The one with CY and the one without CY has clear differences
If they shoot on auto, it might try to expose for the background as well, thus the subject may get underexpose. Spot metering will help to expose the subject but it may also overexpose. This all comes to the skill of the photographer and also whether you have the time to adjust the settings and try out.

Lastly, there maybe people with different preferences or point of view like, the highlights blown, or the white clothing blended with the background thingy. It's hard to get the perfect picture unless the camera has higher dynamic range or we do HDR? Anyway, for this scenario, personally, I would prefer the subject is properly expose like CYs photo.

This post has been edited by Andy214: May 6 2011, 03:13 PM

I believe nobody said the tammy cannot be used, but it has its weakness, every lens has. I don't mind admitting a weakness, rather than cheating myself. just like the 3tmm f1.8, it's not a super lens, it has few weakness, but for its price, its good, just like the tammy.
Also, like the 50mm f/1.8, for the price? it's a great lens.

As for the photo, nobody is saying how bad you are for shooting under, firstly, my post was asking a Question:
is it under?
I wonder if you qualify a question as saying you did a mistale or you did wrong. and I think you're over sensitive and carried away. even if you shoot under, there's nothing wrong, why get over sensitive about it, the way I see it, it's actually good that many people shared their views and discussion, people are not critisizing you in negative way, they're showing good informationa and sharing, I think its more important to appreciate and learn from it, unless you already know this. If not, I think it's important not to let ego be in the way of you for learning. Most people are not willing to admit and learn, which is the first step and hardest step to take.

But as I said, if you already know about the under expose and skin tones, t please ignore my post, but iI still think those information shared by others especially CY is very helpful and useful to anyonthat didn't know. And isepunye also shared a very good exmaple how adjusting the exposure and touchup can make a big difference. Personally, I appreciate their post and sharing.

who's complaining? We just mentioned its weakness and also comparing with others, don't generalized and call others complaining just because you own the lens. FYI, I also wanted to buy the lens, and I accept its weakness for its price. For budget people who don't earn from photography, we don't need to buy a 5k lens, when a 2K lens is good enough for general use.

Finally, I'm not actually critisizing when I ask 'is it under?'
Did you classfiy a question as critique? I'm curious and asking you if it under. Even it is, you don't have to over-react. Look back at your post again if you may.
Imagine this:
2 friends is testing a lens focusing,
Mr. A: Bro, is my focusing off?
Mr. B: yea bro, btw, is your pic under exposed?
Mr. A: Whats wrong with under expose! (and continue with the rant as if he did a very wrong thing)

I already entioned to you many times, there's no wrong or right, and I did not say you are wrongr right. I thought you get it, but surprisingly, seems you just sort of pretend, and later rant in other post. Well, anyway, after consideration, why the hell do i care? Why am I minding people's business? I'm just a dumb fool.

And btw, it's not an obligation to post pictures. I'm no profesional, I just shoot for hobby, and the reason I join this forum is to get more information, learn, share information, ask questions when I'm curious or want to fint something, etc.

Sorry I step on your tail, it was my fault for minding people's business, but somehow looking positively on the bright side, thanks to your post, I asked the questioned and bring up exposure and skin tones, and resultn many great information and example shared by others. I appreciate the outcome despite the things that hapen, perhaps I should've handle it in different way minding my own business.


This post has been edited by Andy214: May 7 2011, 05:05 PM

I maybe a fool but I'm not stupid, it's very common that people conclude then indirectly intentionally rant their dissatisfaction in another post.

Anyway, as I said, I'm just a fool for minding other's business.


p/s: I guess the saying is true, when people move deeper into photography, regardless or skill or gear, they change.

the older batch were made in japan.

Proper lightngs, proper exposure, aperture, etc is important as been mention before.

nixxer in PM posted many nice great sharp images. I suspect its using the sweet aperture/spot of the lens, nicely expose.

bro, u bought nikon? I thought you wanted the Canon?
if want to use live view, compact camera works better, especially those high end or mirrorless.

you should check out the latest panasonic G3 preview, their focus is lighning fast, and the touch focus in high resolution touch screen lcd, you can touch to focus, you can also adjust the focus size, then you can also touch-focus-snap, its also very fast.

DSLR usage is different, when using the viewfinder, you cant see what happen to the image like live view, live view you can see the effects immediately as you change the settings, and so on. For simple and straightforward usage, those high end compact or mirrorless actually works better.

Most of the shots looks like using Flash (Fill Flash), built in Flash?

Doesn't seem to be a good way to use as a sample.

Oh, didn't know you were referring to the sharpness; I thought you meant the colour and overall picture?

Anyway, I feel the Fill Flash is too harsh, making the picture very "normal"; If it was not mention it was taken with DSLR, people "might" think it's using a PnS.

That's what I mean, it not a 'proper' sample or good sample for review. Kind of doing injustice for the lens, IMHO, haha.

