D2x action shot test

[Melody]

Hi folks as we discussed in another thread here's one from today the difference being in camera sharpening changed to +2 this is the 200 2.0 vr lens iso 400

This pic has not been modified in anyway, it's in the following location so you can see the full size jpg as well: http://flagtography.com/d2xaction.jpg

Here is it resized for posting again nothing touched straight from the camera.

This is not a good pic for much but a test however it's great for the web because you can't tell who that rider is :lol: a missed shot that is usable, well not missed I can't help when the rider hides their head!


Melody

[Swampy]

Thanks Melody. In the full size, I see a couple of things. Chromatic Abberations along the mountain top and along the edges of the pole on the right side of the shot.

One other thing, that you don't really notice in the web version, but in the full version, look at the riders right leg (the other right!). There's some bluish/purplish looking "blah" on thier leg. Wonder what that is.

The shot at full size isn't the sharpest thing, but it's not bad and it's not your fault. I think it has to do with the noise that still bugs me. The noise patterns are really odd in my opinion. Maybe not "odd", but different than other cameras.

If it had been sunny, the color probably would have been much better from it, but since it was overcast, it really muted the colors.

Great shot Melody. So so camera in my opinion.

[High ISO!]

Melody,
This shot look really nice considering the overcast conditions. I think that once we get used to working with the camera, and find all the correct settings inside, the camera will work well for our needs.

What you and I are looking for in a camera, are quite different than many who take photos. I am anxious to get outside & try some action in my normal shooting places....So right now, I seem to be happy with the camera, I'm not quite attached to it yet. I wasn't happy with my S2 or D70 when I first got both of them either. The only camera that really got me from the start was the S1, and that was because there wasn't much of a choice back then. Technology wasn't what it is now, and the competition wasn't so great in manufacturers. So in my opinion, time will tell with this D2x, as to whether it can meet our needs or be a disapointment. Right now (for me) the jury is out.

I am going to play with the camera outside today, we actually have sun (for now) and it's kind of warm today.

Alissa

[lightwrangler]

Thanks Melody. In the full size, I see a couple of things. Chromatic Abberations along the mountain top and along the edges of the pole on the right side of the shot.

One other thing, that you don't really notice in the web version, but in the full version, look at the riders right leg (the other right!). There's some bluish/purplish looking "blah" on thier leg. Wonder what that is.

The shot at full size isn't the sharpest thing, but it's not bad and it's not your fault. I think it has to do with the noise that still bugs me. The noise patterns are really odd in my opinion. Maybe not "odd", but different than other cameras.

If it had been sunny, the color probably would have been much better from it, but since it was overcast, it really muted the colors.

Great shot Melody. So so camera in my opinion.

Swampy,
I think the blueish tint on the mountains isn't CA but is caused by extremely shallow depth of field and it's respective circles of confusion that renders blue due to the lighting conditions. Had the day been sunny, there would still be this effect but the colour would have been different. CA usually has a couple of colours and is more pronounced than this.

The "blah" on the leg looks to me to be blooming from over exposure. A RAW capture would have handled this better. This is something found in all digital cameras.

The sharpness issue is a combination of factors including shallow depth of field, movement and as well lens choice. Still where it is in focus it's pretty sharp. This is Mel's 200mm 2.0 lens and I think you'll find it has some funkiness in it due to it's extreme nature.

The noise doesn't bother me, I think it's inline with other cameras and indeed with film grain. Yes it is different in the same way that T-Max film had a different grain structure than Tri-X. However many photographers, me included were never very comfortable with T-Max grain and stuck with Tri-X. Personal choice I suppose.

I think this does demonstrate that the D2X will get you a fine picture. There is good detail in this, even the small jpeg has it. I could whip this into PS and quickly come up with an acceptable shot for press and personal use. As I said before, I'd love to see some controlled light (studio) shots with this camera in order to see what it's capable of when all factors that contribute to a shot can be managed.

