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Posts for: THaupt
Jan 8, 2021 15:59:32   #
User ID wrote:

I was reaching for a Nikon when The Voice From the Sky said “Reeeeeally ? Nikon ?!?!? Who gives a Ratzazz ?”


Have never gotten around to trying HDR, but finally making the time with my interest piqued. Being a fairly happy owner of Nikon D7100, wondering what the bias or big issue is - re: Nikon. Interested in a reasonable reply.
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Dec 28, 2019 08:39:20   #
After my earlier comment about storyboarding and all, of course the poster still would have been publicity shots and not necessarily taken at the same angle (or time) as the filming.

Interesting how many variations of the shot are found with an Web search.

My favorite stills are copyrighted, so will just point to a couple URLs.

https://www.alamy.com/original-film-title-rear-window-english-title-rear-window-year-1954-director-alfred-hitchcock-stars-james-stewart-credit-paramount-pictures-album-image223291261.html

Appears to show enough detail to read the lens serial number. The first part of lens manufactures name is clearly "Heinz", however this does not agree with some other shots.

https://www.gettyimages.nl/detail/nieuwsfoto's/james-stewart-watches-raymond-burr-through-a-camera-lens-nieuwsfotos/515177122

This image shows lens information and camera details that agree with the Website below.
Interesting that different shots with the actor show different configurations of the camera, such as way the tape is placed to cover the name and in some cases the prism area.


http://camaracoleccion.es/Fotos_la_ventana_indiscreta.html

This seems to be the definitive site, as there is other detailed info about the movie.
The photo of Exakta Varex VX appears identical to the still shot.

Translation of the camera combo:
Throughout the film you will use an Exakta Varex VX (sold in the United States as Exakta VX) that presents the curiosity of having the shutter on the left side of the camera. The producers of the film placed a black cap on the prism of the camera, hiding the "Exakta" mark engraved on its front. The camera is fitted with a Kilfitt 400mm f / 5.6 Tele-Kilar lens, produced in Munich (Germany) between 1952 and 1968. Like Tamrom in its origins, the Kilfitt lenses had adapters to be able to be attached to more camera models Famous of the time.
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Dec 28, 2019 06:21:47   #
As to the perfect angle for the shot; you can bet it was Hitchcock himself. He famously storyboarded every single frame well in advance of production, and these were detailed, not some rough sketch.
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Jul 27, 2018 01:13:13   #
RCJets wrote:
OK, maybe I'm dumb, but what is a nit?


Cd/M^2 would be spoken as "Candela per square meter (or per meter squared if you prefer).
The candela is the base unit of luminous intensity in the International System of Units (SI); that is, luminous power per unit solid angle emitted by a point light source in a particular direction. Think of a candle - that's it!
But why say some complicated SI term when "nit" is more fun! It's the normal shorthand term.

Having a bright display looks great - the images pop so well.
But yes, your printed output is better represented by lower intensity display.
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Jul 22, 2018 12:46:43   #
The configuration you suggest would be good for portraits, save for the image split.

Using a single high resolution display versus two medium resolution displays include: removes all the possible image differences that otherwise may occur using two screens - brightness, contrast ratio, gamma color presentation. Only one calibration to go through, and will need to do it less frequently.
Using the space is just more efficient for desktop use and avoids that bothersome screen break (think panoramas). Eyes moving left/right is a natural motion. I've never seen a full HD or UHD monitor used in portrait mode except for in-store advertising. That might be strange on a desktop (maybe not so practical).

The cost of 4K class monitors has come down significantly and now about same or even less than two smaller monitors.


BebuLamar wrote:
Hi Gene!
I use a pair of 1600x1200 screens. I put them on portrait orientation and I have a screen area of 2400x1600 which is a good aspect ratio for me. Now I can't get past the the fact that my images are split at the center when viewing on the screens like that.
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Jul 22, 2018 06:42:10   #
I'm a display engineer working with medical monitors for 30 years, and many of the products my employer company makes are run at 500 or 600 nits (Cd/m^2).
How a monitor is set depends on the application. Low light environments offer the best viewing, so with ambient light of say 10-50 lux, you can see the most dynamic range of the display: room lighting is not obscuring the low levels such as shadow details. In that setting, may 85-120 nits is suitable. For photo editing I have low room lighting, but run the monitor a bit brighter such as 150 or 200, which I find gives me more dynamic range (effectively visible stops). My eyes are over 60 years old; age is also a factor.
Trick is to have the monitor bright enough that you can discern the small differences in gray levels. With a paint program, you can create a range blocks with levels such as R/G/B 000, 001, 002, 003 and so forth on a black background (255 being maximum light output with 8 bit paint program, 255/255/255 = white). You should be able to see each of the distinct levels.
If they are not all individually discernable, try increasing the backlight brightness. Note: some (usually low cost) monitors do not reproduce low levels accurately, so possible you cannot achieve this.

