Photoclubalpha

Good afternoon

David Kilpatrick asked me to register on the Forum as I am currently reviewing the A900 for a UK magazine and have been testing it over the last few days.

The link below take you to a number of samples - some slideshows and some images (including RAW files).

My background for those who are interested - is a full time professional. I have had my work published worldwide and recently had a number of my images used by camera manufacturers at Photokina to promote their DSLR's. You can also have a look at my website http://www.markcargill.co.uk which tells you a bit more about me and also about my photography workshops/courses.

All images taken with the A900 and 24-70mm lens.

The first link below is a slideshow of images taken at Hawkscraig Point near Aberdour. The file is around 16mb (Please note that this does not work on a MAC - sorry trying to find a suitable alternative)

http://www.mediafire.com/?nzyyhntoygg

The next link is of images captured in Edinburgh - again a large file (around 22mb) and again (sorry) does not work on a MAC.

http://www.mediafire.com/?5ytzitgdzmd

Next link is a pdf slideshow of a sunrise shoot with the A900 - please note that the high file compression reduces saturation and consequently some of the depth of the image. Example image with lower compression below.

http://www.mediafire.com/?3wzz11fiyoy

JPEG from above slideshow - http://www.markcargill.co.uk/media/A900 ... e-0150.jpg

and below a jpeg from the Hawkscraig Point slideshow.

http://www.markcargill.co.uk/media/A900 ... e-0180.jpg

The next set of links are full size tiff files - these are large files, so bear that in mind: (as a side note - I have included all the files on this page as a favour for DK, if you are really interested in A900 high ISO comparisons, download the RAW files as the tiffs were taken for someone else and there was no time to set up a propper ISO test, but inlcuded them because they are availabe.)

Links below:

1600 ISO - http://www.mediafire.com/?cmakx22zmjm

3200 ISO - http://www.mediafire.com/?zieyyqyy31q

6400 ISO - http://www.mediafire.com/?ynyykjtz3ay

The next set of links are A900 and Nikon D700 RAW files at 3200 ISO for comparison purposes.

Links are here:

A900 3200 ISO RAW: http://www.mediafire.com/?d2azngxtiw2

D700 3200 ISO RAW: http://www.mediafire.com/?yvvzny0jjnn

Thats should give you plenty to be going on with!

Feel free to ask any questions.

Kind regards and best wishes.


Mark
http://www.markcargill.co.uk
[email protected]

Before I go to the posted links, allow me to thank you and David for this great surprise. Also a big big welcome. (If I didn't haste to welcome you then Birma (a fellow forumer) would).

welcome. and these are awesome. do you see a place for the A900 in your business?

Double wow . I just recover from Gustav's Kingfishers and then I get to look through your landscape gallery Mark - really lovely shots. I can't wait to go back to Scotland. Welcome to the forum (Doc, you beat me to it! ).

What a brilliant Saturday this is turning out to be!

Marc, The link for the A900 RAW shot is not working

Sonolta wrote:LOL....Shooting ISO 6400 shots at f2.8 1/4000? What a joke! This does not show us ISO 6400 low light performance!

-Sonolta

Hi Sonolta

Thanks for your message and an very valid point you make in fact I could not agree more!

They were done very quickly for someone else who asked for them. Have a look at the RAW samples against the D700 - taken indoors with better colours and textures, much more telling.

Kind regards and best wishes.


Mark

Dr. Harout wrote:Marc, The link for the A900 RAW shot is not working

That is strange - just checked it and it seems ok. There has been a lot of people downloading the file and I have noticed there have been occasions when it will not work, perhaps leave it for 10 minutes and try again. I did also notice that you would have to close your web browser before re-attempting it.

Kind regards


Mark

Thanks Mark. I'll do that.

Sonolta wrote:I compared those two raw files, and while we already knew the a900 is decent at ISO3200, I do prefer the *cleanliness* of the Nikon file, and the quite possibly the color as well on your raw sample. I would love to see some Nikon/Sony samples head to head at 6400, and then the Sony pushed to match 12,800 and 25,600.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time and have a great day!

-Sonolta

I would be interested to know a bit more about how you processed the files? What RAW converter did you use and what settings in your workflow to get to the final image?

Kind regards


Mark

Mark, I've just been doing a bit of editing and writing today (my printers like to have all their pages waiting on Monday morning at 7.30pm - bang goes my weekend!). So a belated thanks for arriving here and posting some excellent links and resources. I am extremely impressed by your training facilities and I hope you will add the Alpha system to your in-house line-up, with a view to offering courses to photoclubalpha/Photoworld members. How you can do it in your (wonderful) East Neuk location I have no idea, I had always assumed that a London or Midlands location would be needed.

A word to everyone: the East Neuk of Fife is under an hour's scenic drive from Edinburgh Airport, and is Scotland as most people do not know it - pantiles, thatched roofs in a few cases, cobblestones, whitewash or pastel colours, fishing cottages, glorious coastal light, very green and rural - Tolkien might have based his 'Shire' on Oxon/Warwicks but Fife is as close as you can get in Scotland!

