Is my sensor broken?

[martynas_kundrotas1]

<p>Hello everyone,<br>

I recently purchased a Nikon D750 and in certain conditions I noticed the colors are so off that I can't seem to recover them. It's as if some colors are missing completely, I mostly noticed this in scenes with a lot of green. Curiously enough I had a D7000 prior to this camera and I started having the same problem a while ago. I shoot only RAW and when I play with the TINT slider I get it to look ok, but still not completely right. So is this a software issue that can be solved or something more serious?<br>

Here is an example of what I mean: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qm1ige0cq1s2im7/DSC_9254.jpg?dl=0<br>

The JPG is saved in Adobe Standard profile, I can upload the RAW file if needed. Thank you for your help.<br>

Martynas</p>

<p> </p><div></div>

[Matt Laur]

<p>If you're working in the Adobe RGB color space and then displaying the images using a method that doesn't bother looking at or understanding that non-standard space, it's likely being displayed as if it were in the sRGB space, which will indeed make the colors look muted.<br /><br />The shot above looks under exposed, which of course will cause it to appear less vibrant. <br /><br />And: what software are you using as you work with these images? Are you using a well-calibrated display?</p>

[Palouse]

<p>What are your in-camera Picture Control settings?</p>

[Matthew Currie]

<p>Isn't there some subject that you could use as a color chart? It would seem a lot easier to figure things out if you took a picture with large patches of known colors that can be studied. </p>

<p>Or how about a blank white wall, and then reading the RGB histogram? </p>

[mag_miksch]

<p>maybe you underexposure</p>

[martynas_kundrotas1]

<p>Thank you for all of your responses.<br>

Matt Laur - I shoot in SRGB and when I open it in Photoshop it's set by default to AdobeRGB as the color profile. Well, I tried every other profile with no change at all. My display is not calibrated, but it's showing up with these colors in camera as well. I'm working with Lightroom mostly, but it looks the same in Camera Raw as well. I'm fine that the colors are not vibrant, I understand that you need to bring them out with editing, that's what RAW is for. But it doesn't look like something from a FLAT profile, it seems like it's something else.<br>

Nick Sanyal - Since I'm shooting RAW I don't think the Picture Controls matter, you basically change them when opening them with your RAW editor.<br>

Matthew Currie - Ok, I shot a blank wall, what should I look for in the Histogram?<br>

Mag Miksch - Yes it is underexposed, but that shouldn't destroy the colors this way.</p>

<p>The funny thing is that I have the same problem with the new camera as with the old one. So maybe it's not the camera? Could be it be lenses? Cards? Raw settings? I'm shooting in 12 bit RAW by the way.<br>

Martynas</p>

[martynas_kundrotas1]

<p>Thank you for all of your responses.<br>

Matt Laur - I shoot in SRGB and when I open it in Photoshop it's set by default to AdobeRGB as the color profile. Well, I tried every other profile with no change at all. My display is not calibrated, but it's showing up with these colors in camera as well. I'm working with Lightroom mostly, but it looks the same in Camera Raw as well. I'm fine that the colors are not vibrant, I understand that you need to bring them out with editing, that's what RAW is for. But it doesn't look like something from a FLAT profile, it seems like it's something else.<br>

Nick Sanyal - Since I'm shooting RAW I don't think the Picture Controls matter, you basically change them when opening them with your RAW editor.<br>

Matthew Currie - Ok, I shot a blank wall, what should I look for in the Histogram?<br>

Mag Miksch - Yes it is underexposed, but that shouldn't destroy the colors this way.</p>

<p>The funny thing is that I have the same problem with the new camera as with the old one. So maybe it's not the camera? Could be it be lenses? Cards? Raw settings? I'm shooting in 12 bit RAW by the way.<br>

Martynas</p>

[mag_miksch]

<blockquote>

<p><em>Yes it is underexposed, but that shouldn't destroy the colors this way</em><br>

<em> </em></p>

</blockquote>

<p><em><br /></em>Hmm, I think it does, how look pictures with right exposure?</p>

[ronald_duren]

<p>Go into Lightroom preferences and restore the settings to the factory default. If your are having this issue with multiple cameras it's most likely the software but I would also restore both cameras to their factory defaults.</p>

[Jerry_]

<p>Find a 'Photo Grey' card. Take a shot or two with the card in the scene. (Tinker between small spot - medium spot - matrix metering.) Check to see if you have STD set for color, and if AutoMode for color seems too green, try direct sunlight. Then check your images on your computer. The Grey card should be medium in color, and your other colors should be OK. If not, you might contact Nikon for where to send the camera in for service.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

[Matthew Currie]

<p>In answer above: when I shot a grayish-off-white wall with a camera whose sensor is not broken, when I looked at the RGB histogram (that's the one with a histogram for each of the three primary colors plus the white combined one) what I saw was that each of those three colors was pretty close to the same, and all were pretty close to the white combined one. I would expect a truly broken sensor to show some detectable difference in one color.</p>

<p>That's a pretty coarse, quick and dirty test, but it seems reasonable that a truly bad sensor would show. </p>

[rodeo_joe1]

What white balance are you using?

This looks as if it could a WB issue. Auto WB will

almost certainly be thrown by pointing it at a

mainly green scene.

 

Sorry if you're not using AWB, but I can't check your EXIF data on my mobile phone.

[Matthew Currie]

<p>No EXIF data attached on this file.</p>

[JRCrowe]

<p>Maybe try a few in camera jpeg photos to see what you get. That may confirm that it is or isn't a camera problem. Open the jpeg files with something other than Lightroom. </p>

[stephen_behr]

<p>Do a test. Go back to basics. I'am going to get belted here...Shoot jpeg, large fine, Auto WB, Active DL auto, sRGB, standard picture control. Open in View NX2 and the images will look boring but then you have a base to work from.<br>

Then shoot them in RAW and Open in View NX2 again and apply your presets on the computer. Try Vivid picture control +3, and Sharpening +3 and see what you get.<br>

Sometimes its not worth the effort to shoot in RAW with Nikon picture controls now so good. <br>

What version of LR and ACR are you on? Personally I would stay away from Adobe RGB for the moment. It just complicates things. If what you get in ViewNX2 and LR are different then it points to software or settings in LR. </p>

[eric_arnold]

<p>i would shoot with active DL <em>off</em> until you can figure out what's really going on. it's supposed to correct for shadows, but can rob contrast and make things weird, if you don't expressly want that in your pics. at best it's a trick mode, which doesn't do anything you can't do yourself in post-, except it sets arbitrary values to tweak exposure, which can't be fine-tuned to taste. </p>

[rodeo_joe1]

RAW files are agnostic to

both white balance and colour

space. So the NEF files

should be able to be opened

as sRGB or AdobeRGB and with

any white balance.

 

I'd suggest looking at any

system-level colour profiles

on your computer, as well as

those forced in the Adobe

software. IME, Adobe's colour

handling can be very flakey

and it's better to turn all

of Adobe's profiles off and

use proper hardware

calibration instead.