A better tool for processing the files (released after I made this video): sdp.io/psdng Buy the Sony a7R III: sdp.io/a7r3 Get Lightroom + Photoshop: sdp.io/adobedeal
Thanks for a well crafted presentation, Tony! One thought though; the auto focus problem can be easily overcome by just shooting old legacy glass. My 48 year old 55mm Canon FL Lens produces magnificently sharp pixel shifts at f5.6.
The Pentax K-1 does everything in camera (or in post if you wish), including saving the PS jpg (which are great btw), allowing you to view it and zooom in, re-processing in-camera with different movement correction settings... It's much more reliable than what you describe the A7Riii (i still use the remote), the first RAW is available in case you need it... I and i haven't had to use my heavy tripod either. PS is really worth using particularly for picking up fine details including textures, and for beating moire. This is a bit of a disapointment from Sony, maybe they could collaborate a bit more with Pentax, get some help for PS images, Pentax could certainly use some Sony expertise in other areas.
I've used the pixel shift for months, hundreds of images. The Sony software may perform pooly, but it is slow as cold molasses and crashes a lot, too. Tony, I've found that even though my house is solid and I have the camera etc. almost over the foundation, my heartbeat causes enough vibration, through the bottom of my chair, floor, and up the table, to ruin pixel shift exposures. When you get them right, the comets and fortunes align, it's fantastic. But what a pain to use.
Wouldn't you select manual focus, when making pixel shifted images so as to avoid something going wrong with AF, and also use the timer so you aren't touching the camera? 🤔
Tony, what would be better when it comes to camera movement is for having an option for the camera to chooser when to shoot. The latest Phase One camera system has an option where the camera detects movement and will not take a picture until the movement has ceased. May not guarantee a perfect shot, but at least will make keepers more likely to occur.
I've had my R3 for over a month and haven't tried this yet. Thanks for posting this. At least now I know how much work will be involved to get a good image. This is definitely for special occasions only.
Out of passing interest; I've found shooting pixel shift with my Pentax K-3II produces more good shots with 'L' bracket use. My bracket is fairly massive, and I suspect it assists by 'soaking up' some minute internal camera vibration. Of course, the heavy tripod, mirror up and self timer are musts...
Thanks for the detailed look at pixel shift. Not planning on using it much with my A7R3 but nice to know more about it. I don't think this feature really matters to most buying the A7R3. It will be something when Sony makes it work in-the-camera.
can you do a video comparing olympus , pentex , panasonic and sony , i think olympus is doing good with the 75mm f18 and give high quality with better price
I saw that you were adjusting the exposure in the Sony app, and then exporting as 8-bit TIFF. You said you can do it a few times at differerent exposures and then photo-merge in LR so that no highlights or shadows were lost. If you just save as 16 bit TIFF, nothing is lost.
So in general are you reaching for your a7riii for *most* shoots or sticking with the D850; obviously some better for different situations but does Sony give you enough reason to grab their camera more often?
Your comparison of the 2 lenses shows moire on one image due to lens sharpness- which you comment on - but I thought pixelshift eliminates moire. Am I mistaken?
Interesting results and is a shame that it's so sensitive to the smallest of vibration. I have used the Olympus EM-5 MkII pixel shift and it's amazing and up to 8 seconds per shot and flash support and is pretty amazing that the sensor could remain that still for that long of time and not drift over time. Tony, did you every get the chance to see if it supports using a flash for the Sony's pixel shift like the Olympus does?
I'll add my voice to several other here in asking you to do a pixel shift comparison test. It would really be interesting to know if all pixel shift cameras are as touchy as the Sony is.
Thanks for this Tony. Could you explain the requirement for a minimum of 1 second delay between pixel-shifted images please? A shorter delay would help to reduce subject movement between shots - so, do you think it's just to allow the sensor to settle into its new position? Also, as you mentioned, AF w/ shutter defaults to On and cannot be altered in Px. Shift Multi Shoot mode, but you _can_ change to MF in order to prevent the shutter release from compromising focus.
Thx Tony for the review. Is it me or does this seem like a long route to take for a "perfect" detailed shot? Feels that way to me; but i don't get paid to make beauty product shots. So, what do i know.
Good video tony and good explanation , the issue of movement may not be actual movement , do you think it maybe possibly the case that the micro technology that shifts the sensor is not capable of consistently accurately moving the sensor by a few microns and occasionally miss hits it as it were ?
Great Video! One question: Which lens do you recommend getting with the A7RIII? 24-70 GM or 24-105 F4? Is the 24-105 as good as the GM? DXO hasn't released any test scores, would love to see you do a comparison of the sigma 24-105 and the Sony one!
Can you also compare the Sony 28-135? I know it's far less sharp, but it is par-focal, and Sony camera isn't really good at locking AF when zooming with a non-par-focal lens.
