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[OM] Olympus E-1 Color Magic

Subject: [OM] Olympus E-1 Color Magic
From: Ken Norton <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2020 14:52:19 -0800
http://zone-10.com/d1/node/342

The Olympus E-1 has an absolutely wonderful Kodak CCD sensor that has
three major flaws: Not enough pixels, noisy pixels, and supposed lack
of dynamic range. However, in fairness, the noisy pixels are generally
not an issue if you can shoot at base-ISO. The lack of dynamic range
is sometimes a challenge, but usually not a problem because the images
require less bending in the computer to achieve desired output. But
the lack of pixels is definitely a weakness and forces a restriction
on maximum print sizes and cropping.

But the colors, oh, the colors! And the mid-tone contrasts. The
typical digital camera has a much flatter response curve and requires
more gain adjustment to form the desired output curve. The E-1 raw
images have a much steeper response cure and a significant "toe" in
the shadows. Not really any shoulder, but the toe is major. Because of
this, as well as a more intense color profile, it requires less
bit-bending and saturation to be added later in the process. The E-1's
Kodak CCD sensor is effectively closer to the final output and
requires less computational adjustment later on.

When it comes to color saturation, most cameras allow for the images
to be "saturated" through the edit process, but rarely are those
saturated colors "rich colors". It's similar to cooking where butter
can provide a richness in flavor that a vegetable oil cannot.

I revisited some images taken back in 2005 on a trip to Michigan's
Upper Peninsula with Joel Wilcox. I've converted and edited these
images many different ways through the years, but I wanted to take
another stab at them with my current visual aesthetic. All were
processed in the latest/greatest version of Adobe CC (Lightroom
Classic) and are solely done with global adjustments. No spot editing,
no edge corrections, no gradients, etc. While an argument can be made
that these are all turned up to 11, they do make me smile right now
and the interpretation is very different than previous versions.

In all honesty, the actual slider adjustments in Lightroom are about
half of what I usually do with Canon or Panasonic files.

Are there major flaws to these photos? Yes. But these were
quick-and-dirty conversions with less than five minutes effort. Final
versions take more time and effort to see how the adjustments hold up
to scrutiny.

I think it may be safe to say that 2020 will be the year of the Kodak
CCD for me.

AG Schnozz
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