New Olympus E-P2 Reviews by Kirk Tuck and Steve Huff

A couple of pros who are excited about small, serious cameras have put the new Olympus E-P2 through its paces:

E-P2 shoot by Kirk Tuck at the Visual Science Lab

E-P2 review by Steve Huff at Steve Huff Photo

I found both of the above at 1001 Noisy Cameras, which really is the site for obsessed camera fans.  You can see their full Micro Four Thirds coverage here.

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New Micro Four Thirds User Forum and Photo Contest

Micro Four Thirds is an exciting development in digital photography.  With the Panasonic GF1, Mike Johnston of The Online Photographer finally has his DMD.  Long overdue.  The arrival of the Lumix 20mm f/1.7 and Lumix 7-14mm f/4 signal the maturation of the system.  The convergence of still and video capture is inherent, and as a platform, Micro Four Thirds has the potential to implement features which simply aren't possible with the older designs.  As Giani Galassi put it, "Micro 4/3 can really be considered as the Third-Millennium Leica" (link).

I think the time is right for a discussion forum specifically for Micro Four Thirds users, and I hope that those of you with an interest in Micro Four Thirds will join me at a brand new forum at http://www.mu-43.com/.

We'll kick things off with a photo contest, open to those who participate in the new forums.  The theme is "Cold" (interpret as you will), and modest cash prizes will be offered.  I hope this will be the first of a regular forum feature.  Contest details are here.

If you register at mu-43.com, please take the time to upload an album.  Miscellaneous photos from members' public albums will be featured on the front/main page of the forums.  Until others upload albums, a few of my photographs will be shown repeatedly on that front page.  This is embarrassing for me, so help me out :-).  It's very easy to do.

Those of you who participated in the Camera Work forums will find your login/registration functional at the new site.  Hope to see some of you there!

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2 Months with the Panasonic GF1

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'The Worst Cameras of 2009' at Digital Camera HQ

In a segment dominated by site like DPReview, where "Above Average" means anything but, check out Digital Camera HQ's refreshing post, "The Worst Cameras of 2009".

Link: Digital Camera HQ via 1001 Noisy Cameras

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Featured Artist: Stephen Gillette

Stephen Gillette is a fine art photographer living in Trabuco Canyon, California, located an hour’s drive south of Los Angeles. Much of Stephen's work has been done with small sensor compact cameras. Serious Compacts contributor Eolake Stobblehouse interviewed Stephen in 2007 about his use of compact cameras for serious work (link to interview).

Stephen's recent work, "Big Sur Tondi" (Studies of Light on Moving Water), is currently on exhibition from November 2 - December 11, 2009 at Cypress College, Edouard de Merlier Gallery in Orange County, California. The series consists of prints ranging in size from 11.75 x 8.25”, printed on traditional Japanese mulberry paper, to 48 x 48" Lambda prints.

The project is visually striking, even in web-sized display.



More information:
- "Big Sur Tondi" micro site
- Stephen Gillette's main site

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ISO Shootout: Canon S90 vs Ricoh GR Digital III vs Panasonic G1

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Canon S90 vs Ricoh GR Digital III: Lens Performance

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Ricoh GXR System



There is certainly some promise in the ability to vary sensor size and specification according to the lens focal length range, but adding a sensor to each lens has got to significantly increase cost. I'm not sure what to make of this just yet!

Others seem similarly unsure how to react to the leak. Amongst my favorite responses to the Engadget post:

Barry @ Nov 9th 2009 4:55PM
"So Ricoh basically lost their frickin' minds. Interesting."

Macgic @ Nov 9th 2009 5:19PM
"Brilliant idea. You can have a small sensor for your zoom. And a larger sensor for your faster prime. This makes the gxr the smallest interchangable lens digital on the market!"

Bad Beaver @ Nov 9th 2009 5:22PM
"I'm looking forward to seeing reviews. Depending on what they actually put in there, it's either a stroke of genius or just batshit crazy."

lou @ Nov 9th 2009 5:42PM
"Not so suave, Ricoh"

Full coverage at 1001 Noisy Cameras.

