| Author |
Sony DSC H-9 Volume 2... MaxxPix |
The-Ish316
Rank: Sony Fanatic
Joined: Apr 09, 2003
Posts: 328
From: Western PA
 |  Posted: 2009-04-05 20:49
Maxx, thanks for the input on the SR12. I tend to mess around and experiment with the manual settings quite a bit. I find that while the HDR-SR12 has some manual controls, they are somewhat limited. There's some white balance adjustments and tweaks along with manual focus and exposure settings. However, there seems to be some limit to it's abiltity to capture subtleties of color especially in lower light situations.
It is primarily a Hi-Def camcorder. I believe that I've read somewhere that it is actually a 5 MegaPixel CCD with sophistocated interpolation software that makes it "10MP". I'm not quite convinced it is 10MP. We have a little Olympus 5500 Sport Zoom 5 MP which has quite a few manual settings. I took pix with both the Olympus and the SR12 in the same situations and saw the difference side-by-side. The SR12 does pretty well in full sunlight. It can also do a nightshot thing too. What I like most is that I can take HD video and then go back and make a photo of the exact frame I want.
Maxx, I think the extraordinary color and contrast you produced in the photos (particularly of the flowers--like the Space Alien Fire Flower) is due to the superior quality of the CCDs and processors of the H-9. It might also be the skilled photographer's eye you have developed. Keep 'em comin'.
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DenMar
Sony STR-DA4ES, BDP-S1, DVP-NC600, KDL-52XBR9 HDTV, TC-WR6655S dual tape, SLV-676UC, & Athena AS-F2 & AS-C1 speakers; CSW Surrounds; HDR-SR12 & GV-D200; Explorer 8300
 
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Maxxwire
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Rank: Sony Adept
Joined: Aug 29, 2002
Posts: 25726
From: Portland, Oregon - USA
 | Posted: 2009-04-06 05:02
TheIsh316- You are absolutely right about the size of the sensor. Interestingly enough the HDR-SR12 does not use a CCD but rather Sony’s newest image sensor, a 1/3.15-inch 5 Megapixel ClearVid CMOS chip with Exmor technology. No wonder they cost so much!
We had clear skies and a big bright moon this evening and because all I was going to shoot was the moon I put the H-9 in Full Manual Mode and for the first time I used the Manual Focus with it set at infinity.
This picture which was shot hand held at 930mm (30X) @ f8, @1/125 sec @ 80 ISO is the best one that I have found so far, but I have another 768 to choose from which I will be going through over the next few days. As a reference this is what the moon looked like to the unaided eye...
~Maxx~
*Sony DSC H-9 aka Sony H-9 MaxxPix
[ This message was edited by: Maxxwire on 2010-06-09 21:59 ]
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Maxxwire
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Premium Member
Rank: Sony Adept
Joined: Aug 29, 2002
Posts: 25726
From: Portland, Oregon - USA
| Posted: 2009-04-08 00:44
A neighborhood exotic plant shop had this Easter display set up on the sidewalk out front which included some sparkling Easter Eggs...
~Maxx~
*Sony DSC H-9 aka Sony H-9 MaxxPix
[ This message was edited by: Maxxwire on 2010-06-09 22:00 ]
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The-Ish316
Rank: Sony Fanatic
Joined: Apr 09, 2003
Posts: 328
From: Western PA
| Posted: 2009-04-13 00:26
Good point, Maxx. Indeed, the SR12 has the 5.6 MP ClearVid ™ CMOS sensor and BIONZ ™ image processor at it's heart and brain. It turns out that this makes your H-9 and the SR12 related, in that their brains are both BIONZ processors.
Your moon image is nicely detailed and the prominent Tycho crater plainly visible. A very pleasing image indeed. Even though I'm a night sky fan, I think I favor the peach colored rose with the green mum (I think). There is beautiful depth of field isolating the rose from the background and nicely composed and balanced with the mums. Very pleasing. Again, thanks for the nice work.
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Maxxwire
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Joined: Aug 29, 2002
Posts: 25726
From: Portland, Oregon - USA
| Posted: 2009-04-14 19:14
The-Ish316- So glad that you like these pictures that I've posted. One thing that I didn't mention about the peach colored rose which makes it different from all the other roses that I've shot that is that it is only about 1/2 the size of my thumb which makes its elaborate features all the more extraordinary. On the 17" screen of my notebook the actual size of the Miniature Peach Rose without the benefit of the Macro feature of the H-9's Zeiss Lens is about as it appears in this thumbnail (pun intended)...
~Maxx~
*Sony DSC H-9 aka Sony H-9 MaxxPix
[ This message was edited by: Maxxwire on 2010-06-09 22:05 ]
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Maxxwire
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Rank: Sony Adept
Joined: Aug 29, 2002
Posts: 25726
From: Portland, Oregon - USA
| Posted: 2009-04-16 01:38
As a Metalsmith I am always interested in how vintage pieces were made fortunately the craftsman who made this piece left some very clear evidence as to the particulars of his method of fabrication.
~Maxx~
*Sony DSC H-9 aka Sony H-9 MaxxPix
[ This message was edited by: Maxxwire on 2010-06-09 22:06 ]
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The-Ish316
Rank: Sony Fanatic
Joined: Apr 09, 2003
Posts: 328
From: Western PA
|  Posted: 2009-04-17 10:14
So, Maxx, those mums with the miniature rose must be mini-mums. Perhaps from a minimalist garden. 
