This lens is advertised as an APS-C lens, but I’ll let you be the judge. The TTArtisan lens designers knew that the fringes of this lens wouldn’t be stellar, so they gave it a huge image circle that extends all the way to cover an FX sensor. I’m reviewing the version made for Nikon with the Z mount, but you can get it in many different mounts. Personally, I haven’t been interested in buying DX lenses, since they waste half of my FX sensor. This lens is an exception, because it does in fact cover the FX sensor. If I don’t like the outer fringes of a shot, I just crop to it to suit; you can’t stretch it if you shoot in DX mode. Unless you want to spend $8000.00 for Nikon’s 58mm f/0.95 Noct or $13,000 for Leica’s 50mm f/0.95 Noctilux-M, you might want to take a look at this TTArtisan 50mm f/0.95 lens. All three of these lenses are manual focus, by the way, and the TTArtisan costs a bit less (less than 2 percent of the Noctilux). You could actually throw in a couple of Nikon camera bodies with this lens instead of getting the Noctilux with an adapter. Am I saying that this lens is just as good as the Nikkor or Leica? Heck no. But if you’re after a specialty lens for portraits with a melted background, then read on. This is the very definition of a niche lens. If you’re after distant landscape shots, then run away from this TTArtisan. Try to imagine you’re more of a painter than a photographer when shooting, and it will put you in a better mindset. And forget about sharp corners. You don’t get a lens hood with this lens, so check out something like Amazon for a cheap 58mm screw-on lens hood; some of them also have pinch snap-on lens caps for the hood. You’ll want a lens hood to minimize lens flare. I also bought a snap-on lens cap that fits onto the hood, instead of using the provided screw-on lens cap. This lens is 1/6 stop faster than an f/1.0 lens, or 1 1/6 stops faster than an f/1.4 lens. That’s 2/3 stops faster than an f/1.2 lens. Lens Specifications 50mm, f/0.95 through f/16.0 14.5 ounces/ 411 grams 58mm filter thread Minimum focus: 19.7 inches/ 50cm 8 elements in 6 groups 10 rounded aperture blades Half-click stops f/0.95 through f/4, then full-stops (skips f/11). Manual focus only Focus ring rotation range 135 degrees No electronic contacts Metal and glass, period. TTArtisan 50mm f/0.95 lens design This version of their lens doesn’t have any aspherics; just a pair of high-index glass elements. That’s 8 elements in 6 groups. Usually, the lack of aspheric lens elements means that the bokeh is smoother. TTArtisan 50mm at f/0.95 (on left) versus Nikkor 85mm AF-S at f/1.4 (on right) Compare the two shots above. Both pictures were taken at their widest apertures, and I tried to get the same image magnification in both shots.  The Nikkor has much better resolution, and it has a very different look to it than the TTArtisan does. For a subject like this, I prefer the TTArtisan’s look; it’s more like a painting and unconventional. Your opinion may differ. f/0.95 Outdoors The Nikon Z9 and Z8 have a 1/32,000 shutter speed, so sunshine and f/0.95 work just fine together. For slower cameras, you’ll need to get yourself a neutral density filter for those wide-open daytime shots. Set up the Non-CPU Lens Data The first thing to do is to set up the non-CPU lens data in the Setup menu. This lets the camera get proper exposure and correctly use the IBIS system for anti-vibration. The EXIF data will now include what lens is being used, and what its maximum aperture is. The EXIF data won’t indicate the actual f-stop in use. Use Focus-Peaking, Please My mirrorless Nikons have great focus-peaking, which allows for very quick focus confirmation with manual focus. The ‘low sensitivity’ (1) setting gets the most accurate focus. The viewfinder image magnification lets me really nail focus when the subject holds reasonably still. Both the Z8 and Z9 cameras have the “Half-Press to Cancel Zoom (MF)” feature, to instantly let you frame the subject after proper (magnified) focus. Just half-press the shutter button after you focus on your subject to see the whole frame. The focus direction is backwards, compared to Nikkor lenses. And speaking of focus, the focus action is very smooth, but I wish the rotation was a bit more than the 135 degrees it has. The focus ring has sculpted indents in the metal, instead of the traditional textured rubber ring. Repair Distortion, Vignette, and Color Fringes Since TTArtisan hasn’t provided any lens correction profile (yet), you’ll need to manually fix various lens issues in your editor. You can save the fixes into a ‘profile’, which you can apply to subsequent photographs.  At these prices, you didn’t think that you’d get away with no image editing, did you? Image Distortion Distortion is rather pronounced, but it can be made to virtually disappear with suitable image editors. A sample lens profile manual setting in Lightroom is +15 to fix barrel distortion. In Capture One, the “SHAPE” section has a ‘Distortion’ slider in the Lens Correction | Lens area; I used 52. f/0.95 barrel distortion and vignette, full FX frame f/0.95 repaired distortion and vignette in editor f/5.6 un-modified distortion and vignette Vignette Vignetting is severe when wide open, but not that much different from the Noctilux lens. Again, use an image editor to eliminate this when it’s a problem. Many photographers actually increase vignetting with their editing software, since it can really enhance image aesthetics. A sample lens profile manual setting in Lighroom is +100, to get rid of vignette. Capture One, in the “SHAPE” section Lens Correction | Lens area, there’s the “Light Falloff” slider to fix this (84). Vignette reduces significantly when you stop down. Lateral Chromatic Aberration (CA) Lateral chromatic aberration f/0.95 Lateral chromatic aberration f/5.6 The CA at f/0.95 peaks at about 8 microns, which equates to 1.8 pixels. At f/5.6, the CA reduces to 1.1 pixels. I doubt you’ll notice it. Fix this “purple fringing” problem using your image editor. In Lightroom, I use the ‘Manual Lens Correction’ Defringe eyedropper. In Capture One, the ‘Refine’ tab has the Defringe slider in the ‘Purple Fringing’ section, plus a smart analysis in its Lens Correction section. Lens Flare Yes, flare is thare, but it’s not too bad. I purchased a separate lens hood to shade the lens and minimize it. Into the sun at f/0.95, full FX frame Into the sun at f/16, full FX frame Bokeh In a word, this lens is about bokeh. That expensive Leica lens has strange “half-moon” out-of-focus lights at the image fringes, while both this TTArtisan and the Nikkor Noct have symmetric “cat’s eye” lights at the fringes. Interestingly, the quality of the background heavily depends upon focus distance. It’s best at ‘portrait’ focus distances. At medium distances, you get a strange increased sharpness around the FX edges, which isn’t typically pleasant. TTArtisan cat’s eye at f/0.95 Contrast Wide open, and particularly at close focus distance, image contrast is reduced. Use your favorite editor to increase contrast to help fix this.  Stopping down even a little will enhance the contrast, which is the same for any really fast lens. Coma Coma is just plain bad in the edges and corners, but can be drastically decreased by stopping down the aperture. Never, ever try shooting the stars with this lens; you’ll have a hard time trying to un-see that coma later. Sharper, Please I love to use my Topaz DeNoise AI to sharpen the shot and also rid any image noise. Shots using the TTArtisan really benefit from this sharpening treatment. MTF Contrast Claimed MTF Contrast, from TTArtisan (24mm wide DX sensor) What’s shown above is the TTArtisan prediction for a 24mm-wide DX sensor at both f/0.95 and f/5.6. Measured MTF contrast, f/0.95 The measured MTF50 contrast curves are generally lower than the theoretical curves for the DX sensor range. My measured curves show why the TTArtisan engineers chose to call this a DX lens instead of an FX lens, when you look beyond 12mm from the image center. Measured MTF contrast, f/5.6 This lens shows a pronounced sharpness increase near the edges of the FX frame when stopping down. This leads to some strange-looking distant shots, where edges unexpectedly sharpen. Field Curvature Before I talk lens resolution, a disscussion on field curvature is in order. My testing is all done treating this lens as if it was made for an FX sensor. Since TTArtisan considers it an APS-C lens, measurements outside that area are a bit unfair. I have found that these optics have extreme field curvature, where the edges have the focus "plane" move away from the center. This means that the resolution near the edges will look really bad, since those tests assume the focus plane to be flat. The shot that follows was enhanced using the Photoshop "Find Edges" feature, which effectively shows where the focus "plane" really is. The focus 'Plane' looks like a Greek omega symbol The shape of what's in focus is quite distorted. I drew a green rectangle around the approximate DX (APS-C) sensor boundary. I drew a red line along what's in focus at f/0.95. This shot is a rug, photographed at about a 30-degree angle down from the horizontal. If the lens was perfect (no field curvature), then the in-focus portion would be a simple horizontal line across the shot. Instead, the focus (in the portion outside the DX sensor boundary) curves away from the camera. This severe field curvature is the worst aspect of this lens when you treat it as if it was made for FX cameras. At least now you'll understand in the resolution measurements that follow why the edge measurements look so horrible. Resolution I shot the resolution test charts in FX mode, but I drew a rectangle around the DX sensor area, to show what TTArtisan wants you to use. I shot the test chart from a distance of 5 feet (1.5 m). The lens center is excellent by f/2.8 and peaks at f/4. The frame edges don’t become decent for FX until somewhere around f/11 (no aperture click stop or marking for f/11). The whole frame is acceptable around f/8 for the DX area. FX corners don’t ever quite fully sharpen, but they get close at f/16. The FX frame edge sharpening after the mid-frame resolution plunge causes strange-looking landscapes on the frame edges. This is why I wouldn’t recommend this lens for general-purpose distance shooting, at least when you go beyond DX. If you stop down a little beyond f/8, then distant FX shots start to look ‘normal’ again. You’d never buy this lens for its resolution. It sounds like an excuse, but this lens really is about its ‘look’ with its bokeh and narrow depth of focus. I suspect that not using aspheric elements in this design caused more sharpness issues across the field of view, but enhanced the look of the bokeh. f/0.95 MTF50 lp/mm resolution, DX frame in green f/1.1 MTF50 lp/mm resolution, DX frame in green f/1.4 MTF50 lp/mm resolution, DX frame in green f/2.0 MTF50 lp/mm resolution, DX frame in green f/2.8 MTF50 lp/mm resolution, DX frame in green f/4.0 MTF50 lp/mm resolution, DX frame in green f/5.6 MTF50 lp/mm resolution, DX frame in green f/8.0 MTF50 lp/mm resolution, DX frame in green f/16.0 MTF50 lp/mm resolution, DX frame in green Samples f/0.95 full FX frame f/0.95 full FX frame f/0.95 Corrected for distortion and vignette, FX frame f/0.95 full FX frame f/0.95 full FX frame f/0.95 full FX frame f/0.95 full FX frame f/5.6 full FX frame. Edges are okay, but not corners f/0.95 FX frame. Edges show unusual increased sharpness Summary Let’s assume you have the cash to splurge for that Noct or Noctilux, but you hesitate to take the plunge. You could get this lens and play with it for almost zero investment (relative to those expensive lenses). If you decide that you really enjoy this photographic genre, then go ahead and Noct-splurge. If, however, you quickly lose interest in f/0.95 and manual focus, then you’d know to stay away from the dark side. I find that I have lots of fun with this lens, although not as a steady diet. It’s more like a high-calorie treat. Yes, it’s rough to focus on close moving targets at f/0.95; it’s best to do at least 5 fps and throw away the out-of-focus shots later. You find yourself more in the moment, having to manually focus while framing subjects. It’s easier to make suitable subjects look like “art” with this lens at f/0.95. If you were to notice that most of your shots are taken at f/5.6, then this lens is a waste; get a regular nifty fifty instead.  Of course it would be nice to have more even sharpness away from the frame center, but at the same time it gives you a more unique character to the pictures. Focus on what this lens can do and not what it cannot do. For me, I’ve decided that this lens is definitely FX and not DX. Minor cropping is called for on some shots, but that’s no different than for any other lens. At least the FX edges are there to crop.

