R-D1 Day 2 Photos (by a total beginner)

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tobinharris

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Hi folks

Someone (@kermaier) suggested that I post up some shots, mainly because the kind people on the forum here seem to enjoy giving feedback.

I'm a total photography noob, and have had the R-D1 for just over 24 hours now.

All these shots were:

- Taken with R-D1 + CV 25mm/f4
- Usually on AE mode, sometimes with +1/2 step exposure
- Imported from camera as RAW (or B&W JPEG) using iPhoto
- Then exported as high quality JPEG and uploaded to Flickr
- Had minimal post-processing
- B&Ws are using R-D1's JPEG output rendering (in monochrome mode, outputting colour RAW + B&W JPEG at same time)

Expect to see a myriad of technical problems and compositional problems in my piccies :) Any pointers MUCH appreciated.


Shoes by tobinharris, on Flickr


Hall Window (color) by tobinharris, on Flickr


Gate (B&W) by tobinharris, on Flickr


Wall Light by tobinharris, on Flickr


Clothes Rack by tobinharris, on Flickr


Hall WIndow by tobinharris, on Flickr


Bedroom by tobinharris, on Flickr


Clothes Rack Color by tobinharris, on Flickr


Hall Upstairs by tobinharris, on Flickr


Gate 2 (Color) by tobinharris, on Flickr

View full slideswho on Flickr

Note: Have put a few in there in both colour and B&W, just to show how things are getting captured. Colour is "ok" I think, but not quite as vibrant as I'd like.




A few problems I think I'm having

- I've noticed some of the black and whites look at bit rough and dirty when viewed in a larger size. Nowhere near as crisp and clean as some of the other piccies I've seen on here.

- I'm not sure what GOOD exposure is yet. Are the images too dark?

- I'm also seeing some white dots on the images. Hopefully a lense issue rather than a sensor issue :S ?

- Framing with the VC 25mm/f4 is really HARD using the built in viewfinder. On close-up shots, it seems like the WHOLE viewfinder is the frame, and in others it seems like the 25mm lines are reasonably accurate.

Cheers folks. I'm having a lot of fun on day two of the R-D1. Harsh feedback welcome :)
 
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Congratulations for your new camera and your pics !

My advices :
- always shoot in RAW, it's the same thing than negatives with film photography : you can choose the settings of the print AFTER the shoot (BW or color, etc…)
- even if you don't like post processing, it's better to use lightroom than iphoto. If you don't want to buy LR, Epson photoRaw is a free and great app.
 
gekopaca said:
Congratulations for your new camera and your pics !

My advices :
- always shoot in RAW, it's the same thing than negatives with film photography : you can choose the settings of the print AFTER the shoot (BW or color, etc…)
- even if you don't like post processing, it's better to use lightroom than iphoto. If you don't want to buy LR, Epson photoRaw is a free and great app.
Click to expand...

Thank you.

I'm shooting in RAW+JPEG, and R-D1 outputs both a B&W JPEG and a colour RAW file. Switching to RAW only might simplify my workflow, even though I sometimes like the B&W JPEG output by the R-D1.

I appreciate iPhoto doesn't produce the same quality, and I've read about photoRAW on here, sounds like it does a great job. So, I'll switch, thanks for the tip.

On the plus side for iPhoto, it has a really nice fluid workflow when compared to photoRAW. I think it's because I can preview in full screen, and use keyboard shortcuts to rotate, delete etc. Does Lightroom have a fast workflow?
 
If you have the upgraded firmware, there's a utility in the camera menus to map out stuck pixels in the sensor so they don't show up in photos. That migh clear up the white spots problem, particularly at high ISO.

Dust on the lens is not likely to show up as white spots in the pictures.

Dust on your sensor may show up as dark circles agains light backgrounds (like blue sky) when stopped down to f/8 or smaller.

Nice pix so far, BTW -- keep shooting!

::Ari
 
shots look good, the RD1s is a unique camera, and the rendition for this 6MP camera has always impressed me at lower-mid ISO's. The higher ISO's are more "challenging" for color, though the B&W's can be coaxed into nice digital grainy shots.

For someone having this just 24 hrs, you're doing quite well. Its nice to produce RAW & JPEG simultaneously, but I now do what has been mentioned above: just shoot color RAWs and convert to B&W in iPhoto. I am about to get Aperture 3, so I think the workflow will be even better.
thanks for sharing images. Try some different lenses on the RD1s, and you'll find some nice combo's mated to this particular sensor rendition.
 
kermaier said:
If you have the upgraded firmware, there's a utility in the camera menus to map out stuck pixels in the sensor so they don't show up in photos. That migh clear up the white spots problem, particularly at high ISO.
Click to expand...

Updated this morning, and found the "Dead Pixel Correction" in the menu, I'll give this a shot, thanks.

kermaier said:
Nice pix so far, BTW -- keep shooting!
::Ari
Click to expand...

Thanks!
 
fotomeow said:
For someone having this just 24 hrs, you're doing quite well. Its nice to produce RAW & JPEG simultaneously, but I now do what has been mentioned above: just shoot color RAWs and convert to B&W in iPhoto. I am about to get Aperture 3, so I think the workflow will be even better.
thanks for sharing images. Try some different lenses on the RD1s, and you'll find some nice combo's mated to this particular sensor rendition.
Click to expand...

Many thanks for the info and encouragement. It's going to take practice-practice-practice to learn to control the exposure and composition :) ...

Is iPhoto's RAW conversion considered "ok"? Or do you use something else before that, like epsonRAW? Thinking of getting Aperture 3 also.

Really looking forward to trying different lenses.
 
I have Aperture 3, but most times I use photoRAW because of it's simplicity. Aperture is a huge beast, and very good, if you also want to manage your images, not just to develop the raws. But since I like to keep it simple and manage my photos in a folder structure and sometimes using digikam (on Linux) to update my database and image-tags, photoRAW is my preferred tool for the R-D1-raws.

Short: Give photoRAW a try. It's for raw-processing only, but does all you need very simple and effective.
 
Nice work, welcome to the gang. I'm sure you'll love the camera. Time to move out of the house and further a field :)

Cheers John
 
Johnmcd said:
Nice work, welcome to the gang. I'm sure you'll love the camera. Time to move out of the house and further a field :)

Cheers John
Click to expand...

Thanks John, yes, last night I ventured out to the pub and took some shots of the live band, people drinking and various other random things :)
 
tobinharris said:
Does Lightroom have a fast workflow?
Click to expand...
Yes it does!
Actually you could consider LR as a three-parts app :
1) a powerfull database, to archive and find your pictures. for what it's better than iphoto : indexed and key-words, research engine, etc…
2) an "as a lightbox" editing engine, in order to classing, editing and rating your pictures, etc…
3) a really powerfull darkroom to export your raw files as .jpeg or .tiff (non destructive actions) with full of free presets and a lot of third part plugins accepted.

That's why IMO it's the best photo app you will find on the market.
Apple's Apperture seems to be good too, But LR is perfectly chained with the other Adobe apps (Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, etc…)
 
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tobinharris said:
Thanks John, yes, last night I ventured out to the pub and took some shots of the live band, people drinking and various other random things :)
Click to expand...

The pub is a perfect place to try some high iso. What you need is the cv 40/1.4. Great for bands to. Have fun.

John
 
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