[GibbyTheMole]

Hey all.

Every once in awhile I notice clipped highlights in photos from the Q, even on properly exposed shots. Take a look at these:

First, one from the Q:



Look at the pickguard on the guitar. It's a "pearloid" pickguard, made of an iridescent white plastic. See the clipped highlights?

Now look at a pic of the same show taken with a K-x:



No weirdness going on in the pickguard. It also occasionally pops up on photos of flowers taken in bright light. Though the exposure is correct, in the areas where it should be gradients of light colors and white, it's just a blob of white.

Is there a setting in the camera, perhaps the highlight correction or something that would fix this occasional annoyance? It doesn't happen often, but I'd rather it didn't happen at all.

P.S. - I know the white balance is a bit wonky on the pic taken with the Q, (stage lights will do that) but I didn't take time to fix it yet.

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Last edited by GibbyTheMole; 06-11-2013 at 07:57 AM.

[aleonx3]

not the same angle of shot.. so it is difficult to tell IMHO.

[GibbyTheMole]

not the same angle of shot.. so it is difficult to tell IMHO.

It's awfully close. I had the K-x & my wife was right next to me with the Q.

[aleonx3]

A slightly angle could make a big difference, for example, try using a flash on a subject with glass window in the background. The light reflection could be hitting on the Q but not the k-x.

[enoeske]

What kind of settings are you using on the Q? I ask because it looks like really low quality. The shadow gradients are completely posterized. I looks like its set to 1 or 2 * quality. If you don't have anything set weird in the settings, try doing a factory reset on it and see if that clears anything up.

[GibbyTheMole]

What kind of settings are you using on the Q? I ask because it looks like really low quality.

Quality's all the way up & JPEG.

[enoeske]

Quality's all the way up & JPEG.

what picture mode are you using? what digital filters? Any exif info?

[GibbyTheMole]

Since it's a cut & paste from my facebook pic URL, so no exif info, but I can tell you the settings:

02 zoom
manual exposure mode
ISO 1600
f:4.5
Shutter speed approx. 1/125 sec.
JPEG
Max quality (12MP)
No digital filters
"Natural" picture quality

[tuco]

The Q has a small sensor with poor dynamic range compared to larger sensors. You will clip highlights when the amount of light exceeds its capability such as light glaring off shiny surfaces. You can under expose and pull up the shadows on the RAW file to get more DR than the JPEG engine typically gives you.

[enoeske]

Since it's a cut & paste from my facebook pic URL, so no exif info, but I can tell you the settings:

02 zoom
manual exposure mode
ISO 1600
f:4.5
Shutter speed approx. 1/125 sec.
JPEG
Max quality (12MP)
No digital filters
"Natural" picture quality

just to check one more thing

12MP and jpeg quality are 2 different things -- do you have all three stars in the info menu (bottom right)

[GibbyTheMole]

12MP and jpeg quality are 2 different things -- do you have all three stars in the info menu (bottom right)

I'm pretty sure it's at 3 stars & 12 MP, unless my wife changed the settings accidentally. (doubt she did, though.) The above photo was taken with her Q, and I have noticed occasional clipped highlights on my Q as well, and I know the quality is at it's max settings on my Q. I never change those.

[Adam]

I'm pretty sure it's at 3 stars & 12 MP, unless my wife changed the settings accidentally. (doubt she did, though.) The above photo was taken with her Q, and I have noticed occasional clipped highlights on my Q as well, and I know the quality is at it's max settings on my Q. I never change those.

Sounds like the high ISO is to blame. You should try to avoid setting the ISO too high, as the IQ degrades very quickly.

[GibbyTheMole]

12MP and jpeg quality are 2 different things -- do you have all three stars in the info menu (bottom right)

Yep... Just checked.

Sounds like the high ISO is to blame. You should try to avoid setting the ISO too high, as the IQ degrades very quickly.

It was a concert at night, so a high ISO was necessary to reasonably capture the action. I did think of that possibility, though.

[verdigris]

At higher ISO I find it's better to underexpose a stop or so and post process the RAW in lightroom in order to aboid blowing the highlights. The main issue with the Q at high ISO for me is the color accuracy, and you can do much much better processing outside the camera for that.

[snostorm]

Hi Gibby,

I agree with tuco here. I think the difference is DR capability of the sensor. There is apparently about a 1.4 stop difference (11.1 Ev compared to 12.5 Ev with the Kx) in DR between the Q and the Kx sensors and this makes the Q more difficult to meter. I often shoot a K-5 or K-5IIs and a Q together (where there's about a 3 stop difference in DR between the sensors) and have to be much more conservative with the Q to prevent blowing highlights. It's an adjustment that has to be considered when using the much smaller sensor with scenes with high DR.

That being said, I think that the Q did pretty well here at ISO 1600 in jpeg. I'd consider shooting RAW with the Q in these situations since you'd get a bit more headroom from the 12 bit RAW files than the 8 bit jpegs can give you.

Scott