I Purchased my ZD from the UK about two months ago.

My review is as follows.

The feel The feel of this camera is, in a word, Wonderful! It is a pleasure to hold and shot with despite the weight(which doesn't bother me the slightest) All the operations after a week or so were easy to operate and the flow goes like butter.

Images preview on a scale of 1-10 is sadly a 3 but I quickly got over that small issue.

Image Quality Well this is where I may need help with any other ZD users. The images seem to me to be inconsistent at best. When viewed at 100% sometimes the images Look as though you were viewing at 200-300 %. While other time the Photographs seem to be brilliant. This is very puzzling to me and I guess could be my fought? Seeing as how I have zero Medium F experience.

AF is very fast MF is quick and smooth.

I know I am not the best descriptive writer but If anyone has any questions that only someone who has a ZD can answer please ask and I WILL do my best to answer.




If any of you current ZD owners have any tips please let me in on it.



All in all even with the issues I am having I truly love this camera!


I added a photo and am not sure how large a file I can i add

Oh and take it easy in me People people on these forums just love ripping people new one. LOL

M

After doing a BW conversion the photo really goes to hellClick to view attachmentClick to view attachment

It would help to post a sample of a problem image.

It would be helpful to have a bit more info, such as lens used, ISO etc. I never have images that look bad unless I do something wrong. Using the camera hand-held at slow shutter speeds can cause subtle blurring.

My advice - download a trial copy of Silkypix (www.silkypix.com) and see how you get on with that. You might need to fiddle with the quality and NR settings (max out the former, reduce the latter).

Quentin

Or, if possible, make the raw file available for download so we can really see what it is you are seeing. Do you have a website that will allow you to upload a large raw file?

That jpeg doesn't seem to be full size so I can't see anything amiss.

MAtthew,

Some questions:

1. Are you shooting RAW or jpg?
2. If you are shooting RAW, what converter have you been using?
3. Do you shoot handheld, or with a tripod?
4. Are you using mirror lock up?

Regards,
Bernard

If you are using a MAC, buy the RAW Developer which works with over a 100 raw files including the ZD. Looking at the sky I could see that it was uneven or not smooth. There is also a little dust on the sensor. You can download Raw Developer and try it out. The ZD default is a little flat but it is like having a new camera plus the processing time is 60% faster than Mamiya.
Denis

I second Raw Developer. Fast, easy to use.

Edmund

thanks for the response fiddle with Quality?

handheld

Noise Reduction off
ISO 100 mamiya 645 AF45mm lens
metering Average
exposure: 1/320 s at f8


thanks for your time oh I have been traveling the UK for a month now.

Matthew

Well I shoot Jpeg and raw at the same time bur I do have Raw Developer. What do you suggest?

M

Well I shoot with the camera set to Raw and Jpeg. and I just Raw Converter. I shoot Handheld when possible and I dont use Mirror lock up.

Matthew,

There is a bug in Raw Developper 1.6.1 that results in the image preview being used as final Raw conversion.

I belive that this was fixed in 1.6.2. This could be the cause of your problem?

Regards,
Bernard

[quote=MatthewG,Apr 3 2007, 07:07 PM]
Well I shoot Jpeg and raw at the same time bur I do have Raw Developer. What do you suggest?

[QUOTE]

Hi
If you have Raw http://www.iridientdigital.com/products/rawdeveloper.html use it in the default mode with the sharpening that is set in the default mode. I was working with an excellent retoucher and he thinks Raw is one of the best out there. He mentioned it is better to have a little sharpening on the file conversion. You can also add sharpening in PS but it does it differently. Raw Developer uses ECI-RGB.icc as the default colour space which I understand to be better than ADOBE 1998. I think you can download this colour space for free. Back to the ZD, RAW provides a cleaner file & to me makes the ZD file look similar to the Aptus 22 file. I just found out about the sharpening info yesterday. Try iso 50 it is a cleaner file than iso 100. I shoot mostly handheld to. The Jpegs could be good for editing.
Denis

[quote=mcfoto,Apr 3 2007, 08:33 PM]
[quote=MatthewG,Apr 3 2007, 07:07 PM]
Well I shoot Jpeg and raw at the same time bur I do have Raw Developer. What do you suggest?

[QUOTE]

Hi
If you have Raw http://www.iridientdigital.com/products/rawdeveloper.html use it in the default mode with the sharpening that is set in the default mode. I was working with an excellent retoucher and he thinks Raw is one of the best out there. He mentioned it is better to have a little sharpening on the file conversion. You can also add sharpening in PS but it does it differently. Raw Developer uses ECI-RGB.icc as the default colour space which I understand to be better than ADOBE 1998. I think you can download this colour space for free. Back to the ZD, RAW provides a cleaner file & to me makes the ZD file look similar to the Aptus 22 file. I just found out about the sharpening info yesterday. Try iso 50 it is a cleaner file than iso 100. I shoot mostly handheld to. The Jpegs could be good for editing.
Denis

[/quote]

Thanks for the Tips. How do you hand hold the ZD at ISO 50? I am in the UK at the moment and with the weather here hand held in the out door is difficult at ISO 100.

Hi
Depends on the lens, I use the 35mm & 55-110 mm for most of the time. I have also purchased an ENDRO carbon tripod & head for location work. When I use the 120mm marcro a tripod is recomended & I think it depends on shutter speed and how steady you are hand held.
Denis

True The weather here is supposed to be nice tomorrow. I am going back to the same location I was at today and taking the ZD with me. Only had the M8 today but hopefully tomorrow I will get some good ZD action in and will post some of my shots. Will use the 45mm I think or maybe a 80mm but will take both.

I have found that, for hand held shooting when super accurate framing is not needed, using the MLU function helps getting sharper shorts.

That's the great thing with havig that function easily accessible from the top of the camera.

Regards,
Bernard

MLU?

Usually Mirror Lock Up.

Cheers,
Bernard

Hi


Hand held MLU helps even with smaller cameras, especially when shooting stationary objects (dim church interiors when travelling without tripod etc). Why it's impossible for Canon to manufacture that dedicated MLU-button is really beyond my comprehension. In old mechanical film-bodies (Nikon, Canon etc) it was handy to have the MLU-lever.

Michael wrote in his review that the ZD has very effective mirror/shutter damping. What kind of shutterspeeds have you managed hand held with the ZD when using WA-glass + MLU?

Thanks,
J

I am afraid I don't have accurate data on that.

Regards,
Bernard

Thanks alot for the Mirror Up suggestion I will try it today.