Forgot Password
Pentax Camera Forums Home
 

Reply
Show Printable Version Search this Thread
01-18-2012, 02:18 PM   #1
Pentaxian
ducdao's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Montreal/Vermont
Posts: 2,160
When people say they love the colors produced by Pentax DSLR...

What do they really mean? Shound't that only applies to film?

I always having hard time understanding that statement when it's referred to a DSLR. To me, since I only shoot RAW, I can in theory set/control the color output of any of my photographs - assuming I have the right skills and tools.

Or perhaps those people are referring to the default JPG output? I guess I'm a bit confused here. Can someone please shed some lights?


Last edited by ducdao; 01-18-2012 at 02:38 PM.
01-18-2012, 02:37 PM   #2
Forum Member




Join Date: Jan 2012
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 85
My sister has a Canon DSLR and I use it to shoot photos sometimes...with the same settings...But the difference is very clear...For me, Pentax is more sensitive to colours and reproduces more vivid colours! It's very clear when I go through my different photos albums and compare Pentax vs Canon
01-18-2012, 02:38 PM   #3
Pentaxian
ducdao's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Montreal/Vermont
Posts: 2,160
Original Poster
QuoteOriginally posted by Neel1 Quote
My sister has a Canon DSLR and I use it to shoot photos sometimes...with the same settings...But the difference is very clear...For me, Pentax is more sensitive to colours and reproduces more vivid colours! It's very clear when I go through my different photos albums and compare Pentax vs Canon
That's when you shoot RAW or JPG?
01-18-2012, 02:38 PM   #4
Veteran Member
wlachan's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Canada
Photos: Albums
Posts: 2,625
People are confused. People see what they want to see. PP determines the colour, period.

01-18-2012, 02:40 PM   #5
Veteran Member
dgaies's Avatar

Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Maryland / Washington DC
Posts: 3,917
QuoteOriginally posted by wlachan Quote
People are confused. People see what they want to see. PP determines the colour, period.
I think it would be fair to say that different lenses can have an effect on color as well, even when shooting RAW.
01-18-2012, 02:59 PM   #6
Veteran Member
wlachan's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Canada
Photos: Albums
Posts: 2,625
QuoteOriginally posted by dgaies Quote
I think it would be fair to say that different lenses can have an effect on color as well, even when shooting RAW.
Yes, but PP has far greater impact on colour since the digital age, and any great pics being shown these days have received a great deal of PP.
01-18-2012, 03:04 PM   #7
Veteran Member
VisualDarkness's Avatar

Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Uppsala, Sweden
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 4,438
My brain says that in theory different cameras can be different in which colours they are more sensitive to and therefore reproduce them to a degree of different accuracy. We already got a test of "Colour depth" at DXo-mark so the fact that there is a difference is clear but can we actually see it?

01-18-2012, 03:09 PM   #8
Veteran Member




Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 1,889
I think that a lot of people who have warm feelings for the colours produced by their camera system are referring to their quality as they come off the camera. In this context, the claim applies equally to jpeg or raw, as it's a completely subjective impression. Of course, anything can be changed in post, but a camera or particular lens that makes that process a bit less tedious is noteworthy.
01-18-2012, 03:14 PM   #9
Veteran Member
dgaies's Avatar

Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Maryland / Washington DC
Posts: 3,917
QuoteOriginally posted by wlachan Quote
Yes, but PP has far greater impact on colour since the digital age, and any great pics being shown these days have received a great deal of PP.
No disagreement here.
01-18-2012, 03:17 PM   #10
Veteran Member
JinDesu's Avatar

Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: New York City
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 5,638
QuoteOriginally posted by wlachan Quote
Yes, but PP has far greater impact on colour since the digital age, and any great pics being shown these days have received a great deal of PP.
Post processing may determine the color, but when same post processing is applied to DNGs from a Canon and PEFs from a Pentax, they don't give the same results. Heck, post processing can change contrast, sharpness, noise, etc too. But at the base files, there are definitely differences.
01-18-2012, 03:33 PM   #11
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
bkpix's Avatar

Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Creswell, Oregon
Photos: Albums
Posts: 568
It's an imperfect metaphor, but being an old film guy I tend to think of the camera/sensor/built in RAW processing as the film and the digital processing as the development.

Even in the film days, there were some processes -- Kodachrome, for example -- that were so arcane that only the big labs could handle them. And they all followed the Kodak cookbook, meaning postprocessing/development was not a factor in image quality.

