What’s Your Preference?

DogHeadGod · #1 (**permalink**) 08-03-2009, 03:30 PM

I don't know if it is me or my camera, but none of my images seem to have good, birght colours straight from the camera. I always need to boost the saturation and contrast for every image to make them pop a little.

I had a shot of an EOS a few years ago (I shoot with a Nikon) and I remember the colour being good straight out the camera and needing little to no adjustment in photoshop.

So is it likely to be my shooting that is lacking, or is it the camera? I'd be particularly interested to hear what other d70 users think.

Cheers,

DHG

cphoniball · #2 (**permalink**) 08-03-2009, 03:42 PM

This depends on a lot of factors, including if you're shooting in JPG.

The first thing to understand is that every digital image has had some "post processing" done to it by the time you get to view it. The data that the sensor captures has to have a tone curve applied to it so that it can assign values to the pixels.

If you're shooting JPG, that curve is applied in camera based on the manufacturer and whatever settings you set in camera (these are usually things like vividness/saturation, although I'm not familiar with Nikons). If you're shooting in RAW, then you get to apply the curve when you open the file on your computer and convert it with whatever software you're using.

So... it's not you, and it's not the camera. It's just the way digital works

sk66 · #3 (**permalink**) 08-03-2009, 03:43 PM

Saturation/contrast etc are personal taste issues. What you say you need to adjust for others might say is too much.
Because of that, there are settings in your camera to set the amount of color saturation/contrast recorded. http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d70...s-shooting.htm

sk66 · #4 (**permalink**) 08-03-2009, 03:46 PM

Also note that some viewing programs will ignore all in camera settings when viewing a raw image (unless the profile is set as "default" in preferences or applied when viewing)

Dayna · #5 (**permalink**) 08-03-2009, 03:59 PM

I find if all elements while taking the shot are bang on, you won't have to do any editting. I found this out with pictures I took lastnight. My lighting was perfect and my settings we spot on. I was amazed when I loaded them onto my camera to see that they needed zero PP.

I find mostly all indoor photo's need some sort of PP.

#6 (**permalink**) 08-03-2009, 03:59 PM

Photoshop is where you left your peeps and pops.

Trader · #7 (**permalink**) 08-03-2009, 04:14 PM

I don't have any experience with the D70 but with the D300 you can do ALL the post processing you want directly in the camera and even set that as defaults. A simple menu option is Vivid and that does a very nice job in getting colors to pop.

#8 (**permalink**) 08-03-2009, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trader

I don't have any experience with the D70 but with the D300 you can do ALL the post processing you want directly in the camera and even set that as defaults. A simple menu option is Vivid and that does a very nice job in getting colors to pop.

Uhmmm... no... it can't.

The D300 is a nice camera, and does some cool stuff in camera, but can't hold a candle to a photoshopped image.

JosieShoots · #9 (**permalink**) 08-03-2009, 04:33 PM

Oh hey, another D70 shooter, yay! I didn't know others existed lol.

And I actually think I can relate about comparing to pics taken straight out from a Canon, I've kinda noticed that too. When it hits the actual computer screen though, quality is about the same. I think what was said about in-camera viewers having some processing definitely applies.

One thing I noticed that helped me significantly was shooting in RAW. My first 10,000 snaps (they were the crappy beginner's 10,000) were all done in JPG, and many of them looked kinda dull. Only when I started using RAW and postprocessing with Lightroom/Photoshop did my images really pop beyond my wildest imagination. Keep in mind though, I've seen that my unprocessed RAW pictures look duller than if I shot in JPG...so if you're shooting in RAW, it'll definitely look duller than a normal unprocessed JPG. But judging by your post count, I think you probably know this already.

Also, I don't really use Photoshop that much actually, at least not to make my images 'pop'. I recently found out though that it does have a nice RAW editor built into it.

Another thing that I've noticed is that I get better colored pictures with my nifty-fifty than with my zoom lens of smaller aperture...not sure if that's a factor.