Just for your information, Rawtherapee supports pixel shift: pixls.us/articles/rawtherapee-and-pentax-pixel-shift/. If you have an a7R III then support is being developed right now and you can already use it if you install the development (dev) build: keybase.pub/gaaned92/RTW64NightlyBuilds/
Yes, but did you read The Mating Mind? I'm a Canon shooter too, but I have a feeling I wont always be. Staying knowledgeable about advancing camera tech keeps me prepared.
Hi Tony, would a program used as a Lightroom Classic &/or Photoshop plugin such as "Aurora HDR 2018" be of benefit, especially as it has a feature to correct ghosting, please?
How is Sony Pixel Shift, compared to what is seen with Pentax K-1? It would be great if we can get a comparison of the two and see how they hold up against each other .. so I hope there will be a video where you compares the two camera systems :-)
Work really well in the k1 is it's crazy effective on noise. I've been able to handheld shots taken at fast shutter and have the in camera combining render a perfectly fine picture. I don't like the pentax software but if needed I use it. The in camera results, processed in the last version of lightroom work well if you don't have movement to remove.
The K-1 implementation is substantially superior to the Sony. Seems like the Sony is a step backward. I use the K-1 for shooting non-moving macro subjects and copy work. Release the shutter, 4 frames are shot via electronic shutter. A few seconds later you get a single raw file that LR handles just fine. The only issues with the K-1 is if shooting subjects with movement then you need to the pentax silkypix software to properly deal with those files. If you shoot non-moving subjects and want pixel shift it does not get better than the K-1.
Canon Digital photo professional gets rid of any moire red blue effect in my photos really good, it's a lifesaver, using lens aberration correction. Chrominance noise reduction also gets rid of red and blue noise in high ISO images especially in shadows and Balck areas.
Tony in this post-disclosure Era do you think the Sony a7R111 would be the best camera you could recommend for taking photos or videos of uap's? And do you think it will increase sales of dslr's?
Is it also working for Repos ( I.g. if i photograph my analog negatives and slides , in order to digitalise them ) And if so only color negatives and slides or also B/W ones or XP2 Negatives which have a color cast ?
Yeah I don't see a any difference in my testing but if you're going to do some heavy processing with the color maybe you'd notice a difference in gradients.
It would be interesting to see this on an even higher-end camera with a lower ISO. Combined with image stacking, you could potentially get a stupendously high-quality image.
I have another video coming out on this, but the short answer is no. After a couple of weeks of testing with different cameras, there is no substitute for pixel shifting.
Looking forward to that video. I’ve been reading about and experimenting with this very thing for moon shots. I have heard it called “super resolution.”
Two questions: 1- How does Son'y's pixel shift compare to the Pentax K-1's? 2- If there's misalignment - and you're taking multiple shots - couldn't you simply select one of the photos from one of the the other shots and replace the misaligned photo? Same for ghosting- it will be easy to see which one is off-center. ..Joe
See the vlog from The Camera Ville (ruclips.net/video/g3cXnnmfi4w/видео.html). He's tested both. The Pentax K-1 comes out on top. It has in-camera processing.
But it gives you approx 2 times higher resolution equivalent of sensor because all Bayer filter sensors give 2 times less resolution than actual pixel count. PSMS helps to avoid it. I.e. to get A7RM3 pixel shifted equivalent you should have 84 megapixel Bayer sensor
Yeah, Sony definitely doesn’t make it easy - sounds like a rushed job, but at least its available for people who care about getting the best images on the market in FF.
I am very much astonished by the difference in sharpness between the Sony GM f2.8 24-70 versus the 16-35 GM f2.8. Are you sure this is typical? Or might this be a bad copy of the 24-70 that you own?
Can you do a comparison of the A7R3, K1, OMDEM1M2, and maybe the G9 and test their pixel shifting abilities? I need some ultra geeky camera nerd Scheisse.
HELP! My 4 Pixel Shift images look good in the Edge Viewer but everytime I select them to create&adjust the composite the resulting image comes up totally black. Am I doing something wrong?
It seems to do a good job adding some extra detail but my main problem is the raw editor. The color profiles sony starts your image out with is pretty crappy. Also often there's a lot more processing to do on an image in the raw stage I like to do then what tony did in this video before exposing the image to a tiff. I know I know.... just edit the image in lightroom after. But one thing that was left out of this tutorial was to adjust white balance settings before exporting to a tiff. If you don't then you will lose the ability to make adjustments to white balance in Kelvin as a RAW file in lightroom. Instead you have this kinda warming cooling filter as a white balance slider white is not good. So again you might ask why not just edit white balance in Sonyʻs RAW editor? Well... after I applied the picture style to neutral and turned off sharpening and noise reduction Sonyʻs software was running terribly slow. The photo was stuck in this kinda blurry state kinda how an image looks as its loading in lightroom. I know my computer is not that slow. I think that Sonyʻs software is just that crappy. Anyways, I didn't think I would have had to mess with the white balance much since the images in lightroom looked pretty good as shot. The tiff that Sonyʻs editor processed came out with a magenta cast. I really hope adobe will provide support for pixel shift. I think it could be a really powerful tool.but using external editors like sonyʻs and canonʻs just are not practical.
