More 14n Test Shots

Got a spell of fine weather yesterday so I spent a pleasant hour playing with the 14n.

I took all of these shots using the 28-105 Nikkor and shot at ISO 80 in an endeavour to see what was the "best" I could expect from the old girl.

Its really pleasant to see the results of the conversions which are very nice indeed....the lack of AA filter means that at most just a tad of USM is required.

The Nikkor 28-105mm isnt the sharpest of lenses wide open but from f5.6 onwards delivers, in combination with the 14n, sharp images with good contrast and colour.

Although shooting in RAW one can control the colour to the extent that the differences between brands of cameras can be greatly reduced....I prefer the Kodak colour "out of the box" to my Canon 40d's.

When talking to Adam Tidswell, a pro friend, he mentioned that he had not been successful in upsizing the 14n files for large prints. I have to say this has not been my experience and using ClearIQZ have had very satisfactory results up to the equivalent of 25 MP which is getting into MF digital back territory.....no I'm not saying its as good or better just that I've had great results. I use to be of the opinion that bicubic upsizing was as good a method as any but extensive testing of a number of products has shown that files from different cameras do respond to different methods. I think bicubic is a good allrounder nothing more.

ClearIQZ is part of the FotoSlate 4 Photo Print Studio by ACD and can be found at their website here http://www.acdsee.com/

It retails for just under $30-00 or about £15-00 which I consider to be a bit of a bargain.

Playing with Mood

I took this one yesterday as part of series of test shots from the Kodak 14n. I decided to give it a workover in Photoshop...something I tend not to do these days....just for fun and because you can. I decided to make it my first image of a "pic a day" series....running from today...yeah I know its 24hrs out of sync but its my blog I make the rules:-)

Abstract Angles and Colour

Its strange how familar surroundings disguise potential images or maybe we just stop looking. I decided to keep a camera with me at all times now, a Sony R1, to try and find those images I would normally pass over because I see them all the time.


The shots above are of the local multi storey car park....nothing special....but pleasant enough in an abstract way and are typical of the unrecorded images that are right there under our noses missed while trying to capture something "special". Maybe we should stop wishing for that special shot and just go out and make a few of our own.......

Fun with ISO 6 and the 14n

Having got off to a shaky start....my own fault I hasten to add.....with the low ISO settings in the 14n, yesterday I eventually found sometime to have a little play. I had intended shooting a sunset as we were briefly blessed with a period of clearish skys late afternoon but the wind speed meant that the clouds were moving too fast for the long exposure times with ISO 6. I decided instead after finding one of our shrubs in bloom to have a play in the studio using available light and the Nikkor 28-105 using its macro settings. One of the shots from the little session is above, this was taken using ISO 6 and 30" @ F8....I was half expecting a very noisy file despite what I'd been told but was very impressed with the level of detail and the lack of noise using such a long exposure. It will of course need more investigation to see what it can really do but it'll be fun to use it with moving water and anything that you deliberately wish to blur thru movement using a long exposure. Next installment up shortly.

Life after the Zuiko 30-100 F2

The Zuiko 35-100 F2 had been one of the reasons that I'd jumped to Olympus in the first place....its huge and hugely expensive but its without doubt the finest lens I've ever owned. It enabled me to put the Olympus cat amongst the Canon pigeons although you still had to work at it. . The 35-100 was last used in anger for the Froch V Reid British Super Middleweight title fight and I put the print below together for Mick Hennessy of Hennessy Promotions who organised the tournament....coincidentally he manages Carl Froch as well.

It was then used outside of the ring for the very last time for the promo shots for Wayne Elcocks world title bid in December last year....the shot is below.

Then it was gone....I had actually sold it....and the Canon and lenses had arrived. It was with a degree of trepidation that I settled on the Canon 17-55 F2.8 and Tokina 50-135 F2.8 combination for the 40D and was very anxious about their performance. Before real testing could even begin the phone rang and I was booked to cover a book launch in Liverpool and turning up with my new bag of tricks set about trying to ensure I got the publisher some good shots. Well the 17-55 is not the 35-100 but its good enough as I think the shot below shows and thats it really there comes a point when "good enough" is all you need.

Kodachrome 25.....