Does that older lens deserve a second look with a newer camera? Eight years ago, I did a review of my Nikkor AF-S 85mm f/1.4 G lens. Back then, my newest camera was the 16 megapixel Nikon D7000 DX camera, so I tested the lens on that model. It’s well known that a high-megapixel camera should give you better resolution with a given lens, compared to a low-megapixel camera. Since my D7000 camera days, I have obtained better gear and thought it would be interesting to re-evaluate that old 85mm f/1.4 Nikkor on my Nikon Z9 mirrorless camera. I’m using the FTZ-II adapter on the Z9, of course. Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 G mounted on Nikon Z9 As camera technology improves, you can get better results from a lens in more ways than just better resolution. Especially with the switch from DSLR to mirrorless, you get better focus accuracy without having to even bother with focus calibration. With fast lenses like this 85mm, focus shift problems with aperture changes are finally cured, since the mirrorless Nikons focus at the shooting aperture. Mirrorless cameras also focus better in dim light than DSLRs, since they don’t have focus sensors hidden behind partially-silvered mirrors. Another huge advantage is having in-body image stabilization (IBIS) on the mirrorless camera, since this lens doesn’t have VR. The Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 AF-S has been the highest-ranked F-mount Nikkor lens at the DXO web site since they first measured it about 13 years ago. It finally got beaten by some of the Z-mount Nikkors; the highest-ranked lens from any manufacturer is currently the Nikkor 85mm f/1.2 S, which costs about $2,600. My 85mm f/1.4 still sells for $1,600 (it cost $2,200 at introduction). As of this writing, this F-mount 85mm is most likely doomed: Nikon is probably done making any more F lenses. My primary interest in re-testing this lens is resolution. Since my original testing was done using a DX sensor, I’m particularly interested in how bad the edges look with a high-resolution FX sensor. Even though the Nikon Z9 has 45.7 megapixels, this lens isn’t quite good enough to reflect all of that additional sensor resolution. Nonetheless, the resolution measurements had better increase using this camera! I found that focus repeatability was indeed much better using the Nikon Z9 (and the Z8) compared to the old D7000, but it wasn’t infallible. I have found that single-point focus is the least reliable way to focus this lens, which seems opposite of what you’d expect. Focus speed is a little bit better on the Z9 and Z8 cameras than the D7000, but not by too much. The 85mm is fairly slow to focus, since it’s optimized for focus accuracy. There are better lens choices to evaluate focus speed than this one. If you want to try manual focusing, the focus-peaking feature on the Z9 and Z8 cameras is really nice. The ability to magnify the image while looking through the viewfinder to really nail focus is also worlds better than using Live View on the old D7000. Resolution Testing I re-ran my old Nikon D7000 raw-format resolution test chart photos, using the newest version of my MTFMapper software. These D7000 test shots were created using an older version of a resolution test chart, but that chart is the same physical size and created using the same printer, paper, and ink as my new resolution test chart. The chart dimensions are 40” X 56”, which provides a very useful focus distance of about 13 feet, or 4 meters using an FX sensor. I used my new-design resolution test chart for evaluating the 85mm on the Z9 camera. The MTFMapper program is happy using both the old and new chart formats, and the results are equal in precision. 85mm at f/1.4 MTF50 resolution on D7000 85mm at f/1.4 MTF50 resolution on Nikon Z9 As shown above, the lens resolution increased using the Nikon Z9 camera by about 14%. This is a lot less improvement than you might expect. What it shows is that the lens itself doesn’t have enough resolution to make a major impact on better resolution results with high-megapixel sensors. What’s interesting to note, however, is that the edges of this lens don’t suffer much from a loss of resolution when increasing from DX coverage to FX. The corners have the very slightest dip in resolution. I think that my copy of this lens has a slight lens tilt; the right-hand side always seems to have slightly better results than the left-hand side, at least when shot wide-open. I have always maintained that an MTF50 resolution of roughly 30 lp/mm looks “sharp” and I’m sticking with that position. Using programs like Topaz DeNoise AI really helps enhance the sharpness, too. This means that the 85mm f/1.4 can be used wide-open, if desired. You should be more concerned with background bokeh and depth of focus decisions; in other words, concentrate on composition and art instead of sharpness. MTF contrast plot (actual measurements) f/1.4 The plot above shows how much real astigmatism the lens has, starting from the lens center. Nikon doesn’t ever show you actual measurements, just ‘theory’. 85mm at f/2.0 MTF50 resolution on D7000 85mm at f/2.0 MTF50 resolution on Nikon Z9 At f/2.0, the Z9 managed to get about a 15% resolution improvement over the D7000 camera. You can see the corners take a resolution dip, since the FX sensor sees so much more of the lens fringes. The lens takes a significant resolution jump going from f/1.4 to f/2.0 of about 38%. Now, it’s getting closer to ‘modern’ lenses for resolution. 85mm at f/2.8 MTF50 resolution on D7000 85mm at f/2.8 MTF50 resolution on Nikon Z9 At f/2.8, the Z9 saw about an 18% resolution increase overall, compared to the D7000 camera. The corners and edges of the FX sensor are excellent here. You may have started to notice a trend; the mid-frame resolution performance always seems to be a bit better than the center. I have read that the Nikon engineers made a design decision to sacrifice some center performance to enhance the mid and edge performance. Nikon chose to use no exotic lens elements here; there aren’t any aspheric elements. The lack of aspheric elements means that there is a small sacrifice in what could have been done with smooth resolution, but that would also have probably meant worse bokeh. 85mm at f/4.0 MTF50 resolution on D7000 85mm at f/4.0 MTF50 resolution on Nikon Z9 The Z9 has an increase in resolution of about 22% overall, compared to the D7000 at f/4.0.  Resolution across the frame is really, really good. At this aperture, it’s now competitive with modern lenses. 85mm at f/5.6 MTF50 resolution on D7000 85mm at f/5.6 MTF50 resolution on Nikon Z9 This lens reaches peak performance at f/5.6, which is just a bit better than f/4.0.  Compared to the D7000, the Z9 is about 15% better. 85mm at f/8.0 MTF50 resolution on D7000 85mm at f/8.0 MTF50 resolution on Nikon Z9 The Z9 is roughly 14% better than the D7000 at f/8.0.  The resolution dip, due to diffraction, has begun. Summary Using this lens on a Nikon mirrorless, such as the Z9, does indeed improve the lens resolution results, although not as much as people probably expected. The biggest benefit is being able to nail focus far more often. Even after all these years, the Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 AF-S is a great lens. It’s a favorite of many portrait photographers for good reason. It’s pretty sharp, has great bokeh, and can provide very thin focus depth when needed. This lens has aged better than most. I feel that this lens’ biggest problem has always been focus shift when changing the aperture (spherical aberration). Now that the Nikon mirrorless cameras focus at the shooting aperture, that problem has been solved. This lens’ biggest strength is the overall edge-to-edge resolution balance, combined with really good bokeh. My Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 Sport lens, for instance, smokes this lens for resolution, but the 85mm beats it for bokeh and of course being able to get to f/1.4. I always missed having vibration reduction with this lens; with the Nikon mirrorless cameras having IBIS, that problem has disappeared. The new Nikkor 85mm f/1.2 S lens is admittedly better in every category (except price), but the performance of my 85mm f/1.4 is so good that I personally don’t see the need for an upgrade. Switching to mirrorless cameras has really been a delight. My D850 DSLR sensor is just as good as the Nikon Z9, but the advantages of mirrorless can’t be denied. It’s really amazing to see the progress in cameras since the D7000. There’s virtually no aspect of that camera that hasn’t been usurped. My old lenses seem more like new ones when I mount them on my Z8 or Z9 cameras.

All of the Nikon Z cameras perform autofocus while stopped down to the shooting aperture, up through f/5.6.  This is different than almost all other mirrorless camera manufacturers, which focus the lens at the widest aperture. Is this a smart or a dumb strategy for Nikon? Let’s find out. Nikon Z9 with 85mm f/1.4 lens focusing at f/5.6 There are, of course, the internet fanboys that smugly claim how ignorant Nikon is for performing autofocus with the lens at the shooting aperture. I’ll ignore the performance issue of having to open the aperture, focus, stop down the aperture, and then shoot. The main advantage of stopping down during autofocus is to eliminate focus errors when using lenses that exhibit focus shift at different apertures. It’s true that the lens will focus more slowly in less light, so you should always want to perform autofocus at the maximum aperture (if focus accuracy is of secondary importance). But how much does a lens really slow down focusing when the aperture is stopped down? That’s what I’m going to explore. My preferred method of measuring focus speed is by taking a slow-motion video of the lens focus scale while it focuses. I can count the number of video frames to get a very good measurement of the time to change focus from one distance to another. I shoot these videos at 120 frames per second, so each frame lasts for 0.0083 seconds. This method of course breaks down with lenses that don’t have a focus scale on them… Most lenses are focus-motor limited in their ability to focus. The camera tells the lens what to do and has to wait for it to finish. Portrait lenses with bright apertures are typically slow to focus, both because it’s hard to nail paper-thin focus zones and because the lens moves a lot of heavy glass during focus. It’s not really fair to compare different lenses for absolute focus speed; this article just concerns itself with how much a lens slows down focusing as the aperture changes. It isn’t realistic to measure focus speed by having the lens travel through its entire focus range. Macro lenses would always lose any focusing contest. I’m measuring focus speed this way because it’s the most straightforward and repeatable way to do it. Just don’t interpret longer focus times to always mean ‘worse’ lenses. Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 AF-S Lens I shot this lens in fairly bright conditions (EV 13.2 to be exact). The focus action was recorded at 120 fps video. The lens was mounted on a Nikon Z9, using the FTZII adapter. f/1.4 through f/4.0      focus 0.51 sec. (3m to infinity: 61 frames) f/5.6                              focus 0.55 sec. (3m to infinity: 66 frames) As shown above, the focus time didn’t change until stopping down to f/5.6, and then it was only slightly slower to focus. The focus speed changed about 8%. Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 Sport at 200mm I shot this lens under the same bright conditions at EV 13.2. I also shot using my Nikon Z9 and the FTZII adapter. f/2.8 through f/4.0      focus 0.37 sec. (1.2m to infinity: 44 frames) f/5.6                              focus 0.40 sec. (1.2m to infinity: 48 frames) Once again, the focus time was consistent with f/2.8 through f/4.0 and got just slightly slower at f/5.6. Again, focus slowed by about 8%. Summary I am glad that Nikon made the design decision to focus at the shooting aperture, up through f/5.6. When I shoot action in dim lighting, where focus would start getting slower, I open up my aperture to keep a sufficient shutter speed. For landscapes (f/8 usually), I really don’t care how long it takes to focus. I no longer have to concern myself with missed focus when I use fast lenses that have spherical aberration and therefore suffer from focus shift problems. I appreciate actually seeing the real depth of focus as I stop the lens down, too, especially in close-up portraits. I can’t help but think that the Nikon engineers did some careful testing before making the design decision to focus at the shooting aperture. All of the Nikon DSLRs focus with the lens wide-open instead, because there’s really no choice when considering the dim conditions that those focus systems have to operate in. It would be optimal if there was a firmware feature that allowed photographers to choose which kind of focus method to use, but I’m not holding my breath on that one.