Pixel Shift really gives that "3D pop" on the examples I've seen. Too bad I am still recovering financially from my a9 purchase, and at the moment I guess I would have to stick to stitching images in Photoshop...
Sir i want to buy a Dslr, which is better for me canon 70D, 80D or nikon D7200. I m interested in still photography not video. Which is good for low light between those models?
Great and useful video! I took away two important and useful things. First pixel shift is just way too much trouble. Second I had better stay away from Sony since I almost always shoot with a 24-70. Thanks Tony!
What are you shooting today? The Nikon 24-70 is even worse than the Sony (both versions) The Canon 24-70 II is sharper than the Sony at the tele end 50-70mm. But it also lacks IS, so real life sharpness is severely diminished, even at shutter speed above the reciprocal rule. The Tamron and Sigma designs are again less sharp, than the Sony. So yes Canon has done an outstanding job with their 24-70 II, but i would prefer a lens with IS over it personally.
@Sindre In terms of design difficulty - yes In terms of actual use - no The 5.5 stops IBIS of the A7R III has the same if not better capabilities regarding image stabilization
The downside is that you have to do this in post processing on your computer. The camera wont put the pictures together. Panasonic and Olympus are able to do this in camera. A huge benefit over the Sony.
Tony & Chelsea Northrup Yes thats true, but Sony is also behind as far as no built in timelapse move mode and no intervelometer is concerned. Just dont know why they do this....
If R=400% improvement, G=400% improvement and B=200% improvement, now white is a combination of all 3, surely it must show some improvement, at least in where white pixels stop and end?
That tif you exported was 8-bit. Aren't the pixel-shifted raw images 12 or 14-bit? Even if they are, as an Olympus EM1ii owner, I am astonished by how bad a job SONY has done here.
Yeah, I feel this is why the highlight recovery was an issue for Tony here. With 16bit it's not problem to recover shadows and whatnot. Or Tony - was this just an error I the tutorial process? P.S. - I would also go Adobe RGB instead of sRGB and do the sRGB when I make the exported Jpeg
The bits in the raw file don't equate to the bits in the tif. You can use the 16-bit tif, but it just gives you smoother gradients within the same dynamic range... In my testing I've never seen the benefit of 16 bit and it does increase file size and reduce performance. But feel free to use it!
You know, I forgot it would require the Sony software to support Logluv TIFF, and what I can see in the TIFF envelope is that the Sony Editing software using RGB for the PhotometricInterpretation. So now we just need to wait for .ARQ support from Lightroom and/or Capture One for the best support. Still, I'll be using my 16bit images since I love tweaking colors and really love not running into banding :)
May I suggest that you do some audio editing to remove the signal clipping. Your "S's" are clipping and turn into whistles. You can set parameters to cut off the highest and lowest frequencies to prevent that. Thanks for the informative video!
Yeah but at least Sony having a go at new features, who knows how this will evolve, especially as fps is getting faster, imagine 500fps or more with pixel shift, suddenly it might become usable for handheld shots.
Tony made a slight mistake there, it's 100%. 100% more detail means double the detail. And 300% more detail means 4 times the details. This is just how math works.
Sounds like this isn't going to be a very practical option for landscape photographers. Even if you're managing to shoot a scene without any water or foliage movement, you're gonna have to lug a crazy heavy tripod around to compensate for any wind. I think I'll just stick to shooting panoramas.
Yeah, I think panoramas are generally going to be easier and more consistent for landscapes. This technique is still handy for product photography and for times when you can't zoom in any tighter.
Ok I'll say it since ppl are avoiding the elephant in the room, umm this new and improved Sony or the 3 year old Canon 5dsr with more mp which gets sharper images without all the fussing? It's not like the Sony combo is any lighter or smaller.
Tony & Chelsea Northrup yeah, that makes sense. I definitely wouldn't let it do AF for each of type 4 shots. Once you set the AF point, carefully change to MF, as to not move camera (maybe remotely?) Pixel Shift as you point out is very touchy and needs uber stability from the first shot till the last..
Tony & Chelsea Northrup Shots might be improved using an app on tablet pc or smart phone if camera has wi-fi, or non-wired remote, to lessen any movement pressing button to take the picture, even on a heavy tripod perhaps?
