Wowmotion

This is one amazing video! The best slow motion captures I have ever seen. I found this on the iPhone-Photo Blog. He’s got other good stuff there as well.

Tempus II from Philip Heron on Vimeo.

Topaz Denoise 5 Review Part 2 – How to fix the magenta cast.

So the DPReview crowd has the usual whinging about the fact that I did not watch the videos to figure out how to process using this new version. What a silly concept. I complained about bad defaults, not a bad application. So here is how you fix that magenta cast.

First, load the same image and click RAW Strongest:

What you will see is that, unlike Denoise 4, the shadow slider has been pegged all the way to the right:

And you will see the Magenta cast on the whale:

It’s a simple matter now to dial back the “Adjust Shadow” slider to where it would have been on Denoise 4 … moving it back and forth in tiny increments, this 2/3 position is about where you get maximum noise reduction with no change in color.

Now that’s more like it. But since the only change is the “Adjust Shadow” slider, now I am curious about how Denoise 4 would handle me cranking that up.

Oops … it also pegs the slider at full, but does not muck with the contrast or colors.

 

Hmmm … ok, so let’s go back to Denoise 5 and try again. Leave the shadow slider pegged right and play with the new black level slider, which starts at 1.00, which should indicate that the setting is neutral but clearly indicates nothing of the sort. In inching it along from 0 to 1, I find myself wanting to leave it at 0. That seems to mimic what Denoise 4 does.

 

Yup, that’s the offender I it looks like. In fact, since either the “Adjust Shadow” or the “Correct Black Level” sliders can repair the problem, I think it is obvious that the two are not far apart in what they do -- and it kind of makes sense that black level has a lot to do with the appearance of shadows. :-)

So … I think Denoise should default black level correction to 0 so that the application does not harm your colors. It is not possible in Denoise 4 to cause this issue, because maxed out the Adjust Shadows slider is tame. But add the seconde control for black level in Denoise 5 and mayhem can ensue …

Here again is the Denoise 4 output:

And here is the adjusted Denoise 5 output with 0 black level. I also backed off the NR very slightly using the fade command, just toi restore the edges. Looks great.

So with this tweak, Denoise 5 looks as good as (and maybe slightly better than, but that requires more testing) Denoise 4 and runs about twice as fast. What’s not to like?

Topaz Denoise 5 Review – Bad news … it mucks with colors! ** Updated–not as bas as I had thought …

I took a rather noisy 25,600 ISO image shot in the Blue Whale display at the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan (yes, the one in the movie) and processed it in ACR 6 with no sharpening or noise reduction. Then, I passed it through Topaz Denoise version 4 and 5 with the same default setting – RAW Strongest.

Both version produce a very clean output. But version 5 has a new feature that adjusts the black point, and by default it adds a magenta cast to the shadows. This is a bit funky looking to me. We’ll see that in a moment.

But first, kudos to the Topaz team for speeding things up rather dramatically. Version 4 processed the image in 48.9 seconds, which version 5 processed it in just over half that time – 27.7 seconds! Very well done. I remember timing Topaz Denoise when it first came out at about 6 minutes per file. And it was still worth it! But we’ve come a long way baby …

So let’s see the original image at 800px (remember to click on the thumbnail you see here to see the 800px version) …

Noisy, but not all that bad for the screamingly high ISO. Note that the room is actually quite dark. My exposure is a bit higher and the shadows have been opened somewhat, which exposes a lot of noise in the shadows. Still … tolerable.

When I unleash Topaz Denoise 4 on it, the colors and tones remain identical and the noise magically vanishes. Now, I would not leave the noise reduction quite this strong, but for the purposes of the demo I had to leave it exactly as Topaz processed it.

Well … that’s incredibly clean for 25,600 ISO. And there is still detail in the faces (a bit, not a lot.) This is a remarkable rendering of what I saw in a dark room. I’m very pleased.

A note on color balance … I set neutrals in ACR 6 on the left most post on the first floor. That gave a pleasing rendering for most of the elements in the room so I went with it. The incandescent lighting tends to win in this color scheme, with a very slight red tinge to everything.

Finally, Topaz Denoise unleashes a rather blunt instrument on the file.