Incidentally, it is Kelso Races tomorrow from 12pm onwards, and it is the family day which means there's a sort of funfair at the races as well as the horses, and kids get in free. Shirley hates the races (and anything with crowds of people) and I will admit I normally just walk to a favourite viewpoint outside the racecourse and 'pirate' some test pix without paying admission... but I plan to get up there and repeat the tests I did with the Nikon D3, see how the A900 fares with the 70-200mm SSM and 5fps and moving targets in the predicted dull light and rain.

David

Sonolta wrote:I compared those two raw files, and while we already knew the a900 is decent at ISO3200, I do prefer the *cleanliness* of the Nikon file. I would love to see some Nikon/Sony samples head to head at 6400, and then the Sony pushed to match the Nikon at 12,800 and 25,600.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time and have a great day!

-Sonolta

Hi Don

This is always very 'subjective' as although the Nikon files may be cleaner (I would say smoother), there does seem to be a slight loss in texture (btw not confusing noise with texture) - is it possible there is some additional hardware NR taking place with the Nikon?

I know you have already seen a lot of great A900 images, but what I found really interesting with the images captures in Edinburgh yesterday evening, was that the shots of the castle at twighlight on the D700 seemed to be losing texture compared to the A900 (exposures of 10 secs or more). Just printed both of these off at 19" x 13" and it is even more aparent at that size. Perhaps for sports work the finer textures are not really important? Also did some 36" x 24" primts too and obviously the A900 will show a clear advantage at that size. It depends how big you need to print, but I would always prefer more detail that I can then choose to ad more NR in software later, than have it inflicted on me whether I like it or not at capture in hardware.

Its a great piece of new technology the A900 and I can see it fitting in with my shooting requirements very easily (too easily!!)

Kind regards


Mark

PS I am shooting the propper ISO tests in studio later next week, so your wish to see 6400 samples will be available.

Sonolta wrote:

MCPhotography wrote: I would be interested to know a bit more about how you processed the files? What RAW converter did you use and what settings in your workflow to get to the final image?

Kind regards

Mark

I used IDC3 to view the Sony file, and ACR 4.5 to view the Nikon file. I did not tweak or downsize anything, I based my observation on the straight from the camera results. Yes, we can downscale and tweak the files and make them look similar, but this is not what I did. FWIW, as you can see, I did retract my comment on color since I was not commenting on fully processed files.

Now why don't you take some camera JPGs and show us the comparisons? I am betting the a900 will get eaten up in those head-to-head JPG tests! Also, I am still anxious to see the 6400 comparisons and the pushed a900 shots as well. If I am spending the 3-5K I don't want to do major NR, or downrez the high ISO files, and I would like the ability to produce a decent high ISO camera JPG as well.

-Sonolta

PS...BTW, to be honest, one single ISO 3200 shot comparing results is no real comparison. To be quite frank, it would be nice if you could show us some feathers, hair, skintones, super low light, camera jpgs, ISO 6400, etc, etc, etc. in the head-to-head comparison format.

Hi again Don

In camera jpegs??? Now you are just having a laugh!!! I am sure that a photographer of your technical knowledge and ability will already know that apart from the fact jpegs are for people who prefer lower quality images , it is a well known fact that the in camera jpegs from the Sony are, well lets just say, not exactly anything to get excited about - in fact Sony should be hung drawn and quartered (its a old Scottish tradition reserved for incomers!!) for the abismal jpeg engine.

I would say in all honesty that to make any fair comparison in high ISO image PP, you should compare like with like and use ACR to convert both files (in the interests of not giving any advantage either way!) - not that I suspect anyone would wish to do so. In fact I have been shooting with the D3 and D700 since their launch and they have covered many paid comissions and never let me down. Just using software defaults means that (unless you have changed it on your software) ACR includes a number of image 'enhancements' as standard, +50 brightness, +25 Contrast, medium contrast tone curve (plus capture sharpening) and so on. IDC 3 will include the camera settings, which on the A900 file you downloaded had everything set to minimum to ensure the histogram was as close to the RAW as possible - in other words its pointless unless you are comparing like with like. Bring both into ACR - zero everyting and then decide!

As far as pushed 6400 shots are concerned, I have some 25600 shots with the Nikon in mono that are 'useable' at 10" x 8" (maybe), but its really kind of pointless - what do you think?

What is very usefull is the SSS on the 24-70mm - put it this way, if we were to say ( and I am not saying) the Nikon is maybe 1 stop better with noise than the Sony (assuming we don't downsize as at that level its pretty close) the SSS gives a clear advantage as the Nikon 24-70mm is obviously not stabilised, so it get closer than most would think.

To be honest, it all really depends on what you shoot and I guess in your line of work, the D3 may actually be the best option and 24.6MP (cropping flexability aside) will not give you anything usefull, in fact bigger file sizes, more memory required etc etc. In fact the A900 (unless I am missing something) is probably NOT the camera for your work - not fast enough frame rate.

In my studio work, the file sizes are very usefull indeed as some of the design companies I do work for have clients who would benefit from that extra detail.

Can I see an A900 plus lenses being purchased - what do you think?