I thought that Nikon’s Z8 pixel-shift shooting would be the golden ticket for sharp landscapes, but I was disappointed. Even with no wind, heat-shimmer (unstable atmosphere) ruins the merged pixel-shifted shots. Nikon’s NX Studio is used to merge the pixel-shifted photographs (I usually combine 16 or 32 shots). For indoor work using a good lens, the resulting resolution is absolutely amazing (180 MP). NX Studio is ‘dumb’, though, when it comes to dealing with any subject movement between shots. I also found out that photographing the Moon doesn’t work with pixel-shift shooting, even when the Z8 takes the photos at 9 frames per second. Both the atmosphere and the Earth’s rotation spoil the results. The software I’m going to discuss isn’t limited to the Moon or the planets, although that’s what it was designed for.  It can also help with any distant terrestrial landscape shots, as long as your subject holds still.  The key to sharpness is based on statistics.  Most of the time, details of your subject are in the same location, but with a shimmering atmosphere, sometimes they move a bit.  If you take several shots of the same subject and look for details that are “usually” present in each of the photos, you can combine these shots into a single sharper picture. If you look close enough, you’ll find that some shots are sharper than others.  The software also recognizes this, and is capable of automatically only selecting the “best” shots it locates in a series (a ‘stack’). The program I’m going to describe is called “AutoStakkert”, version 4.0.1  for 64-bit Windows.  I’m using it on Windows 11.  It’s available on other operating systems, too.  This free program can be located here. The programs’ Dutch author is Emil Kraaikamp. Emil has kept up with making this program smarter over the years. I wrote an article about this program several years ago, before pixel-shifting was available, which you can look at here. The program hasn’t changed very much over the years, so the old tutorial is still mostly valid. This new article is only for the very pickiest of photographers, who really, really want to get the sharpest landscapes or moon shots. The AutoStakkert program isn’t for the faint of heart or the lazy people. Bear in mind, though, that it can’t cure a windy day; if leaves are blowing around, then stacking can’t fix that. You can also forget about shots with moving water; it won’t work for those, either. I converted my raw photos into 16-bit TIF files to use the program, but it accepts a variety of image formats.  It doesn’t accept raw formats, though. There are many, many options available with this program, but I’ll describe a couple of recipes that work for me.  Keep in mind that the intended users of this program are astronomers, not photographers. I have had best success when using at least 20 pictures in a stack. Since the Z8 pixel-shift feature can shoot up to 32 frames at a time, this is ideal. I’ve seen extreme examples where users have processed more than 10,000 shots in a stack (frames from a video) with this program!  The more atmospheric shimmer, the more shots you’ll need to counteract that shimmer. The Z8 lets you shoot a series of pixel-shift shots, so you can easily go beyond the 32 limit. Before I forget to mention it, AutoStakkert can output a ‘sharpened’ photo, but I don’t like the result (totally over-sharpened with haloes).  I use the unsharpened output and post-process it with my favorite photo editor instead. Finished result, after using AutoStakkert. 500mm PF The cropped shot above, using the Nikkor 500mm PF f/5.6 looks more like it was taken through a telescope. This is a 13-shot stack, using some of the pixel-shift raw shots from the Z8 after converting them into compressed TIF format. No atmospheric distortion seen here! This shot has received no post-processing. Same merged 16 shots using NX Studio to make NEFX file: disaster! The very slight orbital motion of the Moon ruined the pixel-shift merge, even with the shots taken at 9 frames per second (the pixel-shift ‘interval’ was set to zero seconds). Using the AutoStakkert Program Part 1: the Moon Run the program “AutoStakkert.exe” as an Administrator (right-mouse click on the file to do this). I believe the program author is from the Netherlands, hence the unusual program name. This program doesn’t like raw format, so you’ll need to convert your photos into any of a variety of image formats (I use 16-bit tiff with LZW compression). AutoStakkert: Moon uses “Planet” option, landscape uses “Surface” For my moon shots, I don’t bother to re-center the moon in the frame to counteract the Earth’s rotation.  The software takes care of that, when you choose the “Planet (COG)” Image Stabilization option. You get the same effect as you would from using a motorized equatorial mount. If you’re shooting distant landscapes, you need to use the “Surface” Image Stabilization option instead, where your subject isn’t moving. If you don’t use a tripod for this, then you might as well stop reading the article at this point. The screen shot above shows some of the settings when shooting the Moon. I’ll show an example later that demonstrates some suggested ‘landscape’ settings. Click the “1) Open” button, and browse to the folder with your (TIF, JPG, etc.) multiple shots to process.  Use the “control” or “shift” buttons to select the desired photos to process as a stack. Selecting the pixel-shifted files to stack Review the photos for alignment Scroll to center your subject in the window before reviewing the shots. The moon, even at 500mm, isn’t very large in the photographs. After clicking on the “1) Open” button and selecting the 16-bit TIF photos, I click the “Play” button to see if the automatic rough alignment was successful.  This rough alignment counteracts the rotation of the Earth between the shots, assuming you don’t bother to realign the moon in your viewfinder. The “Play” button starts a slide show running. Image quality grading numbers get displayed next to the “F#” (frame number) on the photo-display dialog upper left side. You can click in the “Frames” progress bar to manually step through the image stack, too. This lets you easily compare how sharp each shot is, relative to each of the other shots.  Click “Stop” to halt the slide show. If you have selected “Planet (COG)”, the stack of photos should already be roughly aligned with each other. If you set your camera pixel-shift ‘interval’ to 0 seconds, the alignment isn’t much of an issue anyway. Screen shot after photo stack analysis, before clicking “Place AP grid”. Click the “2) Analyse” button next.  This will perform an initial quality assessment of the selected pictures, and then decide which are the sharpest photos.  It generates a plot of the shot quality as well. The program will place your shots in order of decreasing sharpness. The gray line in the plot is in the same order as the input photo file stack, and the green line is the sorted order of the frames. Click on the “Frames” button to switch between sorted or original input frame order, and use the slider to switch from frame-to-frame (or else type in the desired shot number). The “Frames” button turns green when this feature is available. If you place the mouse pointer over the slider area, the tool-tip text will indicate the active sorting order (“The frames are now sorted by quality”). “Frame” slider/input box to view stack images and their quality rating Note the “F# below the slider, such as “F#3 [15/16]”, which indicates the 3rd frame of 16 is the fifteenth sharpest photo, and the third shot (file) in the stack. This example frame is in the “top 93.3 % ” of the entire stack, and has a quality rating of  “Q 3.3%”. You generally want a photo quality rating of 50% or better in your final stack. Frame #3 shouldn’t be included in the stacking. There is a zoom slider and horizontal/vertical sliders to magnify and shift the view of the selected photo in the stack. This is an under-appreciated program feature.  You might have hundreds of photos, and it would be a terrible chore to manually figure out which ones are the sharpest. This feature automatically finds them and sorts them. You’ll get an error (!#@Anchor) if your shots aren’t aligned well enough for analysis. You’d probably get this error if you did a whole moon shot but selected “Surface” instead of “Planet (COG)”, and the moon was in a different location in each shot. I presume “!#@Anchor” is some form of Dutch swearing. Alignment Point setting If the Analysis looks good (view the graph for a nice continuous plot showing gradual decrease in image quality of the sorted shots), you’re ready to select the final alignment points. For quality ‘planet’ input images, select a “small” alignment point size (AP Size) of 24. For lesser quality images, select a larger number. I have experienced alignment mistakes when using larger alignment point sizes. I’d suggest you use the automatic alignment point creation, which will put many points on your image.  Lots of points are needed for quality alignment of the shots in the stack. There’s a manual placement option (“Manual Draw” checkbox), although I haven’t had good success with it.  After Analysis, there will be a red rectangle over your displayed photo. If you want to try placing manual alignment points, don’t put any points outside of this rectangle, since some of your shot details go outside of this rectangle. Place the Aligment grid Click the “Place AP grid” button next. This is the automatic way to get the alignment point grid added to your displayed photo. This is fast, easy, and lazy, which I’m all for. It will put a grid of points over the entirety of your subject, but avoids the black background (if you’re shooting moon shots). There’s an “Alignment Points” “Clear” button, if you decide you’re unhappy with your detail selections (and you want to start over). You can try changing the alignment point size, if you wish to experiment with that option. I have a value of “80” (green box) for the “Frame percentage to stack” in the section labeled “Stack Options”.  This will cause the program to only use the best 80% of the shots in the final processed shot, and it will throw out the worst (most blurred) shots.  Use the “Quality Graph” and “Play” results to help you decide on the percentage of sharp shots you want to retain for the final stacking process. The “Normalize Stack” option will enforce a consistent brightness level for each shot, and isn’t typically needed unless you have a non-black sky with your moon. The “Drizzle” option was originally developed for the Hubble telescope. It is intended to take under-sampled data and improve the resolution of the final image. This option doesn’t seem to help my shots any. It will really slow down the stack crunching if you select it. I selected “TIF” for the output format of the final processed shot (under “Stack Options”), which will be placed in this case into a folder next to your input photos, and called “AS_P80”.  This folder name indicates it was created by AutoStakkert, and has the results of selecting “80 Percent” of the input shots. I left the “Sharpened” checkbox un-selected and the “Save in Folders” selected. I’m not a fan of the sharpened results from this program, but it can still be a useful evaluation tool, even if it’s not good “art”. You’ll get an extra output file with “_conv” add to its name if you select “Sharpened”. Notice in the screen shot shown above that the program automatically added 1801 alignment points onto the photo after clicking the “Place AP grid”, and added the text “1801 APs”. When I have used less than 300 points, I have noticed occasional alignment errors in the final results. Now, click the “3) Stack” button.  And wait. Then, wait some more. You’ll get some progress messages with little green check marks and how much time each of them took as they complete.  Expect several minutes to elapse before the stacking is complete.  