Porst 35-105mm 3.5 with Sigma sd14

[rbelyell]

hello
as a 'newbie' i am trying to get into the swing of things on this fantastic forum, and thought i would post a few pix as representative of my newly acquired rig of sigma sd14 and a modest collection of m42 lenses. this porst (i believe cosina-made in japan) has become an early favorite of mine.

[poilu]

nice series, sharp duck and great portrait!

[rbelyell]

thank you! as i mentioned in earlier posts, although ive been an enthusiast since the '80's, ive never put any of my images out in the public arena, so its so nice to get feedback! i tell you, ive only recently (last month!) started shooting with these manual lenses, and it is a little tough going on the focusing front, but extremely rewarding. as for the portrait, credit goes to my subject! thanks again!

[rpo83]

Hi rbelyell,

Can i ask how you are processing your shots? I have found it is one of the most critical aspects of getting the best out of the foveon sensor. I also find the metering of the sigma is slightly off when used with MF lenses. How do you use your camera, what mode and settings are set?

I typically overexpose about 1/3 -1/2 stop, this gives much better resolution in the mid/dark tones, then i simply adjust exposure in Sigma Photo Pro, Lightroom or Silky Pix, to regain the exposure i was looking for.

If you haven't tried Silkypix yet, i strongly recommend that you do. It is available as a free download, it is in beta stage at the moment but the licence ends at the end of November, if you can't find where to download it let me know and i'll provide a link.

[rbelyell]

hi steve
well, i find that my sigma overexposes about 1-1.3 stops, so i actually underexpose about 1 stop to get either the correct or slightly overexposed image. then i convert RAW to TIFF with sigma pro, make some slight adjustments, transfer the images to APERTURE and make some more adjustments.

i so appreciate your post--was there something in my images that you felt could be improved by further/different processing? i would welcome your thoughts on the images!
thanks so much

[rbelyell]

btw steve, i typically shoot in aperture priority...

[rpo83]

Hi rbelyell,

I don't usually comment on other peoples images as i like you am new here, and just re-establishing my love of photography.

Light is such a amorphous subject, so not knowing what the light was like, or what you were trying to capture, makes any external comments out of context. Having said that, the last 2 shots look under exposed to me, but changing the exposure will radically change the feel of the shots, you were there you know if the image conveys what you wanted to capture.

Hopefully you understand what i'm trying to say.

I like darker images, so i usually make sure that i am exposing to the right of the histogram, without clipping, then i adjust levels to ensure i get great mid/dark resolution.

I don't know what the penalty if any of working with tiff v X3f.

There are some very experienced sigma users here who will be more knowlegdeable in these matters.

[rbelyell]

hey steve
ive seen some of your replies to comments on your photos and i feel exactly the same way as you--im 'thick skinned' and feel we can learn a lot from others. a lot of photography is natural talent, but as yogi berra said all of it is half technical! so im here to listen and learn, please dont be bashful.

as for these, i see what you mean about the third photo. as i look at it again, i think the mid to low tone resolution could be better, and probably could have either been shot less underexposed, or also fixed better in pp. the second one, i really want a softer more shadowy effect, tho maybe that could have been a tad more exposed as well....

i have seen other sigma users who say you need to overexpose the images and recapture highlights in pp. as a former film guy, once you blew a highlight, bye bye! so its hard to break that habit; but i think i need to try that more than i have. i would be interested if you think the other sets if put up appear similarly underexposed to you--let me know.

thanks again for taking the time to help!