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05-30-2008, 10:17 AM   #1
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Setting saturation/contrast in camera vs Photoshop PP

I have seen people mentioning adjusting saturation and/or contrast thru camera's menu setting. Is it better to do it this way vs adjusting it during post processing in Photoshop? Does the camera setting applies when shooting RAW?

Just curious.

05-30-2008, 10:18 AM   #2
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this will not affect your raw images, only JPEG's mady by the camera.
05-30-2008, 10:20 AM   #3
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That's a fast reply :-)

I guess I do not have to worry about that then since I shoot only RAW. Thanks.
05-30-2008, 10:23 AM   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by drabina Quote
That's a fast reply :-)

I guess I do not have to worry about that then since I shoot only RAW. Thanks.
altho it might affect your histogram, since the in camera displayed histogram is derived from a temporary jpeg conversion even if it is a raw image.

05-30-2008, 10:30 AM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by Gooshin Quote
altho it might affect your histogram, since the in camera displayed histogram is derived from a temporary jpeg conversion even if it is a raw image.
I guess I will leave it at 0 then not to confuse myself. I still do not have perfect understanding of all the custom menu options in my DSLR.
05-30-2008, 10:59 AM   #6
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Well, not so fast there..

If you play with the adjustments in-camera and ultimately find the adjustments that you like, when you use a program to convert your RAW images into JPG's, those in-camera settings will be applied to the JPG's. It does save me considerable post-processing time.

Think about it. What's the point in setting it to '0' if you always boost it by '+1' in your editing program? Just set it in-camera and then that setting will be applied to every JPG. See what I mean?
05-30-2008, 11:27 AM   #7
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I basically shot in RAW only and, as said, the in camera setting only affect on-camera JPEGs. The white balance set in the camera is stored in the RAW file, so I usually make sure I have a responsible pre-set so save some mouse clicks on the back end.

05-30-2008, 11:35 AM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by Tom M Quote
Well, not so fast there..

If you play with the adjustments in-camera and ultimately find the adjustments that you like, when you use a program to convert your RAW images into JPG's, those in-camera settings will be applied to the JPG's. It does save me considerable post-processing time.

Think about it. What's the point in setting it to '0' if you always boost it by '+1' in your editing program? Just set it in-camera and then that setting will be applied to every JPG. See what I mean?
That's true but I do not think I would want to apply i.e. +1 setting to all photos. I guess I wouldn't want to increase saturation for a kids birthday party with a clown where everything is already colorful :-) So I think I will stick with extra "click" during the PP.

I do have to play with the settings though as I never used them in my camera. Who knows maybe I will like the +1 sharpness on all the photos.

Thanks to all for making it easy to understand for me.
06-02-2008, 03:33 PM   #9
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Man, I'm just a couple of days too late. I was just about to ask the same question. Good thing I thought of looking for a previous post
06-02-2008, 06:51 PM   #10
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As a long term JPEG shooter, I find I change the settings to suite the lighting conditions. Boost saturation and especially contrast on dull days, and reduce it on sunny days.

As someone has stated, many times the settings are carried in your raw data and used to do the import into a raw processor, and if you are really close you save a lot of processing time. This begs to ask the following question. If you want to get the JPEG settings as close as possible, aside from error recovery, why don't you just shoot jpeg?
06-02-2008, 07:23 PM   #11
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I shoot raw+jpeg and I adjust my jpegs in camera. That way, a lot of my shots come out just like I want and I just use the jpeg. If they need tweaking, then I have the raw file to play with. I know Pentax Photolab carries the jpeg settings into the raw converter as a "default" or "starting point". I don't really know about other raw converters. I assume they do, but can't say for sure.
06-02-2008, 07:57 PM   #12
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I have istDL and there is no option to shoot RAW+JPEG. So I have switched to RAW because I like to have the original image sort of "untouched". I can spend some time with PP because I do not take that many pictures. Plus shooting RAW makes me think twice which photos should I keep.
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