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Nikon D800 and LR Color Calibration?
- Thread starter ustein
- Start date
Jan Brittenson
Senior Subscriber Member
I think the real culprit is LR4's saturation. It's awful, to say the least (as is PS). I process to a fairly desaturated look and saturate back up in Viveza 2 - it's miles ahead.
glenerrolrd
Workshop Member
Yes ....I call the D800 in LR4 ..the “Wow” setting . Found that color saturation was way to high . But I shot a color checker passport and built a profile and it was pretty close to the adobe standard.
I ran a quick test on the same files in NX2 and they looked pretty normal .
The other thing I am finding somewhat unusual is the overall level of contrast . Some of my daylight files are exceeding the DR of the sensor ...I have burned highlights and blocked blacks in the same image . And this is keeping contrast on linear .
I suspect that the raw files from the D800/E have both high contrast and high saturation that has been created by the Nikon processor (in camera) .
But this is purely anecdotal evidence based on a few shots .
Please share your presets . Thanks in advance.
I ran a quick test on the same files in NX2 and they looked pretty normal .
The other thing I am finding somewhat unusual is the overall level of contrast . Some of my daylight files are exceeding the DR of the sensor ...I have burned highlights and blocked blacks in the same image . And this is keeping contrast on linear .
I suspect that the raw files from the D800/E have both high contrast and high saturation that has been created by the Nikon processor (in camera) .
But this is purely anecdotal evidence based on a few shots .
Please share your presets . Thanks in advance.
Stefan Steib
Active member
In the old days of Leafs brick, Dicomeds bigshot and Megavision T2 we made cameraprofiles for total flat low gamma, slightly underexposed images. I am 100% sure this same thing will work perfectly on the D800. But I´m pretty sure this will not do with the default camera profiles.
Ha - finally a camera that needs colormanagement again........
what a relief -
regards
Stefan
Ha - finally a camera that needs colormanagement again........
what a relief -
regards
Stefan
glenerrolrd
Workshop Member
Agree .....I have had the same experience with the D800E . Trying to get a RED baseball uniform to look realistic is a challenge for example ..even with HSL adjustments .>Yes ....I call the D800 in LR4 ..the “Wow” setting
More like Ouch
I work on some fixes in the HSL panel.
I normally also use ColorChecker Passport profiles and was happy. Not for the D800 though.
Have you tried Camera Standard/Neutral/Portrait?
They're meant to be ACR's analogues to the in camera profiles - while they're not an exact match, they're pretty close - I find all 3 better than Adobe Standard colour wise, especially when there are near blown reds and blues.
Camera Landscape and Camera Vivid...well, if you thought Adobe Standard had WOW saturation...:ROTFL:
S
Shelby Lewis
Guest
I'm actually using the 2012 process with the camera neutral profile... it isn't the prettiest out of the can, but the adobe standard has way too much contrast for me.
So colorchecker passport doesn't help? How does one go about color profiling the camera then w/o spending a fortune?
So colorchecker passport doesn't help? How does one go about color profiling the camera then w/o spending a fortune?
Actually I'm considering turning the 800E back again and wait for a Leica M10 or perhaps just a D600. Strugling with the colours, contrast and lacking "shine" and also way too dark areas and outblown highlights sometimes, and I'm no fan of HDR. And the way too shallow dof even at f.8 and f.11 bothers me. But some of you make some nice pictures though.
hhmm
Thorkil
hhmm
Thorkil
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Shelby Lewis
Guest
The one thing I find that is a real struggle with the D800 is what I think is color separation in yellows/greens. I think that once I can get a truly consistent profile, that it will be much better. It seems at 100% that the goods are there... but getting it all sorted is tough.
I also find that the DR is so wide that most files take (in LR 4) a negative move on blacks, but also a substantial bump to the positive on the shadows... then some monkeying with whites and shadows as well.
I also find that the DR is so wide that most files take (in LR 4) a negative move on blacks, but also a substantial bump to the positive on the shadows... then some monkeying with whites and shadows as well.
...and as this wasn't enough, the matrix-metering also give me some sorts of problems that I don't remember from the D700, it sort of meters the sky(perhaps mostly when you are pointing it a bit upwards) and forget to meter the ground, result: fine clouds but way too dark ground and subject...
or perhaps my mood just is in a bad shape these days.
Thorkil
or perhaps my mood just is in a bad shape these days.
Thorkil
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Shelby Lewis
Guest
Thorkil... I shoot in manual all the time, but I find the meter much better than my old canon equipment... and the flash system is WORLDS more consistent. That said, i think DPReview noticed that the meter is definitely tuned to the focus point and has a tendency to bias the meter towards whatever is dominant in the scene.
I bet pointing up (recomposing?) will, indeed, cause the ground to underexpose.
I'll have to test it out.
I bet pointing up (recomposing?) will, indeed, cause the ground to underexpose.
I'll have to test it out.
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Shelby Lewis
Guest
Found it: Nikon D800 Review: Digital Photography Review
Check out the "AF Point and Metering" Section... the AF point's position seems to really impact how the camera meters the scene.
Check out the "AF Point and Metering" Section... the AF point's position seems to really impact how the camera meters the scene.
The metering behaviour is a good thing IMO, but it takes some getting used to. (I'm on a D7000, but it's a cut down D800 so the behaviour's similar).
For 2 reasons:
1) The D7000 and D800 sensors do not handle overexposure anywhere near as well as under, and
2)There is so much DR that a neutral image SOOC looks almost lifeless. There is enough information in the shadows that it's fine to let subjects get a little dark on capture, and then pull up the shadows on the computer (which LR/ACR make much easier now).
I use the sliders to decide which parts of the DR I want to emphasize, and which to compress, and that seems to get most of where I want things to be.
This is not a pretty image at all (was to test exposure before the riders started) but it's a good display of what can be done (again, on a D7000, so figure you have an additional stop or so of latitude on a D800):
OOC, exposed for the blue in the sky. The black parts of the image are reading 0,0,0 RGB.
After pulling up the shadows. Note the blue in the sky and the cloud highlights have not clipped.
That's an extreme example - I don't think I'd ever pull to that extent in a proper image as things get too noisy - but I think the principle holds.
I might be teaching you to suck eggs, but in case anyone doesn't know how Nikon's metering is set up:
Spot metering is locked to the AF point (it will try and put whatever is under the AF point at middle grey without regard for the rest of the scene)
Centre weighted is completely uncoupled from the AF point, will meter from the centre of the viewfinder (you can set how big an area it assesses, or you can have it average out the entire scene)
Matrix is biased towards the AF point but takes the rest into account. Not quite figured out its behaviour, though it gets things right most of the time.
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Shelby Lewis
Guest
Back to color... by which method do some of you plan to produce a proper custom profile for your D800? And why do you suppose the colorchecker passport hasn't worked well to this point?
Thank's Ill take a look