Dynamic range and old virtues

[axelcine]

@dfort - thank you for  - being you. I know how much effort you put into ML on a large variety of platforms including the Eos M.

I started as a young journalist on a small provincial/regional newspaper in 1978. We had two photographers, and of course they couldn't fill the paper, so us underdogs had to take pictures as well. Can you imagine how many times they gave me shit for my bad pictures? This was totally wrong - that was bad - this wasn't good enough and that was... I got my first cam at my communion in '66, a Nikkormat FT, 50 1/4, a helluva cam and I still have it. And I still buy film and develop my pictures in the wet room.

I worked my way through the dark room, gradually improving my skills.

This is where dual iso comes in. And ML.

You and DeafEyeJedi and all the other people in the ML universe make it possible for us cam-nerds to accomplish something very close to what we used to do, first in the field and later in the dark room with our chemistry and some (expensive) photographical paper. Do you remember Ilford HP5 or the FP4? ML recreates the dynamic range of that, and among many ML users DeafEyeJedi shows us what can be accomplished with ML. Do you remember Cibachrome? We toyed with expanding the dynamic range, either the exposure way or by chemical manipulation. It was hard work. DI/HDR/RAW/ML makes it so much easier.

ML makes us better photographers. Our Canons have a potential, and basically the Canon firmware is pretty sound. With ML I feel a new freedom and a new way to depict what I really feel when I look at a beautiful face or a fascinating scenery. ML makes it more fun and lifts the quality of our work. You contributed to that.

When I think of Henri Cartier-Bresson, who I have visited in Paris in 1969-70 and several times after that, especially when my paper/salary allowed me to travel, I think of him as the Leica man.

This is where Eos-M comes in. A small, handheld piece, discretely depicting the people at the quais, in front of eglise St Germain-des-Prés or la tour Eiffel, la colline de la Montmartre on a rainy day in March or a kissing couple at Gare du Nord. Much cheaper than Leica, but just as much kaPOW and photographical joy.

Dynamic range   : 13.34 EV (cooked), or
Dynamic range   : 10.49 (+) 7.83 => 12.85 EV (in theory)
Very impressive

dfort, just look at DEJ's pix - http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=7402.msg156268#msg156268 - no wonder I love my Nikkor 1966 50 1/4, and I have an adapter, so that I can put it on my 700d to make an 85mm portrait wonder. Beautiful bokeh... And that smile - what did you whisper in her ear? DEJ, you're awful, you!

[dfort]

Wow, I almost missed this post. Let me see if I can provide you with some of my own words of wit, though they won't be quite as eloquent as yours.

Staying on the topic of dynamic range and old virtues I can relate to my film days, they don't seem all that long ago. I remember squeezing every last bit of detail from the darkest shadows to the brightest highlights using all the tricks we had available at the time--full exposure, the water bath technique of developing black and white and the tedious process of creating pin registered masks for color. Yeah, I remember Cibachrome. One of my first jobs was working at a lab where they were doing pioneering work with Cibachrome prints. One day I came to work and the bleach tank was empty because the chemicals were so corrosive that the brass fixture at the bottom of the tank was completely dissolved. That was the early '70's, way before most people on this forum were even born. We had to be technicians back then not because we wanted to be but because knowledge was the key to unlock our creative freedom.

That hasn't really changed, look at the creative freedom Magic Lantern has given us, much more freedom than the camera manufacturers were willing to give us. What's even better is that there are no secrets here, everything is out in the open so if you have an idea you'd like to try out--try it out. Need help? There's people willing to share their knowledge. What a difference from the non-disclosure agreements I had to sign when working for corporations. Of course nobody here is doing it for the money--well maybe for one or two exceptions and of course we shouldn't publish any Canon secrets we may uncover.

I can go on an on about where I've been and what I've done, guess that happens when you have so many years to look back on, but instead let me tell you where I'm going with this project. I'm trying to squeeze every last bit out of my little EOS-M. Sure, I could get a more capable (and expensive) camera but then I would loose that freedom that Henri Cartier-Bresson must have also experienced with his Leica. Oh, and one of my first cameras was also a Leica, a IIIf.

