Week Three - Resolving Issues
One of the interesting features creeping into many camera brands these days is the so-called "High resolution" mode, and various other names given it by companies. These modes invariably make use of the in-built image stabilizers to take multiple shots in quick succession with the sensor shifted a minute amount between shots, and the resulting images can then be blended into one file of vastly larger pixel dimensions. Olympus has done it since the Em5 Mkii. Panasonic camera's can do it. Pentax do it with their Dslr's - although interestingly they opt to not increase the file size, but rather use the extra info for colour accuracy and depth.
I've had the Hi-res function available on my Pen-F but for whatever reason never really used it. I thought I'd best rectify that on the Em5iii since it's one of the premier features available, and for a general travel camera it seems to my -often befuddled- mind to be something I needed to understand. The Em1x and now the Em1 Mkiii offer a "hand held" version of Hi Res (HHHR) , but the Em5iii is equiped with the "old" tripod-only version shared with the Em1 Mkii. This appears to be a function of processing power, and perhaps the small form factor of the new 5 ruled out its implementation here. Or perhaps not. I know some believe that Oly could and should have included it here, and certainly it'd be valuable in a camera that i view as primarily a tiny travel companion.
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Either way, I decided worrying about what it didnt have was futile, and set about learning how to use it. We all know that absolute stationary subjects are needed for decent results, and indoor still-life seems a natural habitat for the function. But thats rarely how i'll use this camera, and certainly not its primary use for me. So, I took the tripod to a position in Northcote from where i could see the Melbourne skyline and set up with the 40-150/5.6 kit zoom that I happened to have with me. It proved in large measure to be as futile as the pondering of why i didnt have HHHR, for several reasons. The main one being that Melbourne was somewhat hazy from our ongoing bushfire issues. Not terrible, but it removed any crispness from the distant objects and ensured that i ended up with nothing but gigantic files of largely soft details. Not all was lost however, because a few nearer objects - mainly chimneys - were obviously less effected by atmospheric conditions and they showed some promise. The other happenstance that made the effort worthwhile was that I learnt the location of the Hi Res settings. Because whilst you can access Hi Res from the drive mode on the SCD screen, making changes to how it operates is done from Shooting Menu 2 "Hi Res Shot" . Here, you can set a time delay between pressing the shutter release and the shot being taken. This is important in practice, because until you use this mode you probably won't realise just how vulnerable Hi Res is to ANY sort of vibration. Using the remote trigger via the App probably works just as well, but I dialled in a 4 second delay to allow any tremors imparted by my hamfisted shutter finger to dissipate. The other option in this menu allows you to halt the sequence of shots whilst the flash recharges. This is probably a critical ability for anyone doing Hi Res product shots under flash. I wasnt, so its a moot point at this stage.
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I returned to the same location a few days later and had another go. Conditions were much improved but still not as good as i've seen them. Perhaps, just perhaps, its inevitable that effectively shooting at or near infinity will inevitably introduce unfavourable air conditions. If the sun is out and you're shooting at long focal lengths, it seems likely that heat mirage will stymie your attempts at maximum detail. As will any wind unless you have a rock solid tripod or rest. Be that as it may, I felt happier with the second outing, but discovered another problem. Traffic. The nearby roadway was enough to transmit small vibrations to the tripod and noticeably blur some shots. I was incredulous at first, thinking it was more likely to have been wind. But no. Shots taken when i timed the release to coincide with stationary or non-existent traffic were clearly better than any taken when a car (or tram!) was rumbling past! This function is like a thoroughbred race horse, tuned to utmost performance but susceptible to all manner of niggling complaints. So far, whilst reasonably content that it could offer me some value, it wasn't something that i could envisage using too often. Certainly not for largely meaningless still life experimental resolution tests.
What's that? You WANT to see meaningless resolution examples!/ A demanding lot, ain't er? Allright, allright. Just this once, mind yer. I wasnt really sure how to test or demonstrate this, but i set up a mindnumbingly boring shot and took it in Hi-res and normal. Then i processed them in Workspace and I took a 2000 pixel wide crop from the Hi-res.
Here it is:
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Then i took a 2000 pixel crop from the standard.
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Then I took a crop that tried to approximate the same FOV as the Hi-res crop.
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So, aint that all just dandy? Several things - i'm not sure if i didnt quite nail focus. The Hi-res is extremely demanding and looks like it needs a bit of contrast added. And i can see the actual print pattern in the cardboard in the Hi-Res shot! And thats still a relatively large file, you can actually zoom in more! And that's that. Let us speak no more of such banal pictures.
