A900 + 70-300 G + agorabasta high ISO setting

[TME]

Need to correct this, Agorabasta's setting does affect RAW. Actually the main setting is Zone Matching (ZM) which alters the tonal curves of the image.

I do not use Agorabasta setting but when i shoot high ISO, i will set ZM to -1 which will somehow help to reduce chroma noise significantly in the RAW file.

As far as I understand, the Creative Styles settings are all applied post-capture and not pre-capture. And so I thought that these settings only affect the JPEG produced. I was expecting the RAW to be left untouched.

 

[XkaOnslaught]

creative styles also affect raw.however its is not permenant, as you can still change them in post processing.

 

[MontoyaSG]

creative styles also affect raw.however its is not permenant, as you can still change them in post processing.

Depends on which raw convertor you're using. Only Sony Idc will support creative styles

 

[Drudkh]

For travel, it would matter... I think I've heard quite a few people here in this forums mention that they don't want to take their full gear overseas... too heavy but wouldn't want to sacrifice the ability to take good pictures and the flexibility... none of the bridge cameras can cut it... save for the R1... which is already out of production...

When I travel, my camera bag weighs more than 10KG. :what:

 

[TME]

When I travel, my camera bag weighs more than 10KG. :what:

Mine about 3-4kg I think... 4 lenses, 1 flash + one A900 body + cards, light cleaning kit... never really weighed before... you must carry the 70-200 & 300 f/2.8 for it to weigh so much...

 

[Dearchivism]

(just want to share a bit story about my premature experience)

the most painfull for my personal experience is when doing portrait shooting (still learning + exploring and my friends as models). total weight that i have to carry is 14 kg + using public transport (mrt and bus, poor me lah). one camera bag (carrying camera body, lenses, and accesories), one bag for reflector 42" (day time shooting) + flashes + all joins / clams + tripod and one bag for reflector stand + holder / flash holder (especially to hold the flasg at high position). for a learner just like me, i guest i have to practice hard and work hard (i mean work hard to carry all the equipment lah...hahahaha). btw all things at 14 kg is still lighter than have to bring all the photography big lamps, dry batteray / small genset, etc lah hahaha (right now i just doing preweding shot for my friend, all use flash(es) + combined with reflector, quite interesting for me as a new experience especially the shot againt the mid day sun with only using flash, later i will post all photos after my friend've annaunce his marry invitation for all your C&C, input, etc)

 

[mannfai]

(just want to share a bit story about my premature experience)

the most painfull for my personal experience is when doing portrait shooting (still learning + exploring and my friends as models). total weight that i have to carry is 14 kg + using public transport (mrt and bus, poor me lah). one camera bag (carrying camera body, lenses, and accesories), one bag for reflector 42" (day time shooting) + flashes + all joins / clams + tripod and one bag for reflector stand + holder / flash holder (especially to hold the flasg at high position). for a learner just like me, i guest i have to practice hard and work hard (i mean work hard to carry all the equipment lah...hahahaha). btw all things at 14 kg is still lighter than have to bring all the photography big lamps, dry batteray / small genset, etc lah hahaha (right now i just doing preweding shot for my friend, all use flash(es) + combined with reflector, quite interesting for me as a new experience especially the shot againt the mid day sun with only using flash, later i will post all photos after my friend've annaunce his marry invitation for all your C&C, input, etc)

Sounds like doing a 24km road march during NS.

 

[TME]

Sounds like doing a 24km road march during NS.

24KM road march fill pack like 20kg plus lor...

 

[VisionTechnik]

As far as I understand, the Creative Styles settings are all applied post-capture and not pre-capture. And so I thought that these settings only affect the JPEG produced. I was expecting the RAW to be left untouched.

No, not for Zone Matching..

This is back dated to the days of Minolta 5D and 7D..but still applied to all alphas..
http://www.dyxum.com/columns/photoworld/Technical_knowledge/Zone_matching.asp

When ZM set to -1...the camera tends to overexposed a little in order to keep the shadows details and thus lesser noise while tuning the image curves to keep the exposure balanced for highlights.

 

[TME]

No, not for Zone Matching..

This is back dated to the days of Minolta 5D and 7D..but still applied to all alphas..
http://www.dyxum.com/columns/photoworld/Technical_knowledge/Zone_matching.asp

When ZM set to -1...the camera tends to overexposed a little in order to keep the shadows details and thus lesser noise while tuning the image curves to keep the exposure balanced for highlights.

I see... good to know... never used ZM in the 7D... never got down to using it... hahaha... I guess I forgot all about it...:bigeyes:

 

[toader]

I found out something more interesting, modifying to Agorabasta's setting. Set saturatiion to -3. The noise gets EVEN LOWER, but it sacrifice colours... A bit of an exchange haha....:bsmilie: This mode is mainly for those who does post-processing~~

 

[XkaOnslaught]

I found out something more interesting, modifying to Agorabasta's setting. Set saturatiion to -3. The noise gets EVEN LOWER, but it sacrifice colours... A bit of an exchange haha....:bsmilie: This mode is mainly for those who does post-processing~~

tried this before, no point actually, you bring back the saturation in photoshop or lightroom, the noise will still come back.

 

[raincool2005]

why use SAL70300G for indoor ? try SAL70200G

 

[TME]

why use SAL70300G for indoor ? try SAL70200G

You buy for me, I use it... any time bro!

