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Re: [OM] IMG: Learning About the E-1

Subject: Re: [OM] IMG: Learning About the E-1
From: Ken Norton <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:59:22 -0600
The way review screen is on the E-1 with the "brightness" set to a normal
setting (brightness is only an LCD angle adjustment on the E-1) chimping is
somewhat an artform.

When chimping, if using flash, I like the face to be about one stop too
high. When processing the RAW file you and up pretty much right on. This is
really no different than shooting Fujicolor 160s or 400h where you get your
best results when you derate everything by 2/3 a stop.

But non-flash is a little different. I prefer to make it a little hot, but
not too much because when you are shooting ambient under artificial lighting
you run a HUGE risk of massive and uncontrolled color shifts. The native
color temperature of the digital sensor is approximately 5300K, but when you
have to shift the WB to as low as 3600-3900K, you are nearly guaranteed to
have something skew because the blue, green and red channels do not blow out
in a linear fashion. Exposing to the right without a 3-channel histogram is
suicide. Even with a three-channel histogram (which the E-1 does not have),
you may still run into problems because when you color correct to a 3900K
color temperature your highlights will usually take on strange cyan color
casts. The reason why I get away with it when shooting flash is because the
color temperature of the flash is nearly the same as the natural sensitivity
of the sensor so minimal WB adjustment is necessary.

This isn't a contradiction of Chuck's recommendations, but a fine tuning of
them specifically for the E-1. With the E-1, it is far better to get noise
than color shifts. Once you get the shifts, there's not much you can do to
fix them. I believe that this is actually a wide-spread problem with people
shooting ETTR (expose to the right) but few know how to recognize the cause
of the problem.

When shooting indoor ambient stuff and using auto exposure, I do not use
ESP. I change from ESP mode to center-weighted. The reason is pretty simple.
If there is a bright light anywhere in the scene the exposure meter will
underexpose by about two stops as it attempts to "protect the highlight".

I prefer to have the histogram "hump" pretty much in the middle, maybe a
touch to the right. Unlike the ETTR Zealots, I prefer to get the in-camera
image as close to the end result as possible. If the "hump" is a bit to the
right you end up doing very little exposure adjustment and the extent of
your adjustments are white-balance and a bit of low-end contrast boost. If
you pull the shadows down the noise stays low, the image is snappier and the
mids and highs stay intact.

AG
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