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News: GXR: Review of 50 mm 2.5 Macro unit for Chamber Music Performance with Overhead light

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
This is an ongoing review of the GXR 50mm unit. I'm using the camera under real life circumstances. So here the camera is handheld in row H of the performance hall. This allows coverage of much of the stage. The musicians, except when the largest group are taking a bow, occupy only the middle 1/3 of the sensor. So this is just about 1.5 to 3 MP! Of course, if one could move closer for the times when one would like to fill the screen, then the pictures would by 3-4 times better. So this is a tough test for a camera!

In continuation of my exploration of ways to freely shoot during classical music performances, I have used the rather exceptional GXR's stealth behavior, (virtually silent shutter), handheld, (we'll discuss that later), from the center of the performance hall. The occasion was the April 11th Performance of The Colburn School Chamber Music Society. With a packed house and a classical music savvy audience, any shutter sound is without question forbidden,

I have already described some of this work before and showed how the JPG's straight out of the camera a very pleasing and well color corrected from the overhead tungsten light, but that processing from RAW gives a far better result under these harsh conditions of heavy shadows and over-bright highlights.

Here I show results from processing RAW, (DNG), files via Capture One and then fusing two images processed for highlights and shadows by masking one selectively. I hope you like the results.



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Conservatory students Francesca dePasquale (violin) and Jeremy Berry (viola) performed Klein's String Trio with Colburn faculty Ronald Leonard (cello).

Asher Kelman: Live Performance Picture GXR Handheld ISO 400 -1.0 EV, f 3.5,1/84 sec Aperture Priority No Flash



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Guest Artists Movses Pogossian, (far left), and LA Opera's Domingo-Thornton Young Artists Erica Brookhyser, soprano, perform Zemlinksy's
Maiblumen Blühten überall with Conservatory students (l to r) Saschka Haberl, Sarah Harball, Matthew Maffett, Mindy Park, & Benjamin Lash.

Asher Kelman: Live Performance Picture GXR Handheld ISO 400 -1.0 EV, f 3.5,1/1/133 sec Aperture Priority No Flash


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Conservatory students (l to r) Kendra James, Qian Dai, and José Gonzales perform 3 Songs after Rimbaud by Krása
with LA Opera's Domingo-Thornton Young Artists José Adán Perez (far right).

Asher Kelman: Live Performance Picture GXR Handheld ISO 400 -1.0 EV, f 3.5,1/1/133 sec Aperture Priority No Flash
 
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Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
The largest ensemble of the concert performed Wagner's Siegfried Idyll. I don't usually stay for Wagner but today he was balanced by those who espoused views against the Nazi regime, and it was therefore Karma-balanced, so to speak! The music defied it's origin of a man with odd social views!

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Front String Quintet: Caitlin Kelley and Alison Luthmers, violins; Zach Dellinger, viola; Arlen Hlusko, cello; and Benjamin Hanlon, double bass.
Woodwinds (l to r): Colburn faculty Jim Walker, flute; Jamie Roberts, oboe; Michael Byerly, clarinet; and Alex Zdanis, bassoon.
Brass (back row, l to r): Jacob Wilder and Conservatory alumnus Benjamin Jaber, horns; and Cheonho Yoon, trumpet.

Asher Kelman: Live Performance Picture GXR Handheld ISO 400 -1.0 EV, f 3.5,1/1/133 sec Aperture Priority No Flash



The audience really appreciated the music and gave a prolonged ovation. It was a thrilling experience to see such a large group of young artists at the cutting edge of their artistic bloom to engage and electrify such a fabulous audience.

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Asher Kelman: Live Performance Picture GXR Handheld ISO 400 -0.7 EV, f 3.5,1/1/64 sec Aperture Priority No Flash

 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
The final piece on the program was Ullman's String Quartet No. 3, Op. 46,


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Movses Pogossian and Radu Paponiu, violins; Ningning Jin, viola; and James Kang, cello.

Asher Kelman: Live Performance Picture GXR Handheld ISO 400 -0.7 EV, f 3.5,1/1/125 sec Aperture Priority No Flash


Photography Detail: This last picture shows some bleeding of the orange color of the background on to the dark hair of several of the players. This was observable in the translated but non-altered TIFF files from RAW with default setting and no adjustments. I allowed it to become even more pronounced when the file was increased in exposure by 1.7 EV, but again, did not allow this orange edge to worry me. I'll be examining this with other software to understand it more. I could have edited this out, but chose not to. The conditions under which this occurs will be watched for as we get more experience working under these conditions.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
My impression, in this continuing review is that the GXR with the 50mm f 2.5 Macro is an excellent performer in the poorly lit overhead tungsten illuminated stage. The detail is good and the colors are faithful. This is a stress test for any camera and the GXR does well considering it's just an APS C, (digital Rebel size) CMOS sensor. From my experience, this is a major step improvement over using that other wonderful, virtually silent digicam, the G10. This unfortunately has far too much noise under the conditions of the normal horrible stage lighting. any digicam would do well if the stage was lit from the front and the lighting was even, with no dark shadows. However, that condition is asking for photographic lighting Nirvana which has not arrived yet at this stage!

