Praise for Pentax color

plooksta · 10-03-2015, 11:04 AM - **1 Like**

Just wanted to relate a little story. Today I was helping an artist photograph his paintings. It's a very fiddly process if you want to do it well. We tried with his D3200, fiddled for ages, couldn't get a proper WB, even with a white card under studio lights. Having done our best, we couldn't get a decent red. Reds became orange, no matter how much we tweeked the WB and color settings. I tried it on the K5, set to auto WB and vivid color, and it came out utterly perfect, first shot. No perceptible difference between the painting and the image on the camera. We were both pretty amazed by this. High praise to Pentax. He is, needless to say considering trading in the Nikon.

jawsy · 10-03-2015, 02:34 PM

I'm not surprised. The on board JPEG conversion on any of the three Pentax I've ever owned have been brilliant in this aspect. I find it difficult to replicate in LR5 from RAW.

RAART · 10-03-2015, 04:53 PM

We checked Canon, Nikon, Olympus and Pentax and guess who was the best... Pentax! I owned Nikon, Olympus and Pentax and the artist/painter Canon with Zeiss and Canon L lens and he always when finished a painting had to shot it and then went to Photoshop to tweak the colors and never got it right. The best he was able to do was around 80% match and plenty of time in Photoshop but one day I brought all my cameras as I was claiming that Pentax is capable of achieving this and he was not convinced. After shooting the same subject in controlled environment and transferring images to his iMac for evaluation the results were as follows: Pentax, Olympus, Nikon and finally Canon in terms of JPEG files. When we used raw files than Pentax and Nikon were the best than Olympus and Canon.

Short story we sold his Canon L and Zeiss lens and that was enough to get him at that point brand new K-3 and Sigma 35mm 1.4 Art lens (Sigma just released the lens). Since then he doesn't spend to much time working on files and enjoy the saved time... Lesson learnt and now he is all Pentax!

narual · 10-04-2015, 12:08 AM

That's pretty silly. $100 or so for an xrite colorchecker passport would have been a better investment if you're looking for accuracy. And maybe something to calibrate the monitor and make it accurate, too.

---------- Post added 10-04-15 at 03:15 AM ----------

ColorChecker Passport: X-Rite Photo
ColorMunki Photo - Monitor Color Calibration Software Solution

Last edited by narual; 10-04-2015 at 12:09 AM. Reason: Autocorrect didn't understand xrite

**Rondec** · 10-04-2015, 03:12 AM

Originally posted by narual

That's pretty silly. $100 or so for an xrite colorchecker passport would have been a better investment if you're looking for accuracy. And maybe something to calibrate the monitor and make it accurate, too.

---------- Post added 10-04-15 at 03:15 AM ----------

ColorChecker Passport: X-Rite Photo
ColorMunki Photo - Monitor Color Calibration Software Solution

Sure.

But it is nice if cameras perform they way you want out of the box without a lot of manipulation. Certainly if you have the white balance correct (using a gray card), most cameras should be close to each other. My experience is that Canon's do have a different treatment of red than do Sony sensored cameras. Might make it a little difficult to match them up, but I would think any camera that uses a Sony sensor should be able to do about the same.

Not a Number · 10-04-2015, 03:46 AM

As I recall from discussion elsewhere the much maligned Pentax Digital Camera Utility (PDCU) uses the same algorithms as the camera. So you can get pretty much the same looking JPEGs from RAW as from out of the camera.

plooksta · 10-04-2015, 12:16 PM

Originally posted by Rondec

Sure.

But it is nice if cameras perform they way you want out of the box without a lot of manipulation. Certainly if you have the white balance correct (using a gray card), most cameras should be close to each other. My experience is that Canon's do have a different treatment of red than do Sony sensored cameras. Might make it a little difficult to match them up, but I would think any camera that uses a Sony sensor should be able to do about the same.

Exactly it's all about saving time.

narual · 10-07-2015, 11:01 PM

Really? It takes a few moments to photograph a colorchecker, a minute or two to make the profile, and for a controlled lighting situation, you'd only have to do it once, ever. Applying the profile is a single mouse click in Lightroom, that can be made into a preset if you prefer. And it guarantees an exact match, which is what one would think an artist would actually want in reproducing his art.