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DenMar
Sony STR-DA4ES, BDP-S1, DVP-NC600, KDL-52XBR9 HDTV, TC-WR6655S dual tape, SLV-676UC, & Athena AS-F2 & AS-C1 speakers; CSW Surrounds; HDR-SR12 & GV-D200; Explorer 8300
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Maxxwire
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Joined: Aug 29, 2002
Posts: 25726
From: Portland, Oregon - USA
| Posted: 2009-04-17 13:47
The-Ish316- Yes, all of the components in this particular arrangement that the diminuative Peach Rose and Mimi Mums were in were all in miniature scale. A few years ago I had the most interesting experience of touring the huge coolers at this exotic flower shop where they store the rare flowers that they use to make up the arrangements they sell. It was quite similar the flora I encountered while living in the Waianae valley on Oahu 35 years ago in both sight and aroma. Here are some examples of their offerings...
~Maxx~
*Sony DSC H-9 aka Sony H-9 MaxxPix
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Maxxwire
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Rank: Sony Adept
Joined: Aug 29, 2002
Posts: 25726
From: Portland, Oregon - USA
| Posted: 2009-04-17 14:14
On the same day that I photographed the miniature flower garden a few minutes later I took the picture of this equally exotic car just about a block away and am wondering if it might belong to the owner of the flower shop. Using a customized Manual White Balance was essential in capturing the true color of this car's metallic finish as it reflects the sky and everything around it.
~Maxx~
*Sony DSC H-9 aka Sony H-9 MaxxPix
[ This message was edited by: Maxxwire on 2010-06-09 22:08 ]
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Maxxwire
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Joined: Aug 29, 2002
Posts: 25726
From: Portland, Oregon - USA
| Posted: 2009-04-23 00:09
Last week the film crew from the Showtime Series Leverage was in downtown Portland filming an episode. While many of my neighbors took pictures of Timothy Hutton, Beth Reisgraf, Christian Kane and the rest of the cast as they crashed and blew up cars in huge plumes of flame in the street as in this picture taken by my neighbor with her Canon S-10 camera I found myself more interested in the technical aspects of how the film crew captured the action...
I rather took pictures of this fellow who was one of two still photographers on the crew as he White Balanced his Nikon camera in that this was the same method I had been using to Manually White Balance my Sony DSC H-9 up until recently when I discovered that I could get more consistent results from my camera using a White Balance Lens Cap with the H-9's Zeiss Vario Tessar Lens...
The term White Ballance really should be called RGB Ballance since true White is the equal presence of Red, Green and Blue and the camera's White Balance Mode evaluates the relationship in the RGB values and compensates the light frequencies accordingly much like an Equalizer does compensation for Audio frequencies. These two before and after photos I took recently demonstrate the profound difference in color accuracy that using this inexpensive White Balance Lens Cap can produce...
Before...
After using the White Balance Lens Cap to diffuse and evaluate the light source to set the Manual White Balance in the H-9...
I have had such good success using this White Balance Lens Cap that I have ordered a 72mm BRNO BaLens White Balance Cap which uses a center weighted design for RGB evaluation which I will be testing out next week.
~Maxx~
*Sony DSC H-9 aka Sony H-9 MaxxPix
[ This message was edited by: Maxxwire on 2010-06-09 22:09 ]
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Maxxwire
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Joined: Aug 29, 2002
Posts: 25726
From: Portland, Oregon - USA
| Posted: 2009-04-23 19:22
This picture is brought to you by the Sony DSC H-9 along with its Rodenstock UV Filter and White Balance Lens Cap which allows it to bring out so many rich and varying hues of yellow and orange.
~Maxx~
*Sony DSC H-9 aka Sony H-9 MaxxPix
[ This message was edited by: Maxxwire on 2010-06-09 22:12 ]
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Maxxwire
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From: Portland, Oregon - USA
| Posted: 2009-04-24 16:42
~Maxx~
*Sony DSC H-9 aka Sony H-9 MaxxPix
[ This message was edited by: Maxxwire on 2010-06-09 22:13 ]
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Maxxwire
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Joined: Aug 29, 2002
Posts: 25726
From: Portland, Oregon - USA
| Posted: 2009-04-24 16:57
Reflections...
~Maxx~
*Sony DSC H-9 aka Sony H-9 MaxxPix
[ This message was edited by: Maxxwire on 2010-06-09 22:14 ]
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Maxxwire
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Rank: Sony Adept
Joined: Aug 29, 2002
Posts: 25726
From: Portland, Oregon - USA
| Posted: 2009-04-24 17:00
More Reflections...
~Maxx~
*Sony DSC H-9 aka Sony H-9 MaxxPix
[ This message was edited by: Maxxwire on 2010-06-09 22:15 ]
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Maxxwire
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Premium Member
Rank: Sony Adept
Joined: Aug 29, 2002
Posts: 25726
From: Portland, Oregon - USA
| Posted: 2009-04-26 16:00
My Dad and I often go on photo shoots out in the more natural habitats that surround Portland and this most recent trip yielded the most intimate opportunity I have had so far to get a good picture of a Blue Heron.
Actually this Blue Heron who was looking for lunch at the time was at least 150 yards away and there was a fellow next to me who had a Nikon D-200 DSLR with a 200 mm Nikkor VR lens trying in vain to get a decent shot of such a distant subject while I simply slipped the Sony H-9 into 930 mm Manual Mode and got some nice tight shots of the Blue Heron while the fellow with the Nikon DSLR decided to give up and engaged my Dad in a conversation about his Leica V-Lux 1 as I used the Sony H-9 to do the kind of telephotography that far exceeded the capabilities of a Nikon D-200 with a 200 mm lens.
~Maxx~
*Sony DSC H-9 aka Sony H-9 MaxxPix
[ This message was edited by: Maxxwire on 2010-06-09 22:16 ]
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