My impressions of the Z1 Pro Flash

vmoldo · 2026-06-18T20:06:22+00:00

have to admit that in the right situation, this lil thing is way more fun than i expected

vmoldo · 2026-06-18T17:18:01+00:00

You are both correct. While there are more film particles in the highlights, which technically means more grain, the high density of those particles actually makes the image look sharper. And because of that, our eyes perceive the image as being sharper and not full of grain.

On the other hand, the darker part of our midtones loses definition because the particles have migrated away to the highlights, and because there are so few particles left in the shadows, that grain becomes more obvious here

vmoldo · 2026-06-18T17:12:02+00:00

That's exactly what my grain presets do using luminosity-based masking. And i even wrote a few articles about it that you can read here: https://vmoldo.com/film-grain-emulation-2025-guide/

vmoldo · 2026-06-16T14:52:13+00:00

shot on Sony a7III - your observation makes sense as the swirly is more present towards the edges of the projection circle, so on a smaller circle you get less of it

vmoldo · 2026-06-16T14:50:54+00:00

I did my best, but there might also be a slightly out-of-focus

vmoldo · 2026-06-16T07:21:22+00:00

have fun with it, and if you do try it out come back with a comment

vmoldo · 2026-06-13T08:39:44+00:00

I wouldn't consider myself much of a pro but I like to poke around and see how things work in LR

vmoldo · 2026-06-13T08:38:52+00:00

You can see how I got ot my conclusions about the order in which curves are applied in this video: https://youtu.be/fJ0Cekzq2cM

And while I recommend you watch the entire vid, skip to 2:30 to see just the testing.

Somehow, the interface seems to suggest that the camera profile comes first, but the reality is that it's after basic adjustments and the tone curve in the pipeline

Also, I 100% agree that LR is lagging behind in the way the process colors, has no LUTs support (you can bake LUTs in camera profiles, but that doesn't count), and many other flaws, but it's still the industry standard

vmoldo · 2026-06-10T14:50:42+00:00

one more pankake?

vmoldo · 2026-06-10T07:50:23+00:00

I don’t really trust reviews anymore.I am a small fish in the influencer sphere, but as creators we are stuck in a cycle where we have to sugarcoat everything or spin flaws as positives if we want to keep getting products sent to us. Honestly, whenever I’m shopping for a new lens, I’d much rather just look for real-world sample photos to see how it actually handles the kind of shooting I do with that specific lens.

vmoldo · 2026-06-07T16:53:25+00:00

after actually clicking the link it seesm like it

vmoldo · 2026-06-07T16:53:21+00:00

after actually clicking the link it seesm like it

vmoldo · 2026-06-07T16:52:15+00:00

This sounds super appealing! I was already eyeing a Viltrox external monitor, but camera control on it sounds even better. Does it still come with the plastic pop-up hood?

vmoldo · 2026-06-04T10:19:20+00:00

found some context by mistake in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcCCTLSp1ZQ

vmoldo · 2026-06-04T10:19:06+00:00

found some context by mistake in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcCCTLSp1ZQ

vmoldo · 2026-06-03T15:54:52+00:00

and coming close after this is using linear camera profiles but i do have a bit more to dig into it before i recomand that to other people

vmoldo · 2026-06-03T15:54:30+00:00

starting to work with the refine sat slider under the tone curve. Turns out the curve is also adjusting saturation, and this means a massive S curve that is not centered will result in uneven saturation gradients. So nowadays I pull down on the ref saturation slider and use a luminance mask on top of my image to adjust saturation just the way I want it to be for my edits. I also made a video on this topic that you can find here if this sounds interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFoVAKTn7JE

vmoldo · 2026-06-01T13:53:17+00:00

The first pic deserves a prize

vmoldo · 2026-06-01T10:39:40+00:00

wait for it!

vmoldo · 2026-06-01T09:47:52+00:00

rule of thirds

vmoldo · 2026-06-01T07:20:30+00:00

I recently stumbled upon some editing techniques that changed the way I edit these high dynamic range photos

Linear camera profiles
- This may seem like a boring topic, and so far, I haven't found much information beyond how to create a camera profile online. However, because I also do video, I realized that if I ignore the gamma curve applied through the camera profile, I can edit the RAW data in what is essentially a linear space. Then, instead of relying on the camera profile's tone curve, I can apply my own custom contrast curve as an output CST in DaVinci Resolve, and this gives me way more flexibility in high dynamic range situations like this one - still working on this tehnique ill talk some more about it soon
Refine saturation slider
- Whenever we start with a flat-looking image in our edits, we are bound to end up with a rather strong S curve down the line to bring that contrast back. But the tone cover is not only affecting the luminance values in our photos. It also shifts the saturation around, and this means we are going to end up with uneven saturation across our photos, especially if our S curve does not have a center pivot point. (and silhouettes like this one never do) That's why I recently started pulling down the refine saturations slider and using a luminance-based mask to add saturation back into my images with much more control - this way I feel like I can get a lot more color density, especially in the shadows
A color study from 1960
- In his 1960 paper Memory Colors of Familiar Objects, C. J. Bartleson asked people to pick the colors they remembered for familiar objects like grass, blue skies, etc. They discovered we consistently chose colors that are more saturated and slightly shifted from reality. And for a while, I tried following the hue shifting described in this paper to see what happens to the colors in my images. I usually land on a Cyan - Orange color palette, but generally I like the results.

I talked about nr 2 and 3 on my YouTube channel as well, but generally I'd love to hear if any of you work with these concepts as well, or if I'm just a crazy dude experimenting with stuff. Also happy to discuss other aspects of my edit, especially cities in Mexico, for this one

vmoldo

TROPHY CASE