Monday, August 08, 2011

Joe Pie Weed, Misty Morning

Woodbury, Connecticut

If you're stuck with JPEGs, why not make JPEG-aide?

Adobe has yet to release the next version of ACR, which will support Lumix G3 files, so I'm still shooting Raw+JPEG, storing the Raw files and using the JPEGs. They aren't bad, though the shadow values are darker than I'd like to render them (mostly OK for on-screen, but lots of lower values would plug up if printed). There is also obvious noise reduction being applied at higher ISOs but none of the menu items seem to address this. You can adjust or turn off slow-shutter NR, but no menu item turns up for ISO-related NR.

Catching up on some blog-surfing, I noticed that over at Lightscrape, Juha is talking about his new Lumix LX5. He only shoots JPEGs, and I saw that about the first thing he did with settings on the new camera was to switch "picture mode" from standard to "nostalgic," which he had used on his previous LX3. Hmm, what do I know from JPEGs? I opened up the G3 LCD for menus and found the first item in the Record menu was Picture Style, which I'd skipped over up till now. Click in, and there are Standard (the default, so what I've used so far), Vivid (not going there!), and next, Natural. That sounds pretty good. There are other styles for monochrome and so forth. Then I noticed that after you pick a Style, you can customize it for contrast, sharpening, etc, and, finally! you can adjust "NR"—no wonder I couldn't find a noise reduction control in the main menus. It's buried something like eight clicks deep in the Picture Style menu. I punched down to the NR adjustment and set it to the maximum of -2, which I hope is the same as "off."

A first glace at test frames of a Macbeth color checker shows the Natural setting has decidedly lower contrast with more open shadows (my test framed the checker loosely with fairly dark background areas showing around the edges). Saturation is also a bit lower, all of which is good since it moves the JPEG files closer to how I would  adjust the Raw files.

Speaking of which, I finally remembered that you can set ACR to work on JPEG and TIFF files, not just Raw ones. So I changed that preference and took a look. Of course it's not the same as working directly on a Raw file, but for tweaking the JPEGs it's nice to be able to work with the familiar ACR workspace and tools.

Next I shot a couple random indoor frames at ISO 800 and checked them at 100%. The smeary noise reduction artifacts are subdued if not totally gone, and the noise level itself looks very good. When I get a chance I'll shoot some real pictures and see how it all looks.

6 comments:

Dennis said...

Using ACR is very handy on jpegs and you can be pretty gentle.

Carl Weese said...

That's an interesting point, Dennis. I found that the in-camera files reacted in a "hair-trigger" manner when I wanted to tweak them with a PS Curve, compared to the scans I routinely work with in PS. ACR tools seem to offer a much more delicate touch.

Juha Haataja said...

It took me ages to realize the usefulness of the film modes when I started using the LX3. Now, with the LX5, it was easy to get started. However, I'm not yet convinced that my current settings are the best - for now, they suffice.

Carl Weese said...

Juha, it strikes me that more than one of the 'styles' or 'modes' (different name on G3/LX5) might be useful depending on the subject. Also, switching modes might be more convenient than changing individual jpeg parameters. Perhaps the registered custom settings feature would prove handy here.

Juha Haataja said...

@Carl: I have been using the custom modes for color and b&w captures of the same subject; it works rather well. On the other hand, I have learned to keep things simple, so with color what I usually do is adapt to the seasons; during winter different film mode etc. settings are appropriate than during summer.

James Weekes said...

Well Carl, I pulled the trigger and ordered the GF3 with the 14 and the 20. It will be my primary camera with a small Canon digicam for long shots and my trusty K-5 for days when it suits. Keep up with your discoveries about the modes etc.

Between you and Juha, I'll be a seasoned Lumix user in three weeks.