R
richard.L
Guest
PS,,, by PC, I mean picture control ... they can be set using Nikon free tool...
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Again my question would be trying the different picture control settings either in camera or NX2 and compare results to C1, and best to shoot a Macbeth Color Chart, and first do a custom WB incamera, shoot the chart, and compare RGB values.
Coming from a background of being a journeyman scanner operator, way back in the day,
way before color management, we always worked in CMYK, never RGB, and a term that was always used was "pleasing color" and for most of us today, I think that's what we are looking for unless, like Guy for instance shooting apparel or something where color match is critical, then a custom ICC profile is a must and usually only performs best in a controlled studio situation, not outdoor shooting, as Guy mentioned Color temp changes throughout the day and one would have to keep doing a custom WB, and reshoot the chart.
My last business I was in for over 10 years was the Fine Art Repro business "Giclee"
So I lived and died with CM and it had to be perfect to get an "almost" exact match to the original art work I was shooting. Yeah I was using a better light scan back, but the principle is / was the same.
Bottom line, in the world of pleasing color, which I believe we live in, when is the grass to green, or the sky to blue?
Steven
Roger,
Since I just got my D800/E the other day and I don't shoot in the studio, meaning a controlled environment, I am really not sure what the problem is with LR4 and the D800/E is and has Guy mentioned above, making a custom profile for your setup using Xrite Color Passport should get you there where you need to be. Or at least very close.
yet if it's not, then there is for sure a problem with LR4 with there canned profiles they created for a D800/E. Did you try the "Neutral" profile as opposed to standard? yet again I still find it hard to believe that making your own profile would not fix the issue especially in a studio situation where you control everything.
or..
Try CNX2 set your picture control to neutral and see if that makes a difference.
I would think that should do a "faithful" reproduction of the color chart.
Who knows. Way to many options today and more testing is the only way to get ir right or whatever right is....
Steven
D7000 here rather than D800, things should still hold though.I didn't think to check in camera sharpening until Kuau commented on it. It was set for default of 3 or so and setting it to zero made a big improvement. I don't trust NX2 to sharpen my pencil. It sharpening tool invariably makes a mess of things. Whereas C1 does an excellent job with the D800E with no intervention. I take NX2 out from under my desk where it acts as a shim only when changing cameras. This latest version is the same old ever tiresome interface but the output is very respectable and the speed much improved upon. I will continue to try and get C1 in the same ballpark.The enhanced tonal separation is a bear to match without introducing a heavy handed look, may simply be impossible with the tools - more of a profile thing. I'm going to try lightroom as well. As I understand it it's using ACR. The default processing in Photoshop for the image I posted looks colorwise much like NX2, lacks the same tonal separation and did a nice job of blowing out the yellow cauliflower looking things.
I'm wondering if the difficulty in creating a nice profile with the colorchecker has to do with a new and even wider range of colors being mapped by a mcuh smaller handful and it's just not going to be enough to do the job. Perhaps what we need is a new target for display on a calibrated wide gamut monitor to better match the ever expanding color palette we're being blessed with. I'll even name it for Xrite: Colorchecker Supernatural. Has a nice ring, don't you think?
But if you start using the camera calibration sliders you are likely better off to use HSL as it gives you more control.D7000 here rather than D800, things should still hold though.
I find the hue adjustments under the camera calibration tab are better for getting the initial colour correct if using the packaged profiles - shifting the green primary hue (depending on white balance, I've found images can need anywhere from 10 to 70!) deals with a lot of the issues, and a slight shift away from red too.