There are good people here, DeafEyeJedi being one of them. We actually live fairly close to each other in the Los Angles area yet we haven't been able to schedule a meeting yet. Then there's Danne, far away in Sweden yet close because of this forum. I can tell him, gee I wish I could do this--and the following day he has written something that can do it.

Ok--got to get back to work. I'm actually retired but got called in to fill in for a couple of months. I'm running a Flame, that is a very expensive high-end editing system that can work with 2k, 4k, whatever k files, uncompressed, at full resolution. Don't be too impressed, the system went down yesterday for several hours so I switched over to a much less expensive Premiere system and finished a job before the tech was able to resuscitate the Flame. Sometimes the best solution isn't necessarily throwing money at the problem.

Finally, love reading your prose. I also see you have a love for audio. A friend that works in motion picture sound once told me that the airlines show you the movies for free but rents you the headsets so you can listen to them so audio must be more precious than picture! (Ok, well maybe that has changed too.)

[DeafEyeJedi]

@dfort - thank you for  - being you. I know how much effort you put into ML on a large variety of platforms including the Eos M.

Likewise. As soon as he signed up to be a membership on this Forum, I very much enjoyed reading his prose and decided to follow him closely because he is unique in so many ways within the world of Photography/Cinematography/Coding.

ML makes us better photographers. Our Canons have a potential, and basically the Canon firmware is pretty sound. With ML I feel a new freedom and a new way to depict what I really feel when I look at a beautiful face or a fascinating scenery. ML makes it more fun and lifts the quality of our work. You contributed to that.

When I think of Henri Cartier-Bresson, who I have visited in Paris in 1969-70 and several times after that, especially when my paper/salary allowed me to travel, I think of him as the Leica man.

Funny you guys mentioned him because I had to do a biography report on him during the Digital Photography days from my early years of College (2002-2005) and boy he was an interesting man to learn about. Yes, I know just because I was born in 1983 doesn't mean I don't have to learn Film or at least the history of it.

So I have the utmost respect for people like You & Daniel along with others who've contributed on so many levels not only in this community as well as throughout the world of Art & Creativity through Glass.

My own Grandfather is the one of the few remarkable people on this earth (at least to me) that has given me this talent of true love & passion for the Art of Photography which obviously has lead me to become somewhat a Cinematographer nowadays. I'm still trying to pick up bits of his brain on what he has learned over the past century or so. He turns 85 next year and time won't be on our side for much longer. 

One of my favorite quotes from him is "Your Camera is just as good as the Glass!" which is yet so true even for today!

This is where Eos-M comes in. A small, handheld piece, discretely depicting the people at the quais, in front of eglise St Germain-des-Prés or la tour Eiffel, la colline de la Montmartre on a rainy day in March or a kissing couple at Gare du Nord. Much cheaper than Leica, but just as much kaPOW and photographical joy.

I second that and hence the reason(s) why Daniel owns more than just one set of EOS-M -- Definitely gets me considering to get another body or two before they run out of stock.   

And that smile - what did you whisper in her ear? DEJ, you're awful, you!

TBH, It was towards the end of the last few photos and she said to me "Are you reading my lips through the Camera?" as she was asking if I was almost done.

As I'm peeking through the viewfinder while composing for the shot and answered "Sure with those 'DeafEyes' I can literally lip read through anything!" ...

... and here goes she starts laughing out of disbelief then there's the shot!

I was taught that Photography is (or should be) mostly about catching these crucial "Moments" so I think this shot was just Pure Joy and looked the most natural to me out of all!

Thanks for your kind words, @axelcine!

Finally, love reading your prose. I also see you have a love for audio. A friend that works in motion picture sound once told me that the airlines show you the movies for free but rents you the headsets so you can listen to them so audio must be more precious than picture! (Ok, well maybe that has changed too.)

I guess it can be a good thing for me to be Deaf and not have to worry about renting these crappy headsets since I can just focus on the "Picture" or at least the pace of Editing -- even though I can still use my EarBuds that came with the iPhones & connect them to my Cochlear Implants...