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Olympus E-P2 and Two New Lenses Announced

Olympus has announced a new digital PEN camera, the Olympus E-P2 (available for pre-order at Amazon). The major differences from the E-P1 are as follows:

  • Ability to use a new, high resolution add-on EVF
  • Black paint color under a glass coat

The Olympus add-on EVF looks to be a good bit larger than the GF1 add-on EVF, but based on specifications and early user reports, the added size comes with significantly improved resolution and quality.  Here is a size comparison of the E-P2, GF1, and G1 approximately to scale:




Availability of the E-P2 has been reported as December or January.

Two new lenses were also announced and should be available in the first half of 2010:

  • M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 9-18mm F4.0-5.6
  • M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 14-150mm F4.0-5.6

As noted above, the E-P2 is already available for pre-order at Amazon

Additional images:




Full coverage at 1001 Noisy Cameras.

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Adobe Lightroom 3 Beta Noise Reduction

The default noise reduction implementation in Adobe Lightroom has dramatically changed with the Adobe Lightroom 3 beta. High ISO rendering in the Lightroom 3 beta now resembles that of Raw Developer or Capture One more than it resembles that of Lightroom 2.

Here's an example using two 100% crops from an ISO 1600, 1/4s, f/5.5, 48mm image I took this weekend with the Panasonic GH1 and kit zoom in low light. On the left is the default LR2 conversion, on the right the default LR3 beta conversion:





The change is, to my eye, a significant improvement. For the first time, I am considering Adobe Lightroom as a first line RAW processing application.

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'Best Camera' iPhone Application

Seriously cool iPhone app created by Chase Jarvis:

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Serious Use of Compact Camera Images in Graphic Design

by Mayank Bhatnagar

As a graphic designer, I often design for organizations including non-governmental organizations working in the development sector and frequently receive images from clients for use in communication material as varied as brochures, websites, flyers, annual reports, newsletters, fact sheets and technical documents. I am fond of the imagery the development sector uses and often find it more interesting and natural than the slick, perfect and utopian imagery used by the marketing (fast moving consumer goods) and now information technology sectors.

In the past couple of years, for dozens of design assignments undertaken for development sector clients, I have rarely received 'technically perfect' images shot by professional photographers using high end equipment such as dSLRs. Most images I receive have been shot by clients / volunteers / students using compact cameras. And by compact cameras here I mean the most basic or budget compact cameras running on 'auto' mode. Noise, highlight clipping, channel clipping, colored fringing, blooming of highlights, poor dynamic range, excessive use of flash (and therefore harsh shadows) and color cast are just some of the technical issues I frequently encounter while shortlisting and processing the images for print and/or web publishing.

For a large design assignment, I typically receive an assortment of images (usually about two dozen or more) which are then categorized to match with text / report chapters / sections. Unless the technical quality of a particular image is unacceptable, I am forced to make do with what I have and each relevant image is then optimized for print. Thanks to powerful image processing software, each selected image usually goes through the following process:
- Resizing (usually downsizing), size of technically bad or blurred but important photos is usually reduced greatly, sometimes as small as 2x1 inches, to make them useable and hide some of the flaws. I prefer to convert images to 240 ppi resolution for print purposes.
- Noise reduction (usually applied to full-size images which are later downsized).
- Shadow and highlight recovery (using shadow-highlight sliders in Photoshop), adjustment of levels. Sometimes HDR techniques are used to process different parts of the image separately.
- Correction of color cast.
- Correction of horizontal plane, also barrel distortion and perspective in some cases.
- Correction of skin tones (often flashed faces come out reddish and are not easy to correct)
- Conversion to CMYK (for 4 color printing) or to Greyscale for one or two color printing.
Usually cropping decisions are taken at the page markup stage where I can see the image-text relationship accurately and crop images accordingly.

Images are almost always received as a part of the brief and for most development sector design assignments (with tight budgets), buying stock imagery or getting a professional shoot done is not an option. I think most reasonable :-) graphic designers learn to work under constraints and make do with what they are given.



A report and a newsletter designed for Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group using compact camera images. (Reproduced with permission from Chintan.)