The finished output files will be in TIF format if you matched my TIF output format selection. A fast computer is really handy here. Unfortunately, this program doesn’t take advantage of a GPU to speed things up. The resulting pictures include an unsharpened image and also a sharpened image (with “_conv” at the end of the file name) if that option was selected. As I mentioned, I don’t like how this program does sharpening, so I would post-process the unsharpened stacking result in another photo editor. The finished result (TIF) file has “_lapl4” and “_ap1801” as a part of the file name, because in this example I used the “Laplace” delta, noise robust 4, and created 1801 alignment points. Note in the shot above that you can see green checkmarks with timing measurements.  This section gets filled in as the program progresses. Finished results (TIF files here) go into the “AS_P80” folder, since 80% percent was selected for the “Frame percentage”.  If you had chosen 70 percent, you’d have an “AS_P70” folder instead. You’ll find that the program is smart enough to not only shift your photos for accurate alignment, but it also applies rotation correction!  Impressive. Like I said, this guy’s an astronomer. Single (unsharpened) shot example crop.  NOT a stacked photo. The picture above is the best single-shot photo I had to work with, which has not been post processed. It is actually missing some subtle details and also has some ‘false’ details, all due to (minor) atmospheric shimmer. It’s pretty good as-is, but can still stand some improvement. The un-cratered “mare” are particularly noisy and contain some misleading ‘false’ detail. You’ll be doing yourself a favor if you take your photos with the Moon high in the sky, so that you aren’t shooting through as much atmosphere. Autostakkert final processed shot detail, no sharpening. The cropped shot above (magnified a few hundred percent) shows the result of using the best 80% of my stack of 16 original shots.  It still needs post-processing for any brightness, contrast, or other alterations.  If I had shot many more photos for the stack, the quality would improve even more. This crop is from the photograph at the top of this article. If you compare the details between the “single shot” and the finished AutoStakkert stacked result, you can see several extra details that show up in the stacked picture.  Note the smooth surfaces are starting to show subtle shading, which is missing in any of the single shots. This program really does work. If I had shot many more photos, then the results would improve even more. I’m certainly not an expert at using this program, but it’s clear to me that stacking photos can absolutely increase the level of detail that moon (and general landscape) shots contain.  It’s almost like getting a better lens than you really have. You could, if you’re inclined to do so, even shoot a movie of your subject (converted to AVI) and Autostakkert can use that as input, too. But this article is about using the pixel-shift feature. Part 2: Landscapes If you photograph a distant subject, especially on a warm day, heat shimmer can be severe.  Using the “Surface” option (instead of “Planet”), you can dramatically improve subject detail if you use a tripod and take at least a few dozen shots for stacking. Distant landscape “Surface”, with many alignment points The screen shot above shows the selected options for processing a stack of distant (10 km, or about 6 miles!) landscape ‘Surface’ shots. Unlike moon shots, you must keep your subject framed exactly the same shot-to-shot for “Surface” processing. If you look carefully, you’ll notice that the auto-alignment grid shows 58574 points (!). Notice that I set the “AP Size” to 48 instead of the 24 used with the Moon. It placed the alignment points all over the photo, except in the places that were really out of focus, after clicking the Place AP grid. Just like moon shots, you can “Play” the stack of frames to evaluate sharpness and alignment.  Try to stack only the frames that have a quality rating of 50% or better, and rid any frames that don’t align well relative to their neighboring frames. Mid-stacking progress screen, using 60% of 32 photos Stacking has finished (16-shot example) with 58,574 alignment points Stacking has finished (32-shot example) with 60,410 alignment points My best single RAW shot in the stack, 100% magnification Plenty of shimmering air turbulence here. The antenna structures are really distorted. Antenna detail, single RAW (NEF) shot Pixel-shifted NEFX merged 16 shots, NX Studio The NX Studio merged picture looks a bit better than the raw shot in this case (many times it’s actually worse), but details are fuzzy. NEFX ‘merged’ shot detail AutoStakkert from 16-shot pixel-shift tif photos, 60% used All of the details are a bit clearer than the NEFX results. Using only 60% of 16 shots is about the minimum number you should use for this program. More is better. AutoStakkert 16 shot series detail AutoStakkert from 32-shot pixel-shift tif photos, 60% used AutoStakkert 32 shot series detail The more shots you use, the better the results using AutoStakkert. You can always make a series of pixel-shifted photos, if you want to get the results even sharper. The sharpness differences aren’t vast, but you do get better resolution using AutoStakkert, and the sharpness increases with more shots taken. Conclusion If you’ve got the time and motivation to get the very best out of your gear, then give this program a try.  You might just find AutoStakkert becoming a welcome part of your tool kit.  If you’d like to read more explanations of this software, here’s a handy link . This program does a superior job at handling pixel-shifted shots when compared to the Nikon NX Studio, although it’s definitely slower and much more difficult to use. Once again, photos and science make a perfect blend for your art. Thank you so much, Emil Kraaikamp!

The latest firmware (2.0) for the Nikon Z8 includes the ability to pixel-shift. You can supposedly get resolutions up to about 180MP from its 45.7 MP sensor. Is this true? It’s time to find out. First of all, the final resolution in a photograph is a combination of the lens resolution and the camera sensor resolution. That means that a crappy lens won’t get you any more resolution on the high-resolution sensor than on a lower resolution sensor. A high-resolution lens, however, will show higher resolution in the photographs when switching to a higher-resolution sensor. I’m going to do some tests using my Nikkor 24-120mm f/4 S lens, which has pretty good resolution. I’m going to perform the tests using f/5.6, which is peak performance for my lens. Shots using pixel-shifting require you to use a tripod, since it takes the camera some time to shoot each individual shot in the pixel-shift sequence. Pixel-shifted shots are generally only useful for static targets, such as landscapes or product shots. It's my understanding that the 'shift' amount is about a half-pixel, shifting toward each neighboring pixel. This shifting provides data about the neighboring pixel color. When shooting more shots (8, 16, 32) it gathers additional 'noise' data that can get averaged into a better-quality result. Now for some disappointing news: the Nikon pixel-shift feature doesn’t produce a single high-resolution raw photograph. Instead, you must combine the series of photographs made while pixel-shifting using NX Studio (version 1.6.0). Most camera companies do this same sort of thing, forcing you to create the high-resolution shot using an editor. The most disappointing aspect of this is that NX Studio won’t let you create a conventional raw output result; it makes an ‘NEFX’ file, which you can only export as either jpeg or tiff. You should of course select “16-bit TIFF” for export if you’re interested in quality. At least you can then use this TIFF file in your favorite editor, such as Lightroom, Capture One, or ON1. Update: The newer Adobe DNG converter (I'm using 16.1) DOES understand that an NEFX file is in fact a raw file, and can convert it into DNG! Update2: As of February 7, 2024 Capture One Pro 16.3.5 announced that they now support the NEFX file format for both the Nikon Z8 and the Nikon Zf. (I don't have this version to try it out). Update3: The Adobe DNG version 16.1 creates DNG files from the NEFX files that are defective. They came out with version 16.2 as of 2-22-2024 that fixes this problem. I performed a resolution analysis of the pixel-shifted results file to find out just how good these TIFF files are. As you may know, TIFF files have some embedded sharpening applied to them, so you get bogus resolution numbers when compared to using raw-format photos. I came up with a procedure that lets me quote resolution measurements that are comparable with raw-format photographs, even though they’re provided in TIFF format. How to use Pixel-Shifting Shooting In order that I don’t put the cart before the horse, a discussion on how to make the pixel-shifted shot is in order. To make using this feature easier, I started by assigning pixel-shift shooting to my “i-menu”. If you don’t want to do this, then you have to delve into the ‘photo-shooting’ menu to use this feature instead. Pixel-shift shooting is assigned to my Z8 “i” menu. When you use the "i" menu, you can then control some of its settings using the rear and then the front control dial. The ‘Pixel shift shooting’ menu Once the settings are configured to your liking, you activate it by setting the ‘Pixel shift shooting mode’. How many shots to combine Select the ‘Number of shots’ to configure how many photographs will get combined into the final pixel-shifted file. The higher the number of shots you select, the more potential resolution you can get. It will also of course take quite a bit longer to perform the entire pixel-shift operation when you pick a larger number. I tried the 16-shot option, and the resulting NEFX file was nearly 1 gigabyte! The number of shot choices are 4, 8, 16, or 32 How long to delay before starting the shooting How many seconds between each shot: 0 is okay and FAST I measured 9 frames per second when the interval is set to zero. The screen is blacked out when shooting at this speed. Select a single pixel-shifted shot sequence or multiple shots If you select a ‘single photo’, then the camera leaves pixel-shift shooting mode as soon as the ‘number of shots’ for the combined shot is finished. How to combine the shot sequence NX Studio version 1.6.0 “Pixel shift merge” After collecting the pixel-shifted shots, it’s time to merge them together using NX Studio.  Hopefully there will be other editors in the future that can do this same operation, but merge them into a raw format such as DNG. Begin by multi-selecting all of the shots in the pixel-shift sequence (4, 8, 16, or 32 shots).  Next, click the “Pixel shift merge” feature as shown above. Create your “NEFX” merged high-resolution photo Browse to your photo collection, select the group of raw files representing the whole pixel-shifted photo, and then merge them together into an NEFX file. Note that NX Studio can generally figure out how the shots are grouped, so that you can just click the checkbox on the groups and then start the merging. Of course nobody except Nikon presently knows what an NEFX file is. Maybe Adobe will eventually know, so that it could make a DNG file from it. Update: Yes, Adobe now knows how to convert NEFX into DNG! Convert your NEFX file into something useful Once the NEFX file is created, you can export it into either jpeg or tiff (8 or 16 bit). It is of course possible that you can stick with NX Studio for further editing, but most photographers will prefer at this point to make a 16-bit TIFF file to edit in other editors. Update: Now that Adobe can convert the NEFX into DNG, you can bypass any editing with TIFF, and simply import the DNG version into other editors, such as Lightroom, Capture One, and ON1. Analyzing the Pixel-shifted Result The purpose of this article is to find out just how good the final pixel-shifted file is. I used the MTFMapper program to do this operation. I photographed a large resolution target, using my Z8 with the 24-120mm f/4S lens.  I chose to shoot the target at f/5.6 and zoomed to 61mm for the test. The pixel-shifted resolution result Hold your horses. Before you go bragging about how your resolution has nearly doubled from 75 lp/mm to 137 lp/mm, a little reality check is in order. The plot above is using a 16-bit TIFF file (exported from the NEFX file). I always do resolution analysis using un-sharpened raw-format (either DNG or NEF file). Before we really know how good pixel-shifting is, we need to compare apples to apples. I took a raw shot out of the pixel-shifting series and did a resolution analysis on it. I did a resolution analysis using both the NEF raw file and also a TIFF version of the same file.  