I'd like to start a discussion about the different JPEG presets, what they do and how they can be tweaked to one's liking. I've gone over lots of threads about this in my search for the "best" settings for me (as it's been a while since I shot exclusively, or even mostly, RAW), and I must say that I'm not satisfied with the usual recommendations of "Bright -1 saturation" or "just switch to Natural".
Every single preset has a different "base" processing which cannot be changed (Vibrant, for example, strongly emphasises Magenta and Green, while Bleach Bypass mutes those colours). The presets even seem to have different NR levels applied if you leave that on Auto! (Yes, I did indeed pixel peep that hard
). You can get the presets to mostly look like one another, except for these differences.
That "base" processing can be compared to the grey hexagon on every graph, which is actually the default "Natural", and shows how biased a preset is "for" or "against" a certain colour. I believe Pentax engineers know that the reds on these sensors weigh towards Magenta, and so out of the 9 presets, 4 have that channel reduced more or less, depending on the preset. Note that the Natural preset
does not have that bias applied, which would mean that Natural actually implies an actual "SOOC" image, rather than a faithful reproduction of the scene.
I would argue that it's a tweaked Muted setting that is in fact the most accurate of the presets: Saturation +2, Hue 0, Hi/Low key 0 and Contrast and Sharpness however you see fit. What do you guys and gals think? I know most people only shoot RAW here, but there must be someone interested enough to start a conversation
PS: I'll do some more testing tomorrow to find out exactly what Hi/Low Key actually does, since I have the feeling it applies more to the mid-tones.