electronic viewfinder just like the lcd on the back of the camera, only smaller.
Hi Chris,
No, the RGB histogram will only display in playback. There's no provision for turning it on in the viewfinder.
We could have a long discussion about how to best use the RGB histogram, so just start asking questions when you're ready. :)
Keith
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Chris,
Yup, I saw both ("Out of whack" and "Fixed") and until now I'm still trying to figure out how the D7000's matrix metering system, in Aperture priority mode with no exposure compensation, failed to automatically exposed the scene in averaged middle gray luminance (with a default priority to save bright highlights) at whatever WB preset.
Do you have an idea Keith how the D7000 handled this exposure?
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Hello Keith,
In the camera's RGB histogram which is JPEG-based, a multiplier is applied to R and B - so if the R and/or B channel(s) in highlights are/is clipped but the Green is not, the R and/or B are not clipped in the actual NEF file. Hence the use of UniWB, so as not to actually underexpose the R and/or B channel(s).
How or what else can you best use the RGB histogram?
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Chris,
Yup, I saw both ("Out of whack" and "Fixed") and until now I'm still trying to figure out how the D7000's matrix metering system, in Aperture priority mode with no exposure compensation, failed to automatically exposed the scene in averaged middle gray luminance (with a default priority to save bright highlights) at whatever WB preset.
Do you have an idea Keith how the D7000 handled this exposure?
Hi Jaime,
We get some hints if we download the image and look at the histogram in Photoshop. If we look at the individual color channels we can see that although the red channel is severely clipped, the green channel is not, and the blue channel is actually "underexposed." The "luminosity" histogram (the combination of all three color channels, at the ratios which they determine brightness) is not clipped either. As a matter of fact, the luminosity histogram looks just about "perfect." The fact that the luminosity histogram is not clipped is one of the primary indications of why the metering system didn't lower the exposure, since the purpose of the meter is to expose the image at the correct "brightness."
So the "clipping" in the "out of whack" image is all in the red channel, which explains 1) how Chris was able to recover it in the raw file and 2) why the corrected version is less red.
It's also worth noting that the D7000 has a new auto white balance setting. Under auto white balance you can select "normal" or you can select "keep warmer colors." From the rendition of the "Out of Whack" image, I wonder if the "keep warmer colors" option was selected for auto white balance, which would result in more amplification to the red channel and accentuate the clipping? The image was obviously taken under very warm light, and this warm light resulted in the red channel clipping way before the other channels (in the rendered version). (You correctly stated that the white balance multipliers applied when rendering the image are usually what results in the red or blue channel clipping.)
I'll try to answer your question about how to best use the RGB histogram in a follow-on post.
Keith
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Thanks Keith. Now I get it. I should have downloaded the file and look at the histogram too - that's another important use of the histogram: analysis then learning from the image captured.
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Here's link to the NEF if you care to look at it. It's 40MB though.
http://www.christopherfranklin.info/temp/DSC_0067.zip (http://www.christopherfranklin.info/temp/DSC_0067.zip)
I had to rename the file so that it could be downloaded. It has an extention of .zip but it is not a zip file. Simply change the file extention to .nef and it should work fine.
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I took a look at white balance setting. It's on normal not keep warm colors. I'm sure this is a setting I have not changed.
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I took a look at white balance setting. It's on normal not keep warm colors. I'm sure this is a setting I have not changed.
Good to know. Thanks.
Keith
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Ok, this is different. After posting the nef I went to look at it again in capture. When I opened it I saw the fixed version and thought "Oh no! I have saved over the original!". I then noticed a box labeled Version and found that I could switch back to the original. Is that why the file size is 40MB instead of 20something like the others? How many versions can you save in a single nef? That's awesome but will take some getting used to.
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Ok, this is different. After posting the nef I went to look at it again in capture. When I opened it I saw the fixed version and thought "Oh no! I have saved over the original!". I then noticed a box labeled Version and found that I could switch back to the original. Is that why the file size is 40MB instead of 20something like the others? How many versions can you save in a single nef? That's awesome but will take some getting used to.
Yup, that's one of the cool things about nefs and Capture. I've never run up against any limit on the number of "versions" I could save in a single nef. (I'm sure there is one, I've just never hit it.)
I noticed the file size too, and thought "that's huge!" I'm not sure why 40MB instead of the 20 that I would normally expect. The additional "versions" shouldn't add that much overhead. I'll have to do some experimenting.
Keith
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Here's link to the NEF if you care to look at it. It's 40MB though.
http://www.christopherfranklin.info/temp/DSC_0067.zip (http://www.christopherfranklin.info/temp/DSC_0067.zip)
I had to rename the file so that it could be downloaded. It has an extention of .zip but it is not a zip file. Simply change the file extention to .nef and it should work fine.
