On Jun 29, 2004, at 8:50 AM, Paul R W Freeman wrote:
1) None of the reviews I have seen involve photography in any but controllable lighting situations.
Okay... consider this my mini review...
I've been using a 14n and now 14nx for almost a year and half now for at least ninety percent of my work in both controlled and uncontrolled light situations. In my market I have to do a lot of both. I'm well aware of the aliasing artifacts that it produces in both situations. That's why I suggested it might be more of a problem for a portrait shooter. I purchased and Epson 9600 about the same time as I got the 14n so I'm also aware of what its images look like on large prints on a very regular basis. In my experience the types of aliasing artifacts that cause the most grief and need the most specific attention to alleviate occur in the very controlled lighting of a studio portrait session. These artifacts have little or nothing to do with lighting and whether its controlled or not... just subject matter... and its the type of subject matter a portrait shooter will encounter frequently.
I've never done an architectural shot or something similar under less controlled situations where aliasing artifacts where more than just an very mild and very simply conquered issue... if even an issue at all. Now there are other artifacts that can be more of a problem and maybe that's what you refer to. Every digital camera I've worked with will produce at least a touch of magenta in specular highlights where exposure is maxed. The 14n would do it to the extreme. The new sensor in the 14/nx, SLR/n-c along with firmware improvements reduces this dramatically but its still there. If you have to do a shot with light sources in the shot its an issue you'll probably have to deal with but its no more of a problem on the newer Kodaks than any other camera. It was very much a problem with the 14n. Also lens optimization issues could give strange color shifts across the frame. That's almost a non issue with the latest firmware on the latest models, especially if you take the time to calibrate your lenses but I doubt that's something that person would do on a one day trial with the camera. The full frame high res sensor will show CA problems with lenses that you never saw on film or on smaller chipped cameras. I know Canon shooters with the 1Ds that have had at least as much trouble with this issue as I. That's a lens problem but it can be dealt with very effectively with a variety of software tools... Adobe Camera Raw being probably the best and most widely used method these days. It's not a bad tool for aliasing artifacts either though its a bit more awkward to apply its effects locally than with other tools.
Bob Smith
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