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  #1  
Old 01-14-2006, 01:59 PM
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tmickley tmickley is offline
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new lens some diff aperature shots to compare

I got a Sigma EX DG 50mm Macro lens. I like it. I had a little shooting session this afternoon to try and find the sweet spot. Here are 4 pics to look at with different aperature settings. The focus was manual on the stag handle ripples. I changed the aperature via tether so I didn't even touch the camera changing from one setting to the next. I actually took several more than this but these 4 illustrate pretty well what I got. These are the jpeg images exactly as they came out, nothing was done to them.

at 2.5f stop, wide open


at 18f stop


at 25f stop


at 45f stop smallest aperature and longest shutter speed



you can see the huge difference in sharpness, you might see some color shift but not much with this one and it's hard to see on the web anyway. I guessed the sweet spot at around 18f stop or so with this light set up. Here is a shot at 18f stop with a little work on the dark reflection on the bolster and slight sharpening.



and finally, what good is a macro lens if you don't MACRO baby...
The stag on this knife does not like the camera. It is much better looking than I have been able to bring out but here is a fun close up shot I took of it. I could have gone closer but then you'd miss my mug shot reflected in the bolster....


I'll be shooting around 16f to 18f with this lens based on these quick tests. Your milage may vary...
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Old 01-16-2006, 11:38 AM
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Terrill Hoffman Terrill Hoffman is offline
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Good little test to run. I've always found that most lenses shoot better in the middle of their range.


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Last edited by Terrill Hoffman; 01-17-2006 at 06:51 AM.
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Old 01-16-2006, 11:46 AM
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Tracy, what can you do about color balance? These are WAY off the yellow chart.

Coop


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Old 01-16-2006, 06:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SharpByCoop
Tracy, what can you do about color balance? These are WAY off the yellow chart.

Coop
It is isn't it?

I just changed out the diffuser on my light tent from fabric to Tough Frost (from B&H). That took out some of the yellow but I need to change several of my flourescent bulbs to a higher temp color. I'm using several different kinds of bulbs and that just isn't going to work any more. I'll take some more pics when I get the new bulbs in and post them here to compare.
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Old 01-17-2006, 06:54 PM
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Since I had TWO Dr's lifting my pictures, color correcting them and sending them back to me plus a doctor here and two pro's kinda telling the same thing, call me intuitive but I figured out I have a light temp problem. I had a mix of several different fluorescent bulbs.
David Darom and Fred Carter were both kind enough to send me corrected pictures. I guess they couldn't stand it. Fred diagnosed (doctor talk) my mixed lights as the issue so I went and bought a new set of matching daylight fluorescents at 6500K temp. They are a little cooler than I thought they would be but easily color corrected using levels and the droppers on the gretagmacbeth color card. I still see them as a little cool in color but I like how it works on the steel. Any opinions or advice always welcome...
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Old 01-17-2006, 08:41 PM
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NOW we're talkin'!

It figures that the two mentors that *I* pay attention to, would be figuring out your deal.

Looky there. You lifted the haze off the knife and made it JUMP off my screen. Like it should.

6500 is a bit cool, but better than 2800k. Maybe one mixer bulb to draw it down a bit? Better yet, keep doing what you are doing.

My Canon also has a Kelvin temperature scale WB adjustment which you can set in increments of 100 degrees to compensate for, theoretically, any mix of lights. Between the modelling lamps and my tungsten strobes I found my lighting to be at 4600k. That's what I set it at for my best output.

Unless you had that, everything is a compensation. Whatever you did worked wonders. Cool!

Coop


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Old 01-18-2006, 01:10 AM
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Tracy - Looks like you got the white balance variable under control - now what?


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Old 01-18-2006, 06:52 AM
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Originally Posted by Buddy Thomason
Tracy - Looks like you got the white balance variable under control - now what?
composition i think...
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Old 01-19-2006, 08:30 AM
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Have a cup of coffee first. It looks as if you gone a long way in a short time.


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