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Skin tones on D2x & D300 look awful! Why?


hoffmanvision

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<p>OK, I work for a fairly high volume portrait studio that does all our own processing and printing onto Fuji Crystal Archive. Starting with the D1x, we've gone through the Nikon/Fuji product cycle, including the D70, S3, D200, S5, D2x, and now the D300. John the lab guy has always been very happy with skin tones from JPGs produced in camera until the D2x and now the D300. He describes them as orange and "mannequin"looking. Before you all make a reply instructing me to make a proper custom white balance and use the correct Picture Control, let me just say that we've tried all that we can think of, setting neutral white balance with an Expodisk, trying to offset the orange with various sheets of white paper, and we've loaded and tried all the available Picture Controls including the D2X modes and the new Portrait mode. Still, nothing we do with the D300 or D2x looks remotely realistic when compared to the D200 or S5.<br>

<br /> Has anyone else faced this and what have you determined? John seems to think Nikon is using some sort of new filter over the sensor that's causing the problem. I'm not convinced, believing the problem to be in the processing algorithms. I was the first in the studio to shoot with the D300 and was sure that along with all the other improvements to IQ colors were at least as accurate as before if not better. Then we did some testing and the side by side comparisons revealed a real difference in skin tones! I still love shooting with the D300 best but this is killing our lab guy! We are now having to run Photoshop actions with Nik Color FX Pro on all images shot with these two bodies.<br>

<br /> Are custom Picture Control profiles the answer and why hasn't Nikon gotten them right in the first place? Where can I get good ones or tutorials on how to make my own? Does anyone know if this is limited to the 12mp DX sensors or is this problem continued on with the D3/D700 bodies as well? Thanks!<br>

<br /> PS- Dear Fuji: where's our S7 Pro??!?</p>

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<p>A couple of quick thoughts:</p>

<ol>

<li>Check the color temperature of your lighting.</li>

<li>Try a hot mirror filter on some test shots and compare results.</li>

</ol>

<p>I can't speak for the D2X or D300, but my D2H is extremely sensitive to IR and produces awful skin tones under some lighting. In other lighting, especially daylight or flash, it's fine. But with any other continuous artificial lighting it's a coin toss.</p>

<p>My usual fix - very time consuming - is to use a hue replacer brush to selectively fix only the skin, since the problem does not affect all colors. It's also necessary with some black and gray fabrics, which tend toward purple under any light other than daylight or perfectly balanced flash.</p>

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<p>In front of the sensor there is a multicolored filter so the sensor reacts to red, green and blue light in different pixels. The colors are actually different wavelengths of electromagnetic energy. If the color filter was very exact it wouldn't let in much light so the designers balance color accuracy with transmission efficiency. That means that each color pixel actually sees a little more than just the pure color it is suppose to see. One could say that the sensor is a little color blind and because of that the colors in the image has to be calculated and they will not be 100% accurate. This is one reason why cameras may not see the same colors.</p>

<p>Here is some more info describing the difference between two cameras: http://dxomark.com/index.php/eng/Insights/Canon-500D-T1i-vs.-Nikon-D5000/Color-blindness-sensor-quality</p>

<p>I think you should do you a custom picture control (view nx that comes with the camera can do it) so you can tweak the colors to your liking.</p>

<p> </p>

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<p>My D300 produces a much better result than the D70 I used before. What I do is that I use the standard profile (could also use portrait or neutral, but typically prefer standard due to added contrast), set WB and light the subject with flash (could also do it in natural light, but flash is more controllable), have the camera, raw convert and photoshop set up to use Adobe RGB and that's it. Can you post some samples here and describe the lighting, setup and workflow a bit mroe? Doesn't have to be a complete portrait if you have rights issues.</p>
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<p>Sean,</p>

<p>Just curious, but what about all of the workflow post camera? Is everything calibrated? At the time you upgraded to the D2X did you upgrade your computer?</p>

<p>Also, if you are shooting in a studio enviornment with a good set of lights, it might be just as easy to shoot raw, then create a few standard presets that you could load up to do all of the color balancing. Just a thought.</p>

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<p>The fact that two different cameras with different sensors are creating the same issue makes me think the problem MIGHT be somewhere in the workflow or with another piece of equipment. As others have posted, a post-processing preset for the cameras in question would probably deliver suitable prints. You could shoot test charts, do a calibration, and save that calibration as a preset in your editing program. Once completed, this addition to the workflow can be automated so that the addition to the workflow stream adds minimal time to the process.</p>
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<p>Hey guys thanks for the replies. We have tested the D200 against the D300 in a controlled environment and came to the same conclusion- something is off. John likes the color from the D200 hands down, no matter what we've done with white-balance. Like I said this is a high-volume studio so most files never see Photoshop at all. We prefer to get everything right in the JPG and then it all goes down the same Timestone software pipeline for printing. As to the questions regarding whether we have other equipment or workflow that changed: the computers and workflow are unchanged. We still use the S3, S5, D200, D1x (B&W only), D2x, and D300 on a regular basis so it's easy to compare results in real time.</p>

<p>With my own work, I always shoot RAW and set the color to my liking in post, but in the high-volume studio, RAW is not an option at this time. I suspect that Pete S is honing in on the real problem for us- that Nikon is pushing the saturation of certain channels to get "better looking" color rather than accurate color. I'm starting to think the way to combat this in camera is to build a custom Picture Control curve in Capture NX to tame the reds & yellows somehow.</p>

<p>Anyone done this?</p>

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<p>USE UNIWB as you WB profile and you will notice a difference on the red channel thus correcting skin tones, it has to be with the way the filters are arranged on the Bayer array of your sensor. Sean is on the right track but it all can be corrected at camera level then balanced on PP.</p>

 

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