advise with D2X

[german]

Hi,

 

I have an important photo shoot this Monday and have rented a D2X

for it. I have it with me already. I have used a D1X for about 5

years already, so the camera feels comfortable.

 

Now, I took some pictures at sunset today and the LCD screen was

showing yellowish images under the clouds, where they were actually

reddish. I was using color mode II, color space Adobe RGB, Tone

Compensation A, Hue Adjustment 0, WB was Cloudy, if I am not

mistaken.

 

When I checked the images on the laptop, they were not as yellow as

they appeared in the camera's screen.

 

Do you know what may have caused that?

 

Also, is there anything you recommend for the shoot, as far as

working with this camera? Is there something I should be aware of?

Anything weird that might happen with it? Anything? (I would not

want anything strange happening at the shoot.)

 

(We'd be photographing at Green River (by Moab), in Utah, from about

1:30 pm to about 8 pm or so. Lot's of red rock there.)

 

Please let me know.

 

Thanks.

 

G. Silva

[german]

Now this image I uploaded (once I saved it as GIF) looks more like it looked in the LCD screen. It's an awful color.

[german]

And here's the same image with auto color correction. Not that bad, but a $5000 camera should produce a good looking images without digital manipulation. (That's if the camera is the problem. I hope I am doing everything OK as far as color settings, etc.)<div></div>

[kuryan_thomas]

I wouldn't use the LCD to judge the color of the final image. If you shoot raw (NEF) you can

trust the D2X to record excellent color that you can make the most of in a raw processor like

Nikon Capture, Adobe Camera Raw, or Bibble Pro. Most of the settings you mention become

irrelevant if you shoot raw - you can change them in the raw processor.

 

My advice for shooting with a D2X is to shoot raw, expose to the right, and use a tripod for

landscapes, since the machine is quite heavy and at low ISO values is somewhat hard (for me)

to hold steady.

[Jerry_]

Nikon could charge $15,000 and Nikon would still not be able to configure every D2X made to give 'near perfect' results with every computer monitor in the world. Can't be done...

 

 

 

 

If you want frame to frame color that is good, you should have gone back to the 'old' stuff (film.)

 

 

 

 

Experimenting with a new camera on a job is not a sure thing to do on a regular basis.

[lex_jenkins]

Not to discourage you, but most folks who buy a D2X expect to do at least some tweaking on the computer before output to paper or screen. It has a target audience that's a bit different from the enterprising folks who jumped in with the D1-series Nikons. More and more photographers are reasonably knowledgeable about the intricacies and vagaries of digital image processing. If pressed, most would admit to being control freaks.

 

And the huge file sizes generated by the D2X practically demand attention during post processing. So does using Adobe RGB rather than sRGB.

 

Me, I dislike editing on the computer. After more than two decades of fooling with computers, including lots of work in various graphic arts related fields, I've never felt entirely comfortable with or fulfilled by the process.

 

One reason I chose the D2H was because it was targeted toward photojournalists, those who generally prefer to make photos ready to print right out of the camera with little or no tweaking. I almost always shoot JPEGs and NEFs simultaneously. Perfect JPEGs are my goal; NEFs are my backups in case the exposure or color balance was off.

 

I shoot in sRGB, maximum rez JPEGs, with in camera sharpening set to the next to highest level. I pay careful attention to exposure and white balance because shooting this way is just as demanding as using Velvia, Provia or Kodachrome - there's little margin for error. But the benefit is that I can burn my JPEGs to CD, take 'em to a printer using a Frontier or similar machine and get good prints with less effort.

 

Cameras like the Coolpix 8800 are also geared toward serious photographers, pros and amateurs, who want good results right out of the camera.

 

Even if I wanted the extra image quality afforded by the D2X I'd have to consider carefully whether I'd want to invest in the hardware, software and time needed to wring the maximum benefit from the camera. Right now, since I haven't abandoned film and won't anytime soon, I'm just not interested in tackling that obstacle.

 

Considering the short deadline and the fact that you've stated it's an important project, you might want to back up every shot with your D1X since you're already familiar with it.

 

Also, I wouldn't use certain auto settings, such as auto tone comp or auto WB. Too many variables. I'd use normal tone comp for most purposes. And I use the heck out of the customizable white balance option available with my D2H and the D2X. Use the Preset-0 option to lock in a white balance via the little sensor on the prism of the D2X. In most cases it'll be more accurate than any of the standard options (Sunny, Cloudy, Shade, etc.). Or, if you bring a gray or white card, you can custom white balance through the lens. But the prism sensor works fine with all but the weirdest artificial lighting.

 

When I'm shooting under rapidly changing light, typical of late afternoon-twilight, I reset the custom WB setting via the prism sensor every few minutes. It takes only about 10 seconds and helps ensure the best possible WB for each shot.

[walterh]

German , take some comment from a German fellow ^^.

 

1) GIF images are the least image format to use for color. You should read up on image file formats - actually it is a MUST for any serious digital photographer who plans do do any image adjustments himself.

