ClarkVision.com

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Contents

Part 1a: General Photography

• Basic camera settings, lighting, composition, subject, action to nightscape photography

Part 1b: Exposure and Digital Cameras; Understanding Exposure
Part 2a: Color, Chromaticity and Color Perception
Part 2b: Implications of Digital Photography Technology
Part 3: Digital Processing
Part 4: Digital Camera Reviews and Sensor Performance

• Digital Camera Sensor Reviews
  

Part 5: The Human Eye
Part 6: Evaluating Lenses, Filters, and Tripods
Part 7: Film Scanning and Image detail
Part 8: Printing
Part 9: Stories
Part 10: Travel
Part 11: Astronomical Events and Astro-articles
Part 12: Visual Astronomy of the Night Sky. Roger's latest research relevant to viewing through your telescope.

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If you find the information on this site useful, please support Clarkvision and make a donation (link below).

Part 1a: General Photography

• Basic Camera Settings for Photography
• Does Gear Matter in Photography?
• My Gear List for Photography
• A Very Portable Astrophotography, Landscape and Wildlife Photography Setup
• Lighting, Composition, Subject
  • Lighting Part 1: Introduction
  • Lighting Part 2: Types of Lighting
  • Lighting Part 3: The Angle of Light: Phase Angle Basics
  • Lighting Part 4: The Angle of Light: Phase Angle, Advanced
  • Lighting Part 5: How to Determine Phase Angle in the Field
  • Lighting Part 6: The Directionality of Light; Soft versus Harsh Light and Color of Light
  • Composition Part 1: Introduction
  • Subject Part 1: Introduction
  • Learning to See
• Action Photography: Tracking a Moving Subject with Digital Cameras
  • Wildlife Action Photography: Autofocus Tracking with Digital Cameras
  • Understanding DSLR Autofocus (Phase Detect Autofocus)
  • Autofocus Speed of DSLRs and Telephoto Lenses
• Night and Low Light Photography
  • 001) ETHICS in Night Photography
  • 002) Beginning Astrophotography: Star Trails to Fixed Tripod Astrophotography
  • 003) Astrophotography Made Simple
  • 1a) Nightscape Photography with Digital Cameras
  • 1b) Planning Nightscape Photography
  • 1c) Characteristics of Best Digital Cameras and Lenses for Nightscape and Astro Photography
  • 1d) Recommended Digital Cameras and Lenses for Nightscape and Astro Photography
  • 1e) Nightscape Photography In The Field Setup
  • 1f) A Very Portable Astrophotography, Landscape and Wildlife Photography Setup
  • 1g) Tracking Mounts for Deep-Sky Astrophotography
  • 2a1) Blue Lions on the Serengeti and Natural Colors of the Night Sky
  • 2a2) The Color of the Night Sky
  • 2b) The Color of Stars
  • 2c) The Color of Nebulae and Interstellar Dust in the Night Sky
  • 2d0) Sensor Calibration and Color
  • 2d1) Verifying Natural Color in Night Sky Images and Understanding Good Versus Bad Post Processing
  • 2d2) Color Astrophotography and Critics
  • 2e) Verifying Natural Color Astrophotography Image Processing Work Flow with Light Pollution
  • 2f) True Color of the Trapezium in M42, The Great Nebula in Orion
  • 2g) The True Color of the Pleiades Nebulosity
  • 3a1) Nightscape and Astrophotography Image Processing Basic Work Flow
  • 3a2) Night Photography Image Processing Best Settings and Tips
  • 3a3) Astrophotography Post Processing with RawTherapee
  • 3b) Astrophotography Image Processing Using Modern Raw Converters
  • 3c) Astrophotography Image Processing with Light Pollution
  • 3d) Image Processing: Zeros are Valid Image Data
  • 3e1) Image Processing: Stacking Methods Compared
  • 3e2) Image Processing: Stacking with Master Dark vs no Dark Frames
  • 3f1) Advanced Image Stretching with the rnc-color-stretch Algorithm
  • 3f2) Messier 8 and 20 Image Stretching with the rnc-color-stretch Algorithm
  • 3f3) Messier 22 + Interstellar Dust Image Stretching with the rnc-color-stretch Algorithm
  • 3f4) Advanced Image Stretching with High Light Pollution and Gradients with the rnc-color-stretch Algorithm
  • 3f5) Black Point Selection in Astrophotos: Impacts on faint nebulae colors and solutions with rnc-color-stretch
  • 4a) Astrophotography and Focal Length
  • 4b1) Astrophotography and Exposure
  • 4b2) Exposure Time, f/ratio, Aperture Area, Sensor Size, Quantum Efficiency: What Controls Light Collection? Plus Calibrating Your Camera
  • 4c) Aurora Photography
  • 4d) Meteor Photography
  • 4e) Do You Need a Modified Camera For Astrophotography?
  • 4f) How to Photograph the Sun: Sunrise, Sunset, Eclipses
  • 5) Nightscape Photography with a Barn Door Tracking Mount
  • 6a) An Observing Light Standard for Nightscape Photography and Visual Astronomy of the Deep Sky (Lighting and Protecting Your Night Vision)
  • 6b) Color Vision at Night
  • 7a) Night and Low Light Photography with Digital Cameras (Technical)
  • 7b) On-Sensor Dark Current Suppression Technology
  • 7c) Technology advancements for low light long exposure imaging
  • 8a) Software for nightscape and astrophotographers
• Mosaics
  • Large Digital Mosaics as a Substitute for Large Format Filma

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If you find the information on this site useful, please support Clarkvision and make a donation (link below).

