the last word

[This post, like the previous one, was extensively revised on 7/28/2014, and for the same reason.] I repeated the tests of the previous post with the camera in portrait orientation. This is a more severe test, since the shutter moves in the left/right direction when the camera is oriented with the long side up and… [Read More]

One of the new features on the D810 is the electronic first curtain shutter (EFCS), which should in conjunction with raising the mirror well before the exposure, reduce vibration. The EFCS controls on the S810 work quite differently from those on the Sony a7 and a7S. Like the Sonys, there’s a menu item to turn… [Read More]

I repeated the tests of the previous post over a higher ISO range. Here are the results: And the tight crops: You could criticize the noise in the ISO 400 image if you were feeling picky, but again, this is virtually ISO-less performance.

Graphs are fine as far as they go, and, for some purposes, they’re better than pictures, since they avoid confirmation bias. But they’re not the be all and end all. In fact, in photography it’s better tho think of the graphs as supporting the conclusions reached from the images, rather than the other way ’round…. [Read More]