My company produces only medical displays and with resolutions up to UHD (3840x2160) 32". The default calibration is 650nits, but this is for a surgical X-Ray application where room lighting may be very bright (1000 lux or more). In that case, the high brightness is necessary so low level grays are not washed out by the room lighting.
By comparison, medical ultrasound exam rooms are typically dimmed to 5-50lux, so less light output is needed to get good imaging. Monitors there are typically calibrated to 160nits. The low grey levels are very significant in any diagnostic exam, but equally important to discern the difference at high gray levels (such as R/G/B 254 and 255). In photographic terms, that would be clouds in a bright sky, or lighting around a subjects eyes in portraiture.

So: keep low room lighting, and adjust your monitor to include ability to see subtle differences in both shadow and highlight details.

And yes, any color calibration will reduce the maximum possible output of the monitor: the only way to adjust the color is to _reduce_ one or more Red, Green or Blue drive levels.
Even if you have a monitor capable of 300nit output, it pays to not have it any brighter than necessary. Output of the backlights starts to degrade slowly after only a few hours out of the box. If you set it for say 150nit output, it will be able to maintain that for years (lower output significantly extends the backlight lifetime, perhaps more than doubles in this example).

In medical applications, the trend is towards high resolution wide displays such as UHD. This avoids possible issues using two lower resolution displays: brightness, contrast ratio, black level, color balance differences between the two monitors.
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Apr 12, 2018 21:21:18   #
I've shot lots of event video, but not with DSLR. The D7100 will be completely fine: FHD at 60i. Though check with the streaming service; they may prefer a lower resolution for bandwidth reasons.
Leaving the camera unattended may result in somewhat boring viewing, but understandable. Suggest you do zoom in on the speaker during speeches, then frame out during the handing of diplomas to capture the student as they approach until just after they begin to walk away. That will help to capture them in a recognizable moment for at least a second or two. Clearly a zoom is called for here - select based on distance and framing needs.
Place the camera high enough to avoid being blocked by anyone standing or walking by. If leaving unattended, suggest to sand-bag the tripod base to avoid the rig being jostled (and loosing frame) or being knocked over.

Audio _is_ important here: Can you imagine watching 200 penguins walking by, as you closely scan each face for recognition? Without sound, you have no idea where they are in the presentation sequence, and oh yes, the important valedictorian speech. If able to hear the names as they are called, you only need to perk up the ears (and eyes) as the alphabet approaches the target name. Probably the camera mics will be adequate if the venue sound is fairly good at that position.

Tim Haupt
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Mar 23, 2018 00:58:08   #
This point has not been discussed: Initial Charging
In general, new LiIon batteries are usually shipped with partial charge (perhaps 50%) for safety reasons.
To assure maximum lifetime, it is important to top off the charge before first use. If they do not receive a full first charge, you run risk of permanently decreased capacity.
Also, it generally takes about 3 full charge cycles to obtain maximum capacity. Does not mean you have to run it down completely, just use it some and fully recharge.

Encountered this issue with a new handheld 2 meter radio: unknown to me, the AC adapter cable had an intermittent connector and did not charge the new radio/battery properly. So I was not able to achieve a full initial charge, and ran the battery down before realizing the charging problem. After repairing the charge cable, attempted to get full life from the battery, but it never more than about 20% operating time, so basically wasted.
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Mar 11, 2017 08:53:38   #
I am in the medical monitor business, and deal with the IPS / TN question a lot. First, there are many variations of TN, and definitely not all created equal. On paper, the specs look great: super fast response times, super high contrast ratio. But you will not be looking at a spec sheet, and in general the viewing angles and color reproduction of even the best TN panels are inferior to any current IPS panels.

Not all IPS is created equal either, but for any photographic application, definitely the better choice. The contrast ratios are good, and the response times are not a problem for gaming (small chance you will be bothered by any smearing - these are used for critical medical imaging such as MRI, cardiac studies and angiography, where speed is a definite consideration).

Actually the contrast ratio numbers are mostly fabrications and don't indicate front-of-screen performance well. The black levels of IPS are fine.

The prices of IPS are very close to TN, so in direct price comparison is little difference. Just purchased two 21" FHD Lenovo IPS for $85 each. But consider the new 4096x2160 monitors too, as these will provide 4x the screen resolution (get a larger size of course, such as 30-32 inch). The prices are reasonable on these now for what you get, which is room for several high resolution photos or documents on screen at once. The prices will continue to reduce significantly through 2017 and beyond.
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