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Comparing Photos from the Canon 1D X, Nikon D810, and Pentax 645z

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In this article, I’m going to share a simple comparison between photos taken with the #Canon 1D X, #Nikon D810, and Pentax 645z. First things first, this is not a scientific or carefully done test. Don’t read too much into it! This was just because I happened to have all 3 cameras here, and had a bit of time spare. And I like playing around with #camera gear.

The most important thing to note is I didn’t have the right lenses to do a really fair comparison. This is just for curiosity to see how a similar picture would look coming out of each camera.

The Nikon is using a Nikon 35mm f/1.4, and the Pentax is using a Pentax 55mm f/2.8. The Canon is at the biggest disadvantage, with a Canon 24-70mm II lens shooting wide open. The 24-70 is an outstanding general zoom lens, but it’s not really fair to compare it wide open to two other prime lenses.

I don’t normally use a 35mm lens for portraits but again, it’s all I had here. So the Nikon has it’s 35mm, the Canon 24-70mm is set to 35mm, and the Pentax with it’s 55mm is equivalent to roughly a 43mm so I took a small step back as well. I wasn’t on a tripod, so the framing is not identical, but close enough.

These images are completely untouched and auto white balance. Of course you can make the colours anything you want. All lenses are set at 2.8. The ISO varied slightly over each camera but was pretty low.

So out of all that, my personal conclusion is that the Canon probably gets the nicest colors straight out of the camera. I like the overall look of the larger sensor Pentax more than either the Canon or Nikon. The medium format ‘look’ is something that is hard to describe but I think is pretty clear to most people in these quick test shots. If this was a wedding and I was doing a proper edit of course I would go through and get the colors spot on.

If I posted 100% crops here my wife would kill me. But to summarize from looking at the files at 100%, the Pentax is a clear step above the other 2 cameras with the most ridiculous amount of facial detail rendered at 100% view. The D810 does well, but does trail significantly behind the Pentax. The 1D X did very well considering it was using a zoom lens wide open. I would think D810 would compare better sharpness-wise to the Pentax with different lenses such as the lovely Zeiss Otus 55 or 85mm. But as it is with the 35mm f/1.4, there is a fair gap. I’ll do a small aperture test later in this post.

At this size, they all look pretty similar. So we need 100% crops to really see. It’s hard to frame these identically with the different file sizes and lenses.

The Pentax is surprisingly well. Until recently, medium format was pretty much unusable above ISO 400 and took a huge resolution hit if you did go over 400. These days, to have a 51MP medium format body that produces very good and detailed high ISO work is just amazing, and it’s a reason why I can use this camera very effectively at weddings.

The Canon obviously trails by a fair way here, but it still produces a decent result — remembering, of course, the 1D X is a few years old now. I still regularly print files from this camera in wedding albums at ISO 6400 and a bit higher, and the noise will often be greatly diminished on print. I would also run some noise reduction over this file in my editing process, but haven’t here.

The next test is the dynamic range at high ISO. Both of these shots were f/2.8 at ISO 1600. The Pentax was not used here. This is just Canon against Nikon.

There in the leaf shot you can see the dynamic range of the Nikon. The Canon is clipping highlights a bit on the edges of some of the leaves, the Nikon is not. But indoors, the dynamic range was near identical. So as far as I can tell, there is a difference in low ISOs between the cameras, but it becomes a much more level playing field dynamic range wise once the ISO starts getting high.

As a wedding photographer this is a spectacularly useless test — I put colors and dynamic range and how a camera handles well above how many pixels it has. But I know some people will be curious, so here it is!

So the Nikon here is certainly not bad, but there is a noticeable difference to the Pentax. Given the Nikon costs about 35% of what the Pentax costs, it’s not a bad result. I actually thought the Nikon would do a bit better and retook the shot a few times to make sure but that was the consistent result — at least with this lens.

The Pentax 55mm used in those teddy shots is a very good lens, but it’s far from the sharpest available. I have a 35mm that is a big step up in sharpness from the 55mm but did not use it as the framing would be too different to the Nikon 35mm — it’s essentially a wide angle lens in medium format.

 

 

Think Tank Perception 15 Backpack Review

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The Think Tank Perception 15 is a backpack designed for mirrorless cameras. It will hold a mirrorless or small DSLR body with 1-2 lenses and there’s also room for a 15 inch laptop and 10 inch tablet. Think Tank say it’s their smallest, lightest daypack designed to add flexibility to photographers’ workflows. It’s available in black and Taupe beige. Here, we took a look at the black version.