If you're happier with Pentax colors out of the box, great. I switched to Pentax from Nikon for a similar reason. But for the purpose stated, a colorchecker would have been a much better investment of both time and money.

plooksta · 10-09-2015, 03:41 AM

Originally posted by narual

Really? It takes a few moments to photograph a colorchecker, a minute or two to make the profile, and for a controlled lighting situation, you'd only have to do it once, ever. Applying the profile is a single mouse click in Lightroom, that can be made into a preset if you prefer. And it guarantees an exact match, which is what one would think an artist would actually want in reproducing his art.

If you're happier with Pentax colors out of the box, great. I switched to Pentax from Nikon for a similar reason. But for the purpose stated, a colorchecker would have been a much better investment of both time and money.

What you don't realize is that these people are not photographers, or retouchers, without expertise with cameras, color profiles and facilities such as lightroom or PS. They need something they can use 'out of the box' when they are on their own.

MadMathMind · 10-09-2015, 10:56 AM

Originally posted by jawsy

I'm not surprised. The on board JPEG conversion on any of the three Pentax I've ever owned have been brilliant in this aspect. I find it difficult to replicate in LR5 from RAW.

If Lightroom had Pentax JPEG profiles, it would save a ton of time. It's one aspect of Pentax that should be an easy fix and would make the brand much more marketable. It makes it harder for me to recommend Pentax simply because the workflow is longer. (On the plus side, I probably have learned more about imaging and camera settings than my many of my Canikon friends because Pentax makes life a bit less automated.)

I find that the camera exaggerates oranges a lot, so in my presets, I have a -10 saturation to orange.

Originally posted by Not a Number

As I recall from discussion elsewhere the much maligned Pentax Digital Camera Utility (PDCU) uses the same algorithms as the camera. So you can get pretty much the same looking JPEGs from RAW as from out of the camera.

The issue with the PDCU is that it's slow. And the previous version crashed on me a lot. Also annoying is that if you don't have a a K-3 or newer, you have to "steal" v5. That seems pretty poor, but I suspect it has something to do with licensing and cost.

10-03-2015, 11:04 AM - 1 Like	#1
plooksta Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 158	Praise for Pentax color Just wanted to relate a little story. Today I was helping an artist photograph his paintings. It's a very fiddly process if you want to do it well. We tried with his D3200, fiddled for ages, couldn't get a proper WB, even with a white card under studio lights. Having done our best, we couldn't get a decent red. Reds became orange, no matter how much we tweeked the WB and color settings. I tried it on the K5, set to auto WB and vivid color, and it came out utterly perfect, first shot. No perceptible difference between the painting and the image on the camera. We were both pretty amazed by this. High praise to Pentax. He is, needless to say considering trading in the Nikon.

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10-03-2015, 02:34 PM	#2
jawsy Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Australia Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 422	I'm not surprised. The on board JPEG conversion on any of the three Pentax I've ever owned have been brilliant in this aspect. I find it difficult to replicate in LR5 from RAW.

10-03-2015, 04:53 PM	#3
RAART Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Oakville, ON Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,095	We checked Canon, Nikon, Olympus and Pentax and guess who was the best... Pentax! I owned Nikon, Olympus and Pentax and the artist/painter Canon with Zeiss and Canon L lens and he always when finished a painting had to shot it and then went to Photoshop to tweak the colors and never got it right. The best he was able to do was around 80% match and plenty of time in Photoshop but one day I brought all my cameras as I was claiming that Pentax is capable of achieving this and he was not convinced. After shooting the same subject in controlled environment and transferring images to his iMac for evaluation the results were as follows: Pentax, Olympus, Nikon and finally Canon in terms of JPEG files. When we used raw files than Pentax and Nikon were the best than Olympus and Canon. Short story we sold his Canon L and Zeiss lens and that was enough to get him at that point brand new K-3 and Sigma 35mm 1.4 Art lens (Sigma just released the lens). Since then he doesn't spend to much time working on files and enjoy the saved time... Lesson learnt and now he is all Pentax!