• Recommended Cameras and My Gear List for Photography

Part 1b: Exposure and Digital Cameras: Understanding Exposure

• Exposure and Digital Cameras, Part 1, What is ISO on a digital camera? ISO Myths and Digital Cameras
• Exposure and Digital Cameras, Part 2, Understanding Exposure
• Exposure and Digital Cameras, Part 3: When f/ratio Does not Tell the Whole Story
• Exposure and Digital Cameras, Part 4: Low Light Capability and Upgrades: Digital Camera or Lens Upgrade?

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Part 2a: Color, Chromaticity and Color Perception

• A Revolution Coming to Photography with Game Changing New Standards for Dynamic Range and Color Spaces and Astounding New High Dynamic Range Display Technology
• High Dynamic Range Hardware and 4K UHD HDR Movies
• Color Part 1: CIE Chromaticity and Perception
• Color Part 2: Color Spaces and Color Perception

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Part 2b: Implications of Digital Photography Technology

• The First Digital Camera (1971)
• Does Gear Matter in Photography?
• The Megapixel Myth, Image WOW Factor, and Digital Images
• How Many Megapixels do you need? Plus Other Factors in Choosing a Digital Camera.

• Film versus Digital Discussion and Executive Summary
• Digital Cameras: Does Pixel Size Matter?
• Digital Cameras: Does Pixel Size Matter? Part 2
• Pixel Size, ISO and Noise in Digital Cameras
• DSLR vs Mirrorless Cameras

• Plate Scale (Measure the size of things with your digital camera)
• Crop Factor and Digital Cameras
• Lens Field of View with different sensors

• Telephoto Reach and Digital Cameras
• Telephoto Reach, Part 2: Telephoto + Camera System Performance (A Omega Product, or Etendue, Advanced Concepts)

• Color Balance Settings on Your Camera
• The f/ratio Myth and Digital Cameras
• The Depth-of-Field Myth and Digital Cameras
• Why Do DSLR's Have Mirrors? (Predictive Autofocus)

• Fast Simple on Site Microadjustment Method Requiring no Computers or Charts
• Changing Lenses on DSLR Cameras to Minimize Dust Contamination
• Effects of Dust and Hot or Stuck Pixels on Digital Camera Images

• Autofocus Speed of DSLRs and Telephoto Lenses
• Compact Flash Card Speed

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Part 3: Digital Processing

• Digital Workflow.
• Choosing an LCD Monitor for Photo-Editing/Viewing.
• Calibrating Your Monitor and Color Management.
• Post Processing Advantages.
• Night Photography Image Processing Best Settings and Tips
• Processing Canon Raw Image Data to Maximize Dynamic Range
• Digital Camera Raw Converter Shadow Detail and Image Editor Limitations
  
  
• Sharpening Methods
  • Image Sharpening Introduction
  • Unsharp mask experiments to improve apparent image detail.
  • Image Restoration Photography Using Adaptive Richardson-Lucy Deconvolution Part 1: Improving image resolution with image restoration methods
  • Image Restoration and Down Sampling Using Adaptive Richardson-Lucy Image Deconvolution Part 2: Improving both full and downsized image resolution with image restoration methods
  • Image Restoration Photography: Image Stacking and Adaptive Richardson-Lucy Image Deconvolution Part 3: Imaging the Planet Saturn with a Telephoto Lens
  
  
• Digital Camera Raw versus Jpeg Conversion Losses Digital Camera Raw versus Jpeg Conversion Losses

• Linux for Photographers:
• Linux for Photographers, Part 1
• Linux for Photographers Part 2: The Linux Mint Mate Desktop
• Linux for Photographers Part 3: Linux MINT Post Install Software Installation commands/script
• Linux for Photographers Part X: MS Windows versus Linux Resource Availability
• Astrophotography Post Processing with RawTherapee (and regular photography).
• Calibrating Your Monitor and Color Management.

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Part 4: Digital Camera Reviews and Sensor Performance

If you find the information on this site useful, please support Clarkvision and make a donation (link below).

