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DP Merrill camera settings

G43

New member
Bare over with me because I know my question below has been answered before, I think. :eek:

However are you kind to state your favorite in camera settings having in mind the following:

Smoothest transition between midtones/highlight and midtones/shadows?

It is time for me to climb the learning curve of the 3 DP Merrills.

Thank you :salute:
 

UHDR

New member
for me, i found anything above iso 160 abit too noisy for my taste. so i tend to stay below 200. everything else i left at default and fix it once gone into SPP :)
 

digi2ap

New member
For me ISO 125 gives the best combination of noise control and, for my use, i don't find dynamic range an issue. There may be a little less highlight recovery but the trade off is that lower noise.
 

pflower

Member
I bow to those with better eyesight than I, but as regards DR I find very little at 200 iso that is immediately and perceptively better than at 100 iso (which is where I tend to stay). Others may (and do) disagree so test for yourself.

However the steep part of the learning curve for me lies in the interaction between SPP and Lightroom. Be aware that, as far as I know, SPP is not properly colour managed. Further both the DP2&3Ms (which I use) work best when well exposed. SPP does allow some highlight recovery but be alert to the fact that the warnings in SPP do not match the highlight warnings in a 16 bit Tiff exported to Lightroom in Profoto colour space. The SPP warnings are much more conservative and if you reduce exposure in SPP to what it says is not clipped you can end up with a pretty ugly file. What SPP says is clipped is not necessarily the case when you look at a Profoto Tiff file in Lightroom. Also avoid the heavy hand on the fill light feature. This can also compress highlights in a very ugly way.

These little cameras can produce truly exceptional images. But they need careful handling when you are dealing with subjects with wide dynamic ranges - that only comes with experience and experimentation. My advice is don't trust SPP to produce a perfect (or near perfect) file based upon what it shows you. Learn what the differences between the SPP screen shows and the exported file actually looks like in your editing program of choice and adjust accordingly. It is not too difficult but it does require practice and experimentation.
 

G43

New member
Many thanks guys..

Seems I'll have to travel through all the trial and errors.

The in camera jpeg based histograms are seldom equal to RAW out, so normally I puzzle with this so it reflects reality (as close as possible).

I may perhaps ask if there's any difference between the cameras re. blocked shadows and clipped highlights?
 

pflower

Member
I can only speak for the DP2 and DP3.

They are …. different. Based upon the indicated exposure via the meter and the histogram my DP3 requires a minus adjustment of about -.03 whereas the DP2 requires a plus adjustment of +.03 or even 0.07.

I have no interest anymore in doing objective tests (I spent far too long in the darkroom testing films, developers and papers for that) but to my eye compared to the DP2M the DP3M has slightly better shadow separation and a tendency to clip highlights unless you keep a sharp eye on the exposure compensation as above (however a modest adjustment in SPP or even highlight recovery in LR is normally sufficient for that). It definitely has a slightly richer colour palette.

base
Many thanks guys..

Seems I'll have to travel through all the trial and errors.

The in camera jpeg based histograms are seldom equal to RAW out, so normally I puzzle with this so it reflects reality (as close as possible).

I may perhaps ask if there's any difference between the cameras re. blocked shadows and clipped highlights?
 
I have all three.

I always over-expose by at least 03. and sometimes a full 1.0.

That I cannot compensate for in SPP. Everything else such as saturation and contrast I sort within SPP.

I have no problems getting a print quality file with SPP alone. I never need to work the file in PS or something similar.

Tony
 

peterb

Member
NR: 0
Neutral
Sharpness: Don't even think of increasing it!

Color range: ISO 100-360
BW range: ISO 100-4000 (for shots at ISO 1000 or under all three layers can be factored in in SPP. Above ISO 1000 adjust SPP to read only the topmost 'blue' layer at 100%.

Exp Comp: varies. +0.3 - +0.7 in bright sun. Best solution: either use a spot and accept exposure with 0 compensation or use average metering and adjust exp compensation according to the histogram which is actually quite good.

Foveon magic is best in diffused light.

In SPP tweak exposure and fill to taste. NR with anti-banding to taste.
 

G43

New member
Many thanks... many thanks :)

I am mostly a spot meter/AEL guy. This way I am in control of high- and low key and anywhere in between.

What is most important to me is to get the jpeg based histogram matching the RAW. I am then able to ETTR optimal for lowest possible noise.
 
"What is most important to me is to get the jpeg based histogram matching the RAW."

You won't.

The DR of the jpg is much narrower than that of the RAW.

That is why people like me say you should over expose so the jpg you see is too light.

All this stuff about contrast and saturation is irrelevant. You sort that in SPP and anyway the camera is not altering the RAW when you make those changes on it.

Exposure is king. Over expose a shot by one stop and see what you can recover from the highlights in SPP and you may see what I mean.

Tony
 

G43

New member
Tony..

Yes that's perhaps the thumb rule no 1.

As every other thing with the Merrills are :facesmack: I might loose my time trying to get the histograms matching.

I will see... exp. comp. around +1 and highlights are saved in any situation ? Hard to believe, but I am the student here :salute:
 

foveon

Member
I allways set exposure manual, like with all my cameras, reading with the onboard spotmeter different parts, eg sky and dark forest.
 
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