10-04-2015, 12:08 AM	#4
narual Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: South Bend (Notre Dame), Indiana Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,988	That's pretty silly. $100 or so for an xrite colorchecker passport would have been a better investment if you're looking for accuracy. And maybe something to calibrate the monitor and make it accurate, too. ---------- Post added 10-04-15 at 03:15 AM ---------- ColorChecker Passport: X-Rite Photo ColorMunki Photo - Monitor Color Calibration Software Solution Last edited by narual; 10-04-2015 at 12:09 AM. Reason: Autocorrect didn't understand xrite

10-04-2015, 03:12 AM	#5
Rondec Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Gladys, Virginia Photos: Gallery Posts: 27,653	Originally posted by narual That's pretty silly. $100 or so for an xrite colorchecker passport would have been a better investment if you're looking for accuracy. And maybe something to calibrate the monitor and make it accurate, too. ---------- Post added 10-04-15 at 03:15 AM ---------- ColorChecker Passport: X-Rite Photo ColorMunki Photo - Monitor Color Calibration Software Solution Sure. But it is nice if cameras perform they way you want out of the box without a lot of manipulation. Certainly if you have the white balance correct (using a gray card), most cameras should be close to each other. My experience is that Canon's do have a different treatment of red than do Sony sensored cameras. Might make it a little difficult to match them up, but I would think any camera that uses a Sony sensor should be able to do about the same.

10-04-2015, 03:46 AM	#6
Not a Number Moderator Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Venice, CA Posts: 10,526	As I recall from discussion elsewhere the much maligned Pentax Digital Camera Utility (PDCU) uses the same algorithms as the camera. So you can get pretty much the same looking JPEGs from RAW as from out of the camera.

10-04-2015, 12:16 PM	#7
plooksta Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 158 Original Poster	Originally posted by Rondec Sure. But it is nice if cameras perform they way you want out of the box without a lot of manipulation. Certainly if you have the white balance correct (using a gray card), most cameras should be close to each other. My experience is that Canon's do have a different treatment of red than do Sony sensored cameras. Might make it a little difficult to match them up, but I would think any camera that uses a Sony sensor should be able to do about the same. Exactly it's all about saving time.

10-07-2015, 11:01 PM	#8
narual Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: South Bend (Notre Dame), Indiana Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,988	Really? It takes a few moments to photograph a colorchecker, a minute or two to make the profile, and for a controlled lighting situation, you'd only have to do it once, ever. Applying the profile is a single mouse click in Lightroom, that can be made into a preset if you prefer. And it guarantees an exact match, which is what one would think an artist would actually want in reproducing his art. If you're happier with Pentax colors out of the box, great. I switched to Pentax from Nikon for a similar reason. But for the purpose stated, a colorchecker would have been a much better investment of both time and money.

10-09-2015, 03:41 AM	#9
plooksta Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 158 Original Poster	Originally posted by narual Really? It takes a few moments to photograph a colorchecker, a minute or two to make the profile, and for a controlled lighting situation, you'd only have to do it once, ever. Applying the profile is a single mouse click in Lightroom, that can be made into a preset if you prefer. And it guarantees an exact match, which is what one would think an artist would actually want in reproducing his art. If you're happier with Pentax colors out of the box, great. I switched to Pentax from Nikon for a similar reason. But for the purpose stated, a colorchecker would have been a much better investment of both time and money. What you don't realize is that these people are not photographers, or retouchers, without expertise with cameras, color profiles and facilities such as lightroom or PS. They need something they can use 'out of the box' when they are on their own.

10-09-2015, 10:56 AM	#10
MadMathMind Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Houston, TX Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,717	Originally posted by jawsy I'm not surprised. The on board JPEG conversion on any of the three Pentax I've ever owned have been brilliant in this aspect. I find it difficult to replicate in LR5 from RAW. If Lightroom had Pentax JPEG profiles, it would save a ton of time. It's one aspect of Pentax that should be an easy fix and would make the brand much more marketable. It makes it harder for me to recommend Pentax simply because the workflow is longer. (On the plus side, I probably have learned more about imaging and camera settings than my many of my Canikon friends because Pentax makes life a bit less automated.) I find that the camera exaggerates oranges a lot, so in my presets, I have a -10 saturation to orange. Originally posted by Not a Number As I recall from discussion elsewhere the much maligned Pentax Digital Camera Utility (PDCU) uses the same algorithms as the camera. So you can get pretty much the same looking JPEGs from RAW as from out of the camera. The issue with the PDCU is that it's slow. And the previous version crashed on me a lot. Also annoying is that if you don't have a a K-3 or newer, you have to "steal" v5. That seems pretty poor, but I suspect it has something to do with licensing and cost.