Shooting digital today is much more like a guy with a batch of Tri-X and a darkroom full of different developers. The Tri-X, aka the sensor etc., is the unvarying part; the different developers and differing ways of using them is the range of postprocessing techniques, from letting the camera do it ("straight from the camera JPEG," which just means you picked some default PP setting) to mucking around endlessly in Photoshop, Lightroom, etc.

Beating that metaphor to death, in a sense you had more freedom in film days than you do now. That's because you could buy a new sensor for the cost of a new roll of film. That Tri-X guy could shoot a roll of Panatomic-X now and then, if he wanted to, without overdrawing his credit limit.
01-18-2012, 03:56 PM   #12
Veteran Member
JohnBee's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Newrfoundland
Photos: Albums
Posts: 4,667
QuoteOriginally posted by ducdao Quote
What do they really mean? Shound't that only applies to film?

I always having hard time understanding that statement when it's referred to a DSLR. To me, since I only shoot RAW, I can in theory set/control the color output of any of my photographs - assuming I have the right skills and tools.

Or perhaps those people are referring to the default JPG output? I guess I'm a bit confused here. Can someone please shed some lights?
I think its common for people to repeat things without really knowing better(I mean this in a kind way of course). However, in this day and age, I don't think it's likely that digital camera's will inherent the color characteristics like we saw in the days of film.

As already mentioned I too think lens would have a greater impact on image characteristics than a sensor. That is beyond the sensor's capacity handle dynamic range etc.
01-18-2012, 04:25 PM   #13
Veteran Member
Marc Sabatella's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Denver, CO
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 10,685
Given that many manufacturers use the exact same sensors in their cameras (ones built by Sony show up in Sony, Nikon, and Pentax), we can really only be talking about default JPEG processing algorithms. And it's kind of misleading to imagine that one is going to be consistently better than another. Consider - if, say, Pentax's algorithm happens to result in more muted greens than Canon's (which i think many might say is true), that's going to be a good thing in some cases and a bad thing in other. Taking the camera defaults in all cases doesn't make one a particularly discerning viewer, and yet those are the only folks who are going to see any difference at all.

As for lenses, yes, there can be a subtle difference lens to lens, but it would be an almost miraculous coincidence if each and every Pentax lens somehow shared similar characteristics that were identifiable different from Canon or Nikon. Statistically, it is practically a foregone conclusion that there will be more difference between any two different Pentax lenses than between the "average" across all Pentax versus Canon or Nikon lenses.
01-18-2012, 07:09 PM   #14
Veteran Member




Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Manila
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 2,185
JPG yes for me

QuoteOriginally posted by ducdao Quote
What do they really mean? Shound't that only applies to film?

I always having hard time understanding that statement when it's referred to a DSLR. To me, since I only shoot RAW, I can in theory set/control the color output of any of my photographs - assuming I have the right skills and tools.

Or perhaps those people are referring to the default JPG output? I guess I'm a bit confused here. Can someone please shed some lights?
when shooting simple snapshots in JPG yes I do notice that Pentax colors are more vivid than C/N (though N is closer). At least that's what I see when I compare shots to my friends who have a Canon 450D and Nikon D5100/D40/D3100. Skin tones especially have a warmer, more "alive" look in it. Reds are more saturated, blues not that strong. Or at least in my K-x's defaults lol. Hard to beat a Fuji in skin tones though.

Maybe it also depends on the lens being used. My FA 28-70 f/4 projects better contrast and more vivid colors vs. my FA 28-105 (PZ) at the same settings, even on RAW. I'll post a sample comparison in a bit.
01-18-2012, 07:17 PM   #15
Pentaxian
ducdao's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Montreal/Vermont
Posts: 2,160
Original Poster
So I think the general consensus here is that if everything being equal a lens has somewhat a subtle impact on the color output, not the sensor/camera.

The above statement is also what I observe while shooting with all my Pentax DSLR bodies, of course I only shoot RAW.
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, dslr, love the colors, output, people, photography
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Wow! A whole lot of people using Pentax dslr's psychdoc Pentax DSLR Discussion 13 05-19-2011 03:01 AM
so people buying dslr usually have little interest in videography liukaitc General Talk 28 04-10-2011 09:14 AM
Yeah, I bought NEW Pentax DSLR - I love it!!! JoepLX3 Pentax DSLR Discussion 13 10-11-2010 08:52 PM
To the people who love manual focus... Dubious Drewski Pentax DSLR Discussion 63 06-22-2010 08:47 PM
Why do people love super telephoto primes? esman7 Troubleshooting and Beginner Help 29 08-28-2009 09:50 PM



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 10:19 PM. | 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