By knowing how the resolution numbers change going from NEF to TIFF, I can then know how good the NEFX file really is. A TIFF file taken from the pixel-shift sequence The peak resolution from the TIFF version from one of the pixel-shift sequence has a resolution of 108.6 lp/mm. A raw-format file taken from the pixel-shift sequence Analyzing the same raw-format photograph (un-sharpened) in the series gives a peak resolution of 72.6 lp/mm.  This means that converting from NEF format into TIFF format changed the resolution from 72.6 to 108.6 lp/mm. Since the TIFF-format resolution of the pixel-shifted NEFX file is 137.1 lp/mm, the same percent change in resolution would mean that in fact the real resolution would instead be 91.65 lp/mm if it was converted into a raw-format NEF (or DNG) file. Update: I will be re-analyzing my NEFX file results converted into 'DNG' raw format, after I installed the latest Adobe DNG Converter. If there are any resolution result changes, I'll add them here... Another DNG shot, 8256 X 5504 pixels 77.6 lp/mm peak Pixel-shifted (16 shots) DNG shot, 16512 X 11008 pixels 74 lp/mm peak In the above pair of shots, I used the new Adobe DNG converter on the NEF and the NEFX shots. The single-shot DNG version has a peak resolution of 77.6 lp/mm at 5504 pixels tall. The DNG version of the pixel-shifted 16 merged shots has a resolution of 74 lp/mm at 11008 pixels tall. So why in the world does the pixel-shifted shot seem to have slightly lower resolution? Because it has twice as many equivalent pixels in both the horizontal and vertical directions! Another way to express resolution is in units of line pairs per picture height (lp/ph), where you multiply the line pairs per millimeter by how many millimeters tall the sensor is. With pixel-shifting, you essentially double the number of millimeters in the sensor, so the Z8 sensor would change from 23.9X35.9 to 47.8X71.8 millimeters! This means the resolution changed from 1855 lp/ph to 3537 lp/ph! Definitely improved resolution! The percent change in resolution is actually about 90 percent! This resolution is the equivalent of an MTF50 148 lp/mm from a non-pixel-shifted sensor with the 23.9X35.9 dimensions. Update 2: I saw unusual results using the DNG files made from the NEFX file via the Adobe DNG Converter. The external editors only saw the middle section of the DNG, but were okay using the exported TIFF file. If this happens to you, then you'll need to stick with the exported TIFF file from the NX Studio application. Update 3, 2-22-2024: As of now, Adobe just put out their 16.2 version of their Adobe DNG Converter. This fixes the problem with other editors seeing only the middle section of the DNG merged pixel-shift file. Now, other editors work correctly with the NEFX-->DNG merged file! Real Life Example So what's this mean in a real-life example? Check out the following shots (both observed in raw format inside the NX Studio editor). The first (regular raw NEF picture) shot was zoomed to 400%. The 16-shot NEFX merged shot was zoomed to 200%. You need the zoom difference between views, because the pixel-shifted NEFX photo has twice as many pixels in both the vertical and horizontal directions. Raw-format single shot at 400% zoom NEFX shot at 200% zoom This kind of result is golden for photgraphers doing product shots in a controlled environment. It really is like getting a new (medium format) camera. The shots above were photographed in essentially 'deep shade', in order to see how the colors were handled. Notice that the pixel-shifted NEFX shot has vastly better color handling in the reddish-colored label details. Summary The pixel-shift feature, taking 8 shots and combining them into a single shot, resulted in a 26.2 percent increase in resolution. While this may seem underwhelming, it is in fact quite good. This is only looking at TIFF-format pictures. The EXIF data analysis indicates that both the 4-shot and 8-shot sequences yield 8256X5504 pixels (45.4 MP). The 16 and 32-shot sequences both yield 16512X11008 pixels. Update: After getting the new Adobe DNG converter and doing an analysis using all DNG raw photos, the resolution change using 16 combined shots was about a 90 percent increase! I didn't try the 32-shot pixel shifting yet (the file size would be truly gigantic). Is pixel-shift shooting worth it? Heck yeah, as long as your subject is completely stable (which includes the air in front of your subject). The resolution increase that pixel-shifting creates depends upon a few factors, including which lens you test and your choice of 4, 8, 16, or 32 shots being combined. For my 16-shot test, what's 16512 X 11008? It's 181,764,096 or 181MP. Beware that shooting landscapes when there is wind, moving water, or 'heat shimmer' will result in the pixel-shifted shot being worse than a single raw shot. Air turbulance plays havoc with the shot-merging software. The merging of the shots into an NEFX will not go well. The smoothing of color noise may be a bigger factor than resolution improvements. The Nikon Bayer sensor is also called 'RGGB', referring to neighboring pixel color sequences. The pixel-shifting operation changes this into something more like Sigma's Foveon sensor, that stacks all of the color information under a single pixel. The 8-shot and 32-shot sequences add more color-noise smoothing, compared to the 4-shot and 16-shot sequences. Next, look forward to seeing this feature show up on the Nikon Z9, right?

Is your photo editor telling you the truth? Probably not. How can you know for sure? One of the last things that photographers concern themselves with is having a calibrated computer monitor.  You paid good money for that monitor, therefore what you see on the screen is correct, right? If you have gotten your photos printed and discovered that the prints don’t look like what your screen shows, you probably need monitor calibration. If you have two different monitor models and pictures look different on each display, then you need monitor calibration (perhaps on both of them). Room lighting is important. Bright or unusual-colored lights will affect the viewing experience on your monitor. Most people have room lights that are too bright to be used for accurate photo viewing/editing. This article will show you an example of how you can calibrate your computer monitor. You may think that your computer screen is operating just fine, but chances are that it isn’t displaying your photos correctly. Can you get your monitor calibrated without using special hardware? Nope. Is calibration hardware expensive? Nope. I own monitor calibration hardware called Spyder5 Pro, which also comes with the necessary software to control the hardware. Newer versions of this hardware are now available. There are of course other products on the market for this purpose, and probably any of them can accomplish the same goal.  I have used my same calibration hardware for several years on multiple computers without any issues. I’m not trying to sell you anything; I’m just going to show you a typical monitor calibration experience. The Spyder5 Pro software that is included with my hardware will produce an .ICM (Image Color Matching) file, which will get loaded each time you boot up your computer. The proper brightness levels of red, green, and blue will be automatically adjusted using this .ICM file information. Once the monitor is calibrated, the Spyder hardware used in the calibration process can be disconnected. Computer displays can drift over time, so regular checking and recalibration of monitors is also recommended. Computer monitors have different capabilities; my main monitor only has a brightness control. I have other monitors that allow manual control over things such as the color temperature and gamma. Generally, monitor controls over things such as the hue will be overridden by the calibration data contained in the ICM file. Room Lighting The lights in your room can ‘contaminate’ what you see on your computer monitor. It is recommended that you have fairly low room illumination; a light dimmer switch can help. It’s also helpful to close any window curtains to keep room light levels lower. My Spyder hardware has a feature that measures room illumination separately from the screen illumination. The calibration process includes analysis of the room lighting. Measuring room light level The sensor just under the “Spyder5” text shown above gets used for this measurement. The screen sensors are on the bottom of the unit, (facing the desktop) in the shot above. You don’t need to close the rear cap under the Spyder 5 to take room light measurements unless it’s on a glass surface that transmits light. Preparing for room light measurement Room lighting result Room lighting measurement is conducted before any monitor calibration. You’d be surprised at how low the recommended room illumination levels are. I have worked with people that always keep a hood over their workstation when doing critical photography editing and viewing. If the screen brightness is wrong, then photo prints won’t have the correct ‘lightness’ in them. Monitor Calibration Before calibration Prior to calibrating the monitor, the program reviews what needs to be done. The monitor should be warmed up to get the display stable; the colors might be a little different from when you first turn your computer on. The room lighting needs to be checked, and you need to know what controls are available on your monitor hardware, such as brightness and the color temperature. Specify your available monitor controls Setting up the calibration process Before performing monitor calibration, the program needs to be told what to do. In the screen above, I have requested that monitor brightness be adjusted (via buttons on the monitor) and room lights will be on. To actually calibrate the monitor, the hardware needs to be physically placed onto the screen. After plugging the device into a USB port, the Spyder hardware is hung down from the top of the monitor and aligned to the target displayed on the screen. Kind of like a spider hanging on a thread of silk. Now you know how the Spyder people came up with their name. Aligning the Spyder hardware on the monitor The Spyder hardware is capable of analyzing both screen brightness and colors. Measuring screen brightness The program will guide you through measuring/adjusting screen brightness, if you requested that feature. If your monitor doesn’t allow brightness adjustment, then you can skip this step. In the shot above, I was able to adjust the monitor brightness to get within 2 cd/m^2 of the goal of 180. The “cd” stands for “candles”, which is a measure of illumination. Monitor brightness is out of adjustment After screen brightness adjustment is done, the program will then proceed to automatically measure the screen red, blue, and green colors at many different brightness levels. Calibration complete When the program finishes measuring the different screen colors at various brightness levels, it will let you know it’s done. At this point, the Spyder hardware can be removed from the monitor and unplugged from the USB port. The calibrated screen view After calibration, you get to see a set of sample photos using the new calibration. This program offers a “Switch” button to toggle between the calibrated and un-calibrated view of the same sample photos to compare them. Calibrated sRGB actual display gamut The monitor actual sRGB gamut can be displayed after calibration. The shot above shows that my monitor can display 100% of the sRGB color space. Calibrated AdobeRGB display gamut The monitor actual AdobeRGB gamut can be displayed after calibration. The shot above indicates the calibrated monitor is displaying 98% of the AdobeRGB color space, or "gamut". Summary If you’re serious about the quality of your photography, then don’t ignore your computer monitor. You also can’t ignore the lighting conditions of the room your computer is in. It’s neither expensive nor overly complicated to calibrate your computer monitor. Using calibration hardware and software can take your photography to the next level.