As someone also doing serious and fine art photography with compacts for the past couple of years, this is where I fall into a dilemma. While on one hand I strive to capture technically sound images and am always on the lookout for the next compact that would raise the bar on my images, on the other hand as a designer I make do with images that I would reject outright for technical flaws if taken by me.  Images used in important publications, which may be read and used by top national and international organizations, governmental agencies, funding agencies, think tanks and the like, taken with automatic point-and-shoot cameras I would not even look at! Thus I wonder if it is the image (the subject, the moment, the interrelationship of elements, the light, etc.) and the purpose for which it was taken that really matters and that the rest is essentially 'technical' and 'secondary', the bit photographers tend to worry too much about these days! Also, as someone who worked extensively with film / transparency scans uptill 3-4 years back, it feels great to receive compact digital camera images because they are far easier to process than traditional (drum or flatbed) scans and thankfully file sizes are much lighter!

One change I have noticed over the past couple of years with regard to imagery supplied by clients (for use in communication design) is that the 'number' of images coming in has increased dramatically and organizations that could earlier not afford expensive imagery or visual documentation of their projects now have enough 'workable' photos in their database. For this, a lot of credit should probably go to the recent boom in affordable, pocketable and easy-to-use compact cameras, which in my humble opinion, are making a big difference for organizations involved in development work and perhaps indirectly in the lives of people for whom they are working.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Mayank Bhatnagar is a Jaipur and New Delhi (India) based graphic designer, illustrator and photographer.

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Sunday Thoughts about Gear Obsession

Serious Compacts contributer Wouter Brandsma asks:

How come so many photographers are so obsessed with the newest camera, the latest feature? Why does it matter what camera was used for a photograph?


Read Wouter's thoughts and join the conversation at Wouter Brandsma Photography.

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Real-life ISO 1600: Panasonic GH1, G1, and Canon S90

Important note: An astute reader pointed out a significant mistake in the sample files used in this comparison. The S90 was shot at f/2.8, while the G1 and GH1 were at f/2. This means that the S90 sensor was given a stop less light, which invalidates the conclusions. I'll have a better, more controlled comparison up soon. Apologies for the error!

There has been quite a bit of hype about the Canon S90 high ISO noise performance. Some say it is right there with Micro Four Thirds in noise performance. Can it be true?

Reader's of this blog know that it is possible for any camera to have amazing noise performance. Simply pile on noise reduction, and noise will be very low. The real issue is how the detail and noise vary together at a particular shutter speed, f-stop, and ambient light level.

The S90 sensor is less than one fourth the size of a standard Four Thirds sensor as shown to scale below:



As such, we would expect a roughly two stop difference in high ISO detail versus noise between these two systems, similar to the two stop difference seen between Micro Four Thirds and 35mm full frame.

Before considering the Canon file, let's see how the Panasonic G1 and GH1 files differ. It is often said that the GH1 has significantly better noise performance than the G1. Some have put the difference at as much as a stop. Meanwhile, it is said that the GH1 suffers from shadow banding at high ISO, whereas the G1 and GF1 do not. I believe that most of the difference between the GH1 and G1 (and presumably GF1) comes down to the on-chip noise reduction.

There is no question that GH1 high ISO RAWs are "cooked", whereas G1 (and GF1 most likely) RAWs seem to be raw. As has been well documented on the DPReview forums, setting the GH1 film mode to -2 NR at ISO 1600 actually cooks more NR into the RAW file than does setting the film mode to +2 NR. I'm guessing that this on-chip NR makes the banding much more apparent, and that it actually is present but simply obscured by noise in the G1 and GF1 files.

In this example, I set the GH1 and Lumix 20 to ISO 1600, +2 NR (+2 is the least NR one can apply to GH1 high ISO RAW), 1/50s, f/2, and took a snap of my son Philip. The RAW file was processed in Iridient Software's Raw Developer, which adds no further NR or sharpening unless those settings are enabled. For the purposes of this comparison, those settings were disabled. Here's the resulting image (Click for larger version):



Now a snap with the same lens, same settings, same workflow, and G1 substituted for GH1 (bit of fooling with the white balance and black point in Raw Developer to get the picture looking more similar) (Click for larger version):



Here's a 100% crop from the GH1 shot:



Now the G1 crop:



If you look at the full-res version, you'll see banding in the GH1 file.