It is not nearly as much of a hassle as described in this video, and the editing portion is totally unnecessary with Sony software.... after capturing a shoot, the “View” software can perform the same composite task, and output the arq raw file. This can be done in a batch as well! Just open View, select applicable arw files, and right click to composite. The arq files are accepted by adobe raw, with zero Sony post applied. The video is correct though, ANY movement, or lighting change, will render a terrible result. Everything must be static.
Basically, 99% useless. Get a digital back and be done for such needs. My Sony in 2 years now stopped displaying from the large screen. So u have setup a rig with a 7" monitor to work with for still. Or just using the viewfinder. But now the micro HDMI slot is very "jiggly" and the socket feel loose. And now the camera turns in and often does not show ANY output from monitor OR viewfinder. It has delays in starting up, and has childish splash screens between modes you change (M,Tv,S,..). This camera while has a great sensor, it just doesn't hold up. I still have my 5Dm2 that's been through so much, while the A7RII I've been quite careful with. So now I have to use yet another Can in body/5dm3, and for studio the Phase One 45+ back does the job. Do for a Sony product, I guess it's as expected. I'll wait for a Canon counter model.
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
A better tool for processing the files (released after I made this video): sdp.io/psdng
Buy the Sony a7R III: sdp.io/a7r3
Get Lightroom + Photoshop: sdp.io/adobedeal
Better still is Lightroom, which now supports Sony's pixel shift combined RAW format .ARQ files
This is a big help for me as a Sony A7R3 n A7R4 user
Thanks for a well crafted presentation, Tony! One thought though; the auto focus problem can be easily overcome by just shooting old legacy glass. My 48 year old 55mm Canon FL Lens produces magnificently sharp pixel shifts at f5.6.
The Pentax K-1 does everything in camera (or in post if you wish), including saving the PS jpg (which are great btw), allowing you to view it and zooom in, re-processing in-camera with different movement correction settings... It's much more reliable than what you describe the A7Riii (i still use the remote), the first RAW is available in case you need it... I and i haven't had to use my heavy tripod either. PS is really worth using particularly for picking up fine details including textures, and for beating moire.
This is a bit of a disapointment from Sony, maybe they could collaborate a bit more with Pentax, get some help for PS images, Pentax could certainly use some Sony expertise in other areas.
I've used the pixel shift for months, hundreds of images. The Sony software may perform pooly, but it is slow as cold molasses and crashes a lot, too. Tony, I've found that even though my house is solid and I have the camera etc. almost over the foundation, my heartbeat causes enough vibration, through the bottom of my chair, floor, and up the table, to ruin pixel shift exposures. When you get them right, the comets and fortunes align, it's fantastic. But what a pain to use.
Wouldn't you select manual focus, when making pixel shifted images so as to avoid something going wrong with AF, and also use the timer so you aren't touching the camera? 🤔
Thanks heaps sir. Bought this camera and haven’t tried this one. Fantastic recommendations to Sony. Love from New Zealand.
Sounds like a much too complicated "feature" for the marketing sheet, that no one ever will use.
Thanks Tony for the clarification.
Karl Ranseier Except Landscape and Studio Photographers.
Tony, what would be better when it comes to camera movement is for having an option for the camera to chooser when to shoot. The latest Phase One camera system has an option where the camera detects movement and will not take a picture until the movement has ceased. May not guarantee a perfect shot, but at least will make keepers more likely to occur.
I've had my R3 for over a month and haven't tried this yet. Thanks for posting this. At least now I know how much work will be involved to get a good image. This is definitely for special occasions only.
Out of passing interest; I've found shooting pixel shift with my Pentax K-3II produces more good shots with 'L' bracket use. My bracket is fairly massive, and I suspect it assists by 'soaking up' some minute internal camera vibration. Of course, the heavy tripod, mirror up and self timer are musts...
Would love to see how the Panasonic G9 80 Mpx pixel-shift mode compares.
Can you please do a review for Canon EOS 200d
on the sony website they show an export to 'arq' format. isn't that kind of a raw format where more than 8-bit of color depth are kept ?
Yeah, but Adobe can't handle that either.
ARQ is just stacked RAW file. Like zip file containing 4 original raw files
Thanks for the detailed look at pixel shift. Not planning on using it much with my A7R3 but nice to know more about it. I don't think this feature really matters to most buying the A7R3. It will be something when Sony makes it work in-the-camera.
can you do a video comparing olympus , pentex , panasonic and sony , i think olympus is doing good with the 75mm f18 and give high quality with better price
Cant wait for your full A7r iii Tutorial! I just bought one and cannot even use it because Tony has not taught me nothin'.
I saw that you were adjusting the exposure in the Sony app, and then exporting as 8-bit TIFF. You said you can do it a few times at differerent exposures and then photo-merge in LR so that no highlights or shadows were lost. If you just save as 16 bit TIFF, nothing is lost.
