Medieval town square (or having fun with the new 5D Mk II)

[Cem_Usakligil]

Hi folks,

Having bought the new Canon 5D Mk II this morning, I have taken some pictures of the town square where I live. These are taken using an EF 17-40L f4 lens. I haven't had the time yet to micro adjust the AF for the lens. The camera was mounted on a tripod, MLU and self timer. Conversions via DPP and output sharpening and a small adjustment to curves in CS4. The weather was awful so the skies are anything but exciting but that shouldn't be an issue here.

The level of detail captured in the pictures is simply amazing. This is a perfect camera for landscapes, it seems. Please feel free to C&C.

Click on the pictures for seeing even bigger versions for scrutinizing the details (50% of the original size)













Cheers,

 

[Mike Shimwell]

Nice and crispy, and good colour too

That 17-40L looks better than people suggest.


Mike

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Cem,

Hi folks,

Having bought the new Canon 5D Mk II this morning, I have taken some pictures of the town square where I live.

Beautiful work. Stunning detail. And don't let anybody tell you that the tripod, MLU, and "sanitary release" didn't contribute to that. Everything counts at this stratospheric level of attainment!

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Ken Tanaka]

These are very nice images, Cem. That 5DII is a wonderful picture machine to have at-hand, isn't it.

But beyond the prettiness, these images convey utter desertion. Where are the humans? Why is such a scenic touristy place so empty?! Has the global economic slump really kept them at home?

 

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Nice and crispy, and good colour too

That 17-40L looks better than people suggest.

Ah, down-sampling will help though (which is one of the benefits of having ample pixels for a scene). I've sold mine, but then I'm more critical than on average users.

Bart

 

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

These are very nice images, Cem. That 5DII is a wonderful picture machine to have at-hand, isn't it.

But beyond the prettiness, these images convey utter desertion. Where are the humans? Why is such a scenic touristy place so empty?! Has the global economic slump really kept them at home?

Hi Ken,

Good observation!

As I see it, Cem took these images just after acquiring his new camera, which happened to be one day after the carnival festivities. Most people were probably 'attempting' to recover from the (roughly 5-day) festivities, which are quite intense at Cem's home town.

Bart

 

[Ken Tanaka]

Hi Ken,

Good observation!

As I see it, Cem took these images just after acquiring his new camera, which happened to be one day after the carnival festivities. Most people were probably 'attempting' to recover from the (roughly 5-day) festivities, which are quite intense at Cem's home town.

Bart

Perhaps. But these are clearly captured at various times of day. There isn't so much as a gum wrapper on those streets. Not even a bird flying over. Nothing! The day after the end of days!

Parallel anecdote: I recently dined with a notable photographer who (unusually) accepted an editorial assignment to portray the effects of our anemic economy. He chose to shoot at the Mall of America, a shopping mall near Minneapolis (Minnesota) whose total property size is perhaps nearly as large as the Netherlands. After a few days he was actually struggling to capture appropriate scenes. So he went to a section of the parking lot at dawn and managed to catch an image that suggested that the mall was a ghost town.

Cem's images remind me of this fellow's images, except that Cem's are far more convincing.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Cem,

Now that you have the camera, what do you think of DXOmark' rating of the 5DII v the 5D at ISO over 800? Are they right?

BTW, what's the name of is square as I'd like to look up some of the history of the place! What ghosts might be there?

Asher

 

[nicolas claris]

Hi Cem
simply beautifull!
In the night shot I would have got rid of the flare on the center right of pavement.

But, as Ken, where are the people? are they gone in a foreign country, following Tintin?:-D

Who is the garbage keeper in the 1st shot?

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

...That 17-40L looks better than people suggest.

Hi Mike,

I have used this lens on my 40D and was very happy with it. Having said that, at FF I can already see lens aberrations towards the edges of the frame but nothing alarming yet. First I'll micro focus it properly.

Ah, down-sampling will help though (which is one of the benefits of having ample pixels for a scene). I've sold mine, but then I'm more critical than on average users.

Hi Bart,

You are right but I should say that these pictures look as good at 1:1 zoom as they do on the screen at 50% and 25% sizes. Also, using the Focus Magic properly for output sharpening helps obviously .