The bag is made from 600D twill fabric coated with durable water repellent coating on the outside, and has 320g airflow dry mesh on the back padding. There is an adjustable sternum strap that can be fastened across the midriff when the bag is worn. The shoulder straps are well padded and feature loops to attach small personal effects to.

There is a strong grab handle on the top seam, and on the front of the bag you’ll find two zipped pockets; the top one is plush lined for your phone or sunglasses and the bottom one can be used for extra storage or allow the attachment of a tripod on the front of the bag without impeding access to the two compartments. There’s a strap stowed away in a small velcro pocket on the front of the bag at the top to secure the tripod.

In the main compartment you’ll find two drawstring compartments, one for the #camera and one for one or two spare lenses. there are padded detachable dividers in the compartments, to keep the camera in place and let you store lenses one on top of the other without them rubbing together. These drawstring compartments are sewn onto the back of the main pocket and underneath them there is room for a small lunchbox and maybe a raincoat for a trip out. On the inside front of the compartment there is a zipped compartment that has a stationery/small accessory organiser on the front.

The back compartment is heavily padded and has room for a 15 inch laptop. There is also an inner padded pocket providing a home to a 10 inch tablet or notepad that needs to be kept flat. The bag comes with a seam sealed rain cover that can be compacted away into an attached pouch.

The zips on the bag all have a chord with plastic grip, making them really easy to grab and open in a rush. The back pocket is densely padded and should protect the laptop from bumps and bangs well. It’s easy to slide a tablet and laptop in and out.

The two lined drawstring pockets at the top of the bag are ideal for storing your kit and keeping it out of sight even when the bag is open. However when loaded with kit they make it difficult to get things out from the underneath space, designed for your coat and other day accessories. It could also make things tight for accessing the zipped pocket on the front wall of the pocket. The zips on this section of the bag do extend quite far down to compensate for this.

On top of the bag there is a velcro sealed slot in which you’ll find the tripod securing strap. Two of the tripod’s feet go into the unzipped bottom pocket on the front of the bag while the strap is secured around the top. It’s a good idea but it renders the top front plush lined pocket difficult to access while a tripod is attached.

The back and straps are really heavily padded making it really comfortable to wear even when full of gear. The rain cover is easy to deploy and does a good job of covering the bag against harsh weather.

The Think Tank Perception 15 is available through various photographic retailers in the UK including Snapperstuff, priced at £93.50 and is also available to order through the Think Tank website. The company is based in the USA but will ship worldwide. It’s well made, tough, and appears to be relatively good value for money considering the padding and lining of some of the pockets.

Bags of a similar size include the Lowepro Hatchback 22L AW, which is available in blue and pepper red and costs £71 from Amazon. This bag doesn’t have the ability to attach a tripod, however.

The Think Tank Perception 15 is a well-equipped, versatile bag that’s comfy to wear on a day out. There is ample space for personal items and gear is well protected. It’s inconspicuous and doesn’t shout ‘camera bag’. The only thing that lets it down is the design in some places. The kit pockets can hinder your access to the personal items space below, and when a tripod is fitted on the front you lose access to the front top pocket. If these aren’t major issues for you and you just want a comfy, functional day pack then we are happy to recommend the bag.

Ben Andrews reviews the new Samsung NX500 – with a 28.2 megapixel APS-C BSI CMOS sensor, and 4K video recording, could this be the bargain mirrorless camera of the year?

This month, you could win one of 6 fantastic photographer’s bags from Think Tank and MindShift Gear.  There are a wide variety of bags up for grabs, incl…

 

 

Olympus E-M5 II Review: Is this the best argument yet for the Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera?

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And now, we can bring the story to its end as we finalize our review. We’ve dotted the last few ‘i’s, crossed the last ‘t’s, and added both our in-depth image quality analysis and our final thoughts on the E-M5 II. But what is our verdict: Is this a good #camera, or a truly great one? For the answer to that question, you’ll want to read both of our in-depth Shooter’s Reports, as well as the conclusion itself.

Early in 2012, #Olympus took its mirrorless camera line in a new direction with the enthusiast-friendly OM-D E-M5. Now, as we complete our Olympus E-M5 II review, it’s time for us to cast judgement on the camera which takes the OM-D series to the next level with an ever more feature-packed design.

Sporting upgrades throughout — including a spectacularly impressive new multi-shot high resolution mode which merits an entire page to itself in our review — the Olympus E-M5 II understandably generated a lot of excitement when it launched last February. And we were no less excited ourselves, because once we’d familiarized ourselves with its control-packed body, the E-M5 II captivated us in a way that few cameras can. It was just plain fun to shoot with, and we think that showed in our photos!