If you look carefully at the G1 full-res version, there's a bit of banding obscured by noise.

For comparison, I took the same snap with the Canon S90, also at ISO 1600, f/2 and 1/50s. I had to push the resulting RAW file in Digital Photo Professional (Canon's RAW processing app) to get it to the same apparent exposure as the Panasonic files. Like Iridient's Raw Developer, Canon's DPP seems to be an "honest" RAW converter in that it is possible to completely disable NR and sharpening. Here's the resulting resized image (Click for larger version):



The S90 crop:



The full-res S90 image is here.

Click here to download the RAW files used in this comparison.

Unlike the usual comparisons posted on this blog, these were done handheld without a tripod. I took enough snaps with each camera to know that handshake was not a significant factor in the selected representative images.

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Canon S90 Barrel Distortion

It's now a familiar story: Very fast lens, very small package.  Where's the catch?

Here you go:






On the left, the RAW (CR2) file processed by Adobe Lightroom 2.5.  On the left, the same RAW file processed in Canon's Digital Photo Professional (DPP).

Like the Panasonic LX3 which undoubtedly inspired its design, the Canon S90 has severe barrel distortion at its wide end.  Completely expected but nonetheless disappointing.

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Canon Powershot S90 IS Initial Impressions: Build Quality

I admit to having a slight bias against Canon. Maybe it's the New Yorker in me, but I tend to root for the underdog. Despite this slight bias, I've purchased a lot of Canon cameras. More than any other brand. Thing is, Canon knows how to build a serious compact.

I'm impressed with the S90 build quality:

- Battery/SD door is firm and heavy duty
- Dial around lens has a good, smooth resistance with satisfying clicks at each adjustment
- Body is metal with no creaking or play
- Parts are tapered and well fitted without gaps, similar to an Apple laptop
- Flash extends and retracts without any sense of wobble
- Mode dial has the right amount of resistance and feels sturdy
- Buttons are all firm with good action
- On/off button is nicely recessed unlike *many* other compacts
- Good crisp feel, travel, and responsiveness to the shutter release
- Rear dial lacks resistance, but that has not been problematic in any way


Two small issues:

- The dial around the lens is plastic and has a touch of play.
- The LCD on my brand new S90 had a couple extremely fine/subtle scratches on it straight out of the box. This makes me wonder whether it scratches easily. Time will tell!


Did I mention that this camera is very compact?  Here it is next to a GRD III.  Please excuse the poor picture quality.


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Canon S90 Now In Stock at Some Stores

The new Canon Powershot S90 IS is beginning to show up in stock in some retailers. I was able to pick one up at Best Buy today. Apparently it was the only S90 left in any of the Boston area Best Buy locations. Preliminary impressions coming soon!

The S90 is currently listed as "In Stock" at Butterfly Photo via Amazon, whereas most other retailers are still showing status as "expecting delivery from Manufacturer..."

Link: Canon S90 at Butterfly Photo via Amazon

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Illustration: Multi-Aspect Four Thirds Versus Standard Four Thirds

I've gotten some emails expressing confusion regarding the difference between the multi-aspect ratio Four Thirds sensor in the Panasonic GH1 and the standard Four Thirds sensor found in all other Micro Four Thirds cameras. This illustration ought to clear it up.

On the left (first column), you can see the relative sizes of the GH multi-aspect ratio sensor (top) and the smaller standard Four Thirds sensor (bottom), each represented by white boxes.

In the second column, one can see that the portion of the GH1 sensor used for 4:3 aspect ratio (top) is the same size as the entire standard Four Thirds sensor (bottom). Thus the image captured will be the same when in 4:3 mode, regardless of whether one uses a standard Four Thirds or multi-aspect ratio sensor camera.

In the third and fourth columns, 3:2 and 16:9 respectively, the situation changes. Here, the GH1 uses the larger sensor to keep the lens diagonal angle of view unchanged regardless of aspect-ratio. In contrast, the standard Four Thirds sensor simply crops out a portion of the 4:3 capture to make the 3:2 or 16:9 image. As a result, the diagonal angle of view is less wide, and the megapixel count drops to a greater extent.