[RacerX]

That's freak'n awesome! WOW! I think you finally made up your mind about keeping the camera, right? :)
Thanks again for this pic; it makes me feel better knowing that I'll, hopefully soon, will have mine. Keep shooting those *****'n action shots.
I can't wait for football season to get here so I can start shooting with my new D2X and the fixed 300 I recently acquired. All on a brand new state of the art football stadium with what appears to be a killer lighting system.
Plus . . . . my son will be a sophomore playing on varsity. (Pictures to come, in about 7 months. :rofl: )

[Tom Nolle]

If I can get this kind of thing with mine (if I ever get it!!!!), I'd be a happy man. Great job, Melody.

Tom

[NRA]

because you can't tell who that rider is


Melody, you dont know how that remark has brought back bad memories.

One of my first freelance ventures was cross country horse trials. Plenty of Mums who wanted pictures of little Jessica or whatever on her pony, so loads of sales !!

In 50% of the shots I couldnt identify the rider, so nowhere to post the proofs to and no list kept during the event.

I had to learn the hard way !!

Anyway, the D2x looks good.

Nigel

[Melody]

Thank you all for taking the time to study the image and respond :)

Boy Nigel I can't imagine that, I've got it much easier with programs and riders #'s on their backs :)

I always shoot in raw however I have been so busy that I haven't had a chance to load that Nikon capture or really play with any images at all. Yesterday is an example I was on the "road driving" for over 5 hours total, shooting for 3, selling flags and images for 5 and I'm tired. However today I get to be back in the car for 4 hours one way as I head out of town even further....then back again by Friday so I can be home in time to leave again Saturday morning for the horses. I'll rest next week :lol:

I agree Alissa the D2h and the Canon both took time and adjustments for me however maybe it's because I had more motivation for them at the time be it the newness of the 8fps or the larger file size, or I'm just too tired I'll try more this week.

Rick honestly, I can't say that I'll want to keep it. I am definitely not as I said in Alissa's thread the "typical consumer", call me blonde or whatever. This thing does need to "wow" me and it's not really done that. I am very happy with the canon 1dmII for the horses. I love my D2h and was hoping for something more then just a larger file size and so far that's all I'm seeing. Both of those are 8fps, and honestly I can get away with a 4mg file for printing. I want something that is as good in a camera as the 200 2.0vr lens is to compliment it, as I use that for about 10-20% of the shots with the horses, and then the 400 2.8 is used maybe less then 2% of my shooting time overall if that.

I did take about 100 more action type shots with it yesterday hopefully when I arrive tonight I'll have a chance to go through those, if I don't just fall asleep! :D

Thanks again everyone. BTW Tom and Rick I can leave the camera on the back step of the house if you like I'll probably be too busy to use it and you can come by and play if you want :) I hope you both get your's and soon my fingers are crossed for you :)

Melody(on the road again)

[HulaMike]

The wow may come after converting with Nikon Capture Melody. I don't have a Nikon DSLR but played with one of my buddies D1x in Oregon last summer and he literally proved to me how much better Capture was for converting Nef's than anything else out there. Stick it on your machine and give it a whirl.

Same Q to you as Asissa in another thread, why do you shoot with sharpening on in-camera if you're shooting raw? Almost every pro editing guru suggests not doing that but to post sharpen. Just curious, this shot straight out of the camera is pretty sharp and convincing..

[High ISO!]

Same Q to you as Asissa in another thread, why do you shoot with sharpening on in-camera if you're shooting raw? Almost every pro editing guru suggests not doing that but to post sharpen. Just curious, this shot straight out of the camera is pretty sharp and convincing..

I think it's a force of habit, more than anything. I have noticed that I don't have to sharpen in PS at all when I shoot this way. In the past (S1, S2 & D70) I have used in camera sharpening and also sharpend in post processing some too. Maybe the gurus will change their minds once they try it... :lol:

I have the Nikon Capture converter, & also Photoshop Camera RAW. I like CR much better. NC is slow & tends to lock my computer up. I crashed PS several times yesterday with NC! Ok, I need to clean up my HD...I only have 200 GIG, and it's full...I burn DVD & CDs every month, but it's not enough now. SHEESH! I need more space! I hope Adobe gets a conversion setting for this camera soon!

