I've done just a few portraits with it and I was very impressed. Sometimes the skin tone goes too "tan," depending on the actual subject's skin tone, but I was amazed that one click would do so much. I do modify the file name to include "lucid" or somesuch, and save a separate file that way, so I can return to the original if need be.
Very interested! How's auto focus speed? Sports shooting interest using Olympus OM-D EM1. $275, correct?
I've already got a 50-200mm f 3.5 Zuiko, but can anyone recommend a 70-300mm f 5.6 or brighter fast auto-focusing lens for sports? Or maybe a 300 mm? Oly's new $2499 beauty is just too pricey. Will other manufacturers' lenses auto focus quickly?
Dan: Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I recall that ACR within Elements 12 permits 3 different sharpening approaches: Gaussian, camera movement and lens blur. I've not found this in LR. Also, I believe that ACR (in Elements 12) has a more powerful sharpening slider to 500, and a larger maximum radius. I don't often need these, but they're very nice to have when they directly address the cause of the lack of sharpness.
If you have editing software - Photoshop, Lightroom, others - just enlarge the image on your PC screen and physically measure it until you see it at 24" x 36." You can see nearly exactly how well the image will hold up at that enlargement. Sounds overly simple, but it's worked for me.
I just happen to have a D5300 refurb purchased 2 years ago and used very lightly - a 2-week vacation plus some other random shooting. It's got a Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Standard Zoom Lens that frankly I found very sharp. The micro 4:3 is my format, simple as that. Want to talk?
I've used the Nikon f 3.5-5.6 18-300mm VG on a D5300 on a vacation, and aside from just a touch of chromatic aberration that Lightroom quickly corrects, it's a wonderful sharp one-lens solution. Don't forget about renting a lens either. My one-time safari experience told me that you do need both a long telephoto and shorter lenses. That's why I'd recommend something longer than 200mm.
I'd simply add an "amen" to Epson Perfection series. My 4490 wasn't expensive and it takes 4 35mm slides/negs, 2 120 negs or 1 2 3/4 neg, and delivers great sharpness.
My Lightroom 12 has a "one click" solution to Chromatic Aberration that works about 95% of the time. In addition, there is a more specific tool that allows for adjusting each of the colors - magenta or cyan - that takes care of the other 5%. It's really easy and instant.
The second lens has a mount that really looks like the old Canon mount for AE-1, A-1 and other film cameras before the FD bayonet mount and before the EOS series. That mount actually engaged the mounting flanges on the camera, with the threaded black ring shown on the lens to draw in the lens tightly, using a bayonet motion. The FD mount was a true bayonet mount. Both styles work with the same Canon cameras.
Basketball is best (IMHO)photographed with a wide angle lens from under the basket. 28mm equivalent is about right, and a zoom beyond that will occasionally help with outside shooters. Used prices for Olympus E3 or E5 are way down and can use your 14-55 kit lens, although the 12-60 SMC is REALLY sharp and f 2.8 bright. They sync at 250th if you really want to use remote flash to provide dramatic sidelighting, preferably using radio-activation, but possibly with a cheap flash slave kicked by your on camera flash set .7-1.0 lower than normal. Olympus has great glass, and E3 or E5 are strongly built full function cameras. Overexpose just a touch to cut the noise at 1600.