Team-BHP - Mirrorless or EVIL Cameras

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samurai (Post 3885841)

Exactly, this is not a lens I would add to my gear. But if I am going to Serengetti, I would love to have this lens just during that time. It ticks that telephoto box which I ignore most of the time.

I switched to m4/3 for the compact size. That's the strength of the system. That is why I never even considered 40-150mm F2.8, let alone 300mm F/4. I don't want a lens larger than my 12-40mm F/2.8, which I consider bulky. At smaller FLs, no dSLR comes closer to mirrorless in size or weight. That is where I usually stay, the lenses I have in my bag are 12-40mm F/2.8, 25mm F/1.8 and 45mm F/1.8, which means 45mm is the longest lens I have. :)

See, that is the thing. If Olympus lenses were available for rent from Toehold (say), would you buy the lens or rent it for occasional use?

This is not in reply to Sharath:

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There is ALWAYS a trade-off b/w a competent generalist kit and a specialist kit.

We need not be system fanboys.

My wife uses a Canon P&S. Before I moved to Nikon DSLR, I used a Canon long zoom (I wish I had something like the P900 5 years back, a fantastic long zoom P&S). I am a Samsung mobile fanboy, my wife is an Apple fangirl (lol, I dare not argue too much, even if I know I am right).

Hypothetically speaking:

Use the system that works for you, and learn to mitigate the constraints and maximize the advantages.

YOU might want to specialize in getting great shots of family events. I might want to to specialize in getting nice shots of wild big cats or birds in low light. It doesn't mean you take better shots than me, or vice versa. Horses for courses.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nilanjanray (Post 3885894)

See, that is the thing. If Olympus lenses were available for rent from Toehold (say), would you buy the lens or rent it for occasional use?

Obviously, but will that ever happen? Olympus prices in India are so ridiculous, I have stopped buying Olympus gear in India. The 12-40mm was 95K in India, got it for 58K in Japan. Recently I got 25mm F/1.8 in Japan for 17K, it was priced 33K in India.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nilanjanray (Post 3877116)

Why don't you (and others) start sharing more photos on the image threads ? There is too much dry talk about gear and too few photos :)

Taking up on your offer. New entrant to the OM-D EM5-II club, although my previous camera was Panasonic G2, so not entirely a newbie to m43 club.
Question for you experts, what photo management software do you guys use for EM5-II? Lightroom 5 can't read the RAW files, don't want to spend another $100 for LR6.

Quote:

Originally Posted by acurafan (Post 3886498)

Question for you experts, what photo management software do you guys use for EM5-II? Lightroom 5 can't read the RAW files, don't want to spend another $100 for LR6.

Wow, great shots. Where is this?

Regarding raw development... Until Em5-I, I was using ACR to convert ORF to DNG, and then process it using PS CS4. ACR didn't support EM5-II ORF when I got the camera, it was bought on the day EM5-II was released in Japan. :)

So I got Olympus Viewer to convert ORF to tiff, and used PS-CS4 to process. I was thrilled with the output. When ACR started supporting EM5-II, I switched back to my earlier process. Boy, did it suck! The Olympus Viewer is the best raw converter for ORF, sadly I realised it only this year. Now I am back to OV, for ORF->TIFF and then using CS4 for TIFF->JPG for all my processing. You could use LR5 for tiff->jpg instead.

Quote:

Originally Posted by acurafan (Post 3886498)

Try RAWtherapee. Its free and open source, and very powerful.
Learning curve is a little steep, but the amount of options, esp in noise reduction area are spectacular

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samurai (Post 3886517)

Wow, great shots. Where is this?

The first shot is from Horse Shoe Bend in Arizona and the other two is from Zion National Park in Utah.
The problem with ORF->TIFF->LR5 is the large filesizes. I am using the ACR to convert to DNG but it is a cumbersome process.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tsk1979 (Post 3886519)

Try RAWtherapee. Its free and open source, and very powerful.
Learning curve is a little steep, but the amount of options, esp in noise reduction area are spectacular

Will try that. I see it supports both OSX and Windows, good for my process flow.

I think LR is best for both editing and organizing. In fact there are lot of deals that come by where the CD comes for free.

I got one from similar deal with proper Key for 55$ which is worth considering the flexibility LR offers.

I also have GIMP but that learning curve is HUGE.

RAWTherapee is great but lacks some features as Photo editor. but for converting Tiff to editable formats, this works great where you can then use LR and make necessary adjustments.