Alissa

[HulaMike]

Easiest, cheapest, fastest fix would be to add an external HD and dump all your images there from now on. Also put your CS scratch disk there. You should only have your OS and program files on your C drive. It will solve a lot of headaches for you and make everything run better.

[High ISO!]

Easiest, cheapest, fastest fix would be to add an external HD and dump all your images there from now on. Also put your CS scratch disk there. You should only have your OS and program files on your C drive. It will solve a lot of headaches for you and make everything run better.


Hi Mike,
Thanks!

I have my scratch discs on my E & F drives. C is only system stuff and I think D is too. The computer is my husband's department! I think he's planning on building a new computer pretty soon. This machine will then go down by my heat press work.

I just have a lot of work floating on here. I have to remember to clear my computer once a month, in summer twice. I also still have most of last year's events on here yet. They are all backed up on DVDs, but when orders come in, it's so much easier to find them on the computer than finding the DVD, which is REALLY pretty easy with my filing system...I'm just LAZY! :monalisa:

Lots of pressing to do this afternoon!
Alissa

[RacerX]

Finally found one here local up in Hollywood. Just got back from picking it up and canceled the order at Ritz just moments ago. So . . . . . thanks Melody for the offer that is very kind of you. I guess it's up to Tom to give it a whirl. Oh, High ISO, I also picked up a white balance lens from Expodisk (?) while I was there. Now I have allot of learning and playing to do. :rockon: Thanks again Melody for the offer.

PS: Melody, keep the pics coming.

[Melody]

Woohoo!!!!!!!!!! :rockon: Congratulations!!!! I'll see if I can do any pics tonight however my days are really full so you take over for the D2x pics out of CA! :)

:lol: Betcha that car of yours flew up that freeway! :cheers:

Best Wishes


Melody

[Tom Nolle]

Now I'm jealous of practically everybody! At least I get to go to Patagonia (even D2X-less)....

Tom

[Wichita Wayne]

It does look like you have some purple fringing (chromatic aberration) in the mountains and the pole. Nikon, Canon, and mostly Olympus sensors have trouble with purple fringing. You might try a hot mirror filter to cut out the IR and that might wipe it out. It could also be caused by the lens when it focuses the IR at a different point than visible light. You essentially get the IR bokeh that is read as light purple on the sensor. The dark mountains might be pretty bright in IR. However, the picture is good the way that it is. You might try to eliminate it in PSCS but if you print it on a photographic printer (like a Fuji Frontier) you can use Kodak Flexichrome to adjust the mountains. Everybody here will hate me for recommending positive print retouching but it will easily get the job done and becomes part of the papers emulsion once it is set.

[Linda G]

Apparently there has been some problems with Nikon Capture and the raw files from the D2x....it seems to crash the system and they're working on a fix.

[High ISO!]

Apparently there has been some problems with Nikon Capture and the raw files from the D2x....it seems to crash the system and they're working on a fix.

Hi Linda,
Thanks for that info. That must be what is going on here! Now at least I am not quite as concerned about my crashes!

I get to take photos for real with my camera today! :rockon:

Alissa

[fujifilmnut]

If you look at my post here:
http://www.theswampbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10689

I have complained to Nikon and they assured me the fix will be released. No luck yet. Nikon is not so good with operating system integration. :mad: :mad:

[High ISO!]

If you look at my post here:
http://www.theswampbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10689

I have complained to Nikon and they assured me the fix will be released. No luck yet. Nikon is not so good with operating system integration. :mad: :mad:


We got the upgrade, and now my comper isn't crashing like it was the other day. It's supposed to be faster, but I' not sure if it really is. :confused:

Alissa