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Panasonic and Olympus colors....

Diane B

New member
I posted this in the Nikon vs. G1 thread--but then realized it was unlikely to be answered there. So--here is the same post with some few changes.

I have a question that has been rattling around in my brain. A number of years ago I moved from an Oly E10, whose default color I really liked--to Canon (I had been a film Canon shooter and had the original Canon G1)--the D60 and D30. The Canon color sort of beat me over the head----Canon blues, reds not easy to deal with, etc. I've always shot in RAW and have moved around from RC to RC as new ones became available (some remember, like me, when there were hardly any other than the mfg. RCs)--but found C1 around my 10D time to deal the best with Canon reds in particular. I've never liked using Canon's DPP---and colors are much better with the current camera profiles derived from DPP in ACR and LR (I'm now pretty much a diehard LR user)--so its not as though they are 'bad'--but certainly different from the G1's.

I've been finding my G1 colors to be very nice generally (in LR--I haven't tried Silkypix but once--enough)--with both my MF lenses and the Panny and Oly lenses. They seem closer to what I remember with my one Olympus camera, the old fixed DSLR. So--not really remembering and not having paid a lot of attention to the consortium (?) between Oly and Panasonic, did that result in Panasonic's colors being closer to Olympus's or do they both have very 'signature' color palettes?

I hope I've been reasonably clear as to what I'm questioning. Its not important, but having shot with both the 5D and the G1 this past week side by side, some of the same shots actually--though I find the 5D's color, tonality and contrast (with the 24-70L mostly) pleasing for the most part and using the 'neutral' camera profile in LR--I still found the G1's more correct--and actually easier to deal with.

Diane
 

jonoslack

Active member
HI Diane
I can't really comment in that I've not used Canon much - I once had a Canon G . . . 5? which I kept for about a month, because I thought all the skies were too cyan - but I didn't really persevere.

As far as me and colour, I really know what I like . . . but find it very hard to turn something I don't like into something I do. I've had cameras which have caused me a great deal of struggle, and others where I have just though 'YES'

It's interesting that most people who agreed that the colour in the E1 was good, thought that it was the Kodak sensor, and certainly I 'feel' like I can see that heritage in my M8.

On the other hand - the E3 has excellent colour, and I thought the G1 was pretty good as well, and I do agree, there is a similar feel.

Such intangibles here !
 

scho

Well-known member
I made profiles for the G1 with each lens that I use on the camera. The profiles seemed to improve greens and blues compared to the Adobe G1 default profile for LR 2.3 and ACR 5.3. I just took shots of a Colorchecker chart and processed the files in the Adobe DNG profile editor to create the camera profiles.
 

Diane B

New member
Scho--have you shot with Oly cameras also--particularly recent ones?? They do seem to generally have lovely default colors and I guess my question is---do Panasonic and Oly have similar default colors?

I'm not unhappy one bit with the G1 colors and just adjust each shot to suit--but the Panny files seem closer to correct most of the time. I could do the same as you have done, but haven't felt it was necessary since I always adjust a bit anyhow--but it might be worthwhile.

Jono, I know you have always been concerned with greens--and blues. I remember a long time ago you hated the Canon blues and had real issues with the Nikon greens. You seem happy with the Oly colors--and as you say--such intangibles LOL. Not having photographed with any recent Oly 4/3rds camera--I guess I'm just curious--because it does have a certain reputation.

I remember when I was interested in buying a used MF system. The store manager and assistant were both photographers and while they were happy to work with me about MF (and they were both MF shooters as well), they dragged out Oly prints to show me the wonderful colors LOL--that impressed me.

Diane
 

scho

Well-known member
Scho--have you shot with Oly cameras also--particularly recent ones?? They do seem to generally have lovely default colors and I guess my question is---do Panasonic and Oly have similar default colors?

I'm not unhappy one bit with the G1 colors and just adjust each shot to suit--but the Panny files seem closer to correct most of the time. I could do the same as you have done, but haven't felt it was necessary since I always adjust a bit anyhow--but it might be worthwhile.

Jono, I know you have always been concerned with greens--and blues. I remember a long time ago you hated the Canon blues and had real issues with the Nikon greens. You seem happy with the Oly colors--and as you say--such intangibles LOL. Not having photographed with any recent Oly 4/3rds camera--I guess I'm just curious--because it does have a certain reputation.

I remember when I was interested in buying a used MF system. The store manager and assistant were both photographers and while they were happy to work with me about MF (and they were both MF shooters as well), they dragged out Oly prints to show me the wonderful colors LOL--that impressed me.

Diane
Diane,

I have an Olympus E-3 and would say that the colors are somewhat similar to the G1 except that the latter does benefit from a custom profile in LR/ACR when dealing with blue sky scenes. I also like the E-3 for it's natural colors, but other than that I really don't use the E-3 much at all and will be selling it soon. Fine camera, but I just don't want to deal with big DSLRs and lenses anymore and I prefer the G1 features to the Oly 4/3 dslr line of cameras.