I use only LR with some nice presets. I got a free ON1 and silver efx pro. These two plugins are actually very good compared to standard LR features for adjustments.

Quote:

Originally Posted by acurafan (Post 3886498)

Very nice shots. Horseshoe Canyon in Utah?

Btw re those folks in the first photo - I have vertigo, I can never go near a cliff edge lol.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samurai (Post 3886517)

Regarding raw development... Until Em5-I, I was using ACR to convert ORF to DNG, and then process it using PS CS4. ACR didn't support EM5-II ORF when I got the camera, it was bought on the day EM5-II was released in Japan. :)

So I got Olympus Viewer to convert ORF to tiff, and used PS-CS4 to process. I was thrilled with the output. When ACR started supporting EM5-II, I switched back to my earlier process. Boy, did it suck! The Olympus Viewer is the best raw converter for ORF, sadly I realised it only this year. Now I am back to OV, for ORF->TIFF and then using CS4 for TIFF->JPG for all my processing. You could use LR5 for tiff->jpg instead.

Nothing like proprietary RAW converters.

However, I was forced to take the plunge and move to Adobe CC (PS and LR). Initially I used to get a shock when I would open the image using ACR (I was used to proprietary Nikon SW), but now I can tweak things enough to get a Capture NX2 like output.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tsk1979 (Post 3886519)

Try RAWtherapee. Its free and open source, and very powerful.
Learning curve is a little steep, but the amount of options, esp in noise reduction area are spectacular

How is the rendition of Nikon NEF files, compared to proprietary Nikon SW?

Quote:

Originally Posted by nilanjanray (Post 3886560)

Very nice shots. Horseshoe Canyon in Utah?

Btw re those folks in the first photo - I have vertigo, I can never go near a cliff edge lol.

Nothing like proprietary RAW converters.

However, I was forced to take the plunge and move to Adobe CC (PS and LR). Initially I used to get a shock when I would open the image using ACR (I was used to proprietary Nikon SW), but now I can tweak things enough to get a Capture NX2 like output.

How is the rendition of Nikon NEF files, compared to proprietary Nikon SW?

D7000 is very good. I myself created the ICC color profiles and provided to developers. Later many others took over. Just try it out. Canon and Nikon handling is amazing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nilanjanray (Post 3886560)

Very nice shots. Horseshoe Canyon in Utah?

Btw re those folks in the first photo - I have vertigo, I can never go near a cliff edge lol.

Technically Arizona but pretty close to Utah, all part of the same Colorado Plateau.
There was a person who was doing Yoga at the precipice of the cliff. Never thought Yoga can also be high adrenaline action sport !!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samurai (Post 3886609)

Delete the tiff once you are done. Keep the ORF.

That's what I do. But the problem is if I do extra pp, then one has to go through the entire workflow again.

I deleted all the TIFFs from a recent trip. Then I had to submit a few photos for an article, at a specific res. That meant a lot of rework.

Well, no easy answers in this world. And looking at the same photos afresh after a few weeks, helped me improve a few of them.

I said the following in 2009 in the dSLR thread. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samurai (Post 1446304)

All dSLRs made in the past few years are just too much for our amateur needs. They are giving too much, simply lot more resolution than we can make use. Only professionals may need (not just want) higher resolutions.

Therefore, I never really worry about image quality when it comes to dSLR, any one will satisfy our need. So I don't worry about mega pixel war. I have a pro quality dSLR which has 10MP resolution, which is way more than good enough for me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samurai (Post 3888779)

I said the following in 2009 in the dSLR thread. :)

Too true. In fact it is true for just about every aspect of the endless specification debate. By looking at a photograph you cant tell what camera and lens were used. At best you might be able to say something about the type of lens, e.g. fish-eye, tele etc.

There are a few photo competitions out there on the internet that also track and publicise what camera's took the winning photographs. You will see a huge spread across all known brands. Canon and Nikon usually come in high as one would expect.

In general I'm not that bothered about the endless debate on specification and new kit. Once I have made my choice I will stick with it for years to come. I prefer to concentrate on actually shooting photographs, reading about photography other then the kit-review, courses etc.

But as I said in other threads about hobbies/interest; If part of one's interest in photography is reading, talking about kit and trying/buying/selling endless amount of kit, that is, obviously, great too. Whatever takes your fancy.

Jeroen