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Hi, I've written a blog entry for you, at fliesandflowersetc-ramblings.blogspot.com/2022/03/how-to-decode-my-filenames.html

@@nickgardenersassistantgard9326 Thank you very much, it has been very clarifying. I've also started reading the previous contributions in the fliesandflowersetc ... blog.

@@juanmarialberdigaritaonand4153 Glad it helped. :)

Thanks. :)

Glad it helped. :)

Thank you for your feedback.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad you liked it. :)

You might want to look at this post at dpreview www.dpreview.com/forums/post/65094299 and follow up with a question to Bill Claff if you want to know about the derivation of the full formula. I use the double-simplified version which uses the simplification Bill shows there and also the simplification of assuming that the pupil magnification is 1. (I use this simplification as does pretty much everyone else because almost all parameters in the full equation are unknown, except to the lens designers of course.)

Since mid 2015.

Thank you. So it's worth getting one.

@@aljo.antony Not necessarily. Like any other equipment whether it will work well for you depends on what you want to do with it and your personal preferences. For example, some people wouldn't like one or more of ........ It is a manual flash, so you don't have automatic TTL metering - you have to handle the flash power settings yourself. The long bendy arms can break. This has happened several times with one of mine. I have three, the other two have been fine. I mended the broken one with superglue, but each time you glue two sections of an arm together the arm becomes less flexible. By now the arm I have mended isn't very flexible at all. The arms can get in the way out in the field, getting caught up in branches etc, compared for example to a flash which can be mounted on the front of the lens, making a much more compact arrangement that won't get in the way so much (but may have other problems!) As it happens it works well for what I want to do. For example ....... I have used it on my Canon, Panasonic and Sony cameras (As far as I know it works on any camera with a hot shoe). The bendy arms are very flexible and that means I can use it on a lot of different camera/lens setups. For example here it is on my latest setup. www.flickr.com/photos/gardenersassistant/50681303863/in/album-72157716749012272/ I like the quality of light I can get from it because of the diffusion arrangement I'm able to use with it. I like the way the power of the flash heads is controlled by buttons on the back of the control unit, with separate up and down buttons for each flash head. I find this quick and easy to use rather than having to mess around in the camera menus to change the flash outputs. Given the positive aspects of it, I'm prepared to put up with the negative aspects. That might or might not be the case for you of course.

Thanks a lot for giving out the detailed information about the flash. What's the condition of the remaining two flash units ? How did the flexible arms break ? I am concerned only about the arms of the flash.

@@aljo.antony The remaining two flash units seem ok, with the arms flexible enough without being loose. That said, because of the way I have the diffusion arranged, once I have arranged the arms to work with a particular camera/lens setup (which may require quite big changes/bending of the arms) I only adjust the arms by very small amounts, and not very often, when I'm using that camera. I might realign them for example after the arms bent a little when I forced the camera against something hard like a solid branch to get a particular angle on a shot. I don't need to bend the arms to go from short to longer working distances. The diffusion setup covers all the working distances I use without needing to be adjusted. The arms are made of small "ball and cup" pieces, with the ball on one fitting into the cup on the next one. On the arm that broke, while I was adjusting the arm one of the "cup" ends developed a crack, opening up the cup slightly, and it no longer held the inserted ball firmly. In fact the ball fell out, meaning that the whole arm from that point up to and including the flash head fell away. Fortunately that didn't break the wires that run up inside the arm. I glued the ball into the cup. This meant that that one link was now completely inflexible, but it held in place, and the rest of the arm could still flex. Later the same thing happened with another cup and ball joint, which I fixed in the same way, making the arm even less flexible. I think it might have happened a third time. It is difficult to tell by examining the arm. But the overall result is that the arm is quite restricted as to the positions I can get it into.

I use Page up and Page down.

@@nickgardenersassistantgard9326 Ah. That might explain it. I use a Mac and a wireless keyboard, and there isn't a page up/page down! I'd better find out what to use instead! Thanks Nick.

For the formula at around 6:15 in the video the magnification is the lens magnification, independent of the crop factor.

Thanks

Thank you for the positive feedback.

Thank you. I'm glad you liked it. :)

Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad you found it useful.

Hi. I don't visit the channel much (which is why I've only just noticed your response here! Maybe it's time I made another video or two.

Thanks. I'm glad you found it helpful.

Hi, good question. The answer is not straightforward. Please see www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/bridge-mft-achromats-dslr-primes-a-journey-of-exploration.531050/post-8742704

@@nickgardenersassistantgard9326 thank you for your detail explanation, one question more, I'd like to buy an adapter ring for my camera and for raynox 250, it's right for me 43mm-52mm? www.ebay.com/itm/223342617762

@@josephmanuelpachecopaco1971 No, that is a step up ring. Assuming your camera has a 52mm filter thread, you would need a 52 to 43 step down ring.

58-43mm thanks

When in P, A, S or M mode, in the REC menu set Quality to RAW or RAW+JPEG.

@@nickgardenersassistantgard9326 So it only works with raw in videos?