Click for larger version

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Micro Four Thirds Camera Comparison Table

There seems to be some confusion about the basic differences amongst the four currently available Micro Four Thirds cameras. I've tried to summarize the major points in the table below. Unique strengths and weaknesses are highlighted.



In-body image stabilization
No
Yes
No
No
Multi-aspect ratio sensor
No
No
Yes
No
Smallest size
No
Yes
No
Yes
Integrated EVF (best in class)
Yes
No
Yes
No
Available kit including OVF
No
Yes
No
No
Available add-on EVF
Not applicable
No
Not applicable
Yes
Autofocus with all standard 4/3 lenses via adapter
No
Yes
No
No
Faster autofocus
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Articulated LCD
Yes
No
Yes
No
On-board flash
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
High res LCD
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Video
No
720p
Stereo
1080i
Stereo
720p
Mono
Kit zoom comments
-14-45mm
-Larger than Olympus
-Stabilized
-14-42mm
-Collapsible (small)
-Susceptible to blur at medium shutter speeds per Imaging-Resource
-14-140mm
-Video optimized
-Stabilized
-14-45mm
-Larger than Olympus
-Stabilized
Kit prime comments
Not available
17mm f/2.8 kit comes with OVF
Not available
20mm f/1.7 lens has strong early reviews
Anti-aliasing filter
Slightly weaker (more aliasing, better resolution)
Slightly stronger (less aliasing, lower resolution)
Slightly weaker (more aliasing, better resolution)
Slightly weaker (more aliasing, better resolution)
Control dials
One
Two
One
One
Art filters
No
Yes
No
No
Price


-17mm kit: $900 (includes OVF)

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GRD III Impressions / Review at Wouter Brandsma Photography

Serious Compacts contributor Wouter Brandsma has posted his extended use impressions of the Ricoh GR Digital III over at his personal blog.  Be sure to have a read to get his insights about this exciting camera and see some great photographs!

Link: Wouter photoblog - 'My final Ricoh GR Digital III impressions'

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Face Detection

As cameras get progressively loaded with new features, there will naturally be some push back from the old-fashioned types who enjoy the "authentic" photographic experience of manually controlling everything. Face detection may best exemplify the new wave of features which so many of us have smugly dismissed as useless. However, as Björn Utpott recently suggested, it's difficult to argue against the usefulness of face detection when one has experienced a good implementation of it.

Here's a simple example. I mounted the Zuiko 17mm lens on the Panasonic GH1 in 'P' mode and snapped four photos, two in 'Dynamic B&W' mode and two in 'Standard' (color). All were in camera JPEGs with automatic exposure. On the left, you can see the results using face detection. On the right are the results using center point AF to focus on my wife, followed by recomposition.



Sure, the same can be easily accomplished the same without face detection. One can judge the lighting and dial in exposure compensation on just about any camera. Some cameras will allow spot metering, which can accomplish much the same, and still others allow customization in how metering is linked to focus points. However, there is a beautiful simplicity to having the camera automatically properly expose any detected faces in the frame.

I'm not yet sure where features like face detection fit for me. I'll always enjoy the fully manual experience, but new features like face detection have their place. I expect that DVIL (direct view interchangeable lens) cameras will continue to lead the way in implementing these technologies.

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Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 Review at DPReview




DPReview has published their review of the Lumix 20mm f/1.7, which is arguably one of the most important lens releases ever for any camera system. It is one of DPR's finest lens reviews yet in my opinion. Check it out here.

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Featured Photographer: Vern Dewit

While browsing the 'Buy and Sell' forum at Fred Miranda, I came across a thread which began, "Due to my never ending quest for the perfect hiking / mountaineering camera I am selling my GH1 in anticipation of my new GF1 and the recent acquiring of an Olympus EP1". After seeing the photographs in that thread started by Vern Dewit, I went and had a look at his Zenfolio gallery and asked to feature his work on Serious Compacts.

Vern lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and enjoys spending time outdoors in the Rocky Mountains west of the city. Looking at his photography, it's easy to see why. A few of his recent photographs, all taken with the GH1 (and various Micro Four Thirds kit lenses) are shown below. Click a photo to view a larger version.








