Images look "flat"

[996GT2]

When I compared the shots from my D70 to those on a friend's D40, the colors looked much more subdued, with very little "pop" to them.

I've set up the camera to +1 sharpening, Auto tone compensation, sRGB Ia color mode, and "normal (middle setting) saturation. I usually shoot in A or P modes.

Is the D40 set up from the factory to produce more saturated shots?

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: 996GT2
When I compared the shots from my D70 to those on a friend's D40, the colors looked much more subdued, with very little "pop" to them.

I've set up the camera to +1 sharpening, Auto tone compensation, sRGB Ia color mode, and "normal (middle setting) saturation. I usually shoot in A or P modes.

Is the D40 set up from the factory to produce more saturated shots?

Yup, in an attempt to woo the P&S crowd. First thing I noticed in the reviews when the D40 came out.

You don't shoot RAW?

 

[996GT2]

I shoot RAW+JPEG...I usually post process in Photoshop or DxO Optics Pro, but was just wondering why the images came out so flat straight out of the camera...

 

[twistedlogic]

Originally posted by: 996GT2
sRGB Ia color mode

I believe that is the setting, try changing it to sRGB IIIa mode.

Are you shooting in JPEG or RAW? I've read the D70's JPEG conversion isn't the greatest.

 

[jpeyton]

If you're using Lightroom (which I highly recommend), they've added Nikon's color profiles to it. That means I can process any Nikon NEF file with the same color profiles built into the D3/D300/D700.

D2X Mode 1
D2X Mode 2
D2X Mode 3
Landscape
Neutral
Portrait
Standard
Vivid

Plus Adobe Standard, ACR 4.4 and ACR 3.7.

Landscape usually adds enough pop for my taste.

 

[pennylane]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
If you're using Lightroom (which I highly recommend), they've added Nikon's color profiles to it. That means I can process any Nikon NEF file with the same color profiles built into the D3/D300/D700.

D2X Mode 1
D2X Mode 2
D2X Mode 3
Landscape
Neutral
Portrait
Standard
Vivid

Plus Adobe Standard, ACR 4.4 and ACR 3.7.

Landscape usually adds enough pop for my taste.

Is that only available with Lightroom or are the color profiles available for CS3/ACR also?

 

[996GT2]

I have CS3 right now so I will look into Lightroom, thanks

Right now I'm using DxO Optics Pro, since that's basically a 1 stop shop for fixing lens distortion/aberrations (it has a lens database with correction data) as well as adding punch to colors and fixing exposure, brightness, etc.

The one thing I really like about DxO Optics Pro is that it can emulate the film grain and color output of a variety of 35mm films, including the often toted Fujifilm Velvia 50!

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Adobe Labs camera profiles for Lightroom/ACR: http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/DNG_Profiles

 

[angry hampster]

RAW images out of the camera will look flat, muted, and unsharp. They're made to be processed. Sorry if this has already been said.

 

[foghorn67]

Originally posted by: fanerman91

Originally posted by: jpeyton
If you're using Lightroom (which I highly recommend), they've added Nikon's color profiles to it. That means I can process any Nikon NEF file with the same color profiles built into the D3/D300/D700.

D2X Mode 1
D2X Mode 2
D2X Mode 3
Landscape
Neutral
Portrait
Standard
Vivid

Plus Adobe Standard, ACR 4.4 and ACR 3.7.

Landscape usually adds enough pop for my taste.

Is that only available with Lightroom or are the color profiles available for CS3/ACR also?

It should be ACR. IIRC.
But to agree with what others said. DSLR's typically aren't ultra snappy out of the box. They give the freedom to tweak it to the photographer's choosing.

 

[helpme]

Are you comparing shots from similar lenses?

 

[996GT2]

18-55VR (D70) vs 18-55 II (his D40)

So yes, they are similar

 

[jamesbond007]

Originally posted by: angry hampster
RAW images out of the camera will look flat, muted, and unsharp. They're made to be processed. Sorry if this has already been said.

Ditto!

It is worth nothing that my friend bought a D40 or D50 (I am not sure, but it's probably 3 years old now - I don't keep up to par on the Nikon front!) and he said that his colors are dramatically different than his D200. The D40/D50 popped much more than his D200 does. He says he's even shooting them with the same settings (color space/profiles) so it could be a sensor thing, perhaps...

Food for thought,
~Travis

 

[996GT2]

Originally posted by: jamesbond007

Originally posted by: angry hampster
RAW images out of the camera will look flat, muted, and unsharp. They're made to be processed. Sorry if this has already been said.

Ditto!

It is worth nothing that my friend bought a D40 or D50 (I am not sure, but it's probably 3 years old now - I don't keep up to par on the Nikon front!) and he said that his colors are dramatically different than his D200. The D40/D50 popped much more than his D200 does. He says he's even shooting them with the same settings (color space/profiles) so it could be a sensor thing, perhaps...

Food for thought,
~Travis

I think it's because there's the notion that advanced amateurs and professionals want more neutral photogrpahs, so the midrange to higher end cameras are set up for more subdued colors...I just didn't know it was so dramatic a difference.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

I think it's because "advanced amateurs and professionals" want less in-camera processing.

 

[soydios]

You can set the cameras to give approximately the same output.

 

[jamesbond007]

Originally posted by: Flipped Gazelle
I think it's because "advanced amateurs and professionals" want less in-camera processing.

Flipped Gazelle and 996GT2, that sounds very plausible. Good thinking!

 

[996GT2]

Is there any way to apply a particular develop setting to many images at once?

I tried selecting all and setting the color profile, but it only applied the profile to one of the images.

 

[Fardringle]

I use Lightroom 1.4 and when I select multiple images then right-click on any of the images and use the Develop Settings > (profile) option, the settings are applied to all of the selected images.