Cant get decent reds out of camera D700

[Mr Lensbaby]

Saturday 21st 3pm rant
Having a slack day and wanted to see if the reds out of the D700 are any better than previous Nikon DSLRs I have owned in the past . Shot the same object with 5 different lens with in 10 minutes and all failed .From 3 hours testing/playing the answer is still a big NO Nikon's just cant reproduce a decent red.
Out of camera the reds/jpeg look washed out no matter what .
What in camera setting are others using.

[ricktas]

what colourspace have you set in your camera? Are you shooting RAW or JPG

[I @ M]

Exactly the opposite of that which I have found Mr LB, I reckon reds are perfect with the D700 --- but --- you have to have the correct settings and a bit of secret sauce to make them work properly.

I have it all worked out perfectly I reckon but like a well known cooked chook franchise I am not disclosing the 11 herbs and spices needed.

[Mr Lensbaby]

what colourspace have you set in your camera? Are you shooting RAW or JPG

Using sRBG and tried Adobe RBG no difference same with RAW and jpeg ?

[Mr Lensbaby]

Exactly the opposite of that which I have found Mr LB, I reckon reds are perfect with the D700 --- but --- you have to have the correct settings and a bit of secret sauce to make them work properly.

I have it all worked out perfectly I reckon but like a well known cooked chook franchise I am not disclosing the 11 herbs and spices needed.

Any reason don't wish to share ??

[I @ M]

NEF
sRGB
D2x Mode 1 picture control in camera, not software later, at default settings except for sharpening at 0 which should be done later in PP.
Expose to the right and push saturation and contrast in PP.

With good glass you should be able to achieve any red from totally natural to over the top.

[JM Tran]

colour will also be affected by the lens you are using too, which lens or lenses did you use?

[Mr Lensbaby]

colour will also be affected by the lens you are using too, which lens or lenses did you use?

The main 3 14:24 24:70 and 70:200 their was very slight if any difference across these 3

[Mr Lensbaby]

NEF
sRGB
D2x Mode 1 picture control in camera, not software later, at default settings except for sharpening at 0 which should be done later in PP.
Expose to the right and push saturation and contrast in PP.

With good glass you should be able to achieve any red from totally natural to over the top.

Thanks Mr Sanders but Im looking for out of camera colour as I can easily achieve with a Panasonic LX3 or GF1 not Post Processed colour

[I @ M]

Out of camera the reds/jpeg look washed out no matter what .

Thanks Mr Sanders but Im looking for out of camera colour as I can easily achieve with a Panasonic LX3 or GF1 not Post Processed colour

I understand that totally about wanting it out of the camera and that is what I am addressing with the advice on in camera picture controls. If you are shooting a dull red with those settings you will get what you see, if you are shooting a vivid vibrant red you will get exactly that and the processing later is only limited by your choice of how far you want to make the reds redder with contrast and saturation.

[Mr Lensbaby]

I understand that totally about wanting it out of the camera and that is what I am addressing with the advice on in camera picture controls. If you are shooting a dull red with those settings you will get what you see, if you are shooting a vivid vibrant red you will get exactly that and the processing later is only limited by your choice of how far you want to make the reds redder with contrast and saturation.

Thanks

D2x Mode 1 could be my missing link

[arthurking83]

.....wanted to see if the reds out of the D700 are any better than previous Nikon DSLRs I have owned in the past .

....

.... Out of camera the reds/jpeg look washed out no matter what.

What settings have you been/do you use?

... What in camera setting are others using.

Basically!.. whatever!! (works).

I really don't have any preference for any particular camera setting(this is why I only shoot raw) I can alter camera settings in any of the NX software, if I have too.

Basic workflow:
Shoot in Standard PictureControl, open NEF in ViewNX, see how it looks with various other Picture Control settings(all without sharpening usually), and WB adjustment.

Are your concerns about the reds: for print, on PC screen, or on the camera review screen?

There's no point in shooting in aRGB, and expecting to see better reds on your (PC)screen, unless you have a proper widegamut screen(expensive), that can handle the aRGB colourspace... are you referring to screen output or print?

if screen output is the problem, then the camera is almost certainly not to be the problem, could be screen calibration or screen type, or (most likely culprit) processing/viewing software.

I have no issues with reds other than the red channel blowing out easily(common problem), and generally after a WB adjustment(which I take into account at the time of exposure too).

sample image:


without wanting to boast, this rendition of red is close to perfect. By that I mean that the flower on screen, is the exact same hue, saturation, likeness of the flower in real life.
I did in fact maintain the image to be slightly more blue than I otherwise would have, by keeping the WB setting to Direct Sunlight(5200), where I'd otherwise set it too Cloudy(6000, give or take 200K) for that time of day.

PP was a simple matter of setting Picture Control to Vivid in ViewNX and then -0.3Ev in ViewNX, and that minimised the not over strong impact of a few blown red highlights, after setting PC to Vivid.
Setting Picture Control in (nikon) software is exactly the same process as doing it in camera.
The ONLY difference is that by doing the PC setting in camera, you get to see the RGB histogram for the actual exposure at the time of exposure(and thus you can adjust accordingly). But blown reds are the easiest to compensate for in PP(that I've noted), so I don't really worry about them too much any more.

I'd say first things to be weary of are: software used, screen(calibration) and WB setting.. in that order.

With respect to the GF-1 and LX3, are you talking about raw(if they're capable) or jpg images? It can make a difference as the camera's software will make a huge impact on the output quality. I dare say that the compacts are going to produce vivid reds to please the common human eye, and not try to minimise the impact of blown red highlights, whereas the Nikon could be trying to subdue the reds to keep the red highlights in check.

[Mr Lensbaby]

Thanks Arthur your post gives me a some what better standing and I'm inspiring to get near pure colours such as you flower



QUOTE ....wanted to see if the reds out of the D700 are any better than previous Nikon DSLRs I have owned in the past

I do believe Nikon reds have always been a problem and when compared to a Fuji S5 using same lens this is strongly evident .