Oh, I Love This

Rob MacKillop

Rob MacKillop

Edinburgh Correspondent
Julian mentioned in passing that a high ISO does work with the Merrill cameras (despite popular belief) if you use the in-camera b&w setting, and the blue channel when editing in the Sigma editing program. Well, I thought I'd give it a whirl with flowers for Susan's birthday, from her mum.

I really love the quality of these images. They were done at midnight, with just a small lamp nearby. Hand-held. ISO 800, f/2.8. DP2 Merrill.


bw flooers 3 by RobMacKillop, on Flickr


bw flooers 2 by RobMacKillop, on Flickr


heid by RobMacKillop, on Flickr​
 
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I like the contrast and deep blacks in bw floors 3 Rob - very nice

Amazing that ISO800 can look like ISO100 these days
 
Great thing to do Rob. there is always a situation where a more noisy file works for a subject in B+W. I do intend to concentrate at some point on high iso B+W shots, to try and learn how to use it well.
Not sure why but No. 2 here for me floats my boat if I was to choose.
 
Thanks, Julian. I like number 2 as well. I've read so many comments that the Merrills are useless above 400, and so far I've only used 100 and 200. But I can see great scope here for some projects. In b&w and the blue filter, the noise does look like grain to my eyes, but I don't pixel peep...ever.

Another thing is that I always regarded in-camera b&w as a poor cousin to shooting colour and then opening up Nik Silver, but these Merrill shots look great in b&w straight out of the camera. A poor cousin's Leica Monochrom ;)
 
Rob MacKillop said:
Thanks, Julian. I like number 2 as well. I've read so many comments that the Merrills are useless above 400, and so far I've only used 100 and 200. But I can see great scope here for some projects. In b&w and the blue filter, the noise does look like grain to my eyes, but I don't pixel peep...ever.

Another thing is that I always regarded in-camera b&w as a poor cousin to shooting colour and then opening up Nik Silver, but these Merrill shots look great in b&w straight out of the camera. A poor cousin's Leica Monochrom ;)
Click to expand...

Generally I believe , most reviews with all cameras, they base the initial views on Jpeg output. Often this is because the Raw software is not released at the time of review. There is no doubt the High iso Raw's in the Merrill's do suffer from inconsistency across areas of colour in the images. yet so can the Canon 5DMK and my cameras with the Sony sensors, the Foveon is simply poorer in this regard. This is supposedly going to be addressed in the new Quattro, by fewer but much larger photo sites in the bottom two layers of the sensor, where the data have to be amplified the most, which introduces the background noise.. So that will be
interesting to see how they perform.
 
The email I got sent from this thread has a photo you must have had second thoughts about and deleted, but it's beautiful, and perfectly illustrates what we are talking about.
 
lol yes I did edited it straight away. Sorry about that. My daughter, not a great picture which is why I hesitated , and taken right after a swim training session so hair up all wet, but I think does have some qualities that I like about the B+W conversions. Here we go.


SIGMA DP3 by Julian de Courcy, on Flickr
 
I think it's brilliant, and I can't believe she let you photograph her right after a workout. Rhona certainly wouldn't. Beautiful though, both her face and the photo, and what great big eyes! But overall, the tones are superb, and there is a softness to it I like.
 
Rob MacKillop said:
I think it's brilliant, and I can't believe she let you photograph her right after a workout. Rhona certainly wouldn't. Beautiful though, both her face and the photo, and what great big eyes! But overall, the tones are superb, and there is a softness to it I like.
Click to expand...
Really was a snap shot. she had just got back for Christmas from uni. Hair is permanently wet. two hours morning training , two hours evening, Sundays off , done it for years now and still doing it along side a degree, at an ITC centre for swimming.
Miss her like no tomorrow. Part of letting go and allowing them to spread their wings.
 
Would one of you two send me a larger JPEG so I can have a closer look nasties the resize compression introduces.

It looks like the noise is actually qute nice to look at ...

I love that xpro1 I have just bought, but it's no good for my "hobby" ... These cameras interest me for so many reasons, and if there is a way to shoot at 800iso and get nice results then that might be the last peice of the puzzle for me
 
Hamish Gill said:
Would one of you two send me a larger JPEG so I can have a closer look nasties the resize compression introduces.

It looks like the noise is actually qute nice to look at ...

I love that xpro1 I have just bought, but it's no good for my "hobby" ... These cameras interest me for so many reasons, and if there is a way to shoot at 800iso and get nice results then that might be the last peice of the puzzle for me
Click to expand...
Jpeg out of Camera or will a tiff from raw suffice?
 
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