fotografz
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- Jan 8, 2005
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After a couple of trips to LA and NYC with the RD-1, I was ready to try it on the job.
Studio tests, and leisurely personal photography is one thing, fast paced, get the shot wedding photography is another. For Saturday's wedding I took it along with the M7s and Canon 1DsMKII ... so it was in good company. Lenses included 28/2 ASPH, 35/1.4 ASPH and the 75 LUX.
Of interest here was it's use @ higher ISOs in lower available light when under pressure; use with a SF20 Flash; and use with the 75 Lux.
Generally the camera did well and passed muster for wedding work in the future. While candid wedding prints rarely exceed 7"X10" image area, the images have to be good enough for larger prints due to enlargement and cropping after the fact. At weddings you often don't have the luxury of being in exactly the right spot when something interesting happens. So you shoot, get the shot and crop in during post processing. Actual prints are the measure because that's the end product, not electronic files.
General impression of the prints I've made so far: to my eye, they tend to look more like prints from scanned color neg film than those from a Canon digital with a CMOS sensor (not analog silver prints, but ink-jets from a Epson 2200 on Premium Luster).
While not super smooth or perfect, I really like the look of the prints from an emotional POV... which is far more important to me than technical perfection.
Also, I found that I tended to get the same type of candid shots as I do with the Ms,
which are different than what I generally get with the big assed DSLRs. That's why I still use rangefinders in the face of also using the mighty 1DsMKII.
Files: most every shot was underexposed and tended to the red. I'll refine my settings further to address this. However, I didn't loose a single shot to blown highlights ; -) And I actually liked the moody feel of the underexposures. But it does present an extra bit of work to tame the reds. Ambient lighting at a wedding is often very mixed and this one was no different. Ceremonies have to be done with no flash, and often have tungsten mixed with strong directional window light. I do not like the B&W files from this camera all that much, so the M7's aren't going anywhere soon.
SF20 flash: I use this flash for TTL fill with the M7s and have one of Lutz's S-fills on it. Well, that diffuser doesn't work on the SF20 when you are using the A setting with the RD-1 (bounces light back into the auto sensor). So I just used the flash straight on. I was able to trick the flash by setting a higher ISO than the camera setting, so when shooting at 400 I set the flash to 800, plus I put the factory W/A diffuser on the SF20. When working closer I set the camera to ISO 200 and left the flash at 800.
Camera was usually used on manual setting using slower shutter speeds and wider apertures. The lowest the SF20 will go on auto is f/2.8 which was fine at f/2 and even f/1.4 using the tricks mentioned above.
Using the 75 Lux: Got some isolated portraits using it wide open. Since the 75 acts like a 112.5 focal length, you don't have to be on top of the subject for a head shot.
IMO, that eases the difficult DOF issue with this lens and it's shorter rangefinder base.
Framing was fairly easy by using the 50mm framing and thinking inside the box ; -)
Blah, blah, blah, talk's cheap, here's some photos ...
Some getting ready shots in a dingy little room; then a couple of available light shots at the ceremony (note the temp shift on the wide shot: blue wall on left side, tungsten washed wall on the right ... which I can fix if it's selected for the album);
Studio tests, and leisurely personal photography is one thing, fast paced, get the shot wedding photography is another. For Saturday's wedding I took it along with the M7s and Canon 1DsMKII ... so it was in good company. Lenses included 28/2 ASPH, 35/1.4 ASPH and the 75 LUX.
Of interest here was it's use @ higher ISOs in lower available light when under pressure; use with a SF20 Flash; and use with the 75 Lux.
Generally the camera did well and passed muster for wedding work in the future. While candid wedding prints rarely exceed 7"X10" image area, the images have to be good enough for larger prints due to enlargement and cropping after the fact. At weddings you often don't have the luxury of being in exactly the right spot when something interesting happens. So you shoot, get the shot and crop in during post processing. Actual prints are the measure because that's the end product, not electronic files.
General impression of the prints I've made so far: to my eye, they tend to look more like prints from scanned color neg film than those from a Canon digital with a CMOS sensor (not analog silver prints, but ink-jets from a Epson 2200 on Premium Luster).
While not super smooth or perfect, I really like the look of the prints from an emotional POV... which is far more important to me than technical perfection.
Also, I found that I tended to get the same type of candid shots as I do with the Ms,
which are different than what I generally get with the big assed DSLRs. That's why I still use rangefinders in the face of also using the mighty 1DsMKII.
Files: most every shot was underexposed and tended to the red. I'll refine my settings further to address this. However, I didn't loose a single shot to blown highlights ; -) And I actually liked the moody feel of the underexposures. But it does present an extra bit of work to tame the reds. Ambient lighting at a wedding is often very mixed and this one was no different. Ceremonies have to be done with no flash, and often have tungsten mixed with strong directional window light. I do not like the B&W files from this camera all that much, so the M7's aren't going anywhere soon.
SF20 flash: I use this flash for TTL fill with the M7s and have one of Lutz's S-fills on it. Well, that diffuser doesn't work on the SF20 when you are using the A setting with the RD-1 (bounces light back into the auto sensor). So I just used the flash straight on. I was able to trick the flash by setting a higher ISO than the camera setting, so when shooting at 400 I set the flash to 800, plus I put the factory W/A diffuser on the SF20. When working closer I set the camera to ISO 200 and left the flash at 800.
Camera was usually used on manual setting using slower shutter speeds and wider apertures. The lowest the SF20 will go on auto is f/2.8 which was fine at f/2 and even f/1.4 using the tricks mentioned above.
Using the 75 Lux: Got some isolated portraits using it wide open. Since the 75 acts like a 112.5 focal length, you don't have to be on top of the subject for a head shot.
IMO, that eases the difficult DOF issue with this lens and it's shorter rangefinder base.
Framing was fairly easy by using the 50mm framing and thinking inside the box ; -)
Blah, blah, blah, talk's cheap, here's some photos ...
Some getting ready shots in a dingy little room; then a couple of available light shots at the ceremony (note the temp shift on the wide shot: blue wall on left side, tungsten washed wall on the right ... which I can fix if it's selected for the album);
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