The Nikon D600's Unique Custom Setting Capability

I found out that the Nikon D600's custom settings can do something that Nikon pro bodies can't do: the custom settings can store the metering mode.

The Nikon D600 uses a button + dial combination to change the autofocus mode (from AF-S to AF-C to AF-A).  The same is true for the D4 and D800.  However, it also uses a button + dial combination for the metering mode (from matrix to center to spot) whereas the D4 and D800 use a dedicated dial.

Because the D600 uses button-based controls for the autofocus and metering, it can include the autofocus and metering settings in the custom settings.  In my case, I've set the U2 custom setting to spot meter with a +2.7 exposure compensation.  That way, if I want to just meter for the highlights for a contrasty scene, I can just switch to U2 and spot meter off the brightest highlight.  Then switch back to normal matrix metering after that.

Read More

Cross-Camera Profiles for Lightroom

When Lightroom 4.2 was released, it included raw support for the Nikon D600 (hands-on review here), albeit in beta.  One of the issues is that there was only one camera profile, unlike other Nikon cameras, where you could change the camera profile to Standard, Neutral, Vivid, etc. to mimic the picture styles of Nikon cameras.

I found out that you can apply the camera profile for one camera to another.  In this case, I used the camera profile for the Nikon D800 to create a profile for the Nikon D600.  The concept can be applied to take the camera profile of any camera (not limited to the same maker) and apply it to another for some interesting effects.

Here is an overview of the steps:

1. Download DCPTool by SandyMcGuffog.

2. Copy an existing camera profile.

3. Use DCPTool to decompile the camera profile from a binary file to an XML file.

4. Edit the XML file and replace the tag into your target camera and save as a new camera profile in xml format.

5. Use DCPTool the new camera profile into binary.

6. Add the camera profile to Lightroom. 

That's all there is to it.  Here are the details:

STEP 0: Make sure Lightroom is not running.

STEP 1: DOWNLOAD DCPTOOL

The camera profiles are binary files.  To edit them you need to decompile them into xml using DCPTool by SandyMcGuffog.  Download the zip file from Sandy's site (beware fake sites that purport to allow you to download DCPTool but are actually full of links for downloading spyware). Extract the file and make a note of where you extract it.

STEP 2: COPY EXISTING CAMERA PROFILE

Camera profiles adjust how Lightroom interprets the hue and saturation information from a raw file.  They also apply a specific tone curve.  More about DNG Camera Profiles.  Camera profiles are stored in a specific directory:

• For PC it's in "C:\ProgramData\Adobe\CameraRaw\CameraProfiles".  Note: ProgramData is a hidden folder.  You'll need to make sure that in Folder Options, the option Show hidden files, folders, and drives is selected.  It will then show up as a grayed out folder.
• For Mac I believe it's in "Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CameraRaw/CameraProfiles/"

You'll see that each supported camera has its own directory with the different camera profiles for that camera.  Copy the camera profile you want into the 

STEP 3: DECOMPILE THE CAMERA PROFILE

The camera profiles are binary files.  To edit them you need to decompile them into xml using DCPTool by SandyMcGuffog.  Just extract the file.  You'll see a folder called Binaries and in it there are folders for OS X and Windows.  For simplicity, copy the camera profile into the Windows or OS X folder as applicable.  You should also rename the file so that there are no spaces.  For example rename "Nikon D800 Camera Vivid.dcp" to "NikonD800CameraVivid.dcp"

To run DCPTool you need to use a command line.  In Windows, hold down shift and then right click on the Windows folder.  Select the option "Open command window here".  In Mac I believe you can use Terminal.app to get a command line.

From the command prompt, type:

dcptool -d xxxxxxx.dcp yyyyyyy.xml

For xxxxxx.dcp use the filename of the original camera profile.

For yyyyyy.xml use any filename (but to be organized you can use the same name).

You don't need to exit the command prompt.  We'll come back to it later.

STEP 4: EDIT THE XML FILE

Edit the new XML file using any text editor.  In Windows I use notepad.  Toward the end of the file is a tag called and the name of the camera that the profile is for.  Change this into your camera's model.

