Nikon D7000 - Picture Control values

<p>Hello beautiful people of the Nikon forum!<br>

I must say that reading your articles and advices, I learned a lot of useful things that helped me improve my skills. Actually I am an amateur photographer with a lot of enthusiasm when it comes to taking pictures. I photograph everything that attracts my attention/curiosity no matter what the subject is. If I had to choose though, I would say that I am more to nature/landscapes and lately urban and street photography.<br>

Anyhow, I just moved from a D80 to a D7000 (after struggling for one month with the dilemma, D7000 or D300s) due to newer and better (overall) camera and IQ. I am in the learning proccedure and quite amazed with my new camera, even though I must say I like better the grip and the overall sense of my D80 in my hands...am I crazy? :)<br>

I just need your kind advice as to what are the best values when it comes to adjust the parameters of the picture control (sharpening, contrast, brightness, saturation and hue). Default values are positioned to 0 besides sharpness which is at +3. If this has already been posted elsewhere (for the D7000) and I have missed it, please forgive my overlooking of the article. In that case a link to this article would be greatly appreciated, otherwise your experience and knowledge are higly appreciated.<br>

Thanking you in advance!<br>

Panayotis</p>

<p>I guess it depends on the effect you want to achieve and whether or not you are shooting in RAW.</p>

<p>When I am shooting just jpegs I generally prefer the unaltered NEUTRAL setting (on my D90).</p>

<p>When I am shooting RAW (99% of the time) it doesn't matter because I can adjust all the picture controls afterwards in ViewNX2 or CaptureNX2.</p>

<p>I suggest you try taking a few pictures in RAW and then play with the different settings in ViewNX2. When you have found the settings you like, duplicate them in the camera OR just shoot everything in RAW, then you can adjust the settings later.</p>

<p>Hope this helps</p>

<p>Chris</p>

<p> </p>

 

<p>Thank you Chris for your comment. <br>

What I am trying to find out (regardless the use of Neutral or Standard profile, or anything else in that matter), is if I should stay with the default parameter values for its profile, or tweaking them around will bring better image results. I know that this is a matter of photographic taste again but I was wondering if anyone of you had come up with a combination of all those parameters to improve image result.<br>

Thanks!</p>

<p>The picture style settings are not applied to NEF files only to the in-camera produced jpegs and this also means they have an effect on the on board histogram and previews you see on the back of the camera. Even Nikon's raw processing programs just treat them as notes to set the starting point.</p>

<p>Just shoot RAW (NEF) files, and then download a 60-day free trial of Nikon's Capture NX2. It allows you to open those NEF files, and to apply exactly the same settings the camera would have otherwise applied (to an in-camera JPG). This is non-destructive, so you can do it as much as you want, whenever you want, all to the same image file, and look at the output as you save to JPGs. This way you can see how a given in-camera setting will work with your style, and then if you really must get exactly those settings in a JPG right out of the camera, you'll know how to set up the camera for the future. <br /><br />But even then, you're better off shooting RAW + JPG so that you have more options after the fact (to correct white balance, recover details in highlights and shadows, etc).</p>

<p>You should stay with the default parameters unless you find they are not giving you the results you want or expect. And then adjust them in small increments until you find parameters you are most happy with. I like the look of the neutral setting with the saturation and sharpness turned up a bit for most of my shooting. </p>

<p>Nikon View NX2 is free from Nikon and is a good starting point should you decide you don't want to buy Capture NX2 and is an excellent choice should you decide to shoot and experiment with RAW files.</p>

Shoot RAW..... Set your picture control to neutral and sharpening to 0.....

Then adjust your images according to what you like on PP.

as told before get Capture NX. Good luck!!

<p>I bumped my saturation up one with my new d7000 and my pictures were a lot more saturated than my D40, I put it down to picture control.</p>

<p>The unmodified Standard setting is a good basis for most photographs. I'd rather wait to boost or cut sharpening, saturation, contrast, etc. when I'm viewing the photos on a calibrated monitor. If you boost saturation in the camera, the histogram is likely to show overexposure in the red channel. This could lead you to make improper exposure decisions and underexpose your images needlessly.</p>

<p>Thank you very much for your assistance! I knew that I could count on your help. From what I understand I think I will be better off with the default parameters and shoot mainly in RAW (NEF). I have the Nikon View NX2, which came with the camera, to proccess the RAW files. Do you think it make sense to upgrade to Capture NX? <br>

Thanks once again!</p>

<p>Try CaptureNX2, only you yourself can really judge whether it's worth its money <em>to you</em>. As said above, free to try for 60 days.</p>

<p>ALL the picture controls you use in the camera are embedded in the raw file in such a way that when you open the raw in Nikon software, the picture opens up with exactly those picture controls applied to it. Other software may or may not try to duplicate these, but they are really only meant for proprietary Nikon software, which currently means either the free ViewNX 2 or the commercial Capture NX2.</p>

<p>You only need ViewNX to convert the raw files, and it has all the basic, global photographic tools. What it doesn't have are tools for locallized operations on an image, like cloning and the various equivalents of burning and dodging. So, ViewNX 2 is all you need to see the effect of Picture Controls. Everythng you do in the camera is automatically reflected in it, but you can also change them and experiment with all the other Nikon picture controls. They are the same in ViewNX as they are in your camera, and with the included Picture Control Utility, they are infinitely variable. Once you find what you like, you can conceivably set the same ones in-camera and just shoot JPEG.</p>

<p>If it was me, I wouldn't bother with Capture NX just for this. In terms of the raw conversion, ViewNX does exactly the same thing. It's Capture NX wiithout the extra editing stuff. However, you can easily convert your raw file in ViewNX to an 8 or 16 bit TIFF, and do all the same things in another image editor... which ever one you like, including completely free ones.</p>

<p>One major flaw with the try Capture NX idea is that unlike ViewNX, Capture NX does something to the NEF files that, once opened and resaved in Capture NX, makes them uneditable in ViewNX. This means that if you do the Capture NX trial, and then you don't buy it after the 60 days, you're stuck with raw files that you can open with ViewNX, but you can't change anything (unless you use a non-Nikon raw converter).</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Pierre is right that Capture NX2 <em>can</em> modify NEF files to the point where you can have trouble subsequently trying to work with them in View NX2. So for the 60 days that you're perhaps trying the free trial of Capture NX2, just make <em>copies</em> of the files you want to play with. Of course, you should have multiple copies anyway, if you're doing backups (right?).</p>

<p>Thank you so much for the continuous assistance. Pierre I didn't know that Capture NX2 can modify the NEF files in such a way that once saved they can not be re-edit in View NX. And yes Matt, I will keep back-ups :)<br>

Judging from your experience with both softwares, I think the best way for me is to go with ViewNX. This is the first time that I am going to be seriously involved with NEF files (with my D80 I was used to jpegs) and see what I can accomplish. From that point and on if I find my desired picture control values as far as the sharpening, contrast, etc. is concerned, then I can make my adjustments within the camera, saved them in U1 or U2 and be ready for jpeg shooting.<br>

I also think that I will choose the Standard profile as default and have the Neutral for portraits and people in general.<br>

Wishing you all the best!<br>

Panayotis</p>

<p><br /><br /><br>

Please keep in mind that D7000 has 2 memory slots; one can<br />be configured for JPEG and one for RAW. <br />This way you can check JPEG versions and edit only the corresponding RAW<br />if needed. D7000 has very decent on-board<br />processing for format conversion though.<br>

Lastly, if you use Adobe Photoshop/Camera RAW 6.x you can<br />open JPEGs for farther editing using Camera RAW 6.x.</p>