After going through my DMC-L1 bashing last week regarding skintones, I
buckled down and got to work with the conversions and understanding what is
going on with the camera.
1. The sensor's WB trends towards the yellows. The sensor isn't
neutral-centric or blue-centric like some brands, or red-centric like other
brands. My A1 is green-centric, btw. Anyway, the DMC-L1 really needs to have
the yellows neutralized to prevent people from looking like they are
suffering from liver failure.
2. The reds, oranges and yellows are easily blown out during conversion.
Unfortunately, this combined with the yellow cast conspire to give strange
color shifts where you least want them. I like healthy pink skin and the
highlights go yellow instead.
3. Third-party converters other than Silkypix do not do the files justice.
However, VueScan with an ICC profile actually does a bit better MOST of the
time. Adobe Lightroom? That's a non-starter. I twisted and turned things
every which way in Lightroom to maximize the files but find that the base
conversion engine itself (either version) just doesn't know how to handle
the blend in the top exposure zone. Frankly, Lightroom conversions of all
three of my digital cameras is overall the worse of all my options. It's an
outstanding program for image manipulation and sorting, but is merely
competent at conversions of these camera files.
So, by using the ICC profile in VueScan I was able to get an idea of what
the tones were supposed to look like. Then using this test image as a guide
I managed to find settings in Silkypix to pretty much match. What surprised
me was how far off from the normal conversion this was. However, what did
surprise me is that I found an in-camera JPEG setting that got very close.
Just as I've had to custom configure my other cameras, I'm having to do so
with the DMC-L1.
The reconverted files sailed through my editing process without further
issues. The images edit nicely and I'm again very amazed at the quality of
the lens. The contrast and smoothness of midtones is unlike anything I'm
used to (it's better than the E-1).
I still prefer the E-1 files for skintones, but at least I know that the
DMC-L1 is usable and halfway decent.
AG
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|