So in general are you reaching for your a7riii for *most* shoots or sticking with the D850; obviously some better for different situations but does Sony give you enough reason to grab their camera more often?
Your comparison of the 2 lenses shows moire on one image due to lens sharpness- which you comment on - but I thought pixelshift eliminates moire. Am I mistaken?
Has Sony updated any of the Pixel shift software since this video was uploaded? Or do you still have to use Sony’s software to combine images
Interesting results and is a shame that it's so sensitive to the smallest of vibration. I have used the Olympus EM-5 MkII pixel shift and it's amazing and up to 8 seconds per shot and flash support and is pretty amazing that the sensor could remain that still for that long of time and not drift over time.
Tony, did you every get the chance to see if it supports using a flash for the Sony's pixel shift like the Olympus does?
I'll add my voice to several other here in asking you to do a pixel shift comparison test. It would really be interesting to know if all pixel shift cameras are as touchy as the Sony is.
Thanks for this Tony.
Could you explain the requirement for a minimum of 1 second delay between pixel-shifted images please? A shorter delay would help to reduce subject movement between shots - so, do you think it's just to allow the sensor to settle into its new position?
Also, as you mentioned, AF w/ shutter defaults to On and cannot be altered in Px. Shift Multi Shoot mode, but you _can_ change to MF in order to prevent the shutter release from compromising focus.
can you try this with portraits? Just for research purposes?
Would be nice if the Sony software would let us export the result as a regular raw file. They need to add that asap.
Yeah. They let you export a "new" RAW type, .ARQ (instead of .ARW). But neither Lightroom nor Capture One read it.
Do you make the Tests with or without stabilisation?
Thx Tony for the review. Is it me or does this seem like a long route to take for a "perfect" detailed shot? Feels that way to me; but i don't get paid to make beauty product shots. So, what do i know.
Good video tony and good explanation , the issue of movement may not be actual movement , do you think it maybe possibly the case that the micro technology that shifts the sensor is not capable of consistently accurately moving the sensor by a few microns and occasionally miss hits it as it were ?
This is definitely possible.
Great Video! One question: Which lens do you recommend getting with the A7RIII? 24-70 GM or 24-105 F4? Is the 24-105 as good as the GM? DXO hasn't released any test scores, would love to see you do a comparison of the sigma 24-105 and the Sony one!
I'm curious about that comparison, too! I tested the 24-105 vs the Nikon 24-120 and the 24-105 was WAY WAY WAY better.
Can you also compare the Sony 28-135? I know it's far less sharp, but it is par-focal, and Sony camera isn't really good at locking AF when zooming with a non-par-focal lens.
Marco Zhang for an all around lens 24 to 105 and get two prims if you need blurry bokeh background for the price of the 24 to 70 2.8.
What's the reason for choosing green as the color that gets double the amount of pixels on the sensor?
Just for your information, Rawtherapee supports pixel shift: pixls.us/articles/rawtherapee-and-pentax-pixel-shift/. If you have an a7R III then support is being developed right now and you can already use it if you install the development (dev) build: keybase.pub/gaaned92/RTW64NightlyBuilds/
Yes, but did you read The Mating Mind?
I'm a Canon shooter too, but I have a feeling I wont always be. Staying knowledgeable about advancing camera tech keeps me prepared.
can you do a video on teleconverters and how they affect lens f number please?
Hi Tony, would a program used as a Lightroom Classic &/or Photoshop plugin such as "Aurora HDR 2018" be of benefit, especially as it has a feature to correct ghosting, please?
How is Sony Pixel Shift, compared to what is seen with Pentax K-1?
It would be great if we can get a comparison of the two and see how they hold up against each other .. so I hope there will be a video where you compares the two camera systems :-)
Tony, I recently bought 7rm3 and 28-70 f2.8 gm. According to your video, does that mean I did not choose a great lens?
It's still the best lens for that range for that system.
is the canon version II sharper than the sony gm ?
Has anyone looked at the Pentax K1 and is done in camera. Pixel shift is nothing new. Can you do a review with both cameras?
We've reviewed the K1 previously. It works well. Better than the Sony, really.
ruclips.net/video/g3cXnnmfi4w/видео.html
Thx for noticing. Pentax KP does it beautifully and easily. But Lightroom doesn't do justice to its rendering. Better use Pentax own SW.
Work really well in the k1 is it's crazy effective on noise. I've been able to handheld shots taken at fast shutter and have the in camera combining render a perfectly fine picture. I don't like the pentax software but if needed I use it. The in camera results, processed in the last version of lightroom work well if you don't have movement to remove.