Most camera manufacturers designed their mirrorless cameras to focus with their apertures wide open. Nikon doesn’t do this with their Z cameras; they autofocus at the shooting aperture instead. Who’s right? Huge spherical aberration: Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 AF-S All DSLRs autofocus with the lens aperture wide open, because the partially-silvered mirror over their focus sensors causes really dim light. Dim light causes slower or failed focus. Wide-open apertures give a camera the best chance for fast or successful autofocus. Why wouldn’t all manufacturers always autofocus this way? Read on. Most high-speed lenses (f/1.4, f/1.2 or faster) suffer from something called spherical aberration. With this type of lens, the focus will shift when the aperture changes. This focus shift ruins shots, particularly at close focus distances. Spherical aberration As shown above, the best focus happens at the location of what’s called the “circle of least confusion”. This circle location shifts as the lens aperture changes, blocking light from the outer fringes of the lens. The circle of least confusion typically doesn’t shift much after the aperture is stopped down beyond roughly f/5.6. The Nikon Z (mirrorless) cameras stop the lens down to the shooting aperture to autofocus, up through f/5.6. They don’t stop down the aperture beyond f/5.6 while focusing, in order to retain acceptable focus speed. They of course stop down to the requested aperture when the shot is captured. Because of the way the Nikon Z cameras autofocus, focus is always correct when using lenses that have spherical aberration, no matter which aperture is selected. At apertures beyond f/5.6 (such as f/8) any additional focus shift gets “repaired” due to the large depth of focus that masks the focus-shifting error. It turns out that focus speed is not a problem with a stopped-down lens until the ambient light levels get really dim. Nikon has determined that this is a good trade-off, especially since most photographers will open up their lens apertures in dim light anyway. I have the Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 AF-S lens, which has pretty severe spherical aberration, and therefore severe focus shift problems. I had nearly abandoned using the 85mm when I would want to shoot at any aperture other than f/1.4. The pictures were always out of focus at other apertures, since I had calibrated focus at f/1.4 on my DSLRs. I actually carried around notes that indicated what calibration values to use for which apertures on which cameras! Very, very irritating. Using my Z cameras, focus is nailed every single time at any aperture. I have never had any complaints about autofocus getting sluggish at any aperture with my Nikon Z8 or Z9, until the ambient conditions get really dim. Since I use wide apertures in dim light anyway, Nikon’s choice to focus at the shooting aperture is optimal for me. I recognize that there is a theoretical advantage of always focusing with the lens wide open, but for me Nikon’s method is the preferred design choice. A side benefit of always having the lens stopped down to the shooting aperture (again, through f/5.6) is that I always view the actual depth of focus in the viewfinder as well. I can’t see ever using my DSLRs with my fast lenses again. They’re fine for many shooting applications, but this definitely isn’t one of them.

The following is a compendium of all articles published at this website since its inception. This list should make it easier to locate articles of interest. The “search” widget provided by my website provider is pretty lame, in my opinion. I think that a simple list of all article titles and their links will make it much easier to locate website content of interest. Most browsers should let you use “Control-F” within this article to find specific text. The article list below is sorted by oldest first. The bottom of this website’s home page has a horizontal list of numbers to let you step through the article links sorted from newest to oldest. Options are good. 9-3-2015 Sigma 150-600 f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM C Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2015-9-3-sigma-150600-f563-dg-os-hsm-c-review 9-4-2015 Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 AF-S Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2015-9-4-nikkor-85mm-f14-afs 9-4-2015 MTF Mapper Cliffs Notes https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2015-9-5-mtf-mapper-cliffs-notes 9-5-2015 Sigma Optimization Pro Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2015/09/05/sigma-optimization-pro-review 9-5-2015 Using the Exif Tool Program https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2015/09/05/using-the-exiftool-program 9-5-2015 Use “FP” Mode with your Nikon Flash https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2015/09/05/use-fp-mode-with-your-nikon-flash 12-11-2015 Camera Upgrade Resolution Expectations https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2015/12/12/camera-upgrade-resolution-expectations 12-13-2015 Micro Nikkor 60mm AF-D Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2015/12/13/micro-nikkor-60mm-afd-review 12-18-2015 Turn off VR with high shutter speeds? https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2015/12/19/turn-off-vr-with-high-shutter-speeds 12-27-2015 Use your phone for a camera remote https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2015/12/28/use-your-phone-for-a-camera-remote 12-31-2015 Manual Exposure with External Flash https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2015/12/31/manual-exposure-with-external-flash 1-9-2016 Nikkor 18-140 f/3.5-5.6 ED VR Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016-1-9-nikkor-18140-f3556g-ed-vr-review 1-13-2016 Nikkor AF-S Micro 105mm f/2.8G Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016-1-13-nikkor-afs-micro-105-mm-f28g-review 1-23-2016 Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 AF-S G DX Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016-1-23-nikkor-35mm-f18-afs-g-dx-review 1-28-2016 Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X116 Pro DX Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016-1-28-tokina-1116mm-f28-atx116-pro-dx 2-6-2016 Rokinon Aspherical IF MC 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016/02/06/rokinon-aspherical-if-mc-8mm-f35-fisheye 2-29-2016 Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AF-D FX Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016/02/29/nikkor-50mm-f18-afd-fx-review 3-9-2016 Does Focus Calibration Make a Difference? https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016/03/09/does-focus-calibration-make-a-difference 3-26-2016 Nikkor 55-200 f/4.0-5.6G ED IF AF-S DX VR Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016/03/26/nikkor-55200-f4056g-ed-if-afs-dx-vr-review 3-29-2016 Nikkor 18-55 f/3.5-5.6G AF-S VR DX Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016/03/29/nikkor-1855-f3556g-afs-vr-dx-review 4-5-2015 Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016/04/05/micronikkor-55mm-f35-review 4-6-2016 Nikkor-PC 105mm f/2.5 Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016/04/06/nikkorp-c-105mm-f25-review 4-22-2016 Why is My Full-Frame Worse Than My APS-C MTF50 Measurement? https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016/04/22/why-is-my-fullframe-worse-than-my-apsc-mtf50-measurement 4-24-2016 Lens Centering Tests https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016/04/24/lens-centering-tests 5-21-2016 Use the Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 AF-S DX Lens on FX? https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016/05/21/use-nikkor-35mm-f18-afs-dx-lens-on-fx 5-24-2016 Using the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 DX Lens on an FX Camera https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016/05/24/using-the-tokina-1116mm-f28-dx-lens-on-an-fx-camera 6-12-2016 When is Manual Mode Not Manual? https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016/06/12/when-is-manual-mode-not-manual 6-26-2016 D610 VS D7100 VS D7000 Infrared Comparisons https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016/06/26/d610-vs-d7100-vs-d7000-infrared-comparisons 7-12-2016 Nikkor 24-70 f/2.8 AF-S E ED VR Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016/07/12/nikkor-2470mm-f28-afs-e-ed-vr-review 7-22-2016 Nikkor 20mm f/4.0 AI Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016/07/22/nikkor-20mm-f40-ai-review 8-9-2016 Measure Axial Chromatic Aberration: MTF Mapper Part Deux https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016/08/09/measure-axial-chromatic-aberration-mtf-mapper-part-deux 8-21-2016 Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary Lens Firmware Updates https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016/08/21/sigma-150-600mm-contemporary-lens-firmware-updates 9-3-2016 Sigma 150-600 Contemporary OS Anti-Vibration Algorithm Comparison https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016/09/03/sigma-150-600-contemporary-os-anti-vibration-algorithm-comparison 9-25-2016 The Fallacy of Spray and Pray https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016/09/25/the-fallacy-of-spray-and-pray 10-12-2016 MTF Mapper Version 0.5.8 Updates Discussion https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016/10/12/mtf-mapper-version-058 11-19-2016 MTF Curves: Theoretical Versus Actual https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016/11/19/mtf-curves-theoretical-versus-actual 11-21-2016 Focus Stacking With Combine ZM https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016/11/21/focus-stacking-with-combine-zm 12-19-2016 Clean Your Camera Image Sensor Video https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2016/12/19/clean-your-camera-image-sensor 1-21-2017 The Orton Effect https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/01/21/the-orton-effect 2-12-2017 White Balance Calibration When Colors Go Haywire https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/02/12/white-balance-calibration-when-colors-go-haywire 2-17-2017 Lens Focus Repeatability and Calibration https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/02/17/lens-focus-repeatablity-and-calibration 3-6-2017 “Safe” Storage of Camera Gear https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/03/06/-safe-storage-of-camera-gear 3-16-2017 Test Your Secure Digital Card: Lame and Lamer https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/03/16/test-your-secure-digital-card-lame-and-lamer 3-26-2017 Photo Noise Reduction: Nik Define 2.0 https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/03/26/photo-noise-reduction-nik-dfine-20 4-8-2017 SnapBridge and D500 Remote Control https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/04/08/snapbridge-and-d500-remote-control 4-13-2017 How Bright Is Your Camera Viewfinder? https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/04/13/how-bright-is-your-camera-viewfinder 4-21-2017 Infrared Photography and the Nikon D500 https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/04/21/infrared-photography-and-the-nikon-d500 4-29-2017 Does the D500 Automatic Focus Fine-Tune Calibration Work? https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/04/29/does-the-d500-automatic-focus-fine-tune-calibration-work 5-11-2017 Do Long Lenses Not Like Filters? https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/05/11/do-long-lenses-not-like-filters 5-24-2017 Focus-Stacking: Camera Hardware Suggestions https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/05/24/focus-stacking-camera-hardware-suggestions 6-10-2017 Convert Your Fisheye Lens into a Regular Superwide https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/06/10/convert-your-fisheye-lens-into-a-regular-superwide 6-20-2017 Keep Using Capture NX2 with Raw Format https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/06/20/keep-using-capture-nx2-with-raw-format 7-5-2017 Make Manual Exposure Automatic https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/07/05/make-manual-exposure-automatic 7-15-2017 Using MTF Mapper 0.6.3 New Features https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/07/15/using-mtf-mapper-063-new-features 7-27-2017 A Better Way to Test Fisheye Lens Resolution https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/07/27/a-better-way-to-test-fisheye-lens-resolution 8-7-2017 Yet Another MTF Explanation Article https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/08/07/yet-another-mtf-explanation-article 8-18-2017 Nikon D500 Focus Bug https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/08/18/nikon-d500-focus-bug 8-25-2017 UniWB and ETTR: the Whole Recipe https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/08/25/uniwb-and-ettr-the-whole-recipe 8-31-2017 How to Make a Crowd Disappear in Broad Daylight https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/08/31/how-to-make-a-crowd-disappear-in-broad-daylight 9-9-2017 How to Correct an LED “White” Light Source https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/09/09/how-to-correct-an-led-white-light-source 9-21-2017 White Balance for Infrared Photography https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/09/21/white-balance-for-infrared-photography 10-2-2017 Nikon D500 Focus Point Map Decoded https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/10/02/nikon-d500-focus-point-map-decoded 10-16-2017 MTF Contrast Plots: How Useful are They? https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/10/16/mtf-contrast-plots-how-useful-are-they 10-22-2017 D500 Electronic Front-Curtain Shutter Analysis https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/10/22/d500-electronic-front-curtain-shutter-analysis 11-5-2017 Sharper Moon Shots with AutoStakkert https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/11/05/sharper-moon-shots-with-autostakkert 11-16-2017 Stack Star Shots with CombineZP https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/11/16/stack-star-shots-with-combinezp 11-24-2017 Nikkor 300mm f/4.5 pre-AI Review: A Blast From the Past https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/11/24/nikkor-300mm-f45-pre-ai-review-a-blast-from-the-past 12-16-2017 Reverse that Lens for Extreme Close-ups https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/12/16/reverse-that-lens-for-extreme-close-ups 12-26-2017 Panoramas Using Raw Format with Lightroom and HDR Efex Pro 2 https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2017/12/26/panoramas-using-raw-format-with-lightroom-and-hdr-efex-pro-2 1-15-2018 The Brenzier Method: Thin Depth of Focus https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/01/15/the-brenzier-method-thin-depth-of-focus 2-3-2018 Create Your Own Planet https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/02/03/create-your-own-planet 2-17-2018 Nikon D500: Multiple Buttons, Multiple Focus Modes https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/02/17/nikon-d500-multiple-buttons-multiple-focus-modes 3-2-2018 High-speed Lens Focus Shift Explained https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/03/02/high-speed-lens-focus-shift-explained 3-16-2018 Coolpix B500 40X Super-Zoom Camera and Lens Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/03/16/coolpix-b500-40x-super-zoom-camera-and-lens-review 3-29-2018 Remote Camera Control Using digiCamControl https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/03/29/remote-camera-control-using-digicamcontrol 4-13-2018 How to Measure Lens Vignetting