Tonal colour characteristics of 5D & 50D vs 7D

I have three Canon bodies, 5D, 50D and 7D. If I take a shot using the three bodies and appropriate lenses and

convert the raw files I end up with two images with near identical tonal characteristics and one constantly

warmer or slightly over saturated. The white balance numbers for all three cameras are nearly identical for the

same shot but the 7D's images have this warmer, saturated look. Occasionally this enhances an image but more

often than not requires fiddling in PP to correct it. This is particularly true for landscapes. There is little

difference between DPP, Capture One or AcdSee Pro in the presentation of the converted files or for that matter

in the in-camera jpegs. This shows up in prints or on my calibrated Eizo monitor. I am beginning to dislike the

files which is a pity as it is a great camera in other respects.

 

Is this a general characteristic of the 7D or is mine exhibiting a tolerance fault?

<p>Since it's impossible for anyone to tell you how the images look without seeing them, maybe you could post a few examples?</p>

 

Mark, just take any of your own raw photo files that have the correct exposure and white balance, add a touch of saturation and shift the white balance to cloudy in DPP and you have the tonal shift in my unprocessed 7D raw files.

<p> Have you considered shooting in Neutral Picture mode ?</p>

Harry, no I have not mainly as I shoot in raw. Neutral Picture Style and jpegs might offer a work around for this camera. I will give it a go and see.

If I confine myself to DPP as a converter and set Neutral Picture Style with minus one or two for Color Tone and Color Saturation I am getting close to the tonality of my other two bodies set to Standard Picture Style. I need to work on this to refine it but it may be the answer. Thanks, can't believe I did not think of this before.

<p>You can save your fav RAW conversion profile in DPP and use it as a default for all 7D files. You can also set it as such in-camera and then DPP will automatically use those settings as defaults when you open the file. Of course in-camera settings will not open as defaults in Aperture or LR.</p>

<p>I think that when the camera captures an image, besides the image data, it also saves the current setting on the camera to the file. I remember reading that DPP uses this setting to display your photo when you first open the photo (this means the photo will look almost the same as it does on the camera's LCD screen). I'm not sure about other raw editor, but I think Lightroom doesn't do this. It only loads the image in whatever setting you dictate in your preference.<br>

Maybe this explains a little bit what is going on with your photos? </p>

<p>Puzzling. My assumption was that the issue was software reading your camera settings, in line with Puppy Face's suggestion. I would be interested to know whether the 7D images look different if you read them into software that does not read the camera settings. E.g., reading them into LR using the Adobe Standard for all of them. I have only a 50D, so I can't test this myself.</p>

The quick fix is to configure the camera's picture style to Neutral with minus one saturation and color tone for a start, shoot raw and when the file is opened in DPP it automatically sets the above parameters. However, open the raw file in any other converter and the problem is very evident.

 

I still shoot film and scan with a Nikon scanner which makes me very aware of color tones. What I am getting out of my 7D is unsatisfactory and mimics film when I get things wrong. The solution is probably to confine the 7D to DPP and configure the picture style (neutral or faithful) to give me a basic file from which to PP.

<p>I remember reading somewhere that the 7D has a totally new exposure system which takes into account Color and Luminance, and a totally new AWB, maybe that explains the discrepencies between it and your other cameras ?</p>

<p>In your post, you mentioned "appropriate lenses"-my question is- Are you comparing pictures taken with the 7D and the other bodies using the same lens for each shot? There are inherant color/saturation differences wrt manufacturers, and even within the same manufacturer between their pro lenses and consumer grade glass. I'm wondering if this might be the case?</p>

<p>You might want to take a look at this thread: <a href="http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=38471517">http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=38471517</a></p>

I find that my 7D images appear less subtle than my 5D II images. I have never tested it but I have always felt the 7D

images are more saturated, vibrant and contrasty than the 5DII images. I usually shot RAW and use CS5 to process

although I also use DPP. I do not think it relates to the IFCL exposure system but more to the way the image is

recorded. It does not appear to be an AWB issue (I either use AWB, manual white balance or an Expodisk) as even

in AWB the 7D and 5DII are within 50 K in almost all cases.

<p>Download "Studio Portrait" picture style and use it in DPP.</p>

<p>Perky, you may want to try color calibration for your cameras, something like X-Rite's ColorChecker Passport could help to obtain the same colors from all your cameras and lenses.<br>

What this kind of product does is to compare an image to a known color pattern, and automaticaly correct the image file to reproduce the colors as accurately as possible to the original color pattern.<br>

The only downside is this won't work with DPP, so you need a DNG compatible RAW converter, like Adobe Lightroom.<br>

<a href="http://xritephoto.com/ph_product_overview.aspx?ID=1257">http://xritephoto.com/ph_product_overview.aspx?ID=1257</a></p>

Thanks all.

Specifically:

Randall, the "appropriate lenses" were 24-105, 70-200 F4 IS, 100-400 also used several tele primes.

Lalon, tried Studio Portrait but found Neutral was slightly better.

Harry, Phillip & Ruben, there is no doubt that there is a tonal, hue or saturation difference between the 7D and the rest of Canons xxD, xD and 1D bodies. Some people have sold their 7Ds and moved on, others do not seem to mind the inconsistency, I have a hang-up on tonal qualities from mucking about with film but like the camera's AF capabilities and reach, so will soldier on. I may have to buy some camera color calibrating software to ultimately sort out the problem but as I mainly shoot wildlife many of the solutions are only applicable for studio work.

Perky. I tend to use my 7D for action shots (essentially it is replacing my old 1DIIN) so I can live with the difference. I

mainly use my 5DII for portraits, landscapes etc... That said I often wish that I could get the tonal results of my Fuji

GX680 and velvia 50/100 or my Contax G2 and velvia!