@@nickgardenersassistantgard9326 Also, a 2nd question if I have a camera with a 25 mm lens and I get a 25 mm filter will it sit ontop of the lens and not fit or will it slip over it?

@@unlimitediq1894 You can't get raw from videos, only with stills.

@@unlimitediq1894 You can't fit a filter on to a ZS40 because there is no filter thread on the front of the camera lens. If you have a camera lens that does have a filter thread then the size of filter that will fit on it depends on the size of the filter thread on the camera lens. For example, I have a 60mm lens with a 46mm filter thread. A 46mm filter will fit on to the lens. I could use filters of a different size by using step rings to go from 46mm to whatever the size of the filter is.

Thanks. I use Topaz DeNoise AI these days, which has AI Clear as an alternative method that I sometimes use, although I find that even at minimum settings AI Clear can be a bit over the top for my taste, introducing halos for example.

Thanks. I wouldn't want you to get the wrong impression from this video, so please be aware that I now use Silkypix for just one thing, that I think it does very well, which is dealing with highlights. I use it in a sequence which goes from DXO PhotoLab to Silkypix to Lightrooom to Topaz DeNoise AI. I don't use Silkypix as a general purpose editor. If I could only use one editor that would probably be Lightroom, or possibly PhotoLab. For my purposes Silkypix seems a bit limited compared to those two, but depending on what editing you need to do, Silkypix may be an excellent choice. It has a 30 day full function trial version and I would recommend using that if you haven't already.

@@nickgardenersassistantgard9326 Oh yeah, I downloaded the trial but it doesn't want to work with my Fuju RAF (raw) files so end of story. I would use Lightroom except that would necessiate subscribing to Adobe, I am only a tiddler so not worth it for me. Have a great day!

@@jamiefenner9443 That's odd. I just loaded a couple of RAF files into Silkypix Developer Pro 9. As that doesn't work for the version you are using I would have suggested converting to DNG, but I just tried that for the same two RAF files and Silkypix wouldn't load the DNG files. :( Have you tried Affinity Photo? That is fairly inexpensive. I have it but don't use it as I am comfortable with Lightroom etc, but plenty of people think Affinity is rather good. I just loaded a RAF file into it. It is currently half price, at 24 UKP (non subscription). There is a free trial version. Luminar is another relatively low cost option, currently 69 UKP (non subscription). I just loaded a RAF file into it. There is a free trial version.

Thank you. I'm glad you liked it. :)

Thanks, I'm glad you found it useful.

You can't store your photos in Silkypix because Silkypix is an image editor, not a storage application. You keep your images in the Windows or Mac file system, like any other files (documents, videos etc).

Thanks Andrew. Yes, it was the straightforward nature of Helicon Filter that most impressed me about it. I'm afraid that these days I'm probably in the "excessive amount of post processing" community, at least in terms of how many editors I use on a single image. I do hope though that the results are not "overcooked" as a result; that is something I try to avoid. It's just that some editors seem to me to do some of the things I want to do better/easier than others, so I use the best (for me) parts of several of them.

I used to use a tripod a lot, but I find that hand-held I can work much faster and more flexibly, including reaching compositions that are not possible with even the very flexible tripod that I have, shown at www.flickr.com/photos/gardenersassistant/sets/72157644586869059/ I use raw for single-image captures. For these videos I use the flat Cinelike D profile (Photostyle) that the G9 provides, which is somewhat towards "pseudo raw" which I believe helps with with dynamic range and highlight protection. This is the lens hood www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00GSUIMGU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thank you. That is very helpful. It turns out that I didn't have OpenCL turned on. When I turned it on the benchmark ran more than three times faster. Nice!

This sped my processing up as well. Thank you!

Thanks. That sounds like a good idea to me. (I'd like to see in-camera waveform monitor implemented for stills too.)

You should check out a software called ACDSee, it has Eq sliders for changing the tonality of the image

:D Yes, it looks bizarre. Works well though. I've been using it for several years now, with different diffusers from time to time.

@@nickgardenersassistantgard9326 My Father in law made his first enlarger out of biscuit tins, I too make weird contraptions to get a job done.

Glad it was useful. Thanks for letting me know

Hi, it was a mistake. I got mixed up. There was a photo editor called Helicon Filter - it did not sell enough and they stopped developing/supporting it. I'm glad you liked the video. I did another one, th-cam.com/video/3nkBi_wFISY/w-d-xo.html I have used stacking a lot since I did those two and have learnt more about it, so perhaps it is time I did a new one.

Yes, if it was practical in the field. I think most people who do high magnification macro stacks do so in a studio or similar, often with immobilised or dead subjects. Doing it in the field with a live subject would depend on having a subject that remained still long enough for you to position the camera and capture the bracketed images. Depending on how you do it, the capturing can take some time. I think you would need to use a tripod, and that means the subject would have to be in a position to make that possible. I don't think that would have been the case for most of my subjects that night. One of the problems with positioning the camera is that the working distance is around 18mm and that means there are many angles that you simply can't use because you can't get close enough, for example because the ground gets in the way. A further complication is that something else such as surrounding branches or plants can stop you moving the camera where you need to put it. At the magnifications the MSN 505 can give you there is an additional problem with the tripod sagging when you let go of it after adjusting it so the camera points at the subject. It only takes a tiny amount of movement to make the camera point somewhere different. Also, you have to arrange it so you can get light into the narrow gap between the end of the lens and the subject. That in itself can be difficult or impossible depending on what else is close by and getting in the way, such as plants or branches. All very tricky.