 

Canon warns of fake 600EX-RT speedlites; find out if yours is authentic

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In their statement, #Canon emphasizes these counterfeits were neither designed nor manufactured by them, despite look nearly identical to Canon’s own products down to the individual trademark logos.

‘Furthermore, these counterfeit products have not been manufactured or tested under the safety standards established by Canon’, Canon states in the advisory. ‘[Therefore] we are unable to make representations concerning their safe operation, and there is a possibility that using one of these counterfeit products may cause adverse affects such as generation of fire and/or smoke’.

Canon says the best bet to ensuring your model is an authentic Canon product is to purchase from an authorized Canon dealer, such as B&H or Adorama. If you’ve already purchased a Speedlite 600EX-RT flash, Canon has provided a couple of graphics to help you distinguish whether your speedlite is authentic or not.

The position to release the mounting foot lock lever on a genuine unit is towards the left (see the green arrow), and the position to release the mounting foot lock lever on a counterfeit unit is towards the center (see the red arrow).

The display on the Custom Function screen is different. Follow the steps in the Speedlite 600EX-RT Instruction Manual to access the Custom Function screen.

 

 

Olympus patent shows off what could be the first super telephoto lens for MFT systems

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The patent, originally filed in October of 2013 and published earlier this month, details a super telephoto lens made up of 17 elements in 14 groups. Also present inside of the lens is an image stabilization group, for better capturing those long distance shots.

Minimum focusing distance of the lens would be 2 meters (6.5 feet) and the angle of view would be roughly 2.6º. Below is an MFT chart displaying, from left to right, spherical aberration, astigmatism, distortion, chromatic aberration of magnification.

This would mark the first super telephoto lens for the Micro Four Thirds mount. To date, the longest focal length you can achieve, without extenders, is 300mm in both their 70-300mm F4.0–5.6 and ED 75-300mm F4.8-6.7 II. Panasonic also offers a 100-300mm F4.0-5.6 lens.

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The New Sigma 24-35mm f/2 Art Lens is Like 3 Prime Lenses in 1 Zoom

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Sigma today announced a new lens to its highly-acclaimed Art lineup: the 24-35mm f/2. According to the company, this is the “world’s first large-aperture full-frame wide-angle zoom lens offering f/2 brightness throughout the zoom range.” The lens features 18 elements in 13 groups, a minimum aperture of f/16, an 82mm filter size, a minimum focusing distance of 11 inches (28cm), dimensions of 3.4×4.8 inches (87.6×122.7mm), a weight of 33.2oz (940g), a 9-blade aperture, an inner focusing system that eliminates front lens rotation, and a max magnification ratio of 1:4.4.

The somewhat restrictive zoom range of 24-35mm may seem a bit strange, but Sigma says its goal was to offer the quality and convenience of three of the most commonly used prime lenses in one zoom lens. It “allows photographers to carry one lens to do the work of […] a 24mm, 28mm and 35mm — with f/2 brightness and top optical performance,” Sigma says.

With the introduction of this new lens, Sigma is one step closer to offering a interesting zoom trinity that consists of the existing 24-105mm f/4, the rumored 24-70mm f/2.8, and this new 24-35mm f/2.

This Sigma 24-35mm f/2 DG HSM Art lens will be available for #Canon EF, #Nikon F, and Sigma SA mounts. Pricing and availability have yet to be announced.

 

 

Adobe releases new “Real or Photoshop” challenge

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The challenge itself is here. The concept is straightforward: twenty-five images, some of which are real, some of which are not. It’s up to you to sort the truth from fiction.

Sounds easy but be careful – with optical illusions, elaborate setups and genuine natural wonders in amongst the roster, not everything is as real or unreal as it seems.

Judging by the responses Adobe’s been getting on Twitter, quite a few photographers have already found the challenge to be a little harder than they expected:

Photoshop originally celebrated its 25th birthday back in February of this year. For a detailed history of how the firm evolved over the years to become the powerhouse it is today, see Martin Evening’s detailed account of its history.

We also examined how Photoshop has shaped our view of society in that time, and steeled ourselves for a sad look at the world of Photoshop disasters – when Photoshop goes very, very wrong.

We’re already on Round 3 of APOY 2015. Here are results for the top 50 results for The Wider Perspective – Creative Wideangle Lee Acaster from Suffolk is the winner…

 

 

Could this 20mm f/2.8 lens patent be Canon’s next pancake lens?

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Originally filed back in December of 2013, Patent Publication No. 2015–111192 (translated) shows a 20mm lens made up of six elements in five groups. Focusing for the lens is done through #Canon’s Stepping Motor Technology (STM), enabling smooth focus transitions when shooting in video mode, which all Canon APS-C DSLRs are now capable of.