You can see more of Vern Dewit's photography at http://verndewit.com. If you'd like to buy his GH1, which was used to make most of the photographs in his '2009 Favorites' collection, see the Fred Miranda thread here.

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Sigma DP2 Shootout Supplement: Bokeh

For bokeh (out-of-focus blur rendering) tests, I usually like to have a second lens for comparison. However, I currently lack another 40mm equivalent lens to compare with the DP2 lens, so I'll just provide some bokeh samples to give an idea of how the DP2 lens renders out-of-focus blurred areas. Unlike lens sharpness, one can get a sense of bokeh from images resized for the web. I'll point out a few other concerns in specific examples.

F/2.8:



While the DP2 lens has decent flare resistance, it flares more than the DP1 lens in my experience. The above photo shows flare with a stong off-axis light source. The hood was employed, and no filter was present. You can also see a blue-green discoloration on the wall in the upper right aspect of the frame.





F/4:



F/2.8:



F/4:



Looking at the right side of the frame, you can see how points of light are rendered sharply as heptagons at this aperture. Some blue-green discoloration is also evident in periphery on the wall.

F/5.6:



There is the occasional doubling of elements, but overall I find the DP2 bokeh to be neutral and generally pleasing.

The issue of blue-green drift in the corners/periphery was present with the DP1 and effectively addressed in a Sigma Photo Pro update. As of yet, the issue persists with DP2 files but is rarely a major issue and can be addressed in postprocessing. A few examples of color in DP2 photos from a recent day out with the family are shown below (click to enlarge).





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Sigma DP2 Shootout Pt. 3 - Dynamic Range

In Part 3 of the shootout, we'll take a look at how the Sigma DP2 dynamic range compares to that of the Panasonic GH1 and M. Zuiko 17mm f/2.8.

Readers of this site may recall that the DP1 showed superior dynamic range in an earlier shootout, but the GH1 arguably features the latest and greatest Four Thirds sensor technology to date. How will they compare?

I chose a nearly impossible scene for the sake of comparison. At noon, without a cloud in the sky, there is probably no digital camera that can fully handle this dynamic range in a single exposure:



For comparison, we'll be looking specifically at the two regions highlighted by the yellow boxes above.

Test conditions:

  • The GH1 was used in 3:2 aspect ratio.
  • Subject distance was adjusted to match framing with the two systems.
  • GH1 files were processed in Lightroom (latest version) and subsequently downsized using Photoshop Bicubic Sharper to match the native dimensions of the DP2 files.
  • DP2 files were processed in Sigma Photo Pro (latest version).
  • All settings were left on defaults.  White balance was not adjusted to match colors, though I experimented with this and found that doing so did not substantially affect the results.

To begin with, a single RAW file was taken with each camera at ISO 100, f/5.6, and 1/50s.

Here are the crops without any exposure adjustments during RAW processing:



Clearly the DP2 is holding highlights better here. The black points are different, but you can actually see the shadow detail better in the DP2 file. This is evident in the stones under the deck (bottom panel).

Now let's see how much highlight detail can be recovered with a -2EV adjustment during RAW processing:



One possible explanation for the much greater highlight detail in the DP2 file is that what Sigma is calling ISO 100 corresponds to a lower actual ISO than what Panasonic is calling ISO 100. This would result in the DP2 file being underexposed relative to the GH1 file.

If that were the reason for the disparity, we would expect greater usable shadow detail in the GH1 file. Let's see what happens when the same files are pushed to +2EV during RAW conversion:



The greater shadow detail is now even more apparent in the DP2 file.

Conclusion: Under identical circumstances at base ISO, a DP1 RAW file simultaneously delivers greater highlight and greater shadow detail.

Next lets see how the two systems handle the same scene at ISO 400, f/11, 1/50s.

Here are the crops without any exposure adjustments during RAW processing:



The same files after a -2EV adjustment during RAW conversion:



Interesting that the ISO 400 DP2 file with a -2EV adjustment retains more highlight information than the ISO 100 DP2 file with a -2EV adjustment. We saw this in the DP1 shootout as well. It suggests that the high ISO DP files are being (partially or fully) pushed in SPP.

Now the same files after a +2EV adjustment during conversion:



Both files are struggling to produce any usable shadow information here. In the top panel, the DP2 still seems to do better.