Thank you. They are crossed because I don't have to bend the arms so much to get the lights where I want them. The arms are easy to break. One of the connectors split on one of my KX800s (I have two) and I had to glue it to the next one, which made the arm a bit less flexible. In fact that has happened twice with that arm. So I try to not to bend the arms if I don't have to, and if I do bend them I try to bend them as little as possible.

Thank you. I'm glad it was helpful.

Thank you. I really only made this as evidence in case I got into problems with the supplier if there was a problem with the camera. As it happens, I didn't need to use it. As shown in the video there were dust spots on the sensor, but after I made the video they came off the sensor ok with a blower so I didn't need to go back to the supplier.

Thanks.To export a 3D model use File, Export, Export 3D Model. Then adjust the sliders to get the effect you want. Then switch from the View tab at the top right to the File tab. Select Export model and click on Save, and in the dialog box that comes up choose the folder where you want to put the 3D model and click Save.

OK, but please bear in mind the the MSN-505 is extremely difficult to use, with a very, very short working distance between the lens and the subject. I just tried the MSN-505 on a 70-300 on a Canon 70D. At 70mm the scene width was around 10mm and at 300mm the scene width was around 2mm. Unless you absolutely must have that much magnification you might do better with something less powerful. For example I just put an MSN-202 on the 70-300 on the 70D and at 70mm the scene width was around 11mm and at 300mm the scene width was around 3mm. The working distance is a bigger (although still short enough to be dificult). I find the MSN-202 easier to use than the MSN-505. In contrast a Raynox 250, which gives a scene width of around 9mm at 300mm on the 70-300mm is far easier to work with than either of them. Also bear in mind that it is very difficult to get flash light onto the subject when the very short working distances of the MSN-202 and, even more so, the MSN-505. And you will almost certainly need to use flash with the 202 or 505.

Thank you. I'm glad you found it useful.

Hi Rodger, that is odd. Are you absolutely certain that the only slider that is not centred (set to zero) on the Adjustment Brush is the "Noise" Slider, and that it is all the way over to the left (showing "-100" to the right of the slider)? And underneath that, in the brush settings, are "Flow" and "Density" set to 100?

Go to Retouching and then choose "Change brightness" from the drop down menu. Then turn down the Intensity slider a little and paint over the overexposed area. This might better with raw, but it works fine with JPEG (I just tried it.)

thanks. I will try that tomorrow :=)) Shame that they discontinued development. It's a good program.

I didn't know they aren't developing it any more. It's not a program I use so I've not been taking any notice of it, but it's always a pity when good programs are no longer supported.

What programs do you use?

For most types of photograph I use DXO PhotoLab first and then use Lightroom. For close-up/macros of insects, spiders etc I use DXO PhotoLab first, then Silkypix Developer Pro and then Lightroom. (I almost always shoot raw btw.) If I had to use just one it would probably be Lightroom, although DXO PhotoLab is pretty good now with the latest update to it. However, PhotoLab is rather expensive, especially the version that lets you use their excellent Prime noise reduction (which only works with raw). And for Lightroom you have to pay a subscription, and a lot of people don't like that. I do some stacking sometimes, for flowers, and I use Helicon Focus for that.

I thought I had replied to this, but obviously I haven't, so here goes No, you don't need RAW for sky selection. Under Retouching choose "Make Selection" from the drop down menu. You will need to experiment with the sliders, but you could start by setting the Intensity to around 50%, choose a suitable brush size and set the Brush Hardness, perhaps to 100%. Turn the Colour Tolerance down quite low, perhaps 20% to start with, and set the Smoothing, perhaps 0% to start with. Set the Selection mode to Separate two colours. Drag the brush around in the sky along the boundary between the sky and the ground/trees/buildings etc. The selected area will go red. If the ground/trees/etc are going red, make the Colour Tolerance smaller. You can get rid of areas from the selection by changing the selection mode to Erase Selection and painting out the areas you don't want in the selection. From this starting point experiment with the sliders to see what works best. You may have to change one or more of the sliders while you are doing the selection because different areas of the photo will respond differently to how the sliders are set. You can also try Select Similar Colors from the Selection mode dropdown rather than Separate two colors. Once you have done the edge, turn the Color Tolerance to 100% and paint over the rest of the sky. (Or of course do most the sky first and then do the edge.)

for ?

Thanks Paul. I'm glad it helped.

Thanks. :)

As mentioned at the start of the video, I was using Silkypix Developer Studio Pro 7. For your version 4.4 SE, I think "SE" stands for "Standard Edition", which does not have everything that the Pro version has. Also version 4.4 is quite old, so it may be more limited because of that too. The user manual for version 4.4 SE is at www.isl.co.jp/SILKYPIX/english/p/product/manual/man0001.html. As far as I can see it does not have the HDR function.