https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/04/13/how-to-measure-lens-vignetting 4-28-2018 Keeping up with MTFMapper: any MTF you Want https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/04/28/keeping-up-with-mtfmapper-any-mtf-you-want 5-11-2018 Portrait Retouching Using Maks https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/05/11/portrait-retouching-using-masks 5-29-2018 The History of MTF50 Resolution Measurment https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/05/29/the-history-of-mtf50-resolution-measurement 6-15-2018 Fake Focus Peak on Select Nikon Cameras https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/06/15/fake-focus-peak-on-select-nikon-cameras 6-29-2018 Reflex-Nikkor C 500mm f/8 Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/06/29/reflex-nikkor-c-500mm-f8-review 7-14-2018 Longer Wavelength Infrared Photography Using 850mn Filters https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/07/14/longer-wavelength-infrared-photography-using-850nm-filters 7-27-2018 Simulate an Expensive Big Telephoto https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/07/27/simulate-an-expensive-big-telephoto 8-10-2018 Camera Infrared Filter Resolution and Focus Shift Testing https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/08/10/camera-infrared-filter-resolution-and-focus-shift-testing 8-18-2017 Infrared Filter Comparisons: Hoya, BCI, Neewer, Zomei https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/08/18/infrared-filter-comparisons-hoya-bci-neewer-zomei 9-3-2018 Tamron AF 24-70 f/3.3-5.6 Aspherical Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/09/03/tamron-af-24-70mm-f33-56-aspherical-review 9-15-2018 The Darktable Photo Editor, Part 1: Overview https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/09/15/the-darktable-photo-editor-part-1-overview 9-28-2018 The Darktable Photo Editor, Part 2: Image Masking https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/09/28/the-darktable-photo-editor-part-2-image-masking 10-11-2018 The Darktable Photo Editor, Part 3: Tethered Shooting in Windows 10 https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/10/11/the-darktable-photo-editor-part-3-tethered-shooting-in-windows-10 10-26-2018 Lightroom Masking https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/10/26/lightroom-masking 11-8-2018 Test Lens Coma Yourself https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/11/08/test-lens-coma-yourself 11-14-2018 Nikon Z Camera Lens DesignBrilliance https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/11/14/nikon-z-camera-lens-design-brilliance 11-18-2018 Sigma 150-600 Firmware Update 1.02 for Nikon D500 https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/11/18/sigma-150-600-firmware-update-102-for-nikon-d500 11-28-2018 Fixing the D500 “Live View” AF-ON Button Failure https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/11/28/fixing-the-d500-live-view-dead-af-on-button 12-9-2018 Find the Maximum Shutter Speed for Vibration Reduction https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/12/09/find-the-maximum-shutter-speed-for-vibration-reduction 12-21-2018 Using an LCD Viewfinder on your DSLR https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2018/12/21/using-an-lcd-viewfinder-on-your-dslr 1-2-2019 Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 DG HSM Art Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2019/01/02/sigma-14-24mm-f28-dg-hsm-art-review 1-18-2019 Create a 3-D Anaglyph with Zoner Photo Studio https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2019/01/18/create-a-3-d-anaglyph-with-zoner-photo-studio 2-1-2019 Monitor Calibration with the Spyder 5 Pro https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2019/02/01/monitor-calibration-with-the-spyder-5-pro 2-17-2019 Using Nik Plug-ins Stand-alone or Inside Nikon Capture NX-D https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2019/02/17/use-nik-plug-ins-stand-alone-or-inside-capture-nx-d 3-5-2019 How to Test Your Lens for Focus Shift https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2019/03/05/how-to-test-your-lens-for-focus-shift 3-19-2019 How to Align a Lens Resolution Target https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2019/03/19/how-to-align-a-lens-resolution-target 4-2-2019 Free ‘Dehaze’ for Lightroom 6.1 or Newer https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2019/04/02/free-dehaze-for-lightroom-61-or-newer 4-17-2019 DSLR Focus Calibration in Record Time https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2019/04/17/dslr-focus-calibration-in-record-time 4-30-2019 Make a Flash Diffuser for Free https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2019/04/30/make-a-flash-diffuser-for-free 5-19-2019 Sigma Lens Focus Algorithm Comparison https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2019/05/19/sigma-lens-focus-algorithm-comparison 6-4-2019 Lightroom Radial Filter: The Spotlight https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2019/06/04/lightroom-radial-filter-the-spotlight 6-18-2019 How Lens Optical Stabilization Works https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2019/06/18/how-lens-optical-stabilization-works 7-10-2019 F-stop Fun Facts https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2019/07/10/f-stop-fun-facts 7-27-2019 Nikon Custom Settings Banks versus Photo Shooting Banks https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2019/07/27/nikon-custom-settings-banks-versus-photo-shooting-banks 8-10-2019 Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM Sport Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2019/08/10/sigma-70-200mm-f28-dg-os-hsm-sport-review 8-24-2019 Sigma TC-1401 1.4X Teleconverter Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2019/08/24/sigma-tc-1401-14x-teleconverter-review 9-7-2019 Sigma Focus Algorithms: Speed versus Accuracy https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2019/09/07/sigma-focus-algorithms-speed-versus-accuracy 9-20-2019 Nikon D850 Buffer Capacity Reality Testing https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2019/09/20/nikon-d850-buffer-capacity-reality-testing 10-7-2019 Nikon D500 Un-cropped versus D850 Cropped Shot Comparison https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2019/10/07/nikon-d500-un-cropped-versus-d850-cropped-shot-comparison 10-20-2019 Flashpoint Wave Commander Remote Shutter Intervalometer Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2019/10/20/flashpoint-wave-commander-remote-shutter-intervalometer-review 11-3-2019 Fix that Lens Infrared Hotspot with Lightroom https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2019/11/03/fix-that-lens-infrared-hotspot-with-lightroom 11-16-2019 Should You Turn Off Vibration Reduction When Using a Tripod? https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2019/11/16/should-you-turn-off-vibration-reduction-when-using-a-tripod 11-30-2019 Lens Resolution Measurement: Avoid Sharpened Jpeg Like the Plague https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2019/11/30/lens-resolution-measurement-avoid-sharpened-jpeg-like-the-plague 12-14-2019 Measure Lens Focus Speed with Nikon D850 Video https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2019/12/14/measure-lens-focus-speed-with-nikon-d850-video 12-31-2019 Hoya Pro ND1000 Filter Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2019/12/31/hoya-pro-nd1000-filter-review 1-15-2020 Lens Resolution: Red Green Blue Comparison https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/lens-resolution-red-green-blue-comparison 2-8-2020 Lens Field Curvature Visualization https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/lens-field-curvature-visualization 2-22-2020 Nikon AF Nikkor 75-300 f/4.5-5.6 Zoom https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/2020/02/22/nikon-af-nikkor-75-300-f45-56-zoom 3-7-2020 Phase Detect Versus Contrast Detect Focus Accuracy https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/phase-detect-versus-contrast-detect-focus-accuracy 3-19-2020 How to Update Lightroom 6.14 with Lens Profiles After Adobe Has Ceased Support https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/how-to-update-lightroom-6-14-with-lens-profiles-after-adobe-has-ceased-support 4-2-2020 Update a Fresh Lightroom 6 Install to Version 6.14 Without Adobe’s Help https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/update-a-fresh-lightroom-6-install-to-version-6-14-without-adobe-s-help 4-18-2020 High-Res Camera Sensors: Worth It? https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/high-res-camera-sensors-worth-it 5-2-2020 Extreme Perspective Photography Suggestions 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5-10-2021 Lens Resolution Changes versus Focus Distance Errors https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/lens-resolution-changes-versus-focus-distance-errors 5-20-2021 Topaz Denoise AI Review and Tutorial https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/topaz-denoise-ai-review-and-tutorial 6-4-2021 Nikon Auto AF Fine-Tune Calibration Analysis https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/nikon-auto-af-fine-tune-calibration-analysis 6-25-2021 Macro Panoramas from Focus Stacks https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/macro-panoramas-from-focus-stacks 7-9-2021 Nikon’s Color Sketch Feature https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/nikon-s-color-sketch-feature 7-23-2021 Lightroom Batch Editing Tutorial https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/lightroom-batch-editing-tutorial 8-20-2021 Measure Camera Mirror Blackout Time Yourself https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/measure-camera-mirror-blackout-time-yourself 9-3-2021 Nikon DSLR Camera Focus Speed Comparisons https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/nikon-dslr-camera-focus-speed-comparisons 9-19-2021 Nikon D850 Individual Focus Sensor Actual Coverage Area https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/nikon-d850-individual-focus-sensor-actual-coverage-area 10-6-2021 Use Nik Plug-ins Inside Nikon NX Studio https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/use-nik-plug-ins-inside-nikon-nx-studio 10-15-2021 Kolari Vision Infrared Camera Conversion Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/kolari-vision-infrared-camera-conversion-review 10-29-2021 Action Shooting: Why Aperture Priority Mode is Superior https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/action-shooting-why-aperture-priority-mode-is-superior 11-12-2021 Focus-Trap Shooting on the D500 and D850 https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/focus-trap-shooting-on-the-d500-and-d850 11-26-2021 Kolari Vision Infrared Camera Anti-Reflection Coating Review 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3-4-2022 Camera Lens Anti-Reflection Coatings: Magic Explained https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/camera-lens-anti-reflection-coatings-magic-explained 3-18-2022 Comparing Two ‘Identical’ Lenses: A Reality Check https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/comparing-two-identical-lenses-a-reality-check 4-01-2022 How To Use Photoshop CS4 With a New Camera’s Raw-Format Files https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/how-to-use-photoshop-cs4-with-a-new-camera-s-raw-format-files 4-15-2022 Nikkor 500mm f/5.6 AF-S PF ED VR Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/nikkor-500mm-f-5-6-af-s-pf-ed-vr-review 4-29-2022 Nikkor 500mm f/5.6 PF with Sigma TC-1401 Teleconverter Review https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/nikkor-500mm-f-5-6-pf-with-sigma-tc-1401-teleconverter-review 5-13-2022 Arca-Swiss Camera Mount: Everything You Need to Know https://www.photoartfromscience.com/single-post/arca-swiss-camera-mount-everything-you-need-to-know 5-29-2022 Get 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This article explains how you can create a panorama that actually captures mild action. The thing that keeps photographers from making successful motion-freezing panoramas probably isn’t what you think it is. Panorama with ‘frozen’ water ripples When I first attempted to shoot panoramas that could freeze moving subjects, I knew that it would take a camera that could produce a fairly high frame rate, such as at least 10 frames per second. You need to sweep your camera across the whole scene in less than a second, or else moving objects won’t align from one frame to the next. You also need about a third of each frame to overlap with its neighboring shot, or else your panorama-stitching software will probably fail to combine the photos. I quickly found out that you’re probably going to need something like a 20 fps frame rate to get a decent shot overlap, unless you are using a wide angle lens. I prefer to shoot panoramas in portrait orientation, which requires even higher frame rates than landscape orientation. When you pan the camera at a slower pace to accommodate slower frames per second, image motion between frames will cause moving subjects, such as water ripples, to no longer line up in the stitched panorama. With a bit of practice, you can learn to quickly sweep the camera across the field of view and get the necessary shot overlaps. If you stick with panoramas of about a dozen shots in portrait orientation, this means that you can go up to roughly a 120mm focal length at 20 fps. I tried using shutter speeds around 1/2000 and 1/3000 to “freeze” the action. Looking up close at my shots, I found out something that was very disappointing. The photos had terrible motion blur. What’s going on??  I hadn’t stopped to think that the subject motion while quickly panning the camera is on a whole other level. It turns out that you need shutter speeds typically beyond a 1/10,000 of a second to rid this motion blur. My Nikon Z9 and Z8 cameras can go up to 1/32,000 second, so no problem. I now standardize on using at least 1/13,000 shutter speed to reliably rid any blur, but it of course depends upon just how fast you pan the camera. Seamless motion capture In the shot above, I was using a 120mm focal length in portrait orientation. I swept my Nikon Z8 in an arc that took 0.6 seconds to complete, using a 20 fps frame rate. I shot in aperture-priority mode, and each of the 12 frames was taken at between 1/13,000 to 1/16,000 second shutter speed. I got decent frame overlaps at this pace, even in portrait orientation, and motion blur was eliminated. This shot is a demonstration of how the water ripples are seamlessly stitched together (using the Capture One editor). Even at pixel-level magnification, there is no motion blur. The Z9 and Z8 cameras can go up to 120 frames per second, but only when shooting jpegs. I’d rather have the quality of raw photos and sacrifice a little speed. For capturing really fast action in a panorama, you would be forced to go this jpeg route, however. Summary If you want to pursue doing this kind of photography, it means that you’re going to need a camera capable of producing both a very fast shutter speed and a high frame rate. I’d recommend plenty of practice shooting, to get the hang of achieving the correct shot overlap while whipping the camera around in a fraction of a second. You can of course use shorter focal lengths (and landscape orientation) to be able to shoot at a lower frame rate, but the shutter speed still needs to be quite fast to avoid motion blur. Photographs of this type simply weren’t possible to create before the introduction of very high performance cameras (or else synchronized multiple camera setups).

