@david-farkas
active 1 year, 8 months agoForum Replies Created
TTL-HSS is TTL on the S2. It just works at any and all shutter speeds up to 1/4000th. Set the camera to whatever exposure mode (M, P, A, or S) and settings you wish to shoot at, and the flash will adjust accordingly. Works remarkably well for me in both direct and bounce modes.
Not sure why you are not able to get your secondary small flash to fire unless the flash is not in a bounce position. It is not TTL, but set manually through the flash menu as a small fill for bounce. There is an icon to turn it on in the menu. Here is an excerpt from the manual:
David Farkas
Red Dot Forum
Leica Store Miamistephan;1313 wrote: is this really so relevant? I never understood why a wide aperture should be usefull in a studio with a white, black or neutral backround? And if so, why not reduce the lights then? Let's say with the 120 @ 5,6 and about 1/150th you should get decent images, or do I miss something there?
You're correct. It doesn't matter in studio. The faster sync is only useful when shooting outdoors with studio strobes.
David Farkas
Red Dot Forum
Leica Store MiamiIn my recent conversation with the S2 product managers, they outlined the CS firing sequence as follows:
- shutter release is pressed
- mirror goes up
- focal plane shutter opens
- camera starts exposure
- central shutter closes
- focal plane shutter closes
- central shutter opens
- mirror returns
As it is now, there is no reduction in vibration when using CS lenses as the mirror and FP shutter have to fire in rapid succession first. If, in the future, some kind of delay (like Hasselblad has) can be set before the CS lenses fire, then, yes, there would be less vibration.
I suspect, though, that human movement (shake, sway, etc) will pose much more of an issue when shooting macro handheld work with a longer focal length lens like the 120. The S2 is already quite well damped.
David Farkas
Red Dot Forum
Leica Store Miamihikemate;1291 wrote: Can I buy and attach the rici to my 120 (for my s2p) or my 90 f4 macro lens (on my m9). will it work as a macro flash
The SU-800 Commander for the R1C1 does have the ability to control the SB-R200 flashes in M mode so it should work, although I have not personally tried.
The R1C1 does come with a 72mm adapter ring which would fit on your 120 S lens. The smallest adapter ring in the kit is 52mm, which is still too large for your 90mm Macro-Elmar (39mm). My other concern would be putting something that large on the front of the 90mm, which is a collapsible design. On the other side, the largest ring is 77mm, so you wouldn't be able to mount the R1C1 on the 70 or 35.
David Farkas
Red Dot Forum
Leica Store MiamiPretty cool, Mark.
You realize that if you printed this 20″ tall, you'd end up with a print 17 feet in length?!
David Farkas
Red Dot Forum
Leica Store MiamiStuart Richardson;1282 wrote: So, one of the great things about the S2 is that the lenses are so incredibly good that they outresolve the sensor in most situations. The downside to this situation is that since there is no AA filter, you can experience moire if you have fine detail. I have been experiencing it on a fairly regular basis. I experienced it with the M9 as well, but not so often as to make it a problem. On the S2 it looks like something I am going to have to learn to work with more regularly.
For those of you who correct moire, what is the best method to do so? I am guessing it is primarily localized desaturation, but this is not always possible. Nevertheless, if there are good ways to do it (via brushes etc), I would be interested to hear them. Unfortunately, it is not just the color moire that can be a problem. I am also getting patterning on occasion. I am not sure what to call it, but I can attach an example.
