Dynamic Range Question

I'd soft grad to the ground and get the sky looking how you want it and then upload to Lightroom and use you're sliders! To bring out the windmill and make it pop out of the image..... Almost makes it 3D


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Nikon d7100 and loads of the wife knows not what it all cost!
 
If you're talking circular filters then you're using ND filters..... Not graduated


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Nikon d7100 and loads of the wife knows not what it all cost!
 
View attachment 29956this was with using a grad filter and processed after to make castle pop in the side lighting sun


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Nikon d7100 and loads of the wife knows not what it all cost!
 
Mark twiglet said:
View attachment 29956this was with using a grad filter and processed after to make castle pop in the side lighting sun


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Nikon d7100 and loads of the wife knows not what it all cost!
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that looks great, where would you position the filter for that shot? Ie how far down would you go with the filter.
 
With a 2 stop soft grad on horizon slightly dipping to left a bit and I think I used a cpl to enhance the blues in the sky! It was minus 5 on Boxing Day morning afterall


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Nikon d7100 and loads of the wife knows not what it all cost!
 
Mark twiglet said:
If you're talking circular filters then you're using ND filters..... Not graduated
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Circular graduated filters have been made (I haven't checked if they still are); I have one.
 
ChrisWilsonEos said:
that looks great, where would you position the filter for that shot? Ie how far down would you go with the filter.
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Trial and error, remembering that the grad effect varies. It varies with focal length - the wider the lens, the stronger the effect; and also with aperture - higher f/numbers look darker. You can get a reasonable idea looking through the viewfinder with the lens stop-down button pressed, but rather better to actually take a shot and check the LCD image.
 
StephenM said:
Circular graduated filters have been made (I haven't checked if they still are); I have one.
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Yes. Very limited choice though.
 
So how do you move them up and down onto the horizon?


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Mark twiglet said:
So how do you move them up and down onto the horizon?


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Nikon d7100 and loads of the wife knows not what it all cost!
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You can't, that's the problem. Though you can, in effect, tweak it a bit with focal length and aperture - eg stopping down effectively pulls the grad line down slightly as well as darkening. Or you can shoot with the grad line in the middle, then crop in post processing.

Those things work quite well a lot the time, but the bigger problem IMHO is the limited choice of grads available in screw-fit - basically a two-stops soft cut or thereabouts. Better than nothing, but no substitute for a set of slot-in grads.
 
HoppyUK said:
You can't, that's the problem. Though you can, in effect, tweak it a bit with focal length and aperture - eg stopping down effectively pulls the grad line down slightly as well as darkening. Or you can shoot with the grad line in the middle, then crop in post processing.

Those things work quite well a lot the time, but the bigger problem IMHO is the limited choice of grads available in screw-fit - basically a two-stops soft cut or thereabouts. Better than nothing, but no substitute for a set of slot-in grads.
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do you use hard grad ir soft? I have a circular soft grad filter but cant find a hard grad anywhere.
 
ChrisWilsonEos said:
do you use hard grad ir soft? I have a circular soft grad filter but cant find a hard grad anywhere.
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I don't know of a hard screw-in grad off hand. You can make one, or at least a screw-in fitting, by gluing a square grad to a stepping ring. Not ideal, but it works and you don't need to mess about with a filter holder.
 
woof woof said:
I suppose that another reason to go CSC is focus. AF will focus on something and it'll do it quickly but with a CSC you can call up a magnified view and focus on exactly what you want to focus on. Of course you need time to manually focus accurately but when doing landscape photography maybe time isn't that much of an issue?

Just points to think about.
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Errr... most DSLRs can do that you know, especially as you're talking about manual focus... but you can do it with the contrast based AF in live view too. :) In fact.. with anything landscape based, that's exactly how I work with DSLRs.

[edit]

Regarding the Nikon Canon thing.... I don't think it's all that important, as the difference between 12stops and 14 stops is not dramatic. However... buying from scratch, going Nikon makes more sense. Canon need to realise that DR is more useful than a silly 50MP sensor that no lenses can exploit is where they'd better serve their user base.
 
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I've always said that Nikon is better for dx based system but for full frame you can't beat a 5d mk11 really! Although the d800 is fantastic
 
Pookeyhead said:
Errr... most DSLRs can do that you know, especially as you're talking about manual focus... but you can do it with the contrast based AF in live view too. :) In fact.. with anything landscape based, that's exactly how I work with DSLRs.

[edit]
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Err...

The vast majority of DSLR's use an OVF so to call up an in view histogram or a magnified view you're going to have to use live view on the back screen and that may well be ok in some situations but I rarely use a tripod and much prefer looking through a VF than holding the camera to my face and fiddling with the back screen.

YMMV but shooting with a Canon DSLR at arms length while I squint at the rear screen just isn't my cup of tea and neither is tripod shooting unless in specific and suitable locations and times.
 
Mark twiglet said:
I've always said that Nikon is better for dx based system but for full frame you can't beat a 5d mk11 really! Although the d800 is fantastic
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Beat it for what? Dynamic range? That's an absolute measurable quantity, and I'm afraid most Canon's are lagging behind in this department quite notably. Fact.
 
Dynamic range canon lagging? Is that right? I'm a Nikon man I'm afraid and only go by what I'm told or lead to believe
 
I follow flickr quite closely and notice the crisper clearer and dynamic range broadness and would say canon full frame is pretty dam good
 
Mark twiglet said:
Dynamic range canon lagging? Is that right? I'm a Nikon man I'm afraid and only go by what I'm told or lead to believe
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If you're bothered by such things, then yeah... According to DxO tests, The 5DMkIII is 11.7 stops and the D810 is 14.8. It won't make a massive difference, but in high contrast situations, that 3 stops may be important.
 
Pookeyhead said:
If you're bothered by such things, then yeah... According to DxO tests, The 5DMkIII is 11.7 stops and the D810 is 14.8. It won't make a massive difference, but in high contrast situations, that 3 stops may be important.
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Interesting, what about at higher ISO ?say 800 I have read that Canon is better for dynamic range at higher ISO but not sure if it's true
For most of what I do it's irrelevant though as although I'm always at 400 and above normally my subjects range all fits in the histogram still interesting stuff as sometimes you don't have a choice over the light you have to shoot in
 
LCPete said:
Interesting, what about at higher ISO ?say 800 I have read that Canon is better for dynamic range at higher ISO but not sure if it's true
For most of what I do it's irrelevant though as although I'm always at 400 and above normally my subjects range all fits in the histogram still interesting stuff as sometimes you don't have a choice over the light you have to shoot in
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Absolutely.. things change when you get into marginal areas... but personal experience with both Canon and Nikon suggest that something like a D810 would still fare better. A 5D MkII/III would be the best choice for dynamic range with video however... by a LONG way, but with still images, especially landscape where you'd want to use the lowest ISO as possible, Nikon would be my choice if starting from scratch.
 
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