 

 

2) Images displayed on you cameras monitor are the second worst case to judge image quality , including color representation. Just one out of 256^^ reasons why this is so: color perception changes with surrounding conditions, e.g. surrounding light color temperature. Of course you could take your camera after each shot home and look at the display in a specially designed room with never changing light. Well its an extreme example but it should make my point clear.

 

 

3) Laptop screens follow #1 and #2 immediately in order of avoidance to judge color and general image quality. Yes, as an rare exception there are some very good laptops with excellent screens (most of these don't qualify for this job) but as long as you carry it to different places argument 2) applies again as well.

 

 

4) Unless you computer screen is calibrated never trust its color representation.

 

Conclusion: Take as many bracketed shots in RAW mode as possible. (If you shoot from a tripod you can superimpose darker and lighter images later after weeks of practise in PS ^^ ) After you are back home there is plenty of time to learn color representation and to do the adjustments. Just make sure you never erase those RAW files.

 

Have fun shooting the great landscapes.

[curt wiler]

Lex's comments are particularly pertinent here and gave me something to think about myself. However, I don't shoot jpegs, only RAW, and usually keep the white balance set for "sunny" because I am used to shooting daylight-balanced film and if the light is significantly different that is usually part of the strength of the image. Of course, the RAW file really won't know the difference, but it is convenient to have your software open a file with a reasonably close approximation to the correct white balance (WB "as shot"). In the case of your sunset, I would have left it on "sunny" because we generally want to emphasize the "warm" tones of the sunset (assuming your objective isn't perfect skin tones on a high-priced model) and not try to correct them out. But by setting WB to "cloudy" you instructed the software to shift further toward yellow/red in its attempt to make everything neutral. Also, it isn't clear from your post what your output file was, but don't forget that the LCD displays a rather primitive jpeg, not the output file itself if you shot RAW.

[gandicarter]

That white blob above the "Nikon" is a colour sensor -- if you use it correctly, that camera pretty much nails the colour.

 

Push the "WB" button below the LCD and rotate the rear thumb wheel until "Pre" comes up on the lower (black on white) LCD. Now release the WB button and push it in again and hold it until the "Pre" flashes. Once it flashes, turn the camera so that it is facing the light falling on the subject (you can let go of the WB button) and then push the button on the lower right (when you're looking at the front of the camera).

 

When you do that, the camera measures the Red, Green and Blue components of the light and can "figure out" what the actual colour of the subject is.

 

Warning -- if you do this for a landscape in morning light, you won't get the expected "alpine glow" since the camera will have taken the strong colour of the light into consideration. You'll probably find the daylight setting (push the "WB" and rotate that rear thumbwheel to the sun symbol -- same as on the D1x) is better for you.

 

I use colour mode II all the time -- but I do convert it to sRGB in Photoshop before I post images on the web. I will adjust the contrast of some photos, but not a lot of them and that is all the postprocessing work I do.

 

 

 

Gerald

 

( http://www.suresoft.ca/homepage/gcarter.html )

[german]

Hey guys,

 

thanks for your suggestions. I'll consider them all.

 

I'll continue to test shoot today and I am sure I will use the RAW settings for the most important shots. (We'll have a lot of secodary images we'll need to capture as well. I'll use jpegs for those.)

 

I am sure we'll have to tweak those images for "perfect" color, but we have people in the studio more capable of doing that than myself. So, it should be OK.

 

I'll have my D1X there too for back up, and we have a couple of D100s we'll be using (as secondary cameras). I'll probably even take an F100 with black & white film. I still love the film and exposing for the shadows, rating 400 film at about 250. I love the way that smoothes out (or softens) the shadow areas of the images, with a bit of overexposure on the highlights.

 

In any case, thanks again. (I am off to continue testing the camera.)

 

And I know it's not wise to use something new/different in an important job, but I am confident it'll be successful. Like you guys say, there's always post production with digital capture no matter what.

 

Thanks again for the advise, especially the one about not trusting the LCD in the camera. With the D1X I am used to seeing the images on the LCD screen pretty much like I am seeing them with my naked eyes, that's why I was scared when I saw yellow where it was supposed to be redish (under the clouds).

 

Thanks again, I'll give you an update when I come back from my shoot - or actually a couple of days later, since I'll be dead tired by then!

 

Best,

 

G.S.

[lex_jenkins]

I'll also occasionally use the daylight WB setting because, as Curt and Gerald observed, it's a good way to render some photos as they actually appeared and it's useful for evaluating tricky color temperatures since it serves as a familiar baseline.

[patrick_viebey___orlando__]

All good suggestions above. Only thing I could possibly add is that if I was using a rental, I'd force it back to mfrs defaults, as you have no idea what they did (like loading custom profiles or whatever).

 

Maybe not the issue, but at least if you do that, you know you'll be back in the right territory. Then, of course, you need to figure out what settings you really want to use anyway, and adjust. There's a lot of them.

 

I don't remember how to force it back to defaults out of hand, but I know it's in the manual....