If you wish you can also change the name of the profile as it will show up on Lightroom.  There is a tag at the beginning of the file called .  That's where you place the new name.

Save the edited XML file as a new XML file, preferably in the same directory as dcptool.  When you do so, under File Type select All Files instead of Text Files, then add .xml to the filename.  If you save it as a text file DCPTool won't recognize it.

STEP 5: COMPILE THE XML FILE

Now we need to convert the XML file into binary.  Go back to the command prompt and type:

dcptool -c xxxxx.xml yyyyyy.dcp

xxxxx.xml should be the name of the new xml file.

yyyyy.dcp should be the name of the new camera profile.

STEP 6: ADD THE CAMERA PROFILE TO LIGHTROOM

Go to the folder where Camera Profiles are stored.  Create a new folder for your camera model, e.g. Nikon D600.  Copy the new camera profile into that folder.  When you run Lightroom, you can now select the new camera profile for photos from your camera model.  Remember - this only works for raw files (not necessarily DNG) not TIFF or other files.

----------

If you find interesting cross-camera profiles please feel free to post them in the comments.  BTW if this is all too tedious for you, you can buy a whole bunch of cross-camera profiles for your camera from PSKiss.

Read More

Accurate and free AF fine-tuning/microadjustment method

Tried this free AF fine-tuning / micro-adjustment method, which I found through a post on DP Review forums:

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/cameras/1ds3_af_micoadjustment.html

I found the method to be accurate and fairly easy. Summary: you download the test image, show it on your laptop screen (not print it out). Then you view that laptop screen image with your camera on Live View. You adjust the focus manually in Live View to maximize the moire pattern, resulting in perfect focus. Then you turn off live view, then autofocus with your lens. If your lens is correctly calibrated then the autofocus should not move. If it moves, you adjust AF fine-tuning until it does not move.

Tip 1: To observe whether your autofocus is moving, look at the lens' distance scale as you focus. I find it easier to notice whether the lens is front- or back-focusing.

Tip 2: When you focus in live view, ideally you should use manual focus. However, if your manual focusing isn't good for whatever reason, then you can try autofocus instead. In live view most cameras use contrast detection (not phase detection) which is immune from backfocusing or frontfocusing errors.

Read More

Updates

Hi everyone. Just an update to let you know what I'm working on (besides the extremely long backlog of planned articles).

Nikon D600 related posts:

1. Nikon D600 autofocus. I took some shots in more challenging real world conditions to see how well the D600 autofocus performs. I also want to talk about the clustering of the D600's AF points.

2. Fuji S5 and D600 Dynamic Range Recompared. I retest the S5 and D600's dynamic range, this time with Adobe raw support for the D600.

3. Nikon D90 vs. DX-Cropped Nikon D600.

4. Nikon D600 Hands-On Review part 3.

Posts that are not just about the D600.

1. Alternatives to focus and recompose. The techniques here can be used with other cameras, not just the D600.

2. Lightroom's highlight recovery. Lightroom's highlight recovery is awesome but I found out there are a couple of strings attached.

3. Fast Telephoto Lenses: Nikon 70-200 VR I and Sigma 50-150.

4. Tamron 70-300 VC. I was looking for an inexpensive telephoto lens and was about to buy the Nikon 70-300 VR but instead I got the Tamron 70-300 VC. How well does it perform?

Read More

Traveler

I had the opportunity to take a brief look at the Space Shuttle Endeavor before it goes on its way to its permanent home at the California Science Center.  Up close, it was every bit as magnificent as I imagined.





These shots were taken by a Nikon D600 (hands on review here) and Tokina 10-17 Fisheye (reviewed here).

Read More

Nikon D600 Raw Supported in Lightroom 4.2 - now available

The title says it all.  Link to download: http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/thankyou.jsp?ftpID=5488&fileID=5498

Raw support for the D600 was a total surprise because the 4.2 release candidate didn't have D600 support and DPReview was mentioning that they used a 4.3 private beta to convert D600 raw files.

LR 4.2 includes this disclaimer about the D600 support:
* Please note that the support for Nikon D600 is preliminary and there is a minor risk that the appearance of your images may change when the final support for Nikon D600 is available in an upcoming release.

