1st Race with 40D

Whipspeed · 24-09-2007, 11:14

Thought I'd put this shot up, as I love the happy expressions. This group wasn't in contention for the win, having been held up by a crash, so they were just enjoying the riding. Seems a bit soft, so think I'm going to have to adjust the camera settings a little more. Large file looks sharper than this compressed one.

**Markulous** · 24-09-2007, 11:20

What a great photo! As you say, they really look as if they're enjoying themselves big time!

Maybe it's only the final sharpening that needs attention?

Whipspeed · 24-09-2007, 11:24

Could be, I did run a bit of USM on this, but maybe more needed, I'll have a play later this evening. I've got some rugby shots from yesterday to sort as well.

***Dave*** · 24-09-2007, 12:59

So how is the 40D compared to 20D, based on your initial shooting ? Good investment ?

Wondeful shot btw, although I reckon you must have Photoshopped the smiles ..... it can't be enjoyable exerting all that effort , surely

Whipspeed · 24-09-2007, 13:19

40D is very good, just got to sort out the custom settings. I think I just need to up the sharpness, I shot all day at ISO 400 yesterday and I haven't found a huge improvement in smoothness of grain, but again, I've not had time to really go through it all sadly!! Just too busy. The colour saturation is good on it and also pretty true to life. The 6.5 frame rate is excellent for sports & I'm finding less really blurred shots. I also shot a rugby match yesterday, but haven't looked at them yet, that's tonights job! I'm going to another race next weekend and before I go will have a real sort through the custom settings to see what I come up with. As yet, it's not such a big leap forward, but time & experience with it will tell.

These are real smiles, every time they came round they were waving & smiling, just happy it was the last race of the season & it wasn't them that had crashed out.

**stepheno** · 24-09-2007, 13:33

Your file size is only 89K so there will be a fair bit of compression. Like the shot by the way

Whipspeed · 24-09-2007, 13:45

Thank you Stephano, think this afternoon, I may go back to the original file, process it up to a print file & print it out to have a good look at.

danpen · 24-09-2007, 18:41

It does look a touch soft, are you shooting RAW, if so adjusting the in-camera settings won't make any difference. Of course, if you're shooting JPEG they will.

I have a 20D and a 5D but still find myself using the 20D for things like motorsports and an airshow I was at over the weekend. The 1.6x of the 20D seems to give better results than using a 1.4X TC or cropping. I'd been umming and arring about the 40D for the improved framerate and reduced noise so I'd be interested in hearing your opinion when you've had it for a while on how they compare.

cheers

Dan

P-E · 24-09-2007, 20:56

Caught some happy expressions Sarah

Look forward to seeing some rugby shots from your new toy!

Whipspeed · 24-09-2007, 20:56

Cheers for the input Dan. Frame rate is excellent and the focus does seem to lock on quickly, which is what you need. All shot in jpeg, and I've moved the sharpening up one notch, going to try another notch this weekend. Feels so much like the 20D in some ways, but not in others, so just got to get back to basics to get it set to what I like. I'll report next week, after I've processed the rugby shots and photographed a Time Trial.

dogdots · 25-09-2007, 00:16

Its nice to see a group of people enjoying what ever they are doing

Whipspeed · 25-09-2007, 10:28

Thank you for the comment, it's why I like this shot and others of this group, they are really enjoying their sport.

I went through a few of the rugby shots last night and have got some good sharp shots, so think I will adjust the sharpness for the next cycle race & see what happens. It may be that I set the camera up differently for different sports.

Rob Barron · 25-09-2007, 17:21

Sarah, just so you know, Adobe have now released Raw 4.2 which contains the update to do the 40D raw photos. When I first got mine I was worried as none of the cr2s would open in either the Explorer or in CS3 but after waiting for a couple of weeks my RAW flow is back to normal.

I must say I would never go back to doing only jpegs again now I am used to RAW, the control you get is vastly superior and the raw prog in CS3 is absolutely superb, much superior to eariler versions in PS.

I am finding that better quality tonal range that you mentioned but I think you'd need to be using RAW to see it. In jpeg any difference is probably being compressed out.

Cheers,
Rob

ps Have you tried LiveView yet. I think it is superb, especially for macro stuff.

Whipspeed · 25-09-2007, 18:44

Yes, live view is good. having another go with that later. I will sort out the raw download, but for sports I've found that jpeg is alot easier to sort out, but will use raw for other stuff after the download, is it ok for CS2?