Well no not really, while I was messing around doing the Canon lens comparison I decided to try some of the 14n's low ISO settings. Its quite refreshing to get away from all the high ISO stuff I normally do and fond memories of films like Kodachrome 25 popped into mind.....didn't need ND filters in those days just stick a slow film in and close the aperture down and you were away. Anyway the shot below was taken using ISO 25 @ 2"....in SP mode this meant the aperture was F19. I was curious to see, as I don't normally use apertures that small these days, how badly IQ would be affected by diffraction. To my surprise not much it would seem....happy days....and I can see lots of fun looming using these settings on the old girl.

Tokina 50-135mm V Canon 17-55mm Colour Reproduction

Gareth, that's "Big GA" over at dpreview, got my curiosity aroused when he asked about potential colour shifts when using the Tokina 50-135mm on his Nikon's as he was considering buying the Tokina.

Well I couldn't do the comparison on a Nikon but was interested enough to see how the Tokina compared with my Canon glass on the 40D. This comparison is only a very quick look to give a general idea....so AP was used with ISO400 and 1/125@ F5.6 for the test shots and ACR was used for the conversions on default settings. The first shot below is the 17-55mm F2.8 Canon lens.

Below the Tokina 50-135mm

And a couple of crops first up the Canon 17-55mm

Below the Tokina

I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions but for me there's not much in it with the Tokina maybe being a bit cooler.

Living with the Canon 40D

Its strange how knee jerk decisions to "what if" scenarios can go horribly wrong and sometimes....just sometimes....go very nicely thank you. I'd been patiently awaiting, as an Olympus user, the arrival of the E3 but a reply from Olympus UK to an email requesting expected delivery dates left me feeling anxious. I had a busy schedule booked and at one of the events needed the extra features of the E3. Given the need to do something I had a good look at the available models from the other manufacturers and not really wanting to change systems decided the Canon 40D, because of its competitive price, would make an ideal short term solution....hopefully. After the inevitable wait the 40D duly arrived along with the 17-55mm F2.8 lens....some very quick and dirty testing and it seemed to meet to a large degree my expectations. The high ISO performance is very good indeed as is the focus and FPS.....but there's nothing like using it in anger when you have to deliver the results. Its first major outing was at the Wigan boxing tournament which was the UK supporting event to the Ricky Hatton World Title challenge....I had 11 separate tournaments to shoot 4 of which were title fights.

The sample image here is typical of its performance on the night.....shot at ISO 1250 in jpeg....it just delivers.

Since I've added another body for backup and despite seriously looking at the 1D MKlll have no intention of going down that path.....the 40D is cheap and widely available...heck if one goes wrong I'll just stroll into the local Jessops and get another. It wont be long either before the "50D" or whatever its called is released which hopefully will be more of the same. One of the advantages of NOT spending a fortune on bodies of course, so long as they deliver, is you don't need to hang on to them forever in an attempt to cover the initial outlay....and by changing on a more regular basis you are always at the cutting edge of technology. So in the short term I'll happily stand my "mini 1D MKlll" alongside the guys with the real thing safe in the knowledge that its backed up and didn't bankrupt me.

The Kodak 14n and ISO 6

I had previously commented that ISO 6 and the other "Longer" settings were not available, well I was.....hmm wrong. I had the camera set to record RAW+JPEG and at this setting the 512mb upgrade is required a quick change to RAW only and all the very low ISO setting are now available. I'll have a play with them later and post a few images.....Kodachrome 25 here we come!

Kodak 14n Test Shots

At last I've had a bit of time and some better weather this week so I took the opportunity to take a few snaps to get an idea of IQ and just to check the old girl is functioning as she should. They, the raw files, have been converted in PhotoDesk using a variety of Custom Looks and the lens used is the 28-105 nikkor.

My only regret with getting the 14n is that Kodak are no longer in the slr game 'cus I'm loving it....the canon files seem flat and lifeless compared with the 14n's. I have discovered iso6 isnt an option for me as mine does'nt have the 512mb upgrade required....never mind it was never a deal breaker for me and would have just been an added bonus.

I've used a variety of raw convertors but keep coming back to Photo Desk and have settled on using that now....so simple to use and like RSP is not bloatware something I cant abide. Photo Desk is fast and straight forward to use and the converted files look great...which helps.

I've a pretty hectic schedule coming up and it will be interesting to see how the 14n copes with some more serious work. I will be watching with interest for the first reports on the Pentax K20D which although not FF may well be a worthy successor at some point in the future to the 14n.