How do you get rid of every single annoying reflection, even from glass and metal? Product photographers are particularly interested in having the ability to completely control all reflections from the objects they need to photograph. The answer is polarized light. I’m not just talking about putting a polarizer on your camera lens; that’s only half of the battle. To totally rid all reflections, you also need to have your light source emit only polarized light. Annoying reflections that obscure your subject Everyone is familiar with the issue of not being able to photograph a shiny subject without having it partly obscured by lighting reflections. Most photographers are aware of using circular polarizing filters over their lenses to minimize reflections. Some subjects seem to defy every effort to totally rid reflections off of them, no matter how carefully you adjust the lighting or the shooting angle. The shot above shows an annoying halo of reflected light from a circular artificial light source (at between 2 and 3 o’clock) without using a polarizer. Circular polarizer The image above shows a typical circular polarizer. Years ago, you could only buy “linear” polarizers, which turned out to mess up the autofocus/exposure meters on DSLR cameras. They started making circular polarizers, which fixed this issue. These filters really help to minimize reflections, such as from pond surfaces or windows. Using a polarizer filter over the camera lens As seen above, a polarizer over the lens was rotated to minimize the reflections, and it really helps. But there is still an unwanted reflection at about 2 o’clock on the outer dial of the watch. There's also a sheen over much of the face of the watch that I'd like to eliminate. Double-polarized light: no more reflections! In the shot above, I placed a polarizer over the light source itself, being careful to stop any light leaks coming from around the edges of the polarizer sheet.  I made sure that there were no other lights on in the room. I then rotated the lens polarizer filter until I observed the removal of any reflections. You can buy inexpensive polarizer film sheets (‘linear’ polarizers will work for this application) to cover larger lights or flash units. Just make sure you don’t have any light leaks, because they can cause reflections. If you want to use multiple lights, you may have to ensure that each light polarizer is rotated individually so that the polarization is in the same direction. Summary If you didn’t know this little trick, it could drive you crazy trying to get rid of reflections. Double-polarized light can seem like magic, and drastically improve shots of things such as jewelry.

There’s a trivial-sounding feature that can be accessed only through assigning a custom control called “Recall Shooting Functions”. This feature is available on only a few Nikon ‘pro’ models, beginning with the D5. This is in fact a major and wonderful feature. In this article, we’ll explore just what you can do with this capability. Recall shooting functions feature On many ‘amateur’ Nikon bodies such as the D7000 series, they provide a dial with user settings called “U1” and “U2”. With these settings, you can switch most of the camera shooting configurations by merely rotating the dial. This makes it trivial and fast to switch between things like manual landscape settings and automatic sports shooting. This is an awesome feature that I love. On the top-end Nikon pro bodies, they instead have provided the tedious ‘settings’ banks, which are then sub-divided between “photo shooting menu banks” and “extended photo menu banks”. I have always hated this scheme, but have had to live with it. “Recall Shooting Functions” has changed that. Now, you can merely assign a button that you press to toggle between two independent sets of shooting features. If anything, this is even better than having to rotate a dial to use the “U1” and “U2” shooting setups. Your eye doesn’t need to leave the viewfinder to switch between two camera shooting identities, as long as your finger can find the assigned button. A word of caution, though. There are many actions that will ‘cancel’ the recall feature, such as cycling camera power. If this happens, then just press the “Recall Shooting Functions” assigned button again to re-activate the settings. First, let me explain how to configure this feature. Locate the ‘Controls’ menu F2 Custom controls (shooting) menu Pick a button to assign the feature (video record button) Select the “Recall shooting functions (hold)” option Pick the options to save (screen 1) Pick the options to save (screen 2) Pick the options to save (screen 3) Note that there are many functions that you have the option of saving for recall, such as the White balance and AF subject detection options. In my own selections, I decided to not save the White balance (no checked box) and I did decide to save the AF subject detection options (checked box). For convenience, you can just select “Save current settings” to save all of the present camera settings for each menu option at once. Sample setting: AF subject detection options Since I did decide to save the AF subject detection options, I pressed the right-arrow and was presented with the screen shown above to select which option I wanted to save (Auto). The “Video Record” button As shown above, I decided to use the Video Record button for assignment, because it’s easy for my finger to locate it while looking through the viewfinder, and it doesn’t affect video recording, since this Recall feature is only used while shooting stills. Sample shooting setup BEFORE pressing button Shown above is the shooting screen before pressing the assigned Video Record button. This screen shows that I am in “people detection” subject detect mode and 5 fps, for instance. Sample shooting setup after pressing button Note above that after pressing the assigned Video Record button, I got switched into Recall Shooting Functions mode. The subject detect mode is now “Auto” instead of “People”, and single-frame shooting is selected instead of 5 fps. Also note the icon that indicates that Recall Shooting Functions is active. This icon is displayed in both the rear LCD screen and the viewfinder. Get used to confirming that the little Recall Shooting Functions icon is displayed, since several camera operations can cancel this mode. This icon gets displayed even when you choose a display mode that doesn’t show any other viewfinder information. Summary You can’t save and toggle all camera shooting settings this way, but at least the most important features can be saved. Try out this feature. I bet you’ll decide that it’s the superior method to swap out shooting functions when you don’t have time for wading through those irritating Shooting Menu banks.

Sharp photos depend upon sharp focus. You might be very surprised at just how sensitive your lens can be to focus changes. I wanted to show you an experiment that gives very precise numbers on how the resolution changes with errors in focus. Nikon Z8 camera mounted on a linear slide As shown above, I start by mounting my camera onto a linear slide. This slide can be moved with a micrometer in very small steps, so that I can shift my cameras’ focus very precisely. I conducted these tests using a 135mm lens at f/2.8 mounted on my Nikon Z8. Note that this isn’t a particularly fast lens, but even at f/2.8 you’ll find that focus precision matters enormously. Using the MTFMapper program created by Frans van den Bergh, I repeatedly photographed a new utility knife blade at different distances and then processed the photos in his software. I focused the lens only once, while the linear slide was near its midpoint (12mm), before starting the test. I could have of course used a more conventional focus chart to get the resolution measurements, too. A utility knife blade in silhouette The subject, shown above, is the edge of a very sharp and straight knife blade. The software doing the analysis is capable of analyzing a single edge that you specify. To get the best results, the edge should have high contrast; I used a light to make the blade show up in a silhouette. If you look very carefully, you can see the little number 37.6 shown on top of the blade edge, which is where the software made the resolution measurement. Since MTFMapper uses LibRaw to decode raw files, it uses zero sharpening (sharpening would falsely increase resolution measurements). For raw formats that LibRaw doesn’t support (such as the Z8/Z9 high-efficiency raw), I use the Adobe DNGConverter to make DNG raw files; these files also have zero sharpening applied. The downside to this DNG converter program is that it strips out some exif data, such as the focus distance. Resolution versus focus distance As shown above, I made a plot of the measured resolution of the blade edge photographs at different distances. I had attempted to focus the lens while the camera was placed at a setting of 12mm on the linear slide rail. The measurements show that in fact the sharpest photo was at a position of 15mm, where I got an MTF50 resolution measurement of 37.6 lp/mm. The entire range of the focus testing shown is only about 1 inch (27mm). I had missed focus by only 3 millimeters, while my subject was at a distance of 7 feet (2.13 meters). The MTFMapper program is able to tell the difference in resolution even with a 1 millimeter focus error! I had used “focus peaking” with a magnified view and manual focus to get the best focus I could manage. The camera focus-peaking feedback (set on ‘low sensitivity’) got me to within about 3% of optimal focus. Granted; these resolution differences are finer than what you can probably perceive yourself, unless you need to crop or print big. Also, telephoto lenses are far more sensitive to focus errors. Summary Image sharpness is more sensitive to focus than most people could imagine. This little exercise shows why people that measure lens resolution have to be so careful in controlling focus (and vibrations), or else their measurements are just wrong. In a more general sense, you want those feathers, hairs, and eye lashes/reflections to be totally sharp. The best lens you can buy won’t give you that unless you also nail the focus. A cheap lens that is correctly focused will usually give better results than an expensive lens that is slightly out of focus. I have found that my mirrorless cameras achieve more accurate autofocus than my DSLR cameras, and my lenses don't need focus calibration on mirrorless, either.