In the photo below, there is a landscape shot with a corrugated steel house in the background. This is actually one of the most common building materials here, so I run into this a lot. The shot was taken with the 35mm lens at f/6.8. The paneling should be just simple straight lines, but in the crop it is obvious there are color aberrations and even horizontal lines where there should only be vertical. Obviously the bayer algorithm is failing here, the question is, what, if anything can be done about it? Similar shots taken with a softer lens (80mm f/2.8 CFE Hasselblad) did not show the problem, but they were not of the exact same focal length, so it is not clear that is the issue. However, both Leica lenses (35 and 120) showed fairly strong moire in the images, just in different places. I don't blame the lenses, it just means they are great! The only question is how to tame the resolution when it is too much for the image. I should also stress that these issues are only visible on very high magnification, so it would not be an issue for most print sizes. But printing at full resolution, they would be clearly visible. For the record, there are 100% and 400% crops. Clearly, 400% is not something I would use, it is just to demonstrate the problem more clearly.Stuart,
At least with a shot like this, you might want to stop the lens down to f/11 or f/13 (good to carry more DOF anyway) and pull your focus just a little closer. I typically never shoot my 35 at infinity for landscape shots, as I am usually trying to carry DOF over as much of the frame as possible. The side effect should be that your moire disappears. The focus point will have moved just forward and DOF will still give a sharp result, but you shouldn't have the sampling artifacts.
David Farkas
Red Dot Forum
Leica Store Miamistephan;1283 wrote: TTL should also be possible with SCA 3002 compatible flashes, as the Metz 76.
The point is for me that I'm used to the fill in function of the Nikons, where you can easily manage the flash-output even in TTL. You set the camera in manual and fill in with TTL, which works great. So now I'm looking for something similar for the S2 and M9
The Leica SF58 is your best bet. You can set the S2 in any mode and at any shutter speed (all the way up to 1/4000th) and the flash will still do TTL. You can also easily adjust flash exp comp in TTL mode. This sounds like what you're looking for.
David Farkas
Red Dot Forum
Leica Store Miamiconstable;1280 wrote: I would like to add my request for user choice over SD or CF as the first used storage medium. Note that I am not asking for parallel processing, simply a user choice. The reason is simple .. one less piece of equipment to take with me when travelling with my MacBook Air which has a built in SD card slot.
Not really much else I want at the moment.
Maybe a decent wireless release or better compatibility with commercial systems (hardware and firmware respectively I suspect)
Ed
Ed,
You could just use only an SD card in the camera when you want to shoot to SD. Take the CF card out and the camera will certainly write to SD only.
Wireless release is no problem. We modify Leica's remote release cord to be modular and extendable by using a miniphone connection in the middle. You can either keep the cord together as is and have a short cabled release, extend the cord with a mini-to-mini cable in the center, or remove the button end and plug the cable into a Pocket Wizard (or any other radio trigger). Works very well.
David Farkas
Red Dot Forum
Leica Store Miamistephan;1262 wrote: is anyone using a Nikon SB900 with good results on the S2?
I have a lot of SB900 that I use (mostly) with pocketwizzards and want to use them again with the S2 as well. Of course, TTL would be great, but I think only A-mode is possible, right?
Yes, SB900s will only work in AA or M mode on the S2. You can trigger them on PW FlexTT5s, but you will need to set the Pocket Wizards into Basic Trigger Mode using the computer utility.
David Farkas
Red Dot Forum
Leica Store MiamiAlright… here's the test:
Testing methodology:
M9 with 35 f/2 ASPH on tripod shooting into open shade. I first shot 1250 ISO at 1/125th @ f/8 (proper exposure) then changed ISO to 160 at the same shutter speed and aperture.
Imported into LR 3.5 using my standard M9 preset, synced the WB on both shots to 5400K +12 tint. Boosted exposure slider to +3 on ISO 160 shot. Exported to web sized and two 100% matching crops.
ISO 1250
Full image
100% crop – please click for full size
100% crop – please click for full size
ISO 160 – Pushed 3 Stops
Full image
100% crop – please click for full size
100% crop – please click for full sizeHere's my take:
ISO 160 pushed three stops looks better than I expected it to. It does pick up a fair amount of contrast vs. the straight ISO 1250 shot, but this can be tweaked in LR to match if so desired. The 1250 shot definitely has an edge with regards to noise, though. So, the theory doesn't pan out 100% in reality…. but it is pretty close. Make sure to click on the thumbnails for full sized images.