The K-1 implementation is substantially superior to the Sony. Seems like the Sony is a step backward. I use the K-1 for shooting non-moving macro subjects and copy work. Release the shutter, 4 frames are shot via electronic shutter. A few seconds later you get a single raw file that LR handles just fine. The only issues with the K-1 is if shooting subjects with movement then you need to the pentax silkypix software to properly deal with those files. If you shoot non-moving subjects and want pixel shift it does not get better than the K-1.
Canon Digital photo professional gets rid of any moire red blue effect in my photos really good, it's a lifesaver, using lens aberration correction. Chrominance noise reduction also gets rid of red and blue noise in high ISO images especially in shadows and Balck areas.
Tony in this post-disclosure Era do you think the Sony a7R111 would be the best camera you could recommend for taking photos or videos of uap's? And do you think it will increase sales of dslr's?
Yeah I'd probably pick the a7R III for that.
Tony & Chelsea Northrup Great . Love your channel always informative Tony & Chelsea!
Is there any chance of a pixel shift update for the sony a7ii? Thanks
Is it any good for digitalizing film and slides ? Even beating film scanners ?
Is it also working for Repos ( I.g. if i photograph my analog negatives and slides , in order to digitalise them ) And if so only color negatives and slides or also B/W ones or XP2 Negatives which have a color cast ?
Why export it as a 8bit TIF? shouldn't 16bit TIF give you more options?
Yeah I don't see a any difference in my testing but if you're going to do some heavy processing with the color maybe you'd notice a difference in gradients.
It would be interesting to see this on an even higher-end camera with a lower ISO. Combined with image stacking, you could potentially get a stupendously high-quality image.
Could stacking various hand-held shots in Photoshop with 'Mean/Median' mode give similar results as Pixel Shifting?
I have another video coming out on this, but the short answer is no. After a couple of weeks of testing with different cameras, there is no substitute for pixel shifting.
Looking forward to that video. I’ve been reading about and experimenting with this very thing for moon shots. I have heard it called “super resolution.”
Two questions:
1- How does Son'y's pixel shift compare to the Pentax K-1's?
2- If there's misalignment - and you're taking multiple shots - couldn't you simply select one of the photos from one of the the other shots and replace the misaligned photo? Same for ghosting- it will be easy to see which one is off-center.
..Joe
See the vlog from The Camera Ville (ruclips.net/video/g3cXnnmfi4w/видео.html). He's tested both. The Pentax K-1 comes out on top. It has in-camera processing.
Can we hack with other cameras which has not this pixel shift shooting option?
When saving as TIF, why not save in 16 bit instead of 8 instead of trying to recover dynamic range by saving several versions of the image?
Seriously Tony, on next podcast or live cast you need to open the UFOs folder 6:46
SpecialK hah! It’s not as exciting as it seems. I think we were going to do a video on optical illusion type stuff
Chelsea Northrup I smell Cover up already *X-Files theme song*
What a horrendous process. Life is too short to bother with this.
Mitchell Rothenberg Totally agree. Pixelshift is more of a hack to get more resolution than a real feature.
But it gives you approx 2 times higher resolution equivalent of sensor because all Bayer filter sensors give 2 times less resolution than actual pixel count. PSMS helps to avoid it.
I.e. to get A7RM3 pixel shifted equivalent you should have 84 megapixel Bayer sensor
Yeah, Sony definitely doesn’t make it easy - sounds like a rushed job, but at least its available for people who care about getting the best images on the market in FF.
but it‘s easier than to get an medium format camera,right?
Much easier to just buy a pentax k1 which combines images in the camera.
Thanks Tony, very helpful.
I am very much astonished by the difference in sharpness between the Sony GM f2.8 24-70 versus the 16-35 GM f2.8. Are you sure this is typical? Or might this be a bad copy of the 24-70 that you own?
I can't be sure, but DxOMark's testing shows similar results. Sony loaned me both lenses.
+1 for the upcomming a7R III tutorial
Have you tried Pentax K1’s Pixel Shift technology? Which one is better in your opinion?
The Pentax is better. Olympus has the best tech.
Hi what’s the tripod model? Please
Can you do a comparison of the A7R3, K1, OMDEM1M2, and maybe the G9 and test their pixel shifting abilities? I need some ultra geeky camera nerd Scheisse.
i know this may be odd. if it saves 4 sep images what happens if you only import 3 images instead of 4 and remove the bad image
very interesting
I wish you a nice Sunday evening
friendly regards Frank
HELP! My 4 Pixel Shift images look good in the Edge Viewer but everytime I select them to create&adjust the composite the resulting image comes up totally black.
Am I doing something wrong?
Awesome content 👍🏻
It seems to do a good job adding some extra detail but my main problem is the raw editor. The color profiles sony starts your image out with is pretty crappy. Also often there's a lot more processing to do on an image in the raw stage I like to do then what tony did in this video before exposing the image to a tiff. I know I know.... just edit the image in lightroom after. But one thing that was left out of this tutorial was to adjust white balance settings before exporting to a tiff. If you don't then you will lose the ability to make adjustments to white balance in Kelvin as a RAW file in lightroom. Instead you have this kinda warming cooling filter as a white balance slider white is not good.