Once you understand the workflow - that is from capture to print that is required to squeeze the best from this camera, the results are without doubt breathtaking. The images I captured at Hawkscraig point (in print) are as good as anything I have taken with my large format camera up to 36" x 24".

Hope you are having a good day and better weather too - it is chucking it down here in the East Neuk Of Fife!

Kind regards and best wishes.


Mark

David Kilpatrick wrote:Mark, I've just been doing a bit of editing and writing today (my printers like to have all their pages waiting on Monday morning at 7.30pm - bang goes my weekend!). So a belated thanks for arriving here and posting some excellent links and resources. I am extremely impressed by your training facilities and I hope you will add the Alpha system to your in-house line-up, with a view to offering courses to photoclubalpha/Photoworld members. How you can do it in your (wonderful) East Neuk location I have no idea, I had always assumed that a London or Midlands location would be needed.

A word to everyone: the East Neuk of Fife is under an hour's scenic drive from Edinburgh Airport, and is Scotland as most people do not know it - pantiles, thatched roofs in a few cases, cobblestones, whitewash or pastel colours, fishing cottages, glorious coastal light, very green and rural - Tolkien might have based his 'Shire' on Oxon/Warwicks but Fife is as close as you can get in Scotland!

Incidentally, it is Kelso Races tomorrow from 12pm onwards, and it is the family day which means there's a sort of funfair at the races as well as the horses, and kids get in free. Shirley hates the races (and anything with crowds of people) and I will admit I normally just walk to a favourite viewpoint outside the racecourse and 'pirate' some test pix without paying admission... but I plan to get up there and repeat the tests I did with the Nikon D3, see how the A900 fares with the 70-200mm SSM and 5fps and moving targets in the predicted dull light and rain.

David

Hi David

Kelso races may end up being Kelso swimming Gala if the weather today is anything to go by!!

Thanks for the welcome -I can see already like most forums some people are very passionate about their photography (and equipment) which is always a good thing.

Spent most of my morning printing off some images from yesterday in Edinburgh and to answer you question - I do see the A900 entering the 'Cargill Arsenal' !!

Hope to meet up sometime - always good to meet someone with as much enthusiasm as you obviously have!

Anyway, thanks again and no doubt we will be speaking soon!

Kind regards and best wishes.


Mark

Thanks Mark and welcome,

This is a very resourceful contribution to the forum in regards to the A900 and photo samples... Very stimulating slide shows! Nice getting to know you and your work. I'm glad David asked you to share your professional and enthusiastic take on photography with us.

Yildiz

MCPhotography wrote:Good afternoon

David Kilpatrick asked me to register on the Forum as I am currently reviewing the A900 for a UK magazine and have been testing it over the last few days.

The link below take you to a number of samples - some slideshows and some images (including RAW files).

My background for those who are interested - is a full time professional. I have had my work published worldwide and recently had a number of my images used by camera manufacturers at Photokina to promote their DSLR's. You can also have a look at my website http://www.markcargill.co.uk which tells you a bit more about me and also about my photography workshops/courses.

All images taken with the A900 and 24-70mm lens.

The first link below is a slideshow of images taken at Hawkscraig Point near Aberdour. The file is around 16mb (Please note that this does not work on a MAC - sorry trying to find a suitable alternative)

http://www.mediafire.com/?nzyyhntoygg

The next link is of images captured in Edinburgh - again a large file (around 22mb) and again (sorry) does not work on a MAC.

http://www.mediafire.com/?5ytzitgdzmd

Next link is a pdf slideshow of a sunrise shoot with the A900 - please note that the high file compression reduces saturation and consequently some of the depth of the image. Example image with lower compression below.

http://www.mediafire.com/?3wzz11fiyoy

JPEG from above slideshow - http://www.markcargill.co.uk/media/A900 ... e-0150.jpg

and below a jpeg from the Hawkscraig Point slideshow.

http://www.markcargill.co.uk/media/A900 ... e-0180.jpg

The next set of links are full size tiff files - these are large files, so bear that in mind: (as a side note - I have included all the files on this page as a favour for DK, if you are really interested in A900 high ISO comparisons, download the RAW files as the tiffs were taken for someone else and there was no time to set up a propper ISO test, but inlcuded them because they are availabe.)

Links below:

1600 ISO - http://www.mediafire.com/?cmakx22zmjm

3200 ISO - http://www.mediafire.com/?zieyyqyy31q

6400 ISO - http://www.mediafire.com/?ynyykjtz3ay

The next set of links are A900 and Nikon D700 RAW files at 3200 ISO for comparison purposes.

Links are here:

A900 3200 ISO RAW: http://www.mediafire.com/?d2azngxtiw2

D700 3200 ISO RAW: http://www.mediafire.com/?yvvzny0jjnn

Thats should give you plenty to be going on with!

Feel free to ask any questions.

Kind regards and best wishes.


Mark
http://www.markcargill.co.uk
[email protected]

Thanks for the pics Mark

Using MAC here so I dont get to look at the other stuff!

Stunning shots all round! Thank you for sharing your talent with us