Let's hope we'll see some better samples; Not sure how it'll fare against the 1.8D, or even the 1.4D. The focusing speed might loose out though.

---

Added on May 22, 2011, 9:08 pm Where's your signature?

This post has been edited by Andy214: May 22 2011, 09:08 PM

Hehe, let's see how it fares against the 1.8D, or even the 1.4D; Also the price when launch in here...

Chinese Wedding?
Flash gun is highly recommended. It doesn't matter if you have prime with f/1.4, most probably you're not going to use wide aperture and bokeh is pretty much useless unless for specific special shots. You need to capture movement, moments, you need fast shutter speed. When they're playing those games, you can't afford to miss those moments or blur shots caused by slow shutter. Indoors, depending on the house,etc it might be crowded and the lightings might also be poor, shooting group photo, you're not going to risk using big aperture to compensate for the light, you need to get more in focus and people don't have time to wait for you to adjust here and there and keep reviewing your photo and re-take, it's better to be more assured that you got the shots.

Then the more challenging part, the wedding reception? Depending on the location, the lightings can go even worst especially inside the ballroom and the ceilings may be very high. The important moment, the couple walk-in, the lights will be off and you don't have much time to take the as many shots as you can; You don'y really have time to check and review your photo as the couple will be walking in. You wouldn't want to ruin these important moments..... They don't stop for your to take photo and adjust your camera settings, plus, the spotlights might mess with your photo...

People may say the D7000 have great ISO, but that doesn't mean you don't need flash and doesn't mean there will be low noise, you might be using ISO above 1000 easily for indoors even will wide aperture... will smaller aperture, easily it will go up to ISO 3200 or even higher. Under expose and your images will be filled with noise/grain that is worst than higher ISO.
And without the help of flash to fill in the shadows, those spotlights, etc will cause your subject to have shadow on their faces, etc.

Just my cheap 2 shutter clicks.


Very true indeed.

Totally agree! No need to be OP for Wedding to feel it, actually any event will do, not necessary Wedding. Lighting is very important in photography, it makes a whole lots of difference, and there's also creative lightings.

Even basic use of flash gun (bounce celing), makes a big difference already. One can slowly move on later, there's so much to learn on flash photography.

I'm no professional, but just sharing some information and experience; Hope it can useful to you.

During the March In, there should be spot light; Not the tricky part, the spot light may mess with your settings and you can still use flash if you want. Try to expose for the background or environment as well instead of leaving the background dark; It makes a difference to the whole picture quality, and stands out from typical point and shoot. Another tricky part is the spot light may not directed to the couple "properly", I've experience the spotlight shine on one of them only... Keep your shutter speed fast enough to capture the movement in low lights. When of stage, the spotlights may mess with the couple face causing shadows, you will need to use flash to fill-in those shadows (you might want to practice this).

If you're using Aperture Priority mode, remember to set the minimum shutter speed and max ISO. Don't put your max ISO too low though...
Try to becareful with focus-lock technique especially when using wider aperture. You can use wider aperture to get the effects you want for special shots, but most of them time, you might not want to use big aperture, especially group shots; The couple will love to take photos with groups of people and so on.
You can consider using continuous shooting mode so you can capture few shots (especially for group photo), it's hard to get everyone looking at their best.

For day time, you might need to be careful when outdoor under the sun, then going to the house porch playing games (this part you need to be fast and try to capture all the best moments), then moving into the house, then to the bride's room, etc. The lighting available changes dramatically from each area.

As for Flash practice, well, not sure how can I explain, you need to buy it and experience it first. The most basic technique is bouncing off the ceiling, but this gives "OK" or "normal" quality, you may try to bounce off wall and you will get much more natural lightings and professional too. Most probably you will enjoy it especially as you can use lower ISO and be amazed with the difference in terms of sharpness and overall image quality produced. You can play around with bouncing off different direction, etc. But during actual event, you might not have much time to adjust the position as you also need to move around or if you're taking in portrait mode, there's more limitation.
As for diffuser, you need to try it,... it gives again, a different output all together, it gives bright lightings, but again, it's just "OK" or "normal" quality, sometimes worst; You need to play around and see.
You can buy SB700 or SB900, both these comes with the diffuser and also color gel; there's also built-in flash/bounce card which is small and you can actually DIY bigger flash/bounce card for more flexibility and soften the light more. These are useful when there is no wall or ceiling.

When you're practicing, you can also play around with off the camera flash to create more creative and professional lighting effects; Of course, when you're shooting on the event day, it's not really an option; BUT, you can do it during certain times (e.g. taking picture with the couple in the room; try to create more creative shots).

Above are some of my sharing, it's kinda messy actually, not so good in writing or putting down in words; hope it's beneficial to you.

My cheap 2 shutter clicks...

Check your manual page 103; you can download the softcopy for easier reference and you can use find to find the worst; It's under Auto ISO Sensitivity Control, you can read more information there on how it works.