Regards,
Carl
 

Diane B

New member
Thanks Carl. Its helpful when someone has shot both. It had just been something that made me wonder.

I agree about not wanting to deal with big DSLRs/lenses and am shooting mostly with the G1, but I'm guessing the 5D will stick around until it dies. It may not for a long time though, as its not adding much to its shutter activations these days LOL.

Diane
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Thanks Carl. Its helpful when someone has shot both. It had just been something that made me wonder.

I agree about not wanting to deal with big DSLRs/lenses and am shooting mostly with the G1, but I'm guessing the 5D will stick around until it dies. It may not for a long time though, as its not adding much to its shutter activations these days LOL.
Hi Diane,

I know what you mean about the G1 taking over what the DSLRs have been doing ... it's a seductive little camera. I wish it were a little bit larger, with a design and control layout more like the L1, but its superior viewfinder makes a big difference, and the image quality is at least on par with most DSLRs for the size prints I make.

Regards color output ... I have to admit that I have an Olympus E-1 but have never looked at the colors in the JPEG output; I've worked with it exclusively in RAW format capture just like the L1 and G1. I process exposures from all of them in Lightroom. I've not made any specific camera calibration profiles yet as I've been satisfied with what I'm getting at present. One of these days I'll put all a Macbeth color checker through the DNG Profile Editor for all three and see how different they are.
 

Diane B

New member
Hi Diane,

I
Regards color output ... I have to admit that I have an Olympus E-1 but have never looked at the colors in the JPEG output; I've worked with it exclusively in RAW format capture just like the L1 and G1. I process exposures from all of them in Lightroom. I've not made any specific camera calibration profiles yet as I've been satisfied with what I'm getting at present. One of these days I'll put all a Macbeth color checker through the DNG Profile Editor for all three and see how different they are.
I use LR exclusively also--haven't even tried jpeg, so of course some of this 'color palette' is dependent upon Thomas's profiles for the Oly and Panny cameras. The only other choice, of course, we have to see what 'native' color for the G1 would be is, I guess, Silkypix--which I only opened once. Since the LR Oly 4/3rds profiles would also have been done by the same person, I wonder if the default RAWs would be similar. I've been satisfied also with what I get from LR. I'm probably too lazy to create my own profiles LOL.

When they added the Canon camera profiles in 2.3 (maybe 2.2), that was a big step for me--I could start with what Canon considers a 'neutral' file (since the camera profiles were derived more or less from Canon's DPP Picture Styles) and work from there. I guess I have to assume that the default RAW with Adobe standard is as close to 'neutral' for the G1 as I'm likely to get any time soon--and wondered if the recent Oly 4/3rds defaults were similar to the G1's.

Diane
 

Bill Gordon

New member
Hi Diane
I have been following the original post that you made and now this one and I also started out with the Olympus E-10, then the E-20 and was waiting impatiently for the next product to appear, had already planned a trip to England and instead of waiting I bought the Canon 10D. The results on this camera were very good but I found the camera to be to heavy so upon my return home I sold the Canon and by now the E-1 was available. I have had the E-3, sold it because it was much to heavy for me and now I am sitting with the E-520 which I like. Olympus colour has no competition. I would not jump ship because of new technology. I am of the belief that the E-1 was the best camera that Olympus has built and had they introduced the E-520 in the E-1 body they would have had a big winner.

Comparing colour with different sensors is like trying to compare apples with oranges-you just can't, plus each person has their own likes and dislikes of the results that they attain with the product that they are using.

Just the thoughts of an "Olde" man.
 

Diane B

New member
Bill, I agree about comparing colors---guess I'm reaching a bit--wondering if Panny and Oly have similar approaches to color due to their collaberation on the 4/3rds standard (and, of course, even different lenses will tend to be 'warmer', etc---as Sigma often is).

Canon has its own--even though some of that has changed from the original D30/G1, there is still Canon 'blue' that's very typical of their color approach--particularly the sky (I tend to alter the hue/saturation--I just don't bother with grey cards/Whibal for daylight shooting though always did for interior shooting).

Oly's always seemed more 'natural'--and for the most part, I get a similar feel to the G1 daylight shots (default RAW). But--as I said, I'm happier with my 5D's starting colors now that Adobe has added camera profiles--before one could calibrate the camera--but it got very involved for different light, etc. Of course, one can do the same for the G1.

Its just trivia I know---but curiosity sometimes can kill a cat LOL.

Diane
 

Bill Gordon

New member
Diana, there is one thing to remember.
It is not the camera that takes the picture, it is the person behind the camera. A very good illustration of that is to look at Jono Slacks' work. His contribution to photography is always fantastic, despite the camera he uses to take the picture and he has used them all!!
 
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