Questions to D30 users

[tomshen]

Have a few questions to ask:
1. Which format do u shoot normally, raw or jpg?
2. What's ur normal post processing?
3. If sharpening a pic brings more noise (esp. for high ISO pics), how do u compromise?
4. ur lenses collection pls;p

 

[tomshen]

One more here, what's ur normal setting for: sharpness, contrast, color tone, and saturation.

 

[StreetShooter]

Please note I am not a typical D30 user.

1. Jpg. Most others shoot RAW (I mean the Canon format, not in the nude).

2. Crop, levels, curves if neccessary, USM.

3. Sometimes I use a high pass filter to do edge-sharpening. This minimises but does not eliminate background noise sharpening. The other thing you can do of course is apply sharpening and noise removal selectively using layer masks.

4. Sigma 20mm 1.8, Sigma 70-200mm 2.8, 28-135 IS USM, 50mm 1.8, 35mm 2.0, 75-300mm

5. I use the default camera settings (low sharpening).

Originally posted by tomshen
Have a few questions to ask:
1. Which format do u shoot normally, raw or jpg?
2. What's ur normal post processing?
3. If sharpening a pic brings more noise (esp. for high ISO pics), how do u compromise?
4. ur lenses collection pls;p

 

[tomshen]

Why most pics from D30 are soft, even with L lenses?

 

[Simon]

Originally posted by tomshen
Why most pics from D30 are soft, even with L lenses?

Nope, not truth, most of the soft pics are due to camera shake, not enough lights and speed. This happen to all SLR camera, not only D30.

 

[chuanwee]

that is y it is call canon,i conpared it with pics taken from S1 pro,S1 pro is very sharp and u can see that literally that it looks like cut and paste.i prefer image to blends into the background.
i use 17-35mm canon lense and 28-105.its good for most uses

 

[zapp!]

Test your sharpness using a tripod and shooting newspaper...

I usually shoot RAW unless the pics are not critical...RAW allows me a lot of flexibility in controlling exposure...JPEG sometimes have artifacts even though it is at the lowest compression...so sorta spoil the pic a bit...

 

[ckiang]

Originally posted by tomshen
Why most pics from D30 are soft, even with L lenses?

This is widely known, particularly with non-L lenses. D30 images are typically softer than other digital SLRs. The camera has very low in-camera sharpening. You can apply your own sharpening much more effectively.

Regards
CK

 

[mylau]

Originally posted by tomshen
Have a few questions to ask:
1. Which format do u shoot normally, raw or jpg?
2. What's ur normal post processing?
3. If sharpening a pic brings more noise (esp. for high ISO pics), how do u compromise?
4. ur lenses collection pls;p

1. Most of the time I shoot JPG. Raw only if I have a lot of time.(Which I seldom have)

2. Levels, USM, cropping, (interpolating if necessary)

3. Adjust your sharpening setting to compromise for sharpness and noise level. D30 noise level is not a problem for sharpening up to ISO 800.

4. 16-35mm L, 28-135 IS, 100mm macro, 100-400L IS, 1.4X extender, 12mm extension tude

 

[mylau]

Originally posted by tomshen
Why most pics from D30 are soft, even with L lenses?

D30 pics are not soft. Just relatively soft compared to other digicams. A little USM will bring out the sharpness which consumer digicams cannot compare.

It is slightly soft due to the filter in front of the CMOS sensor.

 

[tomshen]

Can share your normal USM setting?

 

[zapp!]

Originally posted by tomshen
Can share your normal USM setting?

I am quite lazy so i just use one pass.

about 100-125% USM with radius of 1.0 and threshold of 5.
Actually there is no true blue USM setting..change the various settings and if the pic looks good at that setting, then it is YOUR setting...no one else can dispute it.

 

[mylau]

Originally posted by tomshen
Can share your normal USM setting?

Depends on ISO level. Usually I use radius 0.8, 120%, threshold 2.

 

[Shadus]

Now this is interesting. In one of my posting a long while ago, I wanted to dispel perception that the cp5k produce soft image. Hence I posted a pic with USM 100%-120%, 0.8 threshold, 2 radius. (in-camera sharpening was turn off)

I receive so much flak that too much USM is applied, hence the image appears 'sharp'.

I'm so glad today that 2 experienced users are using about 100% USM. I do agree that there's no true blue setting. But the amount generally varies from 60%-150%, for pics with no in-camera sharpening applied.

Jed did gave me a good grounding on USM principles at a later stage. Hope he'll make some comments here

 

[tomshen]

Any othre online reference abt USM setting?

 

[zapp!]

Oh yeah, another pointer:

The saying rubbish in rubbish out applies here.
If your pic is not focused due to handshake for example, no amount of sharpening can help liven it up...

 

[tomshen]

yeah, hand shake is the most common reason for blurness.

 

[megaweb]

Originally posted by tomshen
Any othre online reference abt USM setting?

I suggest that you read up the D60 review by Phil and can find some useful comments by him

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneosd60/page12.asp

 

[cheangv]

try to shoot at shutter speeds of 1/30 or faster to reduce the handshake impact.

Have been shooting in JPG but now considering RAW so I have more flexibility in my post processing. Storage is a big problem if I am shooting raw though. Even with a 256 card, I would only get about 60 + shots. Thats not a lot.

 

[tomshen]

to cheangv:
Buy an image tank/photo album etc can save ur $$ and no need to compromise.