PRODUCT SHOTS, PRODUCT SHOTS, PRODUCT SHOTS...

It’s certainly not glamorous, but the past two weeks have been fill with hundreds of product shots for Ebay. To fund the Phase One P25 and Mamiya 645AFD II kit, all the Canon equipment had to be sold. For shooting product the Phase One P25 does exceptionally well. The lens (or sensor) cast is still an ongoing issue and has not been resolved by Phase One or Linear Systems as of yet. The last two weeks have been consumed with closing out the actions, so the nagging issue of sensor/lens cast took a back seat. That will change this coming week.

In regards to the P25, the product shots simply highlight what the P25 does so, so well --- DETAIL! No AA filter translates into sharp, blissfully detailed images. Normally I shoot with two Elinchrom 600RX monolights with 53” softboxes on both. This creates a very even light across the entire frame and does well for simple product shots. Before the holidays one of 600RX heads was sent to Bogen for repair (the multi-pin remote socket worked intermittently); another thing I need to follow up on... Working with just one light and two reflectors is a change (for me). Despite having the half the usual light, working with the P25 was very easy.

PHASE ONE C1 VERSION 4.0

I have also been using Phase One’s new C1 Version 4 (for Intel Mac’s). It’s growing on me. The dealer also needs to provide a working software key for the C1 Pro 3.7.7, so even if I wanted to go back to 3.7.7 that is not an option right now (grrrrr...) Anyway, C1v4 offers some new additions such as highlight recovery and shadow detail - handy stuff. It is missing the moire utility and the noise control does not have as many options as C1 Pro 3.7.7. Overall I like C1 LE replacement, but it is still quirky and crashes on the Quad 3.0 GHz Pro Mac several times a day (Tiger 10.4.11).

There is a whole mix of new things here - new raw software, working with just one light, a new (to me) digital back and a different lens (the Mamiya 80mm F2.8 AF). There are too many variables here to attribute any certain result to just the Phase One P25. Overall the set-up is clearly better than the Canon 1Ds Mark II and Contax 100mm F2.8 N (converted to an EOS mount, more here). The difference is - clarity. Colors are deeper, richer, more defining. Considerably more gradients. Sharp, sharp, sharp images. Combined with narrow DOF, producing distinctive images with some added pop is pretty easy.

I bought a 36mm extension tube after reading from the Mamiya site that 12mm, 24mm and 36mm tubes could be stacked for 1:1 macro work. Wrong... The 12mm and 24mm can be stacked for 1:1, so the 36mm tube is complete overkill for me. The focus range is ~6” from the front element and the DOF is miniscule. I should have purchased the 12mm. Since the tube is here, The picture above was with the 36mm tube - this is the ENTIRE P25 frame!  No cropping!!! The image below shows off some 3D fun, just F5.6 and close-focusing to keep the lens separated from the Canon 1Ds Mark II body.

PRODUCT SHOTS WITH CANON VS THE P25

All the pictures on this page could have been done with the Canon 1Ds Mark II and a lens similar to the Canon 85mm L F1.2 to match the Mamiya 80mm focal length. I have shot thousands of product shots with the 1Ds Mark II, so I know it is possible. Under strobes the 1Ds Mark II delivers its best results too. But, with the 1Ds Mark II there was much more effort on the post processing side. To get the 1Ds Mark II image to “pop”, levels needed many, many layers of adjustment in Photoshop. With the 1Ds Mark II images the end goal was to get the whites to pure white and to pull up the backs to the edge of the histogram (on the left side), thus rendering a very bold black.

Following that plan with the P25 results in a harsh image. With the P25 dialing-in a pure white and pure black is not needed. It polarizes the image and diminishes the tonality. The files look better (and work) with more lower mid tones. With the Canon those tones were muddy and usually compromised with shadow noise. Neutralizing them with various levels edits didn’t matter since there wasn’t much there to preserve in the first place.

The P25 files still get that high-to-low pop, but without all the over-the-top levels editing. Plus, the shadows are full of great tones and detail. With the 1Ds Mark II files I had to engineer pop into the image via levels edits in Photoshop. With the P25 I’m just teasing the levels to enhance or highlight the pop. Overall I think the Phase One P25 does best in the studio so far. Auto-focus is not as important, I am using tripod and release, all the light is carefully crafted - the P25 works well in this environment. Outdoors has been tricky so far, so it’s nice to see product shots showing off all the goodness of the P25’s pixels!