For the shutter speed settings, it depends on the type of movement and so on (e.g. group shot with slight movement, people walking, people running, and also during the actual day "game"); For safe and lazy to adjust (and worry forgot to adjust back), you can adjust for fast shutter speed... OR save two different settings under User Mode 1 and User Mode 2. (e.g. U1 for faster shutter, U2 for slower shutter to compensate for smaller aperture for group shot).
By the way, with Flash, it can help to freeze motion as well, but slow shutter can result in trails (or whatever that's call).

As for under the sun, using the Flash you may have limited shutter speed, you will need to set the Flash Sync Speed to "Auto FP"; See page 222... As for overflare issue, as long you adjust the exposure right (if you're in M mode especially), the flash i-TTL will automatically balances the flash for fill-in.
You can read more about i-TTL Balance Fill Flash here (or the manual):
http://www.nikonusa.com/Learn-And-Explore/...Fill-flash.html

There's also something called D-Lighting (also Active D-Ligthing); This can actually help to brigthen the shadow area as well as recover some details on the highlight area. Something like Lightroom Recovery and Fill Light feature.
Active D-Lighting works as you take the picture, while D-Lighting is for processing later.
As to whether to use or not to use this, it's up to you to decide; You can try and experiment with it yourself.

Regarding bouncing the lights off ceiling or wall; I've bounce before on brown wall, green wall, etc. Yes, it does affect the picture, like slight green tint, etc. but so far, not really a problem for me or can still be fixed. Anyway, it "may" not be as bad as it seems; You have to try to and see it yourself (plus, brown wall is not obvious or probably not noticeable, probably it's not as effective in terms as they say darker colour absorbs light). Also, try bouncing off wall from different direction, if gives creative effects lighting and professional image quality; it can also help you fill in the shadow area.

Diffuser and Flash/Bounce Card, again, it's best for your to try out yourself and see the different effect; of course, if you're in a room or with ceiling/walls around, you will also get different effects. The built-in Flash/Bounce Card is very small, you can DIY bigger ones to soften the light more, or get the "Demb Flash Diffuser" kit, which I think few forum-mer here are using, it helps in situations without walls/ceiling especially.:
http://www.dembflashproducts.com/diffuser/

The colour gel is same like the diffuser provided, attached to the flash, except it useful for situation to correct the "lighting";
Example: Try shoot in Karaoke room and use the default diffuser provided and the orange color gel; The default diffuser, the picture will make the room as if lighted by bright flourescent light (under Auto WB); but the orange color gel can get more accurate ambient colour (under Auto WB). Anyway, I think it's best to experiment yourself as experience is the best teacher and also helps you to capture and learn faster.
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/light...to-correct.html

This post has been edited by Andy214: May 25 2011, 01:03 AM

Much better and clear explanation
Although I do bring it around, but I kinda lazy to use those gel/filters and also lazy to adjust WB

I don't turn the Active D-Lighting on too; Used it before but didn't really pixel peep and compare; But will be nice if I take a picture, it can produce 2 output, one with D-Lighting and another without
But then, I prefer raw, so these features become pointless.

The diffuser that provided/comes with the flash, it will soften and also spread the flash around the sides (not really sure how to explain) and the output is not what I really looking for. Most people use it and use it the basic way, flash head up 90 degrees or maybe slightly tilt. That's what you see commonly, even indoors with ceiling and walls around; When I use it, I just don't like the output. It's unnatural, and very "basic" or "mediocore" output result, in my personal opinion.
The diffuser is useful for situation without ceiling or wall as well; you often see people use the diffuser just about anywhere..... and I don't really find the light as soft "enough". In many situation, I tried it, took it off and put it back into my bag.
You can check out more on the Demb Flash Diffuser as it provides more flexibility and better results.

Sorry about the gel thingy
Forgot where I got the term, but there was also color gel which works the same as the filter; not sure which was first tough

This post has been edited by Andy214: May 25 2011, 01:49 AM

Yup, tumpang add on:
Remember, the camera is a device, it cannot see or know the real situation, it use its sensor and calculte the appropriate exposure.
Example: If the background is very bright and you subject standing in front of the background. The camera cannot see or know what's going on and cameras have limited dynamic range unlike human eyes.
In matrix metering mode, the camera will expose for the whole frame, thus giving you 'incorrect' exposure to the subject.
This situation you can dial in exposure compensation (in non manual mode) or if you're on manual mode, you can't rely on the metering unless you dial in the correct exposure compensation.
OR, you can change the metering mode, e.g. spot metering, so the camera will meter the spot which you focus instead of the entire frame.

Anybody please help to corrct me if I get any part wrong, or have something to add on or provide better explanation.

It's a good thing

It's also important not to shy to admit mistake; that's what usually preventing people from moving forward and learning. Nothing wrong with doing mistakes even if the person carry expensive gears or the person already a pro. Most important is to admit and learn from it.