Cheers,

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

Beautiful work. Stunning detail. And don't let anybody tell you that the tripod, MLU, and "sanitary release" didn't contribute to that. Everything counts at this stratospheric level of attainment!

Hi Doug,

Thanks for the kind comments. The images have some 1-8 sec exposure times so a tripod was an absolute necessity but MLU and the "sanitary release" are the final touches as you've observed .

Cheers,

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

These are very nice images, Cem. That 5DII is a wonderful picture machine to have at-hand, isn't it.

But beyond the prettiness, these images convey utter desertion. Where are the humans? Why is such a scenic touristy place so empty?! Has the global economic slump really kept them at home?

Hi Ken,

Good observation!

As I see it, Cem took these images just after acquiring his new camera, which happened to be one day after the carnival festivities. Most people were probably 'attempting' to recover from the (roughly 5-day) festivities, which are quite intense at Cem's home town.

Bart

Perhaps. But these are clearly captured at various times of day. There isn't so much as a gum wrapper on those streets. Not even a bird flying over. Nothing! The day after the end of days!

Parallel anecdote: I recently dined with a notable photographer who (unusually) accepted an editorial assignment to portray the effects of our anemic economy. He chose to shoot at the Mall of America, a shopping mall near Minneapolis (Minnesota) whose total property size is perhaps nearly as large as the Netherlands. After a few days he was actually struggling to capture appropriate scenes. So he went to a section of the parking lot at dawn and managed to catch an image that suggested that the mall was a ghost town.

Cem's images remind me of this fellow's images, except that Cem's are far more convincing.

Hi Ken, Bart,

It is an amazing display of emptiness indeed. Some of it is thanks to long exposure times of 1-8 seconds. It was drizzling a bit and people present were walking very briskly.
Another part is -as Bart has noted- related to carnaval two days before. It is celebrated so intensively that people disapper from the scene this week in order to recuperate. It was also around dinner time. So many tings coming together but maybe also a bit of luck in the end.

Re. the cleanliness, the streets have been scrubbed clean after the carnaval but it usually is like this anyway.

Cheers,

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

Cem,

Now that you have the camera, what do you think of DXOmark' rating of the 5DII v the 5D at ISO over 800? Are they right?

BTW, what's the name of is square as I'd like to look up some of the history of the place! What ghosts might be there?

Asher

Hi Asher,

I have barely gotten hold of the thing so I have no idea about the ISO performance over 800, LOL. But I'll report on that later. The square is called the Markt (notice it is without the "e"). Which is some 100 yards from our home. This city has had a very rich history in the past 800 years and is full of ghosts as such.

Hi Cem
simply beautifull!
In the night shot I would have got rid of the flare on the center right of pavement.

But, as Ken, where are the people? are they gone in a foreign country, following Tintin?:-D

Who is the garbage keeper in the 1st shot?

Hi Nicolas,

After the fierce carnaval, we all have followed Tintin and Haddock you could say, LOL.

I have thought about removing the glare but decided to keep it since it was about showing the camera's capabilities in the first place. So no retouching has been done in any of the pictures.

The garbage keeper is a famous poet/writer in the Netherlands who was born in this town. But the garbage bins should not have been there, they were just cleaning up the extreme mess in pubs after the carnaval. In that, I have had less luck with these pictures.

Cheers,

 

[fahim mohammed]

Cem, as others have mentioned...lethal detail, medical cleanliness, brilliant clarity, beautiful photgraphy
of devastatingly painful and cold loneliness.

I am sure we shall see more of the beautiful square with life and vibrancy.

Regards.

 

[leonardobarreto.com]

Cem,
Could you do -when you have some time- a quick test of aperturs, say, from f 2.8 to f 22 to see the sweet point of the Deffraction Effect on this camera?

Thanks, it would contribute to an informal survey of the phenomenon...

 

[Rachel Foster]

I may have missed it....did you mention ISOs and f/stops for those shots?

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

I may have missed it....did you mention ISOs and f/stops for those shots?

All of them at ISO 100 and f8.

 

[Rachel Foster]

I would have given 3 to 1 odds on ISO 100.