Nikon D7000 Skin Tones and Handling

[glen_t]

<p>I finally broke down and bought a Nikon D7000 and MB-D11 grip. I had handled the D7000 and grip in the past, and had thought it too small and light. However, the D7000 seems to be the best, most cost-effective way to "upgrade" from my D200. I am not parting with my D200; I just wanted another, more current body. </p>

<p>The skin tone rendering has been my other concern. The D200 seems to excel in this area. How does the D7000 perform? I tend to like a more natural look to my subjects--and not like the fake, over-saturated look that some films or sensors create.</p>

[owen_omeara]

<p>I do a great deal of figure work and the d7000 is presently my main camera. I convert most of my images to BW but review all of them in color. I think the camera does a wonderful job with skin tones. I tend to stay away from hyper saturated colors. I think you will be happy with the camera and you will find little need for PP. Good luck</p>

<p>-O</p>

[elliot1]

<p>You should not be concerned as the D7000 renders excellent skin tones. How natural the colors look is dependent on your technique, especially lighting, correct white balance, in-camera settings (picture control settings) if you are shooting JPGs or your post processing software and skills if you are shooting RAW.</p>

<p>I was happy with my D200s and know you will be thrilled with the D7000!</p>

<p><em>"</em><em> fake, over-saturated look that some films or sensors create."</em> Sensors do not create that 'look' - the settings the photographer uses do - the sensor typically records a pretty neutral image.</p>

[glen_t]

<p>Thanks for the responses. I shoot RAW, and use Capture NX2. I try to keep things simple and natural.</p>

[pge]

<p>Elliot, the one thing I would add to your list of issues that decide how natural colours look is your monitor.</p>

[m_tt_donuts]

<p>Hmm... I've used a D200 for 6 years and I absolutely hated it. Using an F5 for 6 years prior soon as I got a D200 the quality of my pictures dropped. I determined it wasn't the lenses, wasn't my photoshop skills, wasn't my technique. I borrowed a D700 for a couple weeks, what a difference.</p>

<p>The D200 is an oddball or different :) as it has a CCD sensor instead of CMOS, there aren't too many that way as CCD sensors don't have the bit depth, noise performance, nor dynamic range of CMOS. DxOMark tests performance and they determined a good looking image needs 3 things at a minimum level. Anyone of those 3 things goes below minimum and it becomes apparant in the image. The D200 can only maintain those 3 things up to iso 600 (D7000 is 1200). My issue with the D200 is I like to shoot at ISO 800 and occasionally 1600 which put me beyond the D200 ability to take a good image. As a result I found most my shots clipping especially the face and lots of noise. Bringing the photo's into Photoshop to fix/adjust I found if I so much slid anything above 10% the flaws just stood out.</p>

<p>Using a D700 I borrowed it uses a CMOS sensor, and the look was very different. It took me a bit of getting use to the look zoomed in. The best way I can explain it is you see dots, but also more subtle colors. Where my D200 often blew out/clipped cheeks I got subtle skin tones instead that let me edit pictures to my hearts content or salvage images previously unsalvagable with the D200. After getting used to it I don't ever want to go back to the D200. I did find the D200 tends to make skin a bit cream colored but I don't think that's something that can be replicated in a D7000 I think it a factor of the CCD. The D700 had very realistic skin tones, the D800 I have now was a bit green but fortunately the D800 lets me change the AWB settings and adjust it away from green and now its excellent. But, I can't tell my D800 to add a cream color to the AWB. I recommend you set the D7000 camera mode to portrait, that setting tends to lower the colors, saturation, etc. I can't say I have good things to say about the D200... especially for portraits I feel like it put me through a lot of frustration and trouble for 6 years until I borrowed another camera and realized "Yes, it can be the camera and it was the camera". But, it is the sole reason I got a D800 I certainly learned what I felt was important in a camera. I could not be happier, I'm now getting the most important compliment one can give... "What camera do you use?"... not something I got with the D200.</p>

[daverhaas]

<p>I've shot with D200, D300, D700 and D7000 - the only one I've come close to having skin tone issues with is the D300 which, if shot in JPEG (any setting) and Daylight WB will render skin tones slightly pinkish. But I have a simple fix for that - Don't shoot in JPEG! </p>

<p>I will still routinely pull a D200 body for portrait work - especially outdoors in sunlight, when ISO 100 is nice to have. </p>

<p>Dave</p>

 

[alex_zepeda]

<p>Matt, re CCD vs CMOS I beg to differ. People howled and moaned when Nikon switched to CMOS sensors with the D300. Likewise take a look at the Fuji F5 (D200 body, Fuji SuperCCD sensor), which is legendary for its dynamic range and rendering of skin tones. Or the Fuji F10/F11/F30/F31fd with their impressive (for a compact camera with a tiny sensor) high ISO performance.</p>

<p>The D200's sensor, regardless of technology, was never particularly great. Above about ISO 320 it gets noisy, and by ISO 800 it's just... ugh. IIRC contemporary Canons were far better in the high ISO department.</p>

[jose_angel]

<p>I assume you have a monitor calibrating device, or a complete calibrated system.</p>

[glen_t]

<p>No, I do not have a calibrating device yet. I am fairly new to digital, with about ten years of film photography experience. I use Nikon equipment and Capture NX2. Which calibrating device and/or software do you recommend? Also, the printer I have in my is the Epson R2000.</p>

[jose_angel]

<p>Each (digital) camera I have used gave different skin tones; some are more pleasant than others, but I really don´t know which one is more accurate or simply "better". This tones can be more or less easily tweaked to match the other camera, this is something I use to do when I upgrade my gear, just to make some comparisons. So if the color rendition in "normal" (Neutral) settings are not so funky (never experienced this), the topic of skin tone rendition is not of an issue at all to me.</p>

<p>But the problem comes when you get something that has been processed at your screen, and then is printed or sent to print, or the image is made to be seen at a diferent computer. If there is no a "consensus" between the different devices, you could see different results on every device... your monitor, the print, on the web... that "skin tones" could turn to something that is not what you expect.</p>

<p>So I think that if you`re concerned about such subtle differences, you must ask about <em>color management</em>; here in photo.net there is <a href="../learn/digital-photography-workflow/color-management/">a good tutorial</a> about this topic. It´s worth a read.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>As long as you stick to RAW, or do what tweaking is required for jpgs and other sech critters, you should be OK. With post-processing tools, I find almost any source material can be tamed down or 'hotted' up as you please.<br>

Back in film days, I was fairly adventurous and tried lots of different films, so between that and the fading of dyes, I have skin and other tones all over the map. Usually, I can get them pretty close to what I think of a normal, neutral color before I'm done (I'm speaking of the film image, not me).</p>

<p>While sensors do vary, perhaps less than films did, I think what you (or the camera) do with the image after it's captured is more important.</p>

[dbcooper]

<p>If you want to get the color right, and get it right across different models of cameras, then get an X-Rite Passport and color profile your camera. Cant really go wrong for the money. With a color-calibrated monitor and color managed print system, you're there.</p>

 

[brian_osborne]

<p>D200 a legend of a camera for skin tones, without a doubt. I shoot film (35mm and 120) i also shoot D300 And D800.<br>

<br />D200 needs plenty light, Cyprus sunny weather perfect. Trust me, hands down a top skin tone camera</p>