Nikon in camera picture control - from the subtle to the creative!
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- čas přidán 20. 07. 2019
- Nikon has built in their dslrs and mirrorless z6 and z7 cameras, their equivalent to filters on smartphones. It's called Picture Control and in this video (part 1) we'll take a look at the in camera scene based and creative picture controls.
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Excellent video 😊!
I got into editing picture controls about 3 years ago on my D810. At the time, there were only about 5 or 6 of them. I started by editing contrast for the monochrome and subtle color changes to the picture control and saving as a different monochrome. Later, I also modified the landscape picture control to highlight the sky, grass, and then a combination. I could really save myself allot of post production time and see how I envisioned the final image in the field much like Ansel Adams recommended. Finally, I shoot in tiff rather than jpeg or raw. This gives me a large lossless compressed file and allows the use of HDR.
Thanks for the great video!
I just watched this video and i really liked your take on this subject. Wides can help creat beautiful images and these pointers were really clear. Thank you!!
Glad it was helpful!
Has anybody figured out the settings in Picture Control to make the D850 produce an Image that looks, Colourwise, Contrastwise, etc, like what came out of the D200?
Very nice video, Adrian. These controls being JPEG only, you showed the subtle differences between the regular picture control settings. The artisty ones show more effect. As I am exploring my new Z 7, it struck me how different its RAW images are from my 24MP DSLR. More dynamic range into the same 14 bits and everything looks flatter. Also, I started with matrix metering from the highlights. Nothing is overexposed and shadows easily have enough detail. These JPEG picture controls, interesting for SOOC application, usage, like display on screen. I would assume the JPEG conversion in the Z camera follows after the RAW generation from the metered values of the photo sites (the actual analog photovoltaic cells that contribute to the virtual pixel) through (now potentially on sensor) DA conversion into a digital value and does not happen in parallel. Either way, I am not sure if the picture control has no influence at all on the RAW image, if only something ended up in the meta data, same way colour temperature does (in your answer to Hamish, you elaborate a bit on this). I would also be curious to - at some point - see if the JPEGs differ when RAW is set to 14 bits or 12 bits.
Interesting thoughts, and trying to unravel how some of the functionality works requires a fair bit of experimentation and a scientific/engineering mind to reverse engineer! The Z series certainly have more embedded in the metadata and Adobe PS/LR pick up on this in a more integrated way also, but I still, so far, believe that RAW is RAW and that all of the processing with RAW is done with profiles/metadata and can be adjusted post. I truly can't believe that Nikon would risk their pro reputation with anything different. Keep us posted on how you get on. Adrian
@@AF8Images- Valid and relevant points. Not entirely tangential is the understanding of "pixel" and RAW. In a display, each pixel has a "sub-pixel": one each for R, G and B. In a digital camera, the sensor physically has photo-sites each specialized in R, G or B. An optical filter-pattern across the photo-sites takes care of the specialization (wavelength cutoff specified by the client ordering the sensors from the baker.). This can be arranged in different ways. In most cases, the Bayer arrangement is used: each square of 4 photo-sites has one R, one B and two G photo-sites. Pixels are a virtual thing. (Tony Northrup has a YT video on this.) Through some algorithm, the measurement values (the photo-site-cells are analog) are turned into a three channel digital value (i.e. RGB). Simply put, the measurement from a R photo-site gets an additional B and G value assigned - based on some formula, or "out of the blue", if you like. This is why we can get Moiré patterns in raw photographs, if a subject contains/wears a pattern that has a size-ratio with the photo-sites so that this is triggered. With higher res sensors, this risk is getting smaller. The whole point is, "RAW" is not raw at all. The camera's firmware determines how well the RGB assignment is done. As pixels and RAW images are a virtual thing following from firmware, the "Sony makes the sensors in Nikon cameras" is 100% [excrement of male bovines]. It also means that our cameras could deliver better RAW shots after a firmware update. In the Z cameras, for the proper behavior of its lenses, Nikon relies in part on corrections made in post - I presume these are applied to JPEGs already in camera. To me, today, it seems this would be done in Adobe Camera Raw through a collaboration between Nikon and Adobe. People write in the interweb that they cannot bypass this in Adobe, and they needed to open the raw image in another camera raw processor (e.g. C1) so as to be able to see the naked image. I am not sure about Adobe not allowing us to do that, especially since my latest LR version has no profile for my Z lens, yet. So, the lens correction database in your Nikon camera - in theory - could be applied during the generation of a RAW image. Alternatively - in theory - the correction could be implied/dictated via metadata. The question is what happens in practice. If and when I figure this out, I will share.
Hi Adrian, I'm not too sure about this so perhaps you would be good enough to provide some clarification.
In shooting raw + jpg *fine (which I always do), the flat jpg setting is supposed to show the most dynamic range that would show up in the nef file. Is this because the raw file is always transcoded into a jpg on the lcd screen. And if monochrome was chosen, would it be a help in composition.
So the camera output would be a bunch of colour nef files and the *fine jpg files appearing in flat or monochrome. Would this only be beneficial if the raw files are going to post and the jpg files were only used as an on screen gauge of the scene, then discarded.
Just wondering. Cheers Hamish
Hi Hamish, if you shoot RAW+jpg then what is shown on the screen is the jpg with all of the processing that you have set up. If you shoot RAW only then the camera uses a jpg thumbnail of the RAW file with I would guess no additional processing other than conversion to jpg using whichever codec they use.
Just to confuse if you're shooting RAW+jpg and you choose monochrome then when you import the NEF file into the likes of LR or PS then it has a monochrome profile set and it looks monochrome until you change the profile back to colour. This is only with monochrome as with colour PC settings the NEFs have a standard profile which is by its very nature flat. I would guess the logic is that if you're shooting RAW+jpg you are most likely going to be shooting the jpg for immediate sharing and therefore want to see the output image (also there is less latitude to change a jpg) and that RAW files will likely be edited in post so less need for review in camera if you also have jpg on which you can check focus etc... Hope this helps, Adrian
Would be funny if they had put the Fuji profiles in the Z 😂
Totally, I have a Fuji mirrorless and their film based filters are quite good.👍
How do you find them Woody, do you use them much?
Thanks for the pointer Rich, I'll take a look👍
I loaded about 7 custom colour profiles into my D810 about a year ago but a couple of weeks later the camera produced 4 strange looking extra files. I thought WTF so I removed the custom profiles and it hasn’t done it since. Anyway I shoot RAW now so the in camera profiles are not used.
@Rich van Deventer Thanks Rich, I'll buy you a beer sometime. To get the Fuji film on a Z6 is something. Looks like the film profiles will run in capture nx for older archived raw files as well. Thanks again. Hamish