Wow … that’s one seriously magenta floor … in fact, the shadows are all polluted with this cast. I have no idea what happened, but it perhaps is related to the new “correct black point” slider, which must be in the wrong position be default. Still, that would not account for the massive color shift. ** Update – it does. Black point is very sensitive to reds.

Here are three sets of crops to illustrate the problem …again, remember to click on each image to see the crops at 100%.

First, the three guys standing at the very bottom, left of center near the sign.

   

The color shift is very obvious here. When you look at the full sized crops, you also notice a slight loss of shadow detail. This causes things like the camera to flatten a bit. Not a big problem with elements that will appear very small in a print or web image, but in larger areas this could be an issue. There is somewhat more detail in the carpet though, so the tonal shift might work once they iron out the magenta problem. ** Update: I always watch the shadows and drop the black point until the colors do not shift.

Next, the area around the second floor railing on the left.

Again, too much magenta. The area under the floor has some detail in the middle crop that is very dark and absolutely polluted in the bottom crop. The people on the left have lost a lot of clothing detail in the bottom crop as well. Here, the stronger contrast does not help as it did with the carpet.

Finally, the whale. By the way, all of the animals on display in this museum are real. Many were hunted in the 20s and 30s specifically to stock this collection. And since that can no longer be done, this collection has a pretty high value. It is simply stunning to see.

And again, the magenta cast kind of wrecks the image. I’m not saying that the colors I got by setting white balance on that post were perfect. What I am saying is that a noise reduction algorithm has no business changing the colors at all, much less this dramatically.

** Update 26 Nov 2010 – I’ve been using Denoise 5 for a long time now and can say that this cast is an unusual circumstance. I still see the odd image that shifts like this, and it is always related to reds … so you cannot let it just do its thing, you must check the shadows. Other than that, though, Topaz Denoise 5 is a pretty incredible piece of software …

Is it hot outside?

Karen deserves the credit for passing this awesome cartoon along … kind of puts the summer of 2010 into perspective …

D700 vs F80EXR – Gatineau River Mouth at the Ottawa River

Yesterday, I blogged the river and ornamental gardens as shot by the F80EXR, a nice little compact camera from Fujifilm. Today, I finished processing the images I shot with the D700. I had far more of those to choose from but I culled them pretty aggressively. This article focuses only on the rivers.

So, the mouth of the Gatineau River as it enters the Ottawa River. Remember that I shot that from across the Ottawa River, way up on a lookout near the entrance to the Governor General’s residence on Sussex Drive. In fact, just to make this a bit more clear, let me show you on Google maps.

Remember to click on the images to see the 800px versions. On this map, it is clear that I am about 1km from the bridge and about 1/2km from the piers closest to the bridge. This comes up in a moment …

But first, a digression. I met an interesting gentleman who got into the topic of fishing in the Ottawa River, which he says is very good … I mentioned that I was from Manitoba and that I had done a lot of fishing with my dad all over the province. We went back and forth on this until he mentioned some clips on YouTube that are must see clips, like the following clip of two men catching enormous catfish by causing the fish to swallow their arms. Not kidding … watch …

Ok, enough digression now .. but that was something pretty special I think. Who’d a thunk you could feed 10 families at a barbecue in 10 minutes with no bait …

Back to the lookout … here is an image shot at 85mm, which is about 50% magnified from a normal field of view. You can see some really small guys about 1/2km away on the boat nearest the bridge, although I think you’ll need to click on it to get the 800px version to see anyone. Also note the church steeple on the right for later on.

You already saw the F80EXR image in the previous post, so here are two images shot and cropped from the 85mm (the image above) and the Nikon 70-300VR at 300mm. Remember that the D700 is full frame, which means that 300mm means 300mm … crop factor is 1.

For giggles, I cropped all three at 100% and then enlarged the F80 and the 85mm images to match the people’s size on the 300mm image. This is mildly interesting in that it demonstrates a couple of points about reach and sensors. First, the 300mm lens is razor sharp at f/11 despite its reputation for being soft at 300mm. Yes, the 300mm f/4 AFS is a better lens, but this one is better than some people thing way out at 300. Second, 85mm is way to short to see anything … despite the lens being stunningly sharp, enlarging the image as much as I had to made everything extremely coarse. And finally, the F80’s detail is excellent for 6mp.