The bottom line for ISO 400 is unchanged from the bottom line for ISO 100: better dynamic range from the Sigma.

The RAW files used in this comparison can be downloaded below:




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New Site for Micro Four Thirds Reviews

Many in the Serious Compacts community are excited about the new Micro Four Thirds standard. Now there is a site dedicated to nothing but Micro Four Thirds reviews. Check it out at M43reviews.com.

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The End of an Era

This content has been moved to the new SeriousCompacts.com.

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Sigma DP2 Shootout Pt. 2 - Detailed Scene

In part 2 of the Sigma DP2 shootout, we'll look at how the DP2 lens performs at a variety of apertures and compare the overall detail captured by the DP2 with that of the Panasonic GH1 and Olympus M. Zuiko 17mm f/2.8 lens.

To begin, I'll explain my choice of RAW processors. The DP2 files were processed using Sigma Photo Pro (latest version) because there are no other RAW processors which demosaic DP2 files at this time. The GH1 files, on the other hand, can be processed using a number of different applications. I chose to use Adobe Lightroom (latest version) because it automatically addresses the considerable barrel distortion of the M. Zuiko lens. In doing so, one loses some resolution, and the blurriest extreme corners of the image get cropped out, but overall I think it gives the fairest comparison to the Sigma DP2.

How much do processing decisions affect apparent detail? Here's an example of an f/2.8 center 100% crop processed with Lightroom (right) compared to the same file processed for maximum apparent detail in Raw Developer (left):



Most of the difference there comes down to sharpening, though I do find that Raw Developer squeezes out a touch more detail.  This is true for every camera I have tried to date.

Other testing details:

  • Subject distance adjusted for roughly the same framing with each camera (greater distance for the longer lens)
  • GH1 used in 3:2 aspect ratio
  • DP2 files upsized using Genuine Fractals 5 to match the native GH1 picture dimensions
  • Tripod, self-timer, base ISO, aperture-priority exposure, good light (high shutter speed)


Even looking at just the resized left half of the scene, there is a clear difference between the DP2 and GH1-17mm files at f/2.8:



Let's look next at the 100% crop comparisons, keeping in mind that the DP2 files have been upsized to match the GH1 file sizes.

f/2.8

Center:



More detail in the GH1 file as would be expected with the higher megapixel sensor.

Near edge:



DP2 outclassing the M. Zuiko here and also showing greater lens contrast.  There is some color fringing in the GH1 crop.

Extreme corner:



Impressive wide open performance from the DP2 in the extreme corner of the frame while the M. Zuiko lags far behind.  Again there is some color fringing in the GH1 crop.


f/4

Center:



GH1-17mm looking very good here with the lens resolving sufficiently to take advantage of the higher megapixel sensor.

Near edge:



Zuiko has caught up here in peripheral performance.

Extreme corner:



The Zuiko has improved but has a ways to go still.


f/5.6

Center:



As expected, the higher GH1 sensor is still capturing more detail at this aperture.

Near edge:



Still very close in this zone.

Extreme corner:



DP2 still has an edge in the extreme corner.


f/8

Center:



GH1-17mm still has an edge, but diffraction is bring the level of detail down closer to that of the DP2.

Near edge:



DP2 looks the better of the two here.

Extreme corner:



DP2 is clearly better.


Conclusions:
  1. The Sigma DP2 lens has balanced performance across the frame wide open at f/2.8, and by f/4 even the extreme corner peformance is quite good. Anything less would have been a disappointment given the precedent set by the outstanding DP1 lens. 
  2. The M. Zuiko 17mm lens leverages the GH1 sensor potential in the center of the frame from f/2.8, puts in a decent peripheral performance stopped down to f/4 or f/5.6, but never quite nails the extreme corner.
  3. Softening due to diffraction is evident at f/8 with the Micro Four Thirds kit and not with the DP2.
  4. There seems to be higher lens contrast with the DP2 although the contribution of processing by Sigma Photo Pro cannot be ascertained.  Application of wide-radius unsharp mask to a GH1 file gives it a similar look to that of the DP2 files.

Read More......

Posted by Amin

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