On Sun, Jul 21, 2013, Bruce Walker wrote: > On Sun, Jul 21, 2013 at 2:32 PM, Aahz Maruch <a...@pobox.com> wrote: >> On Tue, Jul 16, 2013, Bruce Walker wrote: >>> On Tue, Jul 16, 2013 at 3:43 PM, Aahz Maruch <a...@pobox.com> wrote: >>>> On Tue, Jul 16, 2013, Bruce Walker wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Zos, eyebrows are my litmus test for system sharpness. Get a well-lit >>>>> headshot of somebody and examine their eyebrows. You should clearly >>>>> see the individual hairs. Any time I handhold to get such a shot the >>>>> eyebrows are invariably a gaussian smear. You cannot do clean >>>>> retouching of such images. >>>>> >>>>> I can show you a 100% crop of my model's eyebrows from the last beauty >>>>> shots I took using a tripod with my K20D and DA* 50-135. Clear, sharp, >>>>> detailed. I defy you to get that clarity handheld, no matter the >>>>> shutter speed. >>>> >>>> Let's make sure we're testing the same thing. What percent of frame >>>> should the person's head be? Any other requirements? >>> >>> You want this to be scientific? This is The Internet. :-) >> >> Not necessarily "scientific", but at least evidence-based. ;-) >> >>> Well, the shot I have In Support of Tripod Use is this recent one: >>> >>> http://flic.kr/p/f2Kebj >>> >>> Obviously head fills the frame, landscape. Camera was about 8-9 feet >>> away, 135mm at F8.0, ISO 200. >>> >>> Here's a 100% crop of her right eyebrow and eyelashes: >>> >>> https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2254722/PDML/BMW_8026-crop.tif >>> >>> It's an 8-bit TIFF, exported from the original RAW shot in Lightroom >>> 4. Lr's default zeroed settings except WB: flash and the default RAW >>> sharpening of 25. >> >> This is a sucky shot, but hopefully enough to disprove your point. Nikon >> P7100 (10MP), mirror selfie, arm braced on door frame, 61mm (35mm/e), ISO >> 100, 1/25s. Converted from RAW in Preview.app (essentially no editing). >> >> http://rule6.info/photos/critique/eyebrow/eyebrow_headshot.jpg >> http://rule6.info/photos/critique/eyebrow/eyebrow.tiff >> >> A better and/or newer camera with a higher shutter speed and better >> lighting would certainly improve things, as would tighter composition. > > Yes, that's really nice and sharp brows, but you cheated there. By > bracing yourself on the door you've improvised a tripod with two legs > and a doorframe. ;-) > > Handheld is handheld ...
Personally, I think that holding off-center one-handed at 1/25 counters the arm brace, but anyway: http://rule6.info/photos/critique/eyebrow/eyebrow2_headshot.jpg http://rule6.info/photos/critique/eyebrow/eyebrow2.tiff Now it's the Canon G1X (14MP, so more comparable with your K20D), 1/100, 112mm (35mm/e), shot two-handed with the LCD (zero body bracing). Person I'm shooting doesn't have eyebrows, so look at the hair. ;-) The JPG is cropped to portrait from landscape (mainly to save bandwidth). The K-5 at 1/500 and a nice lens ought to do really well... To be clear, I'm not claiming that a tripod isn't better, just that one can get sharp shots handheld even with moderately low shutter speeds. (Maybe you can't, though I'd bet that you could with 1/2000, that freezes most things. I really appreciated 1/5000 on the cruise.) -- Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6 http://rule6.info/ <*> <*> <*> Help a hearing-impaired person: http://rule6.info/hearing.html -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