David Farkas
Red Dot Forum
Leica Store Miamifotografz;1233 wrote:
From a professional stand-point, most commercial print application ratios are not 2:3 … and wedding/portrait clients over-overwhelmingly order 5X7s, 8X10s, 11X14s, and 16X20s.Not a wedding shooter… 😉 I love my 20x30s.
…but, yes, I see your point. Although, for wedding album two-page spreads, I'd assume that wider aspect ratio is actually better (12×24).
David Farkas
Red Dot Forum
Leica Store Miamiallegretto;1235 wrote: OK, this is what I mean;
http://sensorgen.info/LeicaM9.html
wish I could upload it to make it easy but it seems that this site wont take reasonably sized attachments… or maybe I'm screwing it up. In any case;
you can see that raising the ISO of an M9 compresses DR and does NOT decrease read noise. That it is a CCD is not the issue, read noise is. Further, as ISO increases, saturation decreases (makes sense of course)
the implication here is that the M9 is also an ISO-less camera. Increasing ISO is actually deleterious to image quality from compression. One is better off nailing ISO at 160 and shoot using the stop or speed one needs for a given shot. Or, if it doesn't matter, just ETTR as much as you dare. The resultant underexposure, if present, can be upped in PP.
I just wonder how the S2 works… no data yet.
Not sure if this translates to real world results. An easy test would be to shoot a test target at ISO 160, underexposed 3 stops and at ISO 1250 properly exposed. Boost the ISO 160 shot 3 stops in LR and then compare. Without doing the test (yet) my guess is that the 1250 shot will look better. If I get a few free minutes today, I will do the test with an M9 and an S2.
David Farkas
Red Dot Forum
Leica Store MiamiIceandfire;1237 wrote: No ! I can't !!!:mad:just srgb in grey
This setting only applies if you are shooting JPG or DNG+JPG. The DNG file is color-space independent. If you are shooting DNG only, the setting will be greyed out.
David Farkas
Red Dot Forum
Leica Store Miamifotografz;1226 wrote: Seems to me that the 24 due next would be the desired lens for landscape, especially considering that by the time you crop the S2 aspect ratio to normal print ratios, you'd probably end up close to 30mm anyway.
For me, my normal print ratio is 2:3, so I rarely crop my S2 images.
However, I admit that I don't do landscape work, but do get stuck in cramped shooting scenarios and also like to do sweeping environmental portraits for which a 24 would be my choice … sort of landscape photography with people in it : -)
I've gone through this lens exercise with Hasselblad MFD, and am a bit more careful now especially at these prices. I will be very cautious about any S zoom because in MFD they are either huge or snail slow apertures … sometimes both. I have the HC 35-90 zoom which is a terrific lens but slow and big … got to have fat light to use it. I've put it up for sale for that reason. The faster and much smaller HC50-II will be its replacement.
We'll see how Leica goes about it. Should be VERY interesting.
-Marc
The zoom is slated to be a 30-90mm f/3.5-5.6 and be the size of the 35mm, so not very big and not too slow. Leica had originally planned for a 30-90mm f/3.5 constant aperture zoom, but decided it would be far too large and heavy. Rather, they figured a zoom with a more moderate variable aperture would be better suited to travel and portability.
David Farkas
Red Dot Forum
Leica Store Miamirgk;1199 wrote: Isn't sdhc/cf card management on the wishlist for future upgrades? I would be very pleased with the ability to have images written to each card simultaneously as a backup measure.
We discussed this with the S2 product managers in NYC. The image pipeline in the S2 is sequential, not parallel. So, if a DNG was to be written to both cards, it would have to be written first to the CF, then to the SD. This would negatively impact the continuous shooting rate, double the review time and slow down the buffer clearing. Therefore, Leica isn't considering this option.
David Farkas
Red Dot Forum
Leica Store Miami
