Forgot Password
Pentax Camera Forums Home
 

Reply
Show Printable Version Search this Thread
10-08-2008, 08:44 PM   #1
New Member




Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 12
Pale-looking RAW files, is it a problem?

Hi, everyone:

I am currently on a field trip with my Pentax K100D. I have been using this camera for 2+ years and deeply impressed by the intensed color in the JPEG files it produces.

But during this trip, I decided to switch to the RAW format. To my dissapointment, in some way, the pictures turn out to be very faint in color, so pale that they don't fit what I see with my bare eyes. The bright red foliage turned out to be pink or orange in the files (in Windows Photo Gallery and/or Picasa2, I have updated the codec for windows).

Comparing to the same road trip I took last year, everything else are pretty much the same. I am using the 18-250mm lens I recently aquired, but it has been tested for a month already. My camera was recently fried (somebody forgot to switch it off while changing batteries with the cable connected to the computer) but still functions.

I am serious thinking to ditch this K100D since the incident. But before I upgrade to anything else, I need to know whether the pale RAW file problem is real.

Thank you very much!

10-08-2008, 09:13 PM   #2
Veteran Member
rfortson's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Houston TX
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 2,129
Post an example. I can't imagine you're getting correct jpegs and incorrect raw files. More likely, you're used to seeing the well saturated jpegs and the raw file just needs the saturation adjusted similarly in post processing. What are you using to process the raw files?

BTW, raw files are flat simply because you haven't done any additional processing to them. However, now you get to decide on the processing instead of the engineer(s) that designed the jpeg engine in your camera.
10-08-2008, 09:14 PM   #3
Senior Member




Join Date: May 2008
Location: Arizona
Posts: 290
the white balance is off? the white balance on my k20 is suck i jus do manual white balance before i shoot, but sometime (ok, a lot of time) i forgot and got a blue/orange tint to it but it can be save by dragging the temperature slider on ACR or other PP software...

maybe not your problem but that all i know with my limited experience (pretty new) to SLR.
10-08-2008, 09:16 PM   #4
Moderator
Loyal Site Supporter
Wheatfield's Avatar

Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: The wheatfields of Canada
Posts: 15,903
Any way you could post a file?

10-08-2008, 09:27 PM   #5
Veteran Member
LaRee's Avatar

Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: San Diego
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 2,225
What you are seein in your raw file depends on the raw converter you are using. What are you using to convert to jpeg?
10-08-2008, 09:41 PM   #6
New Member




Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 12
Original Poster
Hi, everyone:

Here are two examples. The first one (9333) is a JPEG converted by Picasa, but before the conversion, it's already this pale.

The second one is a comparing shot originally saved as JPEG by the camera.
10-08-2008, 10:01 PM   #7
Moderator
Loyal Site Supporter
Wheatfield's Avatar

Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: The wheatfields of Canada
Posts: 15,903
The one click fix


Last edited by Wheatfield; 12-01-2008 at 10:48 PM.
10-08-2008, 10:37 PM   #8
Veteran Member
LaRee's Avatar

Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: San Diego
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 2,225
First, that sure is a beautiful image! I think the thing you have to remember when working with a raw file is that it is raw. The jpeg is processed by the camera to get the colors and sharpness to a certain point that you've set. The raw file can be manipulated more and really must be manipulated more to get an in camera jpeg look. The advantage of raw in my humble opinion is it provides more latitude for saving exposure and wb challenges than a jpeg file. The k100d produces good jpegs as you've seen in the past 2 plus years of shooting it. Why would you be thinking of "ditching" it?
10-08-2008, 10:49 PM   #9
Veteran Member
wlachan's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Canada
Photos: Albums
Posts: 2,625
With ACR or Lightroom, you can do camera calibration for each camera you have and the colour will be more vivid. I don't think Picasa has such feature, and besides, the camera jpegs are heavily processed images while the idea of shooting RAW is to give you much room for postprocessing afterward.
10-09-2008, 02:48 PM   #10
Senior Member




Join Date: May 2008
Location: Irvine, So. Cal
Posts: 127
Picassa 2 is terrible with Pentax Raw files. Picassa 3 has not improved. In CS3 ACR and Lightroom 2.0/2.1 raw images are beautiful. Your camera is fine. Try InfanView, it is free and it displays Pentax raw very well. Only thing is that the range of controls is limited.
10-09-2008, 05:48 PM   #11
Senior Member
marcdsgn's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Queensland
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 265
RAW images are packed with as much colour-data as possible. This means the images will appear muddy prior to post-processing. It's sort of like mixing blue, red and yellow paint together - you get brown!