Thanks Chris,
It's nice to have the raw file to play with. A couple of observations on the white balance. I compared the "recorded" white balance to daylight white balance, and the "recorded" value is equal the lower end of the range on daylight > sunlight (at 4132 Kelvin). Then I selected the "calculate automatically" option, and the software calculated that a "neutral" white balance was 3000 K.
From past experience, I know that the auto WB option will "bottom out" (or top out) at whatever the lowest (or highest) number is on the range for what it determines the actual lighting conditions are. So, for example, if it determines that the lighting was "flash" the lowest it will ever set the WB at is 4255K, because that's lower limit of the "flash" WB settings.
So, even though the "actual" WB temperature of the scene was closer to 3000K, the auto WB only corrected it to 4132K, because that was the lower end of the "daylight, sunlight" range. That's why the image still appeared "warm" and wasn't corrected all the way to neutral. Make sense?
Keith
By the way, there's a real danger of getting "warmer" and "cooler" mixed up when we're talking about white balance. The lower Kelvin numbers (like 3000K) are actually "warmer" than the higher numbers like 6000K, which is considered a "cool" WB. The software makes this more confusing by labeling the lower end of the correction slider "cooler." That's because if you slide the carrot in that direction, you are setting a "warmer" WB temperature, which the software will then used to calculate the required correction to make the image correspondingly "cooler.' Pretty confusing I know.
One way to think about it is like this. A "typical" incandescent bulb is a "warm" light source with a color temperature of about 3000K. If you set that WB setting in the camera, the software will attempt to compensate for the warmer light source by "cooling off" the rendering by a corresponding amount in order to make the whites neutral (instead of with a yellow or "warm" color cast). Make any more sense?
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That does make sense. I was confused on which way to move the slider.
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Ok, this is different. After posting the nef I went to look at it again in capture. When I opened it I saw the fixed version and thought "Oh no! I have saved over the original!". I then noticed a box labeled Version and found that I could switch back to the original. Is that why the file size is 40MB instead of 20something like the others? How many versions can you save in a single nef? That's awesome but will take some getting used to.
Yup, that's one of the cool things about nefs and Capture. I've never run up against any limit on the number of "versions" I could save in a single nef. (I'm sure there is one, I've just never hit it.)
I noticed the file size too, and thought "that's huge!" I'm not sure why 40MB instead of the 20 that I would normally expect. The additional "versions" shouldn't add that much overhead. I'll have to do some experimenting.
Keith
A couple of thoughts on the file size. The original (camera) file is usually saved with a medium quality jpeg embedded in the file. (That's the JPEG you are viewing when you zoom in on the LCD, etc.) When you work on the raw file in Capture and resave the file, it will embed a higher quality jpeg in the file, thus the increase in file size. (This increase in size is even more significant for the D7000, because of the higher resolution sensor.) There was also an increase in file size because of the "adjust" steps you added. Basically when you added the sharpening step, the resulting rendered (embedded) JPEG couldn't be compressed as much as an unsharpened JPEG, which added about 6 MB to the file size.
Make sense?
Keith
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That's the JPEG you are viewing when you zoom in on the LCD
Keith ..When I use Jpeg only in my old Kodak src i cant zoom in on the LCD
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That's the JPEG you are viewing when you zoom in on the LCD
Keith ..When I use Jpeg only in my old Kodak src i cant zoom in on the LCD
Hi Lars, Interesting... I never tried that option on my Kodak SLR/n.
It's definitely the JPEG that is embedded in the raw file that gives you the ability to zoom in on the LCD.
Keith
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Keith
Can i extract the embedded JPEG from the RAW file ?
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Keith
Can i extract the embedded JPEG from the RAW file ?
Yes. There are several programs that let you do that. Photo Mechanic will allow you to do that, but it is a fairly expensive program. I know there are other "shareware" programs that also enable the end user to extract embedded jpegs. I'll have to do some research to find a good shareware program that I can recommend for that function. (I use Photo Mechanic.)
Keith
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Make sense?
Keith
Yes, thanks.
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I learned a couple new things today. My 8GB card will hold 353 nefs. The high speed shutter is neat but it only makes more pics to go through. I ended up with over 450 pics from one basketball game. I noticed I'd click off several shots even when I wasn't meaning to. I'm guessing less than 5% are worth anything. I do have several that are good enough to turn in for my sports photography assignment. The 50mm was almost perfect. It was kind of short for the far end of the court. The 70-300 did ok zooming in to the far end but it was too long when they were close. The 18-105 was great for focal length. Too bad it can't open up more.
