Z8 washed out colors on standard settings

dcarapic

dcarapic

New member
Hi all,
I've just bought Z8 and the colors are washed out.
Previously I used Z6 and with the same settings (same color temperature, sRGB model, SD color mode) the colors on Z6 look great (no need to adjust anything in Photoshop) but on Z8 they are very 'weak' and I have to crank up the saturation in PS.
Is this normal for Z8 or am I potentially missing a setting somewhere?
 
B

Bikerbrent

Senior Member
Welcome aboard dcarapic, enjoy the ride. We look forward to seeing more posts and samples of your work.

You might also want to consider introducing yourself on New Member Introductions.

Someone will be along shortly to help you out.
 
Fred Kingston_RIP

Fred Kingston_RIP

Senior Member
dcarapic said:
Hi all,
I've just bought Z8 and the colors are washed out.
Previously I used Z6 and with the same settings (same color temperature, sRGB model, SD color mode) the colors on Z6 look great (no need to adjust anything in Photoshop) but on Z8 they are very 'weak' and I have to crank up the saturation in PS.
Is this normal for Z8 or am I potentially missing a setting somewhere?
Click to expand...
You can adjust the Saturation on the Camera Standard Profile... Have you done that? In fact, you can create your own "Standard" camera profile by adjusting any one of 8 parameters, 5 of which have to do with exposure/color parameters...
 
dcarapic

dcarapic

New member
I can do that. The question is more if this is a normal thing to do with Z8?
Does everyone who uses Z8 cranks up the saturation by default ... or do they change their mode to Vivid? Reviewers/photographers that I've looked at on YouTube don't mention this and all of them seem to recommend SD mode so I'm just wondering if I have something else setup wrong.
 
dcarapic

dcarapic

New member
Ok, thank you.
Quick additional question. Is it better to simply setup the Camera Raw filter in PS and adjust the saturation there or is it better to adjust it within camera settings? PS gives more control ... changing it on the Z8 gives better preview (I guess?).
 
Clovishound

Clovishound

Senior Member
I don't worry much about the "look" of a file straight from the camera. With certain conditions I can get a fairly saturated, normal looking image straight from the camera. Most times my Z5 gives me a rather bland image. I process every keeper picture I shoot, and it takes very little time to get what I want with most pictures, and no two images are exactly the same. If you are shooting RAW, you have all the info in the file, so I would rather make the adjustments image by image rather than start with a standard adjustment. Your workflow and preferences will be different, and you need to discover what works best for you.
 
Fred Kingston_RIP

Fred Kingston_RIP

Senior Member
What @Clovishound said... Additionally, RAW has no profile. You can't see RAW... It's just data. Everything you see is a profile that's been applied to the RAW data... That profile is someone's interpretation... if you like it, use it. If not, and you want to change it, do it and make it your own.
 
Clovishound

Clovishound

Senior Member
Here is a comparison of straight from the camera and after post processing.

This is straight from the Z5. Original NEF file with no presets. Subject is a little underexposed, and overall it is a very flat image.

_DAB5096.jpg



Here it is with a little processing. Perhaps a little too saturated for some tastes. The greens could probably be toned down a bit. All the information, colors and detail is there in the RAW files. I cropped it a little. I normally leave a little extra room for cropping with handheld macro. It's difficult working so close to maintain good framing, so I give it a little extra room so I can crop in and fine tune composition later. I'm usually squatting down trying to balance myself and camera 6 inches to a foot from my subject, and I just can't hold that as still as I could 30 years ago. Plus, subjects like bees don't often stay very still.

_DAB5096-topaz-sharpen.jpg


Edited to add that I just remembered that I ran the second image through Topaz sharpen just to give a little extra sharpness for possible large printing. The image may not have really needed it, but I routinely run most of my macro through Topaz, just to get that extra detail.
 
Last edited:
blackstar

blackstar

Senior Member
Clovishound said:
Here is a comparison of straight from the camera and after post processing.

This is straight from the Z5. Original NEF file with no presets. Subject is a little underexposed, and overall it is a very flat image.

View attachment 398625


Here it is with a little processing. Perhaps a little too saturated for some tastes. The greens could probably be toned down a bit. All the information, colors and detail is there in the RAW files. I cropped it a little. I normally leave a little extra room for cropping with handheld macro. It's difficult working so close to maintain good framing, so I give it a little extra room so I can crop in and fine tune composition later. I'm usually squatting down trying to balance myself and camera 6 inches to a foot from my subject, and I just can't hold that as still as I could 30 years ago. Plus, subjects like bees don't often stay very still.

View attachment 398626

Edited to add that I just remembered that I ran the second image through Topaz sharpen just to give a little extra sharpness for possible large printing. The image may not have really needed it, but I routinely run most of my macro through Topaz, just to get that extra detail.
Click to expand...
Do you have the original jpg file out of your Z5? or do you only shoot raw?
 
W

WaltE

New member
I only shoot raw both stills and video with the Z8. It's not difficult to "develop" them in either Photoshop or Davinci Resolve with a little practice.
 
Clovishound

Clovishound

Senior Member
I only shoot RAW. I could have the camera save a JPG as well as the NEF, but really have no use for a full sized JPG at this point. If I want to see something I shot on a bigger screen while I'm out and about, I have a small card reader that will plug into my 10" tablet and it will load NEF files. I even have a mobile copy of LR, if I want to make a few adjustments. I got the reader thinking that the Pup and I might enjoy a preview while waiting for food when we stop at a restaurant on our way home, as we usually do. Haven't used it much yet.
 
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