Re: Late autumn skies - long Telyt for landscapes

David:
Experience with DIGIC II-equipped EOS cameras like the 20D and 1D mark II has shown me lower noise below ISO 1600. So I always try to keep ISO as low as possible. The 1D mark II has ISO increments at the 1/3 stop points, so I use them. I probably could have gone to 1600 instead of 1250, but noise at 1600 would have been slightly higher.

And like high-speed film, high ISO digital images can suffer from harsh contrast and lack shadow detail.

Canon EOS cameras have always had higher chrominance noise in shadow areas. In the bad old days with the original EOS 1D, I needed to use nik DFine to reduce it for any ISO above 320.

The 1/3 stop overexposure was for better sky color - I tried other exposure compensations and liked that one best in the camera. Then I darkened the shot in Photoshop for better color. So I probably should have used -1/3 compensation in the camera, and not trusted the camera's LCD - I should know better.

I'm very used to handholding big lenses without a shoulder stock. The 400mm Telyt-V is usually my backup for Canon's 400mm f/4 DO IS. The 400mm DO is shorter and weighs a bit more than the 400mm Telyt. I use the Canon 400mm DO and 20D handheld for bird flight shots, so I've had lots of practice.

Trick is putting the left hand towards the end of the lens, standing on both feet without hunching in slight telemark position (one foot slightly in front of the other), holding your breath and gently squeezing the shutter button. If there's a wall to stand against, I do that too. Pressing a pistol-grip-mounted shutter release made me shake the camera-Telyt setup too much.

The 400mm Telyt makes a nicely balanced setup on the 1D mark II. It's just a pity its chromatic aberration and full-frame sharpness aren't better. (I've been spoiled by the 400mm DO's complete absence of chromatic aberration and great edge-to-edge sharpness at full aperture.)



At 07:11 AM 12/13/2005, you wrote: 
Mark Bohrer wrote:

I've lately been leaving the Leitz 400mm f/6.8 Telyt on the EOS 1D mark II, without the pistol grip. I seem to be steadier without the grip. Anyway, when you use this lens, you need high ISO and little to no stopping down for a high-enough shutter speed, especially handheld. So I set the camera for ISO 1250 and 1/3 stop overexposure, focused wide open, stopped down slightly to f/8, and shot at 1/200 in aperture priority, handheld: 

Lovely fall shots, Mark!

But, I'm curious. You say you've left off the pistol grip. I've tried it, and found the lens much harder to hand hold without the shoulder stock & grip. What's your secret?

Secondly, I'm curious about the ISO 1250 and 1/3 overexposure. Why not just set it at ISO 1600? (or am I missing something, and don't know that ISO 1250 is the max on the 1DmkII?)

Anyway, nice use of the 400 Telyt!

Thanks for sharing.

--
David Young,
Logan Lake, BC
CANADA.
Personal Web-site at: http://www3.telus.net/~telyt
Leica Reflex Forum web-page: http://www3.telus.net/~telyt/lrflex.htm


Mark Bohrer
Precision Copywriting
www.precision-copywriting.com

Technical copy in plain language
= more customers 


=========================================================
To Unsubscribe: Send email to leica-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in 
the Subject field. The acknowledgment that you then receive MUST be replied to 
per instructions. You may also log in to the Web interface to unsubscribe.

Other related posts: