Most reasonable DSLR for multi-cam face capture setup

[Infinite]

Appreciate all the comments.

Andrew, my understanding of this:

"...so far 24x tested, syncing becomes harder. Meaning some black images. By syncing I mean syncing flashlight up to 1/250th speed. You can' t do this even with 600D's at such speeds."

Is that the variability of shutter lag [across 24 cams] is always greater than 4 millisecs i.e speed is being referred to as a low variability of shutter lag.

So, if you're not using multi-light then just use a long-exposure [from dark] together with a pack of 550D's ?

Who's Andrew? 

I should reiterate. For 1 capture, you can do it at up to 1/250th speed. Unlike the Canon 600D's. But it's pointless anyway if you can't do it multiple times. The image output is poor as well.

550D's have allot of variation in shutter speeds. The 600D's are better, more consistent. For example you can't mix 550D's and 600D's with MLU. They fire at different speeds in groups even with MLU.

Hello All!

Thanks so much to you all for sharing this information!

Lee, the trouble over 1/20th sync with 600D is that also with mirror lock-up?

Could it also be related to pre-focus?

Also I assume you guys mean the jpg quality of the D3200? The raw out of it is from my (limited) testing very good (which I actually don't use, hehe).

Best, Magnus.

As long as you don't mix camera makes. MLU will work if you do 1 shot captures. Not multi.

No pre-focus. You can't do that on a large capture volume of a head or body. As each pose will be different from the next and invariably you will get a bunch of cameras out of focus. So some can be slow to focus as well and you should be shooting in dark conditions anyway, bad for focusing!

Nikon output is still bad with D800's and D3200's even on RAW. Plus they have this really weird orange / yellow tinge to their WB colour. Which I believe on some versions is a firmware bug that needs updating.

Also I assume you guys mean the jpg quality of the D3200? The raw out of it is from my (limited) testing very good (which I actually don't use, hehe).

Nope, in my case I am referring to the RAW quality which is vastly inferior to that of my Canon's.  Honestly, the image quality of D3200 is shockingly poor in comparison.

RAW or JPEG the focus is still very, very soft.

Cheers,

Joe

Nail. On. The. HEAD!! 

[andy_s]

Andrew ? our colleague who started this thread 

Some interesting comment from camera-axe thread

http://www.dreamingrobots.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1902

Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Jun 10, 2013 4:22 pm
Re: Which (less obvious) camera settings affect camera lag?
Postby niteclicks » Mon Jul 08, 2013 4:04 pm

How fast the camera can drive the mirror also effects the lag, so you might try mirror lockup.

Maurice
Posts: 1197
Joined: Thu Nov 26, 2009 11:04 am
Re: Which (less obvious) camera settings affect camera lag?
Postby Maurice » Mon Jul 08, 2013 5:20 pm

Niteclicks, one would think you're right, but the fact is on some cameras we've observed that mirror lockup increases lag, and I have yet to see a camera where it reduces shutter lag. How mirror lockup impacts shutter lag is controlled by firmware and it seems camera manufactures aren't optimizing for low shutter lags.

If anyone finds a camera where mirror lockup reduces shutter lag I'd love to hear about it. 

[Infinite]

Andrew ? our colleague who started this thread 

Some interesting comment from camera-axe thread

Doh! not paying attention here

[Magnus]

Hello!

Have you tried tweaking the Picture Control on the D3200?

Ah I meant just sending the pre-focus commands to have the cameras react faster, not having auto-focus (this I think is what Andrew talked about in a previous thread).

Best, Magnus.

[meshmaster]

Hello!

Have you tried tweaking the Picture Control on the D3200?

No, I've not touched them.  Do you have any specific suggestions?

Cheers,

Joe

[Infinite]

Hi Andrew,

unfortunately no answers - just exactly the same questions.

Read this somewhere:

...The results from the D800e are about as good as one can expect from the process, or so I thought until a brand-new Canon SL1 fell into the mix. The results from this 18MP dwarf SLR with kit lens are nothing short of amazing. Small size, hair, eyes, clean data, and an easy to control standard remote control port, we’ve found our camera, I believe, for the new portable human body scanning unit...

Out of interest. Where was this somewhere?

[Magnus]

Hello!

Joe, I've read that increasing sharpening in those settings can make it better (2-4), might be worth a try?
I saw this too http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Nikon_D3200/RAW_vs_JPEG.shtml

I think it might have been that I had some sharpness settings on when I looked at the raws because I saw a big difference between them and the jpgs.

Best, Magnus.

[meshmaster]

Hello!

Joe, I've read that increasing sharpening in those settings can make it better (2-4), might be worth a try?
I saw this too http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Nikon_D3200/RAW_vs_JPEG.shtml

I think it might have been that I had some sharpness settings on when I looked at the raws because I saw a big difference between them and the jpgs.

Best, Magnus.

Hi Magnus,

Interesting.  I think I'll give the sharpening settings a bit of a boost... it's worth a try!

Thanks for the tip, I appreciate it.

Kind Regards,

Joe

[andy_s]

Out of interest. Where was this somewhere?

Lee, end of your FB entry 'panocamera' 19 June 

[Infinite]

Ah yes. You mean from here http://panocamera.com/blog/?p=863 interesting blog post.

[Infinite]

Hello!

Joe, I've read that increasing sharpening in those settings can make it better (2-4), might be worth a try?
I saw this too http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Nikon_D3200/RAW_vs_JPEG.shtml

I think it might have been that I had some sharpness settings on when I looked at the raws because I saw a big difference between them and the jpgs.

Best, Magnus.

Hi Magnus,

Interesting.  I think I'll give the sharpening settings a bit of a boost... it's worth a try!

Thanks for the tip, I appreciate it.

Kind Regards,

Joe

I've tried post processing the images after capture, all it does is worsen the build 

[meshmaster]

Hello!

Joe, I've read that increasing sharpening in those settings can make it better (2-4), might be worth a try?
I saw this too http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Nikon_D3200/RAW_vs_JPEG.shtml

I think it might have been that I had some sharpness settings on when I looked at the raws because I saw a big difference between them and the jpgs.

Best, Magnus.

Hi Magnus,

Interesting.  I think I'll give the sharpening settings a bit of a boost... it's worth a try!

Thanks for the tip, I appreciate it.

Kind Regards,

Joe

I've tried post processing the images after capture, all it does is worsen the build 

That what I would expect as well.  Still, might be worth a try with the camera's built-in sharpening settings.  It's worth a go.

Cheers,

Joe

[Infinite]

That what I would expect as well.  Still, might be worth a try with the camera's built-in sharpening settings.  It's worth a go.

Cheers,

Joe

Interested to see if that works.

[Andrew]

Lots of valuable insight gentlemen, thank you!

One thing that surprised me a lot Lee was that you put 600Ds above D7100 and D800/D800E in terms of resolved detail, wow!

D3200s are insanely soft, true, but my D7100 looks razor sharp (right up there with 600d) and although I haven't had the pleasure to work with D800/D800E, the resolution charts from these babies look insane!. Perhaps at higher f-stop light diffraction inside the lens (and we rarely use high end glass on our multi-cam setups, do we) decreases resolved resolution to levels where the 36mpix sensor doesn't matter anymore.

One additional thing to note is that I have witnessed numerous and serious build quality issues on higher end Nikons. My D7100 saves photos to cards erratically (every now and then the file is corrupt), that frigging custom usb port has gotten loose after less than 10 times I plugged the cable, and yeah, cable length is a joke. From what I hear, there are lots of units with faulty focus (tendency to left-focus and such), and don't get me started on oil spills soiling the sensor...

Long live 600d!

Cheers,
Andrew

[Infinite]

I tested a D7100 and there was very little different between it and the D3200. I'm not sure where the razor sharp comes from? same with the D800 and D800E. It could be because of being stuck with higher f-stop limitations to capture a large bounding volume. As well as needing soft bounced global lighting.

There is also more increased DOF with full frame which is another pain to deal with. As you need sharpness in a large area not just a small capture window, with a limitation of lenses to match a DX setup.

Without seeing other peoples examples it's hard to gauge, other than hear say.

and don't get me started on oil spills soiling the sensor...

For sure! I've had this creep in with 2x of my D800's black spots that are very hard to remove without a wet clean.