Dp1 Merrill

[Rob MacKillop]

Ordered this camera yesterday from Amazon, and it arrived today, a Saturday - amazing delivery. It looks easy to use. I powered up the battery a bit, inserted and formatted a card. Then noticed that the day is truly dull, and the light harsh. Oh well, patience, young man...

I took my first raw file shot, then downloaded Sigma Photo Pro (SPP). I've heard nothing but bad reviews about this raw editor, and they look to be well founded. First question - is there a way to open the file in SPP, then choose for it to automatically open in Lightroom?

I made a couple of minor adjustments in SPP, then saved it as a tiff. I then opened Elements and opened the tiff file there. I opened Nik Silver and chose a b&w version without putting a lot of thought into it - I'm just working out a work flow. Back in Elements I saved it as a tiff, and noticed it was 88MB. Then I saved it as a jpeg - 12.5MB. To upload here I reduced the size. And here it is. I apologise for it being a fairly useless photo! But as I write this, I see that the sun is trying to break up the grey cloud...so maybe I'll head out.

The tiff files show a lot more detail than this much-reduced jpg...but I think there is great promise for the camera...

 

[Pat Reehal]

A particularly fine example of slabii concretus there Rob.

I will follow your progress with this most intriguing of cameras with great interest.

I am one of those sad sods who love to read less than glowing camera reviews, and then about turn sharpish and buy one whilst simultaneously blowing raspberries in the general direction of the reviewer.

At current prices it seems to be a bit of a steal.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Thanks, Pat.

Here's the first proper batch. SPP - LR4 - Elements 11 - Nik.

First a couple of b&w... [still to be straightened]


Hoose-bw by RobMacKillop, on Flickr


Castle 3a by RobMacKillop, on Flickr

And three from the garden...


spring 1 by RobMacKillop, on Flickr


Twig 1 by RobMacKillop, on Flickr


daff-1sq by RobMacKillop, on Flickr​

It has been a VERY windy day here. Quite a few of my shots were ruined, landscapes, as I was holding the camera and getting blown about on top of Calton Hill. Mind you, a tripod would have suffered the same fate. I still have a lot of exploring to do with the camera and the software...My first impression, though, is that it's a keeper. I just have to learn how to use it properly.

 

[Pat Reehal]

Just lovely. My smack is gobbed.

I love the daffodil one which should be the new logo of the Viet Taff.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Go get one, Pat!

 

[Brian Moore]

That does indeed look to be a keeper, Rob! Lovely images. In particular the flooers are lovely.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Thanks, Brian. The b&w ones are over-processed, but I'm just experimenting. The best, I think, is the wee yellow flooers, and nothing at all was done to that other than a wee bit exposure comp.

 

[Pat Reehal]

Go get one, Pat!

I do believe I will once I have recovered from the impending purchase of the XT1 which I am going to have a look at next week.

In a very scientific test last night, I asked Archie and Evie to eat either the XT-1 or X-Pro1 picture. To my surprise, the XT-1 picture was eaten first and, No Your Honour, it was not smothered in Marmite ( Archie's favourite ).

He is the guilty looking one on the left.

Just need to put the kidney on Ebay, and Bob's your Uncle.

 

[Julian de'Courcy]

Excellent Rob.
I do myself work from SPP with a Tiff in CS6. I think Tiff's hold up better when being pushed around. If I do not wish for a large file I still use tiff but quickly resize the tiff smaller.

To get the best resolution/clarity is to turn off all the noise reduction. The luminance, the Banding and Chroma. that can be done for each individual file or if you select all the files and from ''Edit'' you can choose ''noise reduction'' then move the buttons to the far left. At iso 100 and 200 and especially if you use the B+W in SSP their is not for me a great deal of noise anyway. What there is, is not unpleasant.
The B+W converter in SSP works very well, using the colour wheel you can choose the red, green or blue which works akin to how the lens filter works. Or of course a subtle mixture.
There are a few good working practises on the web.

It is always best of course to do it your own way and find what is best for your needs.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Thanks, Julian. I'll get that laminated

 

[Julian de'Courcy]

Thanks, Julian. I'll get that laminated

No you need to learn to twiddle your thumbs

 

[Dave Green]

Looks like an interesting bit of kit! Aesthetically these things do nowt to me - looks like a brick with a lens on. There's no denying the results though!

Nearly had another film camera earlier but with two eBay auctions ending in the same minute and only 1 pair of hands I ended up with a BOSS Blues Driver guitar pedal

 

[Rob MacKillop]

LOL. Those blues-driver pedals are fun - just don't overdo it!

 

[Dave Green]

Nooo - just a touch - I'm going for John Mayer not Slash

 

[Rob MacKillop]

I actually really like their understated look. It's definitely a no-frills camera, but it does the business.

Glad to hear about the overdrive preference! Though favourite blues guitarist remains Roy Buchannan. Or BB.

 

[Pete Askew]

Interesting stuff Rob and those colours are looking good. I export 16 bit TIFFs from SPP in ProPhoto colour space with no corrections and then import into LR. Lazy but reasonably effective it seems.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

I'm doing the same now, Pete. Still getting used to how much info these files have, and how to deal with them. Different from the Fuji files, which I'd become used to. But I think there is great potential with these files.

 

[Ivar Dahl-Larsen]

Excellent Rob.
I do myself work from SPP with a Tiff in CS6. I think Tiff's hold up better when being pushed around. If I do not wish for a large file I still use tiff but quickly resize the tiff smaller.

To get the best resolution/clarity is to turn off all the noise reduction. The luminance, the Banding and Chroma. that can be done for each individual file or if you select all the files and from ''Edit'' you can choose ''noise reduction'' then move the buttons to the far left. At iso 100 and 200 and especially if you use the B+W in SSP their is not for me a great deal of noise anyway. What there is, is not unpleasant.
The B+W converter in SSP works very well, using the colour wheel you can choose the red, green or blue which works akin to how the lens filter works. Or of course a subtle mixture.
There are a few good working practises on the web.

It is always best of course to do it your own way and find what is best for your needs.

I have taken an interest in the Merrill and want to know more until I just read what Julian here said. Now I'm scared stiff. But I must ad Rob that the pictures look pin sharp.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Cheers, Ivar. I teach music for a living, but this afternoon I had no students (and no income) but decided to go out and enjoy the glorious sunshine we are having here today. Lots of photos to edit! I have to say that the screen is not so good for looking at in sunshine as the XE1, and when I am flush again, I might invest in the eye piece thing that you stick in the hot shoe.