• Recommended Cameras and My Gear List for Photography

• Digital Camera Reviews and Sensor Performance Summary
  Introduction
  Different Photography Situations
  Full Well Capacity
  Signal-to-Noise Ratio
  Read Noise
  Dynamic Range
  Unity Gain
  Native ISO
  Low Light Sensitivity Factor
  Noise Sources
  Thermal Noise from Dark Current
  Diffraction
  Pixel Density
  Full Sensor Apparent Image Quality (FSAIQ)
  Focal Length Limited Apparent Image Quality (FLL-AIQ1600)
  Focal Length Limited Apparent Image Quality FLL-AIQ-MAX
  Camera Sensor Figures of Merit (CSFM)
  Sensor Performance Models
  Data Tables
  References
  Notes
  
• Dynamic Range of an Image 1: How many bits do you need?
• Dynamic Range of an Image 2: Dynamic Range and Transfer Functions of Digital Images
• The Exposure Latitude of a Digital Camera and Comparison to Film
• The Signal-to-Noise of Digital Camera images and Comparison to Film.
• Digital Cameras: Counting Photons, Photometry, and Quantum Efficiency
• Procedures for Evaluating Digital Camera Sensor Noise, Dynamic Range, Dark Current, and Full Well Capacities; Canon 1D Mark II Analysis
  
• Digital Camera Reviews: Sensor analyses:
  Digital camera sensor full signal levels to noise floors for many cameras
  
• Digital Cameras and Long Exposure Times: Noise and Dark Current Comparisons

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Part 5: The Human Eye

• Notes on the resolution, ISO equivalent, focal length, and other details of the human eye
• Information on LASIK eye surgery

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Part 6: Evaluating Lenses, Filters, and Tripods

• Evaluating Filter Quality.
• Evaluating Polarizing Filters.
• Photographic Filters as Lens Protectors.
• MTF Charts Explained.
• Lens sharpness testing relative to each other.
• A Photographic Image Quality Test Using the Moon.
• Photograph the Moon with different Lenses: Image Quality Tests of Various Lenses.
• A test between Canon 100-400mm L IS, Sigma 170-500mm, and Canon 75-300mm IS zoom lenses.
• Experiences with teleconverters and image quality.
• Evaluating Tripods.

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If you find the information on this site useful, please support Clarkvision and make a donation (link below).

• Recommended Cameras and My Gear List for Photography

Part 7: Film Scanning and Image detail

• Film versus Digital Discussion and Executive Summary
• Slide "Scanning" with a Digital Camera (2012)
• Film versus Digital Cameras: How many Megapixels?
• A resolution test target imaged with Fujichrome Velvia and a 6-megapixel digital camera
• Information on scanning detail from film
  • Introduction
  • Resolution Test Area 1: Grass Field
  • Resolution Test Area 2: trees and Mountains
  • Resolution Test Area 3: Close Grass Blades
  • Extending the Testing: Actual Scene versus Imaging a Print
  • Digital Camera Resolution: How many Pixels and How Much Image Detail? Initial Testing
  • Digital Camera Resolution: How many Pixels and How Much Image Detail? Detailed Testing 2
  • Diffraction
  • Modulation Transfer Function and Image Detail
  • Example Image Detail and MTF Limits
  • Discussion
  • How many pixels per inch does a SHARP photographic print contain?
• How many dpi are needed to record all the detail?
• Scanner comparisons: flat bed scanners versus a drum scan for large format film.

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Part 8: Printing

• Experiments with Pixels Per Inch (PPI) on Printed Image Sharpness
• The digital print advantage over traditional printing methods.

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Part 9: Stories

• Various stories related to photography

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Part 10: Travel

• Travel Information

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Part 11: Astronomical Events and Astro-articles

• Low-Light and Astrophotography Signal-to-Noise with a Canon 10D Camera
• Surface Brightness of Deep-Sky Objects Measured with a Digital Camera
• Saturn with a telephoto lens, March 20, 2004).
• Total Lunar Eclipse of November, 2003
• Mars 2003
• The Moon, Jupiter and Saturn and their satellites with a Canon D60 digital camera and 700 mm focal length lens.

Part 12: Visual Astronomy of the Night Sky. Roger's latest research relevant to viewing through your telescope.

• Proposed Observing light standard
• Visual Astronomy of the Deep Sky, Table of Contents
• Galaxy M51 as a function of magnification as seen through a 12.5-inch telescope: an illustration of the "Optimum Magnified Visual Angle."
• Galaxy M51 as a function of telescope aperture.
• The Optimum Magnified Visual Angle (OMVA)
• A Catalog of Deep-Sky Objects, derived from Appendix E from Visual Astronomy of the Deep Sky.

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Digital Camera Sensor Reviews

Digital Camera Sensor Reviews has been moved to http://www.clarkvision.com/reviews/

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If you find the information on this site useful, please support Clarkvision and make a donation (link below).

• Recommended Cameras and My Gear List for Photography

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Other Links

Lars Ekdahl's site

http://www.normankoren.com/Tutorials/MTF.html More info on MTF--very detailed--reaches similar conclusions as here.

http://www.ales.litomisky.com/projects/Analog%20versus%20Digital%20Shootout%20(Hasselblad,%2035mm,%20Canon%205D).htm compares Velvia on a Haselblad 6x6cm, to Velvia 35mm film to a Canon 5D 12-megapixel digital camera.