So again you might ask why not just edit white balance in Sonyʻs RAW editor? Well... after I applied the picture style to neutral and turned off sharpening and noise reduction Sonyʻs software was running terribly slow. The photo was stuck in this kinda blurry state kinda how an image looks as its loading in lightroom. I know my computer is not that slow. I think that Sonyʻs software is just that crappy.
Anyways, I didn't think I would have had to mess with the white balance much since the images in lightroom looked pretty good as shot. The tiff that Sonyʻs editor processed came out with a magenta cast. I really hope adobe will provide support for pixel shift. I think it could be a really powerful tool.but using external editors like sonyʻs and canonʻs just are not practical.
Tony,
You could have at least had a few of your books on the book shelves. Missed opportunity.
hi , i'm using sony A7r iii when i try to shoot the pixel shift technique with flash the shutter automatically turned to 1/13, do you know why
What is the tilted monitor you're using? Affiliate link if you want to send me directly there!
Pixel Shift is in Pentax K1 a long time ago. You should know.
Yeah, we reviewed it.
why don't you save the composite as ARQ? and then open it in Camera Raw.
hey can u plz do a review and a tutorial for how to use a sony a7r iii im a canon user im thinking about changing to sony plzzzzzzzz make a vedio
Yeah soon.
That "UFO's" folder lol
Make a part 2 now :). Rawtherapee and ACR are opening ARQ files now.
if i have shaky hands, and im not using a tripod should i still leave pixel shift on?
nevermind, commented before i finished the video
Pixel Shift really gives that "3D pop" on the examples I've seen. Too bad I am still recovering financially from my a9 purchase, and at the moment I guess I would have to stick to stitching images in Photoshop...
Honestly, stitching 4 pictures would probably produce sharper image and be much faster process than what we saw now.
Sir i want to buy a Dslr, which is better for me canon 70D, 80D or nikon D7200. I m interested in still photography not video. Which is good for low light between those models?
Check sdp.io/whichcamera. the d7200 is the best of those in low light.
thank you sir
Sir one more question, in image quality which is better between those models 70D, 80D, D7200? And also focus in still photography?
Great and useful video! I took away two important and useful things. First pixel shift is just way too much trouble. Second I had better stay away from Sony since I almost always shoot with a 24-70. Thanks Tony!
What are you shooting today?
The Nikon 24-70 is even worse than the Sony (both versions)
The Canon 24-70 II is sharper than the Sony at the tele end 50-70mm. But it also lacks IS, so real life sharpness is severely diminished, even at shutter speed above the reciprocal rule.
The Tamron and Sigma designs are again less sharp, than the Sony.
So yes Canon has done an outstanding job with their 24-70 II, but i would prefer a lens with IS over it personally.
I was using the GM.
Remember the Sony 24-70 GM doesn't have IS either, so it's comparable to the Canon in that regard.
@Sindre
In terms of design difficulty - yes
In terms of actual use - no
The 5.5 stops IBIS of the A7R III has the same if not better capabilities regarding image stabilization
But most sony body have IS
Pentax has had Pixel shift for years now with the K1 and it's much better executed than the Sony one.
So is the Olympus ( think they were the 1st in mirrorless - I think Hasselbald did it before then...)
Correct. And Hasselblad is doing it again now to the tune of 400MP!
The downside is that you have to do this in post processing on your computer. The camera wont put the pictures together.
Panasonic and Olympus are able to do this in camera.
A huge benefit over the Sony.
Yeah agreed. Sony is behind in this, but still way ahead of Canon and Nikon.
Tony & Chelsea Northrup Yes thats true, but Sony is also behind as far as no built in timelapse move mode and no intervelometer is concerned.
Just dont know why they do this....
If R=400% improvement, G=400% improvement and B=200% improvement, now white is a combination of all 3, surely it must show some improvement, at least in where white pixels stop and end?
This kills the need for Medium format?
lol no.
Thanks, useful info!! Appreciated.
If you are really into pixel shift the other alternative is: buy a Pentax K1 :))
Or an OLY EM1 Mk2 :)
Will it work on Milky way shots?
I'm not sure! I bet you'd get weird moire from the movement of the stars.
You....you....you don't use Macs???? ....!!! Great video. I gave up on pixel shift. Gain over time is not that great for me.
That tif you exported was 8-bit. Aren't the pixel-shifted raw images 12 or 14-bit?
Even if they are, as an Olympus EM1ii owner, I am astonished by how bad a job SONY has done here.
Yeah, I feel this is why the highlight recovery was an issue for Tony here. With 16bit it's not problem to recover shadows and whatnot. Or Tony - was this just an error I the tutorial process?
