How sensor size affect performance...

Ok, this may be a long post, i have so much things in my head!

One thing i am doing is try to take control of the DOF+Aperture+Subject Distance+Background distance.

The compromise may be between having eough subject in focus, the background as blurred as i can but without having a huge background, keep the distance from the subject low since i may be shooting in places where i have not much room to step back.

I often use a 30mm, i already stopped it down at 2.8 with the idea that the head of the cat should always be completely in focus. But afeter all i like better when the whole cat is in focus: the texture of the fur should be defined and well contrasted in the whole body!

So i started reading about aperture and the jureny has begun...

I ended up reading this:

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/2666934640/what-is-equivalence-and-why-should-i-care/

i already readed this when it was published but i was missing something... I start reading the comments this time and it opened up my mind...

If you look to some ISO test around you will see that FF is being a whole stop better than apsc (being sensor similar in technology...). I always tought that it was due to the sensor size but now i understand that there is a bigger factor!

I assumed that iso 100 was "no signal amplification" to make it easy. iso 200 = 2x singnal amplification and so on... Totally wrong. If we assume that iso 100 is "no signal amplification" on a fullframe sensor, the same iso on a apsc sensor needs (and gets) a 2x signal amplification, 4x on a mft sized sensor, 8x on a point and shot camera. If you look at it from this perspective the P&S sensor is doing a really good job: getting an almost noisless image at iso 100 on a P&S camera is light getting an almost noisless image with a FF.

On the other side, it makes hard to go with the quality of a point and shot.

Where does this takes me?

No surprise that if the actual Iso/DOF performance (apsc samsung nx) is nearly fitting my needs there is no chance that actual mft sensor will do the same. On the other hand if one day i will choose to go for a FF i really will not need a stoped down lenses because DOF I need is simpliy provided by a standard lens (classic f3.5-f5.6 standard zoom).

From compact to mirrorless: video focusing

When i compare my hx5 with my nx1100 i notice that AF in video seems a lot better.

Since i recently started considering more factors i may have understood the cause and a way to fix it.

Both cameras uses CDAF but have a very differente DOF. When I use  the NX i tend to use the wider aperture i can to gather more light and take full advantage from the large sensor. This make AF harder and slower. Now, wherever i can, istop down by 2 and i get far better AF!

Consider that i am not a "videographer" by any means. All i do is document some family scene so no need for focus and bokeh techniques in my videos!

CDAF vs PDAF

One thing that i left back when i switched from Sony Dslr to Samsung Mirrorless system is Autofocus.

Orginal plan was to keep both system because of Af performance of my a200, but when i found myself never using the dslr anymore i understood that i already made my choice and AF performance gap was not so relevant for me.

So the dslr was sold but everytime you miss a picture because of AF you put in discussion the decision...

So i spent some time reading about CDAF and PDAF and how they perform.

One thing i discovered is AFMA: Auto Focus Micro Adjustment. A number of Pro and semiPro Dslrs have this feature. Why? Because PDAF is less accurate than you would expected so an adjustment may be needed.

So, to describe the situation:

CDAF focus better than PDAF

PDAF is faster than CDAF

CDAF allow live view

PDAF has higher hit percentage than CDAF (sometimes CDAF focus on the wrong object or in the background)

PDAF focus better in low light and in low contrast situation

Today Hybrid AF seems a valuable options, but many think that CDAF will catch up PDAF in the future.

My 2016 Path...

I am setting on the NX for the next 2-3 years. I started sorting out from the NX related licterature and reading some more "general photography". Now that i have a new system to grow with i have set my photography target for 2016.

I spent a lot of time reading about catshow photography and also did some experience. I used to think that it is like portrait photography but now i realized that is more like fashion photography.

The difference?

In fashion photography you have a staff: an assistant, some one for the makeup and someone for the dressing. This is the same with show cats: it is you, the photographer, someone who tease the cat and help you getting the pose, the owner that prepare the cat like makeup and dressing of a model.

So the new challenge is taking modern techniques in to cat photography, now that i know (more or less) how to shot a show cat i think it is time for me to try to find my way.

Actual gear:

NX1000 body
NX20 body
30mm prime (a good focal that allow my to shot a single cat with some crop or a group of cats... usually stopped down to f2.8 to get always the whole head in focus)
18-55 III for the NX20 (best handling with the flash)
16-50pz for the NX1000 (compact+zoom+is)
20-50 II (i love the edge to edge sharpness and handling, tryng to find uses for this lens)
50-200mm (mai reason i have an NX20, on the wide end must be an interesting tool)
Samsung GN42 flash
Bower 728 (remotely triggered)

Planned gear:
A new tripod
leather grip for the 2 bodies
a white reflector
45 or 60mm prime
16mm prime not for cat usage (!)

Samsung NX all in and Social

Sometimes the picture you just made need to be delivered or published NOW.

I found my NX very helpful in this situation.

The classic workflow in this situation would be to pullout the sd, find a pc and do the rest of the job...

The alternative, modern, method is use the editing capability of your NX and then publish or move the final result to the network via the SNS function.

This is how i do it:

1) I shoot jpg with a personal profile that add sharpening and contrast. The result is not perfect (i miss some black lvevls control...) but it is near to...

2) I move the picture i need to publish to the skydrive via the SNS. I love the fact that the picture will be resized to 2Mpix making it fast to move and better sized for the web

3) I own a Nokia Lumia so i have full native access to the Skydrve and can also edit the picture with Adobe in the phone itself

4) After later editing i can publish on any social i want! Usally instagram ( http://instagram.com/marcemura/ ) and facebook . To me the phone still the best gateway to publish images since is already connected and has a comfortable keyboard to title your picture

More Info:

Samsung Nx camera offer agood number of in-camera tools if you are a jpeg guy.

The basic is the color profile, you have a number to choose between, what i like is having a personal profile that add all the contrast and sharpening to my picture and sometime i switch directly to the smart mode (the faster way for a standard color profile selection) to get softer skin tones.

Then you have cropping function, some regulation (contrast etc) and addicitonal filters (skin smoothing?). Cropping has is limits since is tied to the review zoom(a bit tricky in the NX1100) and to the screen shape but still has its use.

To edit your picture all you have to do is press the PLAY button, select your image and then press the FN button. Your options are there.

RAW shooter?

If you shot in raw but need to SNS a jpeg version you can save it easy by edit something: add contrast or anylike....

izoom and low light

When high ISO and OIS are not enough to help you find the light, another magic tool is iZoom.

In this shot i set iZoom to 1.4x and focal is 35mm so the result is 50mm, but the shake tolerance remains thoose of a 35mm shot allowing me a shutterspeed of 1/8 handeld with ISO. I also gain f/4.5 apeture archiveing a 10Mpixel sharp picture.

So: iZoom+OIS+ISO1600=better aperure and stability at the price of some megapixel.

UPDATE:

i did some field experimentation to add some information:

Focal	ISO	Speed	F	Resolution
50	6400	1/60	5.6	20M
35 (=50)	2500	1/40	4.5	10M
24 (=48)	1600	1/30	3.5	5M

I used the 20-50 lens, so minimum speed for non OIS lens was used.

As you can see you get much more light and lower ISO. Best result, to my taste, was the 10Mpix image, better balance between resolution and noise.

Resetting AF box position to center

Yesterday i play with the focus position in my NX1100 and i was not able to get it back in the center, since i am new to the samsung system.

To move the focus poitn you need to press OK then the direction buttons. To reset the position just press the Custom/trashcan button.