I had to enlarge the F80 to get to 12mp, and then again to get to 300mm effective, and yet the image is still better than the 85mm. But … the water is flattened out almost completely. This is because 12mp is too much for a 1/2” sensor. This effect can actually be seen on all EXR sensors in HR mode, but it is shown here at M size because this water is very distant, putting the waves into the category of low contrast fine grained details. Note also that the 85mm, despite having even smaller details on the water, has no trouble showing far more detail on the water itself because there is no NT effect in play.

Anyway, it was obvious before you saw this … but let’s hammer the point home. There really is no substitute for optical reach. But there is also no substitute for a large sensor. Which is why professionals carry lenses that cost 10 grand and way 8 pounds …

With more sensible crops, the 85mm actually keeps up with the 300 at web sizes. It’s stunning clarity and sharpness (it’s a prime, remember) makes up for the lower reach when the output is reasonably sized.

85mm

300mm

I used some extra sharpening on the 300mm shot … that’s an error, but this is not a formal test so no foul. The thing to note is that both of these shots look fine. The 85mm actually pleases me more as the tones are less aggressive …

So remember that small church on the right side of the panorama? I’ve isolated on it here at 180mm, which is inside the really sharp range of this lens. This 70-300VR is carried by a lot of professional Nikon shooters in lieu of the 70-200VRII because the consumer lens is equally sharp in the common range and has the extra reach if needed (and you can see that it is decently sharp stopped down.) The only thing you give up (and it is admittedly important) is speed. The consumer glass is slow … around f/5.3 at 200mm versus f/2.8 … for indoor sports that would be a critical difference, but for a lot of shooting scenarios, that’s not a problem.

I would probably be inclined to carry the 180 2.8 with the 70-300VR as a decent alternative that is way cheaper. The 180 is one of the sharpest and most contrasty lenses Nikon makes. But it’s a bit old with slow AF. So only useful for portraits etc.

Oops … I digress again. The church and shore … followed by a crop of the church at 100%. That one is sharp, sharp, sharp …

What a magnificent shoreline. Those houses must cost a fortune! And I want one :-)

So … detailed enough for you from 1/2km?

The river here is pretty nice and rather busy with boaters. I would love to live along the river and see it every day. I can easily see why people do that if they have the bucks for the location.

The D700 continues to be my favorite cam by some distance. The D300 would have given me 50% more reach here, but I don’t care :-) 

And how about that 70-300VR … that’s some kind of sharp consumer glass ….

F80EXR at the Ornamental Gardens – A Riot of Color

I drove out to the east end of the city for a meeting this afternoon and on the way back I drove the scenic Eastern Parkway along the Ottawa River. Just passed the turn off to the Governor General’s residence, there is a lookout that allows you a nice view of the Gatineau River’s mouth as it drains into the Ottawa River. I paused there to shoot images with the F80EXR and the D700, this article covering only the F80EXR.

The F series has again come under serious scrutiny at DPReview.com as Fuji has announced the F300EXR recently. This tends to bring every Tom, Dick and Nooby out of the woodwork to share their uneducated opinions on how “horrible” EXR cameras are in general and how “horrible” the F300EXR is in specific. Well … I don’t give a sh*t … I like how they shoot so I shoot them.

But I digress :-)

I ended up with only one shot that I found interesting at this location …

If you click through to the 800px version, you can see how detailed that is. The people on that far boat at dock are quite clear. The trees have lots of detail, and you can even see detail in the layers of hills.

I shot lots more with the D700, but those will wait for the next article.

A note: These are all shot in bright sunlight. This is awful light for shooting flowers as it sucks the saturation away … I added a lot back, hence the name of the post. I really don’t recommend shooting flowers in this light … but I felt like it, so there.

The next stop, which is quite a few miles from here, was the ornamental gardens. This being August 1, the gardens are showing right now several impressive stands of spider flowers. There are many daisies too, although I only got bugs on them with the F80EXR.

Note the wasp on the left side of that one. The next couple are shot in the same location from different distances to give you an idea of what perspective does to backgrounds.

Again, the next pair is shot from slightly different perspectives on the same plant …

 

The last of the spider flowers …

A shot of the beetles …

These two beetle shots are heavy crops … belying the rathe rnegative view people have of the pixel image quality of these cams.

The left hand beetle in that last one reminds me of watching a pug trying to pee on the top of a fire hydrant … ambitious little guys :-)