[johnmflores]

The travel kit is complete by John Flores, on Flickr

[someone902]

Nice dual body set up, I just got a second Q7 myself. Out of curiosity what lenses are you planning to use in tandem? also how are you gonna carry both when you're in shooting mode?

[johnmflores]

Nice dual body set up, I just got a second Q7 myself. Out of curiosity what lenses are you planning to use in tandem? also how are you gonna carry both when you're in shooting mode?

Daytime, city: 02 and 08
Daytime, country: 02 and 06
Evening: 01 and 08

That's the theory at least. The reality is that I'll be in a city and want the 06 now and again, or I will be in the country and want the 08 now and again. And then I'll get a third Q7.

I know, it's madness.

[LeRolls]

The travel kit is complete by John Flores, on Flickr

Cool kit. Maybe someday I will pick up the 08.

[jva59]

Cool kit. Maybe someday I will pick up the 08.

Ditto!

[someone902]

Daytime, city: 02 and 08
Daytime, country: 02 and 06
Evening: 01 and 08

That's the theory at least. The reality is that I'll be in a city and want the 06 now and again, or I will be in the country and want the 08 now and again. And then I'll get a third Q7.

I know, it's madness.

My planned setup would be 08+06 or 01+06. Never really like the 02 for some reason. I'm now just trying to figure out how am I gonna carry it around, I feel a dual body strap will look funny as the're made for DSLR bodies.

[johnmflores]

My planned setup would be 08+06 or 01+06. Never really like the 02 for some reason. I'm now just trying to figure out how am I gonna carry it around, I feel a dual body strap will look funny as the're made for DSLR bodies.

You could wear them like costume jewels on a necklace

I'm happy with the 02. It's a very useful focal range. I'm not a pixel peeper though, so your mileage may vary:


The first warm, sunny day in weeks, a reminder that this cold shall soon pass and yield to another wondrous spring by John Flores, on Flickr


Running a little rich, I'd say by John Flores, on Flickr


Tickets in Time Square by John Flores, on Flickr


As the sun said its long goodbye the trees turned into monsters. by John Flores, on Flickr

[johnmflores]

Cool kit. Maybe someday I will pick up the 08.

I resisted for years because of the price. But I bought used and it really completes the system.

---------- Post added 01-13-16 at 10:05 AM ----------


Clinton NJ by John Flores, on Flickr


Fairmount Cemetary by John Flores, on Flickr

[Alizarine]

is it just me or many of the night shots here aren't displaying any noticeable kind of noise? You guys make really awesome work with the Q system! it's beyond impressive!

[BigMackCam]

I resisted for years because of the price. But I bought used and it really completes the system.

---------- Post added 01-13-16 at 10:05 AM ----------


Clinton NJ by John Flores, on Flickr


Fairmount Cemetary by John Flores, on Flickr

Beautiful shots, John - absolutely superb!

[reh321]

is it just me or many of the night shots here aren't displaying any noticeable kind of noise? You guys make really awesome work with the Q system! it's beyond impressive!

That is partly a tribute to their PP work. I have some photos I took at a concert last month - the stage was dark and vapory so I had to go to high ISO levels. They clearly show noise. Right now I'm just not ready to do the PP work needed to clean them up. Frankly, when it comes to hobby time, there is only so much time I'm willing to put into PP.

[BigMackCam]

That is partly a tribute to their PP work. I have some photos I took at a concert last month - the stage was dark and vapory so I had to go to high ISO levels. They clearly show noise. Right now I'm just not ready to do the PP work needed to clean them up. Frankly, when it comes to hobby time, there is only so much time I'm willing to put into PP.

If you have Lightroom, there is - in my opinion - a quick way to get very good results from most RAW files with very little work... Under "Noise Reduction", simply set the Luminance to 25 (Color already defaults to 25).

This will yield very good results on the vast majority of RAW photos regardless of ISO setting, regardless of camera - the Luminance setting of 25 strikes a nice balance between noise reduction and detail retention. Of course, some noise will still remain, but it is usually more than acceptable and a huge improvement over the original. This edit can easily be applied to an entire batch, so there is very little effort involved. I start with this for all photos from my K3, K5, Q7, Fujifilm XF-1 and Panasonic TZ70 / ZS50, and while I usually make additional tweaks for the more important images, the rest look fine with just this one change.

[someone902]

All shot with the Q7 + 06, some vsco preset in lightroom

[reh321]

If you have Lightroom, there is - in my opinion - a quick way to get very good results from most RAW files with very little work... Under "Noise Reduction", simply set the Luminance to 25 (Color already defaults to 25).

This will yield very good results on the vast majority of RAW photos regardless of ISO setting, regardless of camera - the Luminance setting of 25 strikes a nice balance between noise reduction and detail retention. Of course, some noise will still remain, but it is usually more than acceptable and a huge improvement over the original. This edit can easily be applied to an entire batch, so there is very little effort involved. I start with this for all photos from my K3, K5, Q7, Fujifilm XF-1 and Panasonic TZ70 / ZS50, and while I usually make additional tweaks for the more important images, the rest look fine with just this one change.

Is there any way to do something similar with SilkyPix? In general, I do not like the new "subscription" model used by companies such as MicroSoft and Adobe to turn me into a perpetual source of money; to paraphrase Everett Dirksen, former senator from Illinois, "ten dollars here; ten dollars there; soon we're talking about real money". These days I'm using gimp instead of PhotoShop, but the only Lightroom clone I'm aware of doesn't seem to have a Windows port (but someday I'll get a Linux box and can use it).

Below is an example of the type of picture I'm talking about. (we went to the local performance of a group known as "Straight No Chaser", and our seats were in the first row of the second balcony - so we had nothing but air, a lot of air, between use and them)

[BigMackCam]

Is there any way to do something similar with SilkyPix? In general, I do not like the new "subscription" model used by companies such as MicroSoft and Adobe to turn me into a perpetual source of money; to paraphrase Everett Dirksen, former senator from Illinois, "ten dollars here; ten dollars there; soon we're talking about real money". These days I'm using gimp instead of PhotoShop, but the only Lightroom clone I'm aware of doesn't seem to have a Windows port (but someday I'll get a Linux box and can use it).

Below is an example of the type of picture I'm talking about. (we went to the local performance of a group known as "Straight No Chaser", and our seats were in the first row of the second balcony - so we had nothing but air, a lot of air, between use and them)

I'm not sure about SilkyPix. I don't use the subscription model with Adobe - I buy the perpetual license for the products, so it's a one off cost. I did this for both Lightroom 6 and Photoshop Elements 14, though in truth Lightroom does 99.9% of what I need. Lightroom isn't that expensive, if you plan on getting several years' use out of it.

I hope you don't mind, but I downloaded the pic you posted and ran it through Lightroom - I actually did just two tweaks to it - Luminance noise reduction set to 40 (a little higher than I mentioned in my previous reply), and Sharpening - Amount 50, Radius 1.5, Masking 65 (again, general settings that would act as a good starting point for most images). It looks much better to me, and if I'd started with the high resolution RAW file instead of JPG it would be better still.

EDIT: I just tried downloading the trial version of Helicon Filter software. You can buy a perpetual license for that for $24 - a fraction of what Lightroom costs. Now, personally I think Lightroom is superior, but I've just had a go at reducing noise using Helicon Filter and it works well. Plus, it supports batch processing.