P.S. - I would also go Adobe RGB instead of sRGB and do the sRGB when I make the exported Jpeg
The bits in the raw file don't equate to the bits in the tif. You can use the 16-bit tif, but it just gives you smoother gradients within the same dynamic range... In my testing I've never seen the benefit of 16 bit and it does increase file size and reduce performance. But feel free to use it!
You've NEVER seen the benefit of smoother gradients from high bit-depth? You advocate throwing away data to speed up "performance?"
For sure, K. Adam. I've been loving 16-bit editing since 1998 when I first saw the benefits with flesh tones.
You know, I forgot it would require the Sony software to support Logluv TIFF, and what I can see in the TIFF envelope is that the Sony Editing software using RGB for the PhotometricInterpretation. So now we just need to wait for .ARQ support from Lightroom and/or Capture One for the best support.
Still, I'll be using my 16bit images since I love tweaking colors and really love not running into banding :)
I would love to see a real life example of how this works, maybe a landscape...
May I suggest that you do some audio editing to remove the signal clipping. Your "S's" are clipping and turn into whistles. You can set parameters to cut off the highest and lowest frequencies to prevent that. Thanks for the informative video!
I predict that almost nobody will use this painstaking feature
Yeah but at least Sony having a go at new features, who knows how this will evolve, especially as fps is getting faster, imagine 500fps or more with pixel shift, suddenly it might become usable for handheld shots.
Why green only 200%?
Because sensor comes with double green pixels than blues and reds
Eugenio ah i see it now... thanks
Tony made a slight mistake there, it's 100%. 100% more detail means double the detail. And 300% more detail means 4 times the details. This is just how math works.
Now cheaper Pixel Shift are in K-70 Pentax, works well. :)
Sounds like this isn't going to be a very practical option for landscape photographers. Even if you're managing to shoot a scene without any water or foliage movement, you're gonna have to lug a crazy heavy tripod around to compensate for any wind. I think I'll just stick to shooting panoramas.
I think once your sensor is 46 MP or more you need a decent tripod anyway.
Yeah, I think panoramas are generally going to be easier and more consistent for landscapes. This technique is still handy for product photography and for times when you can't zoom in any tighter.
Hi tony what is the difference between Nikon focus shift and Sony pixel shift , is this both give the same result ?
Thanks
Ok I'll say it since ppl are avoiding the elephant in the room, umm this new and improved Sony or the 3 year old Canon 5dsr with more mp which gets sharper images without all the fussing? It's not like the Sony combo is any lighter or smaller.
I'm wondering the same thing. I think I'm going for the 5dsr except I'm going to wait for the new version that should be announced this year.
Seems like a lot of trouble to get little improvement. Be that as it may, If you have it - enjoy it.
Not practical at all, but Sony have other features that help a lot to improve sharpness.
I thought the recommendation was to shoot pixel shift in Manual Focus?
Maybe if you use AF and then switch it to manual... But with this level of detail MF isn't precise enough.
Tony & Chelsea Northrup yeah, that makes sense. I definitely wouldn't let it do AF for each of type 4 shots. Once you set the AF point, carefully change to MF, as to not move camera (maybe remotely?) Pixel Shift as you point out is very touchy and needs uber stability from the first shot till the last..
Tony & Chelsea Northrup Shots might be improved using an app on tablet pc or smart phone if camera has wi-fi, or non-wired remote, to lessen any movement pressing button to take the picture, even on a heavy tripod perhaps?
It is not nearly as much of a hassle as described in this video, and the editing portion is totally unnecessary with Sony software.... after capturing a shoot, the “View” software can perform the same composite task, and output the arq raw file. This can be done in a batch as well! Just open View, select applicable arw files, and right click to composite. The arq files are accepted by adobe raw, with zero Sony post applied. The video is correct though, ANY movement, or lighting change, will render a terrible result. Everything must be static.
Basically, 99% useless. Get a digital back and be done for such needs. My Sony in 2 years now stopped displaying from the large screen. So u have setup a rig with a 7" monitor to work with for still. Or just using the viewfinder. But now the micro HDMI slot is very "jiggly" and the socket feel loose. And now the camera turns in and often does not show ANY output from monitor OR viewfinder. It has delays in starting up, and has childish splash screens between modes you change (M,Tv,S,..). This camera while has a great sensor, it just doesn't hold up. I still have my 5Dm2 that's been through so much, while the A7RII I've been quite careful with. So now I have to use yet another Can in body/5dm3, and for studio the Phase One 45+ back does the job. Do for a Sony product, I guess it's as expected. I'll wait for a Canon counter model.
Sounds like way more trouble than it's worth, except for a narrow field of usage.
i love Sony ❤️
Yes I have a heavy tripod. Also a7Riii.