 

[MontoyaSG]

I found out something more interesting, modifying to Agorabasta's setting. Set saturatiion to -3. The noise gets EVEN LOWER, but it sacrifice colours... A bit of an exchange haha....:bsmilie: This mode is mainly for those who does post-processing~~

If you're doing post processing after all why shoot in jpg. You get much more details retained when converting from RAW.

 

[TME]

If you're doing post processing after all why shoot in jpg. You get much more details retained when converting from RAW.

JPEGs are smaller, easier to handle plus sometimes all is needed is simply a level adjustment and noise reduction... no need to set or note all the parameters for RAW. You're looking at 25MB for one A900 RAW! After adjustment it can go up to 30+MB!

 

[Drudkh]

RAW is quite overkill for hobby photography. Jpeg is more than sufficient in general.

 

[Zenten]

why use SAL70300G for indoor ? try SAL70200G

:devil: .......You should be in hell ................

 

[Dearchivism]

I tried the "agorabasta" setting for high ISO (at ISO 800 & 1000, night time shoting, because i seldom use high ISO) with Camera Sony Alpha 900 + G lens 70-200 mm F/2.8 without any flashes, only used the stage light at Da:ns Festifal 2009, Esplanade Open Theate, Singapore. At that time i just wondered how the result would be. After shot several times, and i saw the result.......what would i have to say, cool the "agorabasta setting for high ISO works well" more than what i imagined before. Not for sure how big is the influnce of stage light (lighting condition at the stage) to the results, but personally i am satisfied for the result quality (the noise appearance is almost not visible). Next time i want to try higher iso with agorabasta setting, will do it step by step so i can learn and get a usefull experince of using the setting at high ISO. Now i save the setting at my camera with memory mode 1. I will keep this setting because it works well and so usefull (especially for night shot / low light condition with hand hold). Thanks for TME + all of you friends that gave the information of agorabasta setting. I love Sony DSLR and it's system. here are two photos that i want to share, just to show how the agorabasta setting works well at high Iso setting (night time shoting with stage light), pardon me if there is something not so ideal, cheer and have a happy shoting time for all of you ;p


Sony Alpha 900 + G Lens 70-200 mm F/2.8 (Night Time with Stage Lighing, no flashes)
Manual Mode, Auto White Ballance
Creative Style : Neutral, Contrast (off), Saturation (0), Sharpness (+2), Brightness (-2), Zone (-1)


#1 Portrait of Dancing Performance 01 (Thai Kong Dance From Thailand, Da:ns Festival 2009, Esplanade Open Theate, Singapore)

Camera: Sony DSLR-A900
Exposure: 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 180 mm
ISO Speed: 800
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
Software: Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows
Exposure Program: Manual
Date and Time (Original): 2009:10:23 21:49:56+08:00
Metering Mode: Center-weighted average
Light Source: Unknown
Color Space: sRGB
Exposure Mode: Manual
White Balance: Auto
Focal Length In35mm Format: 180 mm
Scene Capture Type: Standard
Contrast: Normal
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Hard
Compression: JPEG (old-style)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27143060@N08/4039326108/sizes/l/



#2 Portrait of Dancing Performance 02 (Thai Kong Dance From Thailand, Da:ns Festival 2009, Esplanade Open Theate, Singapore)

Camera: Sony DSLR-A900
Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 160 mm
ISO Speed: 1000
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off
Software: Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows
Exposure Program: Manual
Date and Time (Original): 2009:10:23 20:23:45+08:00
Metering Mode: Center-weighted average
Light Source: Unknown
Color Space: sRGB
Custom Rendered: Normal
Exposure Mode: Manual
White Balance: Auto
Focal Length In35mm Format: 160 mm
Scene Capture Type: Standard
Contrast: Normal
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Hard
Compression: JPEG (old-style)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27143060@N08/4039396536/sizes/l/in/photostream/

 

[hoppie]

unfortunately, most hobbyist are also pretty cautious with their wallets. and most hobbyist wouldn't care about the compactness of their cameras, if image quality was their main priority. hence DSLRs will still be the best price/performace digital cameras.

many PNS upgraders would not get the GF1 or EP1 right off the bat. i think the hot buyers will be owners of current DSLR systems, who wants a compact backup camera for quick shots, but do not want to go back down the PNS path.

u are right, i switched from a Prosumer Canon SX1is (just 2 months) to a Sony A330. I have never like four thirds SLR, if i have to pay that kind of money which is actually more than the price of a DSLR, i rather get a proper DSLR with a nice Viewfinder! Isn't Viewfinder the reason why DSLR is a better choice? hmmm.........sorry if i offended four third people, i rather use a prosumer than a four thirds, a viewfinder is better in terms of capturing Non-still objects. (IMHO, don't flame me)

Ok back to the topic, the high ISO performance seems better than the lower range Alphas, i just played with my friend's Canon 40D, we both shoot at our neighbour's kids bday party and he is using ISO1600 but i can't do it, noise is too obvious wonder why can't Sony just improve in the ISO performance, his 40D max is iso3200 and still usable, the A330 is 3200, what's the use of including 3200 when the usable range is only iso800? I am not exceptionally happy with that, but well i paid less than $1k so dun expect that much, regret not getting a 500D or A500 now