Fast forward, then, a few more days and I found myself in a windswept rural scene without the tripod. An old barn caught my eye, but being on private land meant i couldn't get terribly close to it. Out of sheer stubborness, i pulled over and plonked the 5iii on an old fence post. Again, it was the 40-150 kit in the glovebox so it was stretched to maximum range and pressed into landscape duty. Curiosity got the better of me, and despite a very gusty breeze i decided to try Hi Res again. The fence post was far from level but at least it was stable. I tucked the wrist strap into a crevice in the timber - note well that any sort of strap hanging from the body has a high potential of ruining a Hi Res shot, just as it does with along exposure shot. Truly, the slightest murmur of movement transferred to the body when you're relying on half-pixel accuracy can be fatal in this mode. Brief aside : I love the Luckystraps camera straps, but without a quick release setup available, they're not ideal if you're shooting long exposures or the like, when being able to quickly remove the strap is an advantage.
In Hi Res mode, the camera shifts to electronic shutter, saves a standard definition "base image" and then proceeds to shoot 8 shots.
Here is the base image to give an idea of the framing and total shot. As you can see, the post was not exactly level, lol. Point of focus on the Barn, Iso 200, F/7.1, 1/640.
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I then extracted a 16:9 crop from the Hi-Res file in Workspace. Incidentally, the Hi Res pic was almost double the horizontal pixels of the base image. Straightened the image, added some clarity, sharpening etc and exported the file. Ridiculously, the cropped image is a bigger file than the exported base image:
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Obviously, there is motion blur in the foliage and grasses. But i don't find it objectionable, in fact i think it could add a nice feel to some situations. Arguably, MORE movement may be preferable to only a little (obviously None at All is ideal) because it may help to hide any processing artifacts in area's of movement. What struck me more than anything is that when it works, the Hi Res function can dramatically extend the reach of a given lens. Now,
THIS may be more useful to me than a pinsharp rendition of a Tag-huer watch. I took the cropped file and ran a 12x8 print, just to see how it looked.
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There's a slight painterly look to the file in certain area's that I quite like. And I've no doubt at all that it could easily go up another few sizes in print in terms of the detail present in the barn. Provided, of course, that one is ok with the rendering of the movement of the trees, etc. And i have to say, I am. Or i would be, if the shot was worthy of printing and hanging, with better lighting and better angles etc. What I'll be fascinated to do is go back at a better time of day, perhaps sunset, with the 40-150 Pro instead of the kit lens, to see if the better resolving power of that lens adds anything to the shot. Hi Res feels like an empirical, scientific development of technology, but maybe, just maybe, it expands the shooting envelope further into a surprisingly artistic use if we can embrace the offshoots? And of course, it can turn your 150mm into something far longer. Which is no mean feat for a diminutive "travel camera". You still need a solid rest, but the sheer size of the files allows a level of cropping and straightening that permits some very rough and ready perches. I always viewed Hi-Res as large prints and therefore a bit redundant for me - I have perfectly fine 20x30 inch prints from normal 20mp and even 16mp sensors. But maybe, like other area's of this camera's abilities, its more about the flexibility and ways to get things done from a body that fit's in your hand.
But what about subject movement, in general? How much can it deal with? Can a fast shutter speed compensate for, say, something moving at, err, snails pace? Could i find such a slow moving subject!? Happily, yes!
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Less happily, the answer, alas, is -no. No it can't handle a stupefied snail. Pity.
Out of sheer bloodymindedness, i also tried some handheld shots. The problem here is that the Ibis is shut down in order to incrementally shift the pixel width, so you're own your own. Presumably, on the 1x and 1iii, Ibis continues to function in some way, allowing a decent stitch. Processing power, indeed. I managed one shot that was almost, kinda, ok, and several total failures.
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I think such an aim is beyond my ability. But I'll keep trying! And hey, you can always fall back on the single shot saved version if it all goes pear shaped. Here's the snail, frozen in all it's speeding glory via electronic shutter base image.
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Late News - 10th March 2020
As noted above, the Em5iii does not (alas) possess the Hi Res Handheld function that you are blessed with in the Em1 Mkiii or the Em1x . But i had a brief play last week with the 40-150 Pro equipped with the 1.4 T/C whilst trying to shoot moon shots. I didn't drag out the tripod, i just shot the 5iii handheld. At 210mm (420mm eq FOV for 35mm sensor) you still need a lot of cropping.
Stock standard shot with heavy crop:
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And then i tried two Hi-res shots, again handheld, leaning against a tree.
Applying the same crop as above gave me this:
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Now, obviously, there are quite a lot of artifacts but i actually find this shot quite interesting. Not least due to being able to discern virtually every one of the 8 pixel shifted layers. I quite like the effect. But of course, its utterly random depending on the wobble i had on the lens. The other Hi-res shot is just a muddle of blended layers with no real artistic merit at all. But it does have me wondering whether we could use the hi-res creatively even though Em5iii owners don't have HHHR available to us.
It goes without saying that in terms of Hi Res, there's a lot more to do here for me, a lot more to learn. Particularly out and about in the real world.
Thanks for looking.
