[mp29k]

I have seen lots of questions about the K-x and K-r, it's ability (or lack therof) to create the famous "Pentax Colors" and which default jpg setting to use.

I took the following pictures in a controlled environment, same shutter speed, fixed aperture, and on a tripod with MLU (2 second release). These were taken at base iso with the Kit lens (DAL 18-55mm). I used live view to take AF issues out of the equation. The light was window light, and was very consistent from shot to shot.

If anyone is interested in the method used to reduce the images, I used FastStone image viewer (great by the way!), and Lanczos3 algorithm for the reduction to 1024 pixels wide.

Without further adieu, and hoping this is useful to others, the following are all the custom image presets available in the K-r. I have my favorite, won't spoil the thread with my thoughts. If anyone reads this who has experience with "Pentax Colors" would be interested to hear if any of these gets close.

Bright (K-r default selection):
Attachment 83729

Natural
Attachment 83730

Portrait
Attachment 83731

Landscape
Attachment 83732

Vibrant
Attachment 83733

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Last edited by mp29k; 03-05-2011 at 03:12 PM.

[mp29k]

Muted
Attachment 83734

Bleach Bypass
Attachment 83735

Reversal Film
Attachment 83737

Monochrome
Attachment 83736

[Hypocorism]

You left out the only good one in Pentax cameras: Custom.

.R.

"You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." -- Mark Twain (1835-1910)

[mp29k]

You left out the only good one in Pentax cameras: Custom.

.R.

"You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." -- Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Every one of these is customizable in the K-r. There is no "Custom" setting explicitly unless I am missing something.

I noticed something when doing this test though that I don't really like about the way the K-r treats Raw files. When selecting the custom colors, it DOES effect the raw files, despite what I had read on here prior. The Raw files I shot with these samples (I shoot Raw+ with .dng) all look identical to the jpgs, including the monochrome sample. I would prefer that the camera would give me a true RAW file, and keep the color intact in the funky settings of Monochrome, Bleach Bypass, Muted, etc...

-K

[asp1880]

When selecting the custom colors, it DOES effect the raw files, despite what I had read on here prior.

I don't think this is correct. The raw image data is unaffected by the image tone, but the chosen image tone is inscribed into the rawfile metadata, and it controls the default PRESENTATION of the raw file. Both on the camera LCD and in your PC software.

Sincerely,
--Anders.

[asp1880]

Lately I've taken a fancy to the muted image tone. Throw in some backlit sunshine and it can really create a special mood in the images.

BTW, you can testdrive all the image tones just from one raw exposure. There's an in-camera jpeg development option somewhere in the playback menu where you can choose white balance, image tone, distortion correction, jpg compression etc post-exposure. Then you can "develop" several differnet JPEGs from the same rawfile.

Regards,
--Anders.

[Hypocorism]

Every one of these is customizable in the K-r. There is no "Custom" setting explicitly unless I am missing something.

Yep, they're not really hard coded Presets per se, they're just "Named" for convenient guidance, and that's why Pentax doesn't need to bother giving a separate one named Custom like some other mfgrs do.

So turn your Vibrant or Bright into hip retro B&W if you want.
9 "customs" can be cool to play with. I always thought K-x was over the top with 7!

I noticed something when doing this test though that I don't really like about the way the K-r treats Raw files. When selecting the custom colors, it DOES effect the raw files, despite what I had read on here prior. The Raw files I shot with these samples (I shoot Raw+ with .dng) all look identical to the jpgs, including the monochrome sample. I would prefer that the camera would give me a true RAW file, and keep the color intact in the funky settings of Monochrome, Bleach Bypass, Muted, etc...

I think what you might be seeing there is Faststone being fast & loose. True?
I noted that you mentioned F.S.V in your O.P, and I agree it's a real winner quick'n'dirty pix browser, I've preferred it for many years, however it can be deceiving on colours rendering which can pay to be aware of, like most/all freewares because of the free sourced engines and libraries they're commonly limited to deploying.

For that reason I keep P.S Elements on board, also PaintShop Photo Pro X3 Ultimate as my editor -- they have and use their inbuilt professional coded industry standards compliant for sRGB etc. Which all costs.

If you have a reputable commercialware Gfx/Photo package installed on your box, try loading the exact same pics into that, and also into Faststone (or Xview, Irfanview, etc.) for side by side colours comparisons onscreen.

It can be a real eye opener because we often fall for the mistake of making judgements on visually perceived colours hues and tones of images when our equipment both hardware and~or software is really misleading us.

Of course choice of web browsers are always a potential culprit too with graphics, as well as the source website.

Add the wide variance of human eyesight and it's not surprising why no two of us here would likely ever "see" the same image as is presented.

Fwiw; If you ever used the old F.S capture utility too that went shareware and want a great substitute, try Picpick http://www.wiziple.net/ It's got a handy colour picker + heaps of other usefuls inbuilt.

An old favourite to demonstrate.



.R.

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Last edited by Hypocorism; 02-16-2011 at 01:06 PM.

[lavascript]

Every one of these is customizable in the K-r. There is no "Custom" setting explicitly unless I am missing something.

I noticed something when doing this test though that I don't really like about the way the K-r treats Raw files. When selecting the custom colors, it DOES effect the raw files, despite what I had read on here prior. The Raw files I shot with these samples (I shoot Raw+ with .dng) all look identical to the jpgs, including the monochrome sample. I would prefer that the camera would give me a true RAW file, and keep the color intact in the funky settings of Monochrome, Bleach Bypass, Muted, etc...

-K

When you view a DNG in Faststone, what you're seeing is not the raw file itself, but rather the embedded JPG preview, which indeed will have the image settings applied. To verify that the actual raw data is identical, use Faststone to process the images. I don't have it on this PC, but I think you right click a raw file and choose process or something similar.

A raw file is basically just a map of how much light hit each pixel. The only camera settings that can affect a raw file are aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and focus. EVERYTHING else affects only the JPG preview. (I realize there are probably exceptions to this, I believe I heard somewhere that some camera was NR-ing the raw files somehow, and there may be others...)