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04-08-2015, 09:01 AM   #1
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What Are Your Preferred K-3 JPEG Settings?

Ever since I got my K-3 I've been shooting RAW+JPG, but mostly using the JPGs. And I must say that, after scrolling through hundreds of images in Lightroom, the RAW version color almost always looks more appealing than my JPEGs!


The JPEGs seem a little washed out in comparison, a bit less saturated. Shouldn't it be the other way around?


What are your preferred K-3 JPEG settings?


Last edited by DavidSKAF3; 04-08-2015 at 09:41 AM.
04-08-2015, 09:11 AM - 1 Like   #2
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I just shoot RAW and convert to JPEG after post.
04-08-2015, 09:16 AM - 1 Like   #3
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QuoteOriginally posted by boriscleto Quote
I just shoot RAW and convert to JPEG after post.
Same here. I have a standard preset that I apply to everything in Lightroom, screen thru the shots and tweek anything that needs it. Doesn't take long unless I decide I need to go outside Lightroom for something.
04-08-2015, 09:24 AM   #4
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Not sure if this could be of help to you: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/172-pentax-k-3/251413-post-your-k3-af-settings-here.html
It relates to "AF", mostly, but maybe someone touched on the subject of JPEG's there.
Just a thought!

Cheers!

04-08-2015, 09:45 AM - 1 Like   #5
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I shoot RAW and convert to JPEG afterwards, but, I would be interested to hear about the settings used by those who shoot JPEG in camera.
04-08-2015, 10:07 AM   #6
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QuoteOriginally posted by jrpower10 Quote
Same here. I have a standard preset that I apply to everything in Lightroom, screen thru the shots and tweek anything that needs it. Doesn't take long unless I decide I need to go outside Lightroom for something.
Would you mind posting your presets? I have been looking for a base setting to use for my k3
04-08-2015, 12:17 PM - 3 Likes   #7
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Hi DavidSKAF3,

I shoot 99% jpegs and only shoot RAW for the more demanding lighting conditions, however, I also PP almost all of my keepers, so my settings won't help if your goal is to get the best results straight out of the camera. I shoot birds primarily, and the percentage of really "nailed" images is relatively low where the pose, detail captured, and unusual subject will all qualify to add to my portfolio. If I end up processing more than 10% of the shots I take, I consider that a very good day of shooting. There are a higher percentage of shots that are of acceptable quality, but many of them will be too similar to what I already have to consider them "keepers". I have to assume that this is nowhere near the norm for most photographers.

First thing I do when I get a new body is to set it to "Natural", as I don't like over-saturated colors, which seem to be a preference for a lot of people, and choose to tweak saturation in PP if called for, it only takes a few seconds. The same is true for contrast.

I turn high ISO NR "off" at all ISOs because I don't like the smearing that it produces and much prefer reducing noise using a dedicated plug in (Topaz DeNoise) even though the process is slow, the results are worth it when it comes to detail retention.

I reduce the sharpness setting to "-3" to eliminate local contrast enhancement "sharpening" as much as possible. This reduces both the "halo" and dark outline artifacts caused by in-camera processing to a minimum so I can sharpen in PP with Topaz InFocus, using only deconvolution sharpening and microcontrast as I feel that this gives a much more pleasing result. I also may use a touch of Focus Magic in its motion blur correction mode if necessary as I can't seem to get a handle on how to control this feature with InFocus -- most of the time, I only need to do this to small areas of the shot, but if a little bit of camera shake is evident, then I'll use it globally. InFocus is also a relatively slow process, but the results are far superior to what I can do with Unsharp Mask or any other local contrast enhancement techniques that are regularly used.

For the K-5 series bodies, I used *** quality instead of the available **** because I could not see any difference between the two when it came to quality. Apparently the Pentax engineers felt the same, and dropped the **** quality in the K-3. The difference is only in compression ratio, and if this doesn't produce visible artifacts, then the only difference is in file size, and I go by what I see, not by the misplaced logic of "more data must be better". If I can't see the difference, then there is no difference for me. I'm probably a lot more empirical than most. . .

I also tweak the colors a bit, according to what I see, but this is really personal preference, and has as much to do with particular lenses, the peculiarities of my vision, and the characteristics of the particular sensor in the camera, so these won't help much.

If you're satisfied with the general IQ of the jpegs straight OOC, then I'd suggest that you try experimenting with the IQ settings. Quite a bit can be done with these. You might try "Bright" or "Vivid" to start with, and tweak the color/hue settings and be able to get what you want. Increasing the Contrast setting might also help. I can't know what you like, so I can't really make any recommendations other than that.

"Just shoot RAW" is, IMO, condescending and dismissing to the OP. It may be the answer for many, but does not address the OP's question.

Scott

04-08-2015, 02:29 PM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by jayman_1975 Quote
Would you mind posting your presets? I have been looking for a base setting to use for my k3
I set clarity and vibrance to +20, sharpening to +60, detail to +40 and masking to +40. I also default to lens profile, although if I'm using my fisheye I'll go back and uncheck that one.

Once loaded I'll massage exposure settings and, if necessary, tweek the presets. I don't do any preset adjustments to exposure (by that I mean exposure, highlights, shadows, white and black) as those adjustments are pretty photo-specific and not always needed, but fast to do if necessary (drag a slider). Ditto contrast. Sometimes I need to run masking up if the sky is showing sharpened noise, as an example of post-preset changes. After everything else is done that's also when I look at whether noise reduction is needed. Playing around with the highlights/shadows/white/black sliders can add some pop. This covers 90% of my shots (that I actually edit. If it's crap, delete)

Also I'll use the filters to do things like tone down the sky, or brighten up a specific area. None of it is time-consuming, but I'll only go this far for maybe 10% of my shots.

I'm not an editing expert, and others might give different advice, but this is what I do and I'm happier with the results than shooting jpeg.

Oh yeah, almost forgot, most of my photography is landscape/nature shots. If I'm shooting my wife I am required by marriage to back off the sharpening

Last edited by jrpower10; 04-08-2015 at 02:34 PM.
04-08-2015, 08:31 PM   #9
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There's a post in another subforum here that might make tweaking your jpeg settings easier. Here's the link

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/32-digital-processing-software-printing/2...ml#post3212545

Essentially, it suggests that you take a shot in RAW, then process it in Pentax Digital Camera Utility in the lab mode. The adjustments mimic those in-camera, and can be directly copied into your camera settings. I've never used PDCU personally, so I can't attest to this, but it sounds like a good idea.

Scott
04-10-2015, 07:14 AM   #10
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I would use snostorm suggestion above

Also the recommended starting jpg settings that I found useful when I first got my K-3

Image setting Natural mode with +1 saturation +1 hue +1 Fine scale sharpness and turn off iso noise reduction below 3200
04-10-2015, 08:08 AM   #11
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Thanks to everyone for the advice and jokes too. I plugged in the suggested settings. Still on the learning curve.
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