Read More

Nikon D600 vs. Fuji S5 Pro highlight dynamic range

Many recent DSLRs from Nikon have been tested to show a very wide highlight range.  For example, DPReview reports that the Nikon D800 has as much as 5 stops highlight range with Active D-Lighting at Extra High.

The D600 looks to have promising highlight range.  The D600 has been tested by DXO to have a dynamic range similar to that of the D800.  In my own testing, the D600 also appears to have a fairly wide highlight range, based on the latitude I have seen for recovering highlights.

In this post, I compare the highlight dynamic range of the Nikon D600 with that of the Fuji S5 Pro, a unique DSLR that has unparalleled highlight range.  I wanted to see whether the Nikon D600 has met or even surpassed the S5's highlight dynamic range.

TEST

I setup several objects of varying degrees of specularity (reflectiveness) indoors.  I prepared three hotshoe flashes - one SB-800 on-camera acting as a master, another SB-800 as a slave, and a YN-565 as a second slave.  All flashes were firing at the same manual power level, bounced toward the ceiling.  I then took shots of the objects at these settings:

- flash only at 1/4 power

- flash only at 1/2 power

- flash only at full power

- full power flash + ambient normally exposed

- full power flash + ambient +1 exposure

All shots were taken at base ISO (100 for both the D600 and the S5) in raw, converted to DNG for processing in Lightroom 4.

NOTE:  In the case of the D600, there is no raw support yet from Adobe so I used the workaround of tricking Lightroom into thinking that the D600 files were from a Nikon D4.  Blogged here.  The resulting files are cropped.  Not only that, the crop is from the top left corner therefore the cameras' perspectives are slightly different.  Moreover, no one knows whether the D600 files with true raw support will be the same or better than these "fake" D600 DNG files.

FUJI S5 RESULTS

First, I took a baseline shot that was deliberately underexposed so that it would fall within the dynamic range of both cameras.  I removed the ambient (100 ISO, 1/200, f/5.6), and fired all three flashes at 1/4 power.

As you can see, detail is visible everywhere.  For example, even the specular highlights of the ribbons are not clipped - they have color.  The metal disc held by the bear has visible detail even with the specular highlight.

Having established a baseline, I then took the progressively brighter shots.  I first examined the brightest shot:

I applied a correction of -3EV to make it easier to observe whether the detail was retained:

It appears that the S5 was able to retain detail everywhere.  I was not able to exceed the S5's highlight range with this test.

D600 RESULTS
As with the S5, I took 5 test shots.  In the first two shots, the D600 clearly was able to retain all detail.

I took a look at the middle shot (flash only at full power):

I applied a -3EV correction to make the details in the specular highlights more observable:

It appears all detail was retained, though the specular highlight of the red ribbon seems almost ready to lose color.

I took a look a the fourth shot.

With a -4EV correction:

It looks like a little detail was lost in the metal disc, in the red ribbon's specular highlights, and above the bear's nose and left paw (camera right):

I also looked at the fifth shot.  As expected, a little more detail was lost:

ACTIVE D-LIGHTING
I also tested whether Active D-Lighting would improve the D600's result.  Note: the slave flash positions got moved slightly by accident.  Anyway, here is the 5th shot with Active D-Lighting set to Extra High:

With the same correction applied above:

It appears to have more detail than the 5th shot above.  Though not as good as the 3rd shot, the ADL might even be better than the 4th shot, though there is a lot of lost detail above the bear's nose.  Because the flash positions got moved I can't be absolutely certain.  My son was pulling me away to play with me before I could re-run the tests for ADL.

CONCLUSION:
Clearly, the aging Fuji S5 Pro still has substantially more highlight range than the Nikon D600.  Because I was not able to reach the S5's limits, I can't say exactly how much better the S5 Pro's highlight range is compared to the D600.  Without Active D-Lighting, the S5's highlight range advantage over the D600 appears to be well over 1 stop.  With Active D-Lighting at Extra-High, the S5's highlight advantage is reduced but I couldn't say for sure by how much.

Please recall the flaws I mentioned at the beginning.  I plan to retest this when the D600 gains real raw support, and this time I will try harder to find the S5's limit, and will test ADL more rigorously.

Read More