As pointed out by Canon Rumors, this lens is very similar in focal length to Canon’s current 24mm f/2.8 STM, which packs quite the punch in a small form factor. Thus, it could be nothing more than a left over patent from the 24mm’s design.

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Canon Patents an EF 10mm f/2.8 Lens, an Ultra-Ultra-Wide Prime

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##Canon may be planning to create one of the world’s widest non-fisheye prime lenses. A new patent shows the internal design of a 10mm f/2.8 lens for full frame sensors. The Japanese website Egami spotted the patent (#2015-102620), which was published earlier this month. There aren’t many details except for the basic fact that Canon filed a patent for this lens back in 2013.

Earlier this year, Canon already announced a new ultra-wide zoom lens, the Canon 11-24mm f/4L, which boasts the widest angle of view ever achieved for a rectilinear (i.e. a lens that yields straight features) full frame DSLR lens. This 10mm f/2.8 would take that distinction if it’s announced.

The 11-24mm has an angle of view of about 126°. This 10mm f/2.8 would exceed that, offering photographers about 129°. There’s also the Canon 14mm f/2.8II L, but that only sees 114°.

If Canon does announce this lens, we’re guessing it’ll cost quite a pretty penny for photographers (the 11-24mm costs $2,999). But that’s the price you pay for a fast ultra-ultra-wide lens.

 

 

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens Review

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##Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens Review – Gary Wolstenholme reviews the new Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM lens, which is designed to offer smoother, quieter autofocus performance.

This lens is an update to the popular and inexpensive standard 50mm f/1.8 EF lens, replacing the standard focusing motor with Canon’s new stepping motor technology, which promises smoother, quieter autofocus performance, which is especially suited to recording video. Although this lens costs more than it’s predecessor, it’s still affordable, costing around £120. In this review, we’ll take a look at how it performs.

In contrast to the previous version of this lens, build quality is good, with high quality plastics used for the lens barrel and a metal bayonet. Despite the higher build quality, this optic still only weighs 160g. The lens balances well with the Canon EOS 5D MkIII body used for testing.

Autofocus is virtually silent, although it can be a little slow when compared to many other Canon lenses. Unlike many of Canon’s USM lenses, full time manual focus override is not possible and manual focusing is performed by the focusing motor. Manual adjustments can be made in single focus mode once the lens has locked onto a target though. The manual focusing ring is well enough damped to prevent the focus ring rotating freely, which makes applying fine adjustments a pleasure. A small switch on the side of the lens allows switching between manual and autofocus quickly.

Focusing is not performed internally, extending by around a centimetre at closest focus. Even so, the 49mm filter thread doesn’t rotate, making this lens ideal for use with polarising and graduated filters.

At maximum aperture sharpness is already very good in the centre of the frame, with the clarity towards the edges of the frame falling just below fairly good levels. Stopping down improves sharpness across the frame, with peak performance being achieved at f/8. Here clarity is excellent across the frame.

Chromatic aberrations are reasonably well controlled, remaining well below one pixel width at all aperture settings. This low level of fringing should be difficult to spot, even in harsh crops from the edges of the frame.

Falloff of illumination towards the edges of the frame is quite strong at maximum aperture, with the corners of the frame being 2.6 stops darker than the centre. Visually uniform illumination is achieved with the aperture stopped down to f/5.6 or beyond.

Distortion is quite strong for a 50mm lens with Imatest detecting 1.89% barrel distortion. If straight lines are paramount, then you’ll be glad to hear that the distortion pattern is uniform across the frame, which should make corrections straightforward to apply.

No issues with flare were encountered during testing, with only a slight loss of contrast being noticeable when shooting directly into the light at wide apertures. However, no lens hood is supplied as standard, so if you require one for peace of mind, then an ES-68 hood can set you back up to £20.

Currently, this lens is available for around £120, which seems quite reasonable, especially as #Nikon‘s equivalent 50mm f/1.8 currently costs around £135.

Canon’s old ‘Nifty Fifty’ was a popular lens despite its poor build quality as it represented such good value for money. Even though this lens costs more than its predecessor, it still represents great value due to the high levels of sharpness it produces. The improved build quality is welcome too and should win over many fans as a result.

The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. Averaging them out gives the red weighted column.

Chromatic aberration is the lens’ inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software.

Joshua Waller reviews the new #Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II, with improved IS, 40 megapixel mode, and overhauled #camera design, is the Mark II enough of an update to justify buying?