So, to my view, the GXR can provide great pictures sufficient to meet the needs of reporting on concerts and for the unusual freedom of actual shooting during live performance with no noise-damping housing!

Further improvements will now be looked for by using a solid surface to hold the camera!

Asher
 
Photography Detail: This last picture shows some bleeding of the orange color of the background on to the dark hair of several of the players. This was observable in the translated but non-altered TIFF files from RAW with default setting and no adjustments. I allowed it to become even more pronounced when the file was increased in exposure by 1.7 EV, but again, did not allow this orange edge to worry me. I'll be examining this with other software to understand it more. I could have edited this out, but chose not to. The conditions under which this occurs will be watched for as we get more experience working under these conditions.

Hi Asher,

I'm not sure if it is anything more than simple reflection of the background off of a black shiny surface.

Color is the result of the incident light spectrum minus selective spectral absorption or transmission, plus surface emission (all objects with a temperature above absolute zero Kelvin will emit energy).

Black surfaces do not modify reflection color by their own pigment/dye content (they mostly absorb), so they just relay whatever % reflection the surface structure/smoothness allows. Diffuse black surfaces will absorb + reflect (mirror) light from a large angle in many directions, but shiny black surfaces will act as mirrors.

There might also be some influence from the demosaicing algorithm, but I'd rate that probability pretty low.

Cheers,
Bart

P.S. this is BTW one of the interesting new features that Photoshop CS5 attempts to address on the edge of selections, 'color contamination' caused by specular reflection from the background.
 

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
Hi, Asher,

Lovely events, lovely photos, wonderful discussion of both the musical and photographic contexts. A tour de force!

The extraordinary Francesca [sic] dePasquale looks especially fetching in the trio - on the edge of her chair, as I'm sure were the members of the audience. This image so well reveals the "passing of the baton" (to make a bad pun) in many ways. (As I recall, dePasquale on her own comes from a widely-honored musical family.)

This ongoing multidimensional project is a thing of wonder. Thanks for continuing to share it with us.

Best regards,

Doug
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Hi Asher,

I'm not sure if it is anything more than simple reflection of the background off of a black shiny surface.

Color is the result of the incident light spectrum minus selective spectral absorption or transmission, plus surface emission (all objects with a temperature above absolute zero Kelvin will emit energy).

Black surfaces do not modify reflection color by their own pigment/dye content (they mostly absorb), so they just relay whatever % reflection the surface structure/smoothness allows. Diffuse black surfaces will absorb + reflect (mirror) light from a large angle in many directions, but shiny black surfaces will act as mirrors.

There might also be some influence from the demosaicing algorithm, but I'd rate that probability pretty low.

Cheers,
Bart

P.S. this is BTW one of the interesting new features that Photoshop CS5 attempts to address on the edge of selections, 'color contamination' caused by specular reflection from the background.

Thanks Bart for your clear explanation. I am looking forward to the new Photoshop bag of tricks. I have to watch for the over sharpening in the processing.

Asher
 

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
Hi, Asher,

This is a stress test for any camera and the GXR does well considering it's just an APS C, (digital Rebel size) CMOS sensor.

Spoken like a true 6x7 shooter!

"It's a Wonderful Life"? Not bad for having been shot in half-frame 35-mm".

Best regards,

Doug
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Hi, Asher,

This is a stress test for any camera and the GXR does well considering it's just an APS C, (digital Rebel size) CMOS sensor.

Spoken like a true 6x7 shooter!

"It's a Wonderful Life"? Not bad for having been shot in half-frame 35-mm".

Best regards,

Doug

I'm excited by the GXR as it's small, discrete, black and hardly considered significant on the street. So there's less disturbance and so one has a great opportunity to photograph folk as they are, rather than posing for the camera.

Still, just in the context of being able to photograph during a concert for the PR of the musicians or for web, magazine or newspaper reporting, the GXR with the 50mm Macro 2.5 is a little gem. Of course, the best pictures will be obtained using a solid surface such as a balcony ledge or tripod. I'll be sharing this shortly to see if there is improvement over hand held shots of the musicians.

Asher
 

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
Hi, Asher,

Of course, the best pictures will be obtained using a solid surface such as a balcony ledge or tripod. I'll be sharing this shortly to see if there is improvement over hand held shots of the musicians.
I believe that at least one of the GXR modules has image stabilization. Do you expect a module suitable for your application that might have that?

And of course a monopod can work well in some such settings.

Best regards,

Doug
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Hi, Asher,


I believe that at least one of the GXR modules has image stabilization. Do you expect a module suitable for your application that might have that?

And of course a monopod can work well in some such settings.
Doug,

The 28-300mm sounds very interesting. As you already discovered, there's no description of the sensor! So I guess they are trying out alternatives to the last moment. I hope it's at least an APS-C. since it starts at f 3.5 it does no have to be that big, I'd imagine, smaller than the size of the 70-200 f4.0 Canon L lens. Even then, it's got to be much bigger than the compact lenses delivered so far. OTOH they might opt for a much smaller sensor, arguing that this would be for the tourist and a more compact wide range lens was more important than having more pixels allocated in a larger sensor. No matter what the specifics are, I want to try this camera as one should be able to get better pictures of individual musicians during a live classical music performance.

Asher
 
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