Enhanced images are created by the removal of bits of this data. (eg: pull away YELLOW data and your blues and purples will appear brighter and cleaner, pull away BLUE and your oranges and reds will appear brighter, etc).

In-camera JPG images are being post-processed (stripped of data) by default, which is why they look brighter - literally, there is less data in the image. The downside is, you have less scope for creative post-processing with the JPG images, because they don't have as much data to work with.
10-09-2008, 08:17 PM   #12
New Member




Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 12
Original Poster
Thank you, guys, for your kind comments and suggestions. I just re-installed the Pentax Photo Utilities that came with the camera two years ago and had it updated. OMG! What a spendid color! The pictures certainly still have the highest quality of color and clarity.
It seems to me that either M$ photo viewer or Picasa2 can view the PEF files properly. However, that makes me even more confused. Should I:
1, learn everything about the Pentax software and forget about other programmes. And learn to process every picture before I publish them. or
2, take one RAW with one JPEG at the same time so it would save me the time to process the pictures afterwards.
10-09-2008, 08:58 PM   #13
Veteran Member
rfortson's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Houston TX
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 2,129
QuoteOriginally posted by lisicai Quote
1, learn everything about the Pentax software and forget about other programmes.
Now you've opened a can of worms! If you think the "Mac vs PC" debate is spirited, just wait until you witness a raw processor debate!

Personally, I like the Pentax software, but I had to learn it first. I was waiting for Adobe to release the raw file update for the K100D when it first came out. In the meantime I learned the Pentax software and found that I liked it. It serves about 90% of my processing needs and does a great job at the conversion (as it should, coming from Pentax).

I'm sure others will weigh in with all the various options. I'll just finish this bit by saying pick one and stick with it long enough to learn it well enough. You can get lost in all the different processors, and how they all do things just a little differently from the others.


QuoteOriginally posted by lisicai Quote
2, take one RAW with one JPEG at the same time so it would save me the time to process the pictures afterwards.
I've been taking raw+jpeg ever since I got the K10D. I find that about half the time, the jpeg is all I want. However, when I want to adjust it, I have the raw file to work from. Also, when I get that shot of Bigfoot and Elvis stepping out of the spaceship, I want to make sure I have all the pixels possible for the shot!
10-10-2008, 04:54 AM   #14
Veteran Member
Jasvox's Avatar

Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 3,107
the RAW file is an unadulterated photo based on the image from the sensor, not from processed image such a JPEG. It comes down to which way are you processing your RAW file? If you are simply viewing it uncooked, it looks flat in most cases. If you are using a very very basic RAW processor such as Picassa, no wonder you aren't happy with the results!
I think with some exploring and a little more learning with RAW, you will may find, as most people do eventually, RAW files produce a truer image once processed correctly. I take all photos as RAW+JPEG now and process the keepers and dump the rest, keeping only a JPEG if I don't feel like completely trashing the ones I know aren't up to snuff. When I do a side by side comparison of my JPEG and RAW of the same image once processed, I am almost ALWAYS happier with the few seconds of processing it took to achieve that result.

On the other hand, if you have a decent photo processing software, the JPEGS right out of your camera can be tweaked to darn near the same degree of detail as that of the RAW files. I am very happy using Lightroom with my K10D files...and for some odd reason should I forget to engage my RAW setting and have only JPEGS, no lost sleep.

Have fun!

Jason
Reply

Bookmarks
  • Submit Thread to Facebook Facebook
  • Submit Thread to Twitter Twitter
  • Submit Thread to Digg Digg
Tags - Make this thread easier to find by adding keywords to it!
camera, color, files, k100d, photography, photoshop, switch, trip, windows
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
How to save stitched RAW files to a RAW file? HermanLee Digital Processing, Software, and Printing 7 07-09-2010 05:51 PM
problem with raw files in bridge pete_pf Digital Processing, Software, and Printing 9 06-28-2010 09:58 AM
RAW duplicate images - saving as RAW files jpzk Digital Processing, Software, and Printing 17 02-15-2010 07:01 PM
RAW Files Charles1 Pentax DSLR Discussion 3 03-28-2009 08:20 PM
Does the Photoshop RAW converter work with Pentax RAW Files? mconder Pentax DSLR Discussion 3 05-15-2008 12:14 PM



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 03:53 AM. | See also: NikonForums.com, CanonForums.com part of our network of photo forums!
  • Red (Default)
  • Green
  • Gray
  • Dark
  • Dark Yellow
  • Dark Blue
  • Old Red
  • Old Green
  • Old Gray
  • Dial-Up Style
Hello! It's great to see you back on the forum! Have you considered joining the community?
register
Creating a FREE ACCOUNT takes under a minute, removes ads, and lets you post! [Dismiss]
Top