Picture Control setting on D7200

[david_simon]

<p>I am going to borrow my friend's D7200 body for our Vietnam trip. Photos will be scenic, birds and nature. What "Picture Control" setting do people usually use? standard, flat, or? I will do some post processing with Dx0 and Photoshop elements.</p>

[Javier Gutierre]

<p>Personally I am a Jpeg shooter and spend as little time in PP as possible. Those in camera pre sets are a waste of time in my opinion. I have tried them all and end up binning them. As for in camera J pegs, I have my D7K's set to the finest Jpeg setting, max sharpness, max DR settings, and nearly max settings for contrast and Saturation. I get very nice vivid colors. The jpeg files are huge so if I need to tweak them, there is plenty there. <br>

Look through my profile and see the various images. All shot as J pegs. <br>

p.s. The lens has allot to do with contrast and colors.</p>

[lornesunley]

<p>I do not know if DXO or Photoshop elements pays any attention to the Picture Control settings that the camera uses. I assume you are going to be shooting in NEF (raw) files. In that case you can use any Picture control setting as it will/can be changed in Post Processing.<br>

Personally, I shoot with Standard picture control and use the Nikon software for post processing, and that software does pay attention to the camera settings. </p>

[rodeo_joe1]

<p>Shoot in RAW and it doesn't matter what the Picture Control setting is. You'll be able to tweak any parameter to your heart's content afterwards, as well as getting far more dynamic range available than in an 8 bit JPEG.<br />I can't understand why someone would use a high quality camera and then throw most of its IQ away by shooting crippled JPEGs.</p>

<p>The JPEG was designed as a compact way of sending moderate quality image information over the (then) limited bandwidth of the world-wide web. It was never meant to be an archival high quality file format - we have 16/32 bit TIFF or DNG for that.</p>

<blockquote>

<p> "The jpeg files are huge so if I need to tweak them, there is plenty there."</p>

</blockquote>

<p>No, there isn't. The JPEG format limits you to an 8 bit/channel colour depth with even smaller local palettes for each 8x8 pixel tile. And compression and sharpening artefacts will prevent getting the utmost edge detail.<br>

64 GB memory cards are as cheap as chips these days, so file space isn't really an issue. You can expect to shoot well in excess of 600 RAW+JPEG files on a 64GB card.</p>

<p>To answer the OP's question: Page 130 of the PDF manual <a href="http://crossgate.nikonimglib.com/dsd_redirect/redirect.do?P=S1UPc70&R=h1oCG52&L=vCqoU01&O=1nTZn00">http://crossgate.nikonimglib.com/dsd_redirect/redirect.do?P=S1UPc70&R=h1oCG52&L=vCqoU01&O=1nTZn00</a><br />has a detailed description of all the picture controls.</p>

[Palouse]

<p>This site may help: http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/microsite/picturecontrol/</p>

<p>scroll down too. It's more than the movie.</p>

[hapien]

<p>Picture control setting Neutral seems most appealing choice to me. I am not sure if either of programs that You mention care at all of picture control modes when editing raw images. But if You shoot jpeg, picture control naturally makes a difference. Same if You use programs supplied by Nikon, when editing raw.</p>

[richard_driscoll]

<p>Picture control settings don't affect the raw image but they do affect the appearance of the histogram. If you use a high contrast picture control the histogram may lead you to believe that the bright portions of the image are over exposed when the sensor is not actually saturated and the raw image will be fine when 'developed' to a lower contrast.<br>

Like Thomas I tend to use neutral when shooting raw. I don't have 'flat' on my D7000.</p>

[Javier Gutierre]

<blockquote>

<p>I can't understand why someone would use a high quality camera and then throw most of its IQ away by shooting crippled JPEGs.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I have been told that for years, so I know I am in the minority and I also know you are right. When I use my Pentax bodies, I shoot in DNG mode. Those files are about 16mb, about the same size as a Nikon Jpeg. The Pentax Jpegs at their finest settings are about 6mb. I think for what I shoot as well, the jpegs are well suited as well. Heck, I still shoot allot of film :-) I suppose if Photoshop CS5.5 would open up the PEF files, I might try them. </p>

[michael_bradtke]

<p>I know several extensively published pro's who shoot nothing but jpeg. It is all about getting the image right in the camera and not having to edit. I shoot freelance for a company that requires me to shoot jpegs.... Shooting RAW files is not the end all or be all for digital photography.</p>

[rodeo_joe1]

<p>Javier, you can hack PS codecs by slinging the latest 8BR file at an older version of Photoshop. You need to edit the codec (Adobe calls 'em filter) files slightly. I cracked it a while back but can't remember exactly how I did it now.</p>

<p>There's absolutely no reason why Adobe can't keep older versions of ACR compatible with new cameras. Except for the fact that they're a greedy bunch!</p>

<blockquote>

<p>"It is all about getting the image right in the camera and not having to edit."</p>

</blockquote>

<p>That's not the point of shooting RAW Michael. There are some (many) things that a JPEG can't do for you. Like the ability to create an HDR image from a single shot, or make shadow areas more transparent. Yes I'm sure a lot of sports shooters and PJs find JPEGs convenient and adequate for web use or low res newsprint reproduction. The point still stands that a JPEG file is unarguably compromised by limited bit depth and inability to be altered after the fact without showing posterisation, or other artefacts.</p>

[michael_bradtke]

<p>its a little more then convenience for PJ's</p>

<p>http://petapixel.com/2015/11/18/reuters-issues-a-worldwide-ban-on-raw-photos/</p>

<p>There is a lot you can do with the jpeg file format including using ACR to edit them including most of what you listed.</p>