I had a lot of fun going, click, click, click, but I think I'll go to another game for more serious practice.
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I learned a couple new things today. My 8GB card will hold 353 nefs. The high speed shutter is neat but it only makes more pics to go through. I ended up with over 450 pics from one basketball game. I noticed I'd click off several shots even when I wasn't meaning to. I'm guessing less than 5% are worth anything. I do have several that are good enough to turn in for my sports photography assignment. The 50mm was almost perfect. It was kind of short for the far end of the court. The 70-300 did ok zooming in to the far end but it was too long when they were close. The 18-105 was great for focal length. Too bad it can't open up more.
I had a lot of fun going, click, click, click, but I think I'll go to another game for more serious practice.
You should be able to customize the fps for the high speed shutter. I typically set mine at 5fps, because as you said, it's hard to "moderate" the shutter when it's set at 8fps, and I would typically fire off more than I wanted to at that setting.
Glad you had fun. Good to learn that "anticipation" and timing are better than firing off a zillion shots and hoping to get something. :)
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Chris,
Keith is right - no point in shooting more than 5fps because of the mirror black-out time, you only end up with more out-of-focus images. Thom Hogan says "be a D3x" (http://www.bythom.com/autofocus2.htm).
How about, de-coupling AF activation from the half-pressed shutter button and instead assigning the AF activation to AE-L/AF-L button exclusively. With my D700 I assigned it to the AF-ON button. So my right thumb is pressing the AF-ON button continuously while my right index finger is continuosly half-pressing the shutter ready to take the shot. This trained my index finger to be less trigger happy - also, less downward movement on the camera.
jaime
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Hi all, CIndy Im with you on the D7000 NEF file for CS5. I forgot about that, I had the same problem with CS4 and D5000 but I found the "patch" for it so I was able to shoot in raw again. But with D7000, im still looking and there's no answer yet. The battery problem is not good, I always want to have extra batteries. BTW, does anyone have a suggestion for a good external Mic for D7000?
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Hi Shee,
You should be able to download and install this release candidate for Adobe Camera Raw and be able to open the D7000 files: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/cameraraw6-3/ (http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/cameraraw6-3/)
From what I hear it doesn't do quite as good a job with the D7000 files as the Nikon rendering from View NX2 or Capture NX2 though.
Congratulations on the new D7000 by the way!
Keith
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BTW, does anyone have a suggestion for a good external Mic for D7000?
I've read very good reviews on this mic: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/363083-REG/Rode_VIDEOMIC_VideoMic_Camera_Mounted.html (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/363083-REG/Rode_VIDEOMIC_VideoMic_Camera_Mounted.html). Many seem to think this is the best "price performance ratio" of the external mic options.
Keith
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And here's a review of three options for external mic on the D7000: http://www.d7000-microphones.com/ (http://www.d7000-microphones.com/)
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Hi Keith!!! it's been awhile, Ive been very busy as I was telling Rebecca. I actually googled after I posted that and yes I d/l'd camera raw 6.3 and yes it works perfect with CS5. I will look for that ext mic.
I like the D7000, ive contemplated about having a full frame, D300x or s but...hrmmm..very pricey whew!!
I miss submitting HW here, my schedule changed and just didn't have enough time to shoot pics for leisure, Ive been busy with weddings (on weekends) and lately with senior photos, family & baby photos ( for xmas ), but just really hectic in the hospital. But I miss you all, I browsed the gallery there's so many great pics i love them all!. Hopefully I can be active again soon, I hope I hope!! :)
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Hi Keith!!! it's been awhile, Ive been very busy as I was telling Rebecca. I actually googled after I posted that and yes I d/l'd camera raw 6.3 and yes it works perfect with CS5. I will look for that ext mic.
I like the D7000, ive contemplated about having a full frame, D300x or s but...hrmmm..very pricey whew!!
I miss submitting HW here, my schedule changed and just didn't have enough time to shoot pics for leisure, Ive been busy with weddings (on weekends) and lately with senior photos, family & baby photos ( for xmas ), but just really hectic in the hospital. But I miss you all, I browsed the gallery there's so many great pics i love them all!. Hopefully I can be active again soon, I hope I hope!! :)
Hi Shee,
We missed you too! I can empathize with the "very busy" comment, it seems like we're constantly trying to get caught up with processing all the images in the cue. Good to hear that you're busy photographing weddings and senior photos and such. It sounds like business is going well for you.
Even if you don't have time for the weekly assignments, stop by and show us some of your latest work every now and then. And let us know how the D7000 is working out for you. I'm amazed at the "bang for the buck" that camera has.
Keith