[Gary H Perth]

Is it too trite to suggest that at the manufacturer default settings, the CCD produces images more reminiscent of Kodachrome 64 (slightly reddish, limited dynamic range and smooth edges but with colour contrasts that match my perception) and the CMOS is more like Fujichrome 100 (a touch more blue-green, greater dynamic range but really needing bright colours to deliver a memorable image?

In my film days, I used K64 film in the deserts (Central Australia, Western China, Pakistan) and F50 or F100 in the wetter climates (New Zealand, Taiwan, SE Asia)

[Fenwoodian]

Here's one I took today of my backyard roses. I used a Pentax K10D camera. I like the colors.

I used an adapted projector lens.

[Dartmoor Dave]

Is it too trite to suggest that at the manufacturer default settings, the CCD produces images more reminiscent of Kodachrome 64 (slightly reddish, limited dynamic range and smooth edges but with colour contrasts that match my perception) and the CMOS is more like Fujichrome 100 (a touch more blue-green, greater dynamic range but really needing bright colours to deliver a memorable image?

In my film days, I used K64 film in the deserts (Central Australia, Western China, Pakistan) and F50 or F100 in the wetter climates (New Zealand, Taiwan, SE Asia)

It's not trite, just true.

I shot K64 for so many years that it'll always be my gold standard for colour rendering, and the fact that my GX-10 version of the K10D produces results straight out of the camera that are so Kodachrome-like is one of the main reasons why I just can't give up on it. To my mind, CMOS cameras produce results more like colour negative film, needing skilled and careful processing to get any real oomph out of them.

[er1kksen]

As a botanist who focuses 99% of his photographs on plants the implications for differentiation of greens are something I've definitely noticed and bought a K10D just for that.

Even so, a lightroom profile I built off BigMackCam's original K-3 profile has done wonders for the 12mp CMOS in my Ricoh GXR and when applied to my old K-x and K-5 files. I'm picking up another K-5 soon as the K10D's limited sensitivity and DR can be tough to work with in shady forests (and I can't seem to focus manual lenses for crap without live view anymore). So improvements to the default processing of greens can definitely be made, even if not to the point of replicating superior separation resulting from the sensor architecture.

[interested_observer]

Years ago, right after getting my K5 - I just (gently) tossed everything in the pickup and headed off to the Grand Canyon, getting there right before sunset. I shot something like 80 frames (bracketed) with the K5 and it died (shutter motor Pentax told me on the warranty repair). However, fortunately I had brought my K100D and Q along with a new pack of AA batteries. I switched over to the K100D for the rest of the evening.

The next day - I was post processing the take, the K5 images were really nice, great resolution and everything. When I got to the K100D images my heart somewhat sank a bit as they actually looked a tad bit better and nicer. Different lighting, different scenes - but overall the CCD images just had that un-explainable positive difference about them.

I still have the K100D and my K5 - actually, I probably need to shoot with them a bit more - come to think of it....

[Jan178]

My take on the subject is that being familiar with couple of CMOS cameras (K-x, K-5 and K-70) and CCD ones (K-200d, istDL and istD) the CCD files, especially the files from K-200d that has been with me for a decade are amazingly easy to handle.
They are just so ready with rich colors.

[ChristianRock]

I missed this thread earlier... those who know me know that I feel the same way. And I regularly post in the K10D club thread, and have always noticed how all the nuances of leaves and other green things seem to be so much more detailed in the K10D files - and effortlessly so. The camera just captures more "in-between" colors.

It's almost like this - oversimplifying and exaggerating:

CMOS:


CCD:


Now that Dartmoor Dave's been having great results with the upscaling of K10D images, I might need to give that a try. My panoramas with the K10D have also yielded extremely pleasing results - it's something I need to do more often.

[Digitalis]

I can't help but be that guy: Some of those pencils are way off on the chroma scale. That light green pencil in the larger pencil set between the two yellow ones shouldn't be there! for the love of god why did they put it there!!


CCD's are more like this:

[lesmore49]

It is a very subtle thing to notice, but gradations between complimentary hues seem to be more saturated and the shading between analogous hues appear smoother. My hue perception is extremely high and this is probably a result from an inexplicable defect in my vision, my left eye sees colors differently from my [dominant] right eye.

The differences are mostly seen in the green hues which unsurprisingly, is where 50% of colour information is derived on Bayer mosaic sensors. The remaining colour channels take up 25% each, the rest of the data is interpolated.


Pentax K10D - Sigma 180mm f/3.5 APO EX






This was back in the day where CMOS foundries weren't quite up to the grade in terms of quality and thus colour fidelity was lacking on early CMOS sensors, specialized and thus more costly and carefully manufactured CCD sensors were better, for a time.

I know a bit off topic, but that photograph of the leaf is exceptional. Detail, richness, colour rendition, composition . I really like it. I'm going to put my 100 DF A Macro on my old K10D...see if I can emulate .

[john5100]

I love the colors from the CCD actually. Here is one from my K200D

Veterans Day Photo Walk LeMay Museum by John Rudolph, on Flickr

CMOS same location

LeMay Car Museum by John Rudolph, on Flickr

[Gary H Perth]

I put a Helios 44M-4 on my Pentax K-m just to see how it would go. Herewith a few out-of-camera jpegs, no processing other than what the camera does internally. I love the subtle colours of the gradual pink-white on the zygocactus petal.

[Gary H Perth]

And here is an unplanned shot late afternoon with a Super Multi Coated Takumar 35mm f3.5 on Pentax K-m at about f5.6. No planning, no processing afterwards, didn't even set the exposure.
This looks like Kodachrome 64 to me!

[brpentax]

Hello Digitalis:
Regarding "an inexplicable defect in my vision, my left eye sees colors differently from my [dominant] right eye."
Well, I came by this thread completely by accident while learning about CCD vs CMOS sensors (too much free time...LOL).
Not so briefly, I have a similar issue. Perhaps 15 years ago I was taking pics of a something green. I switched eyes in the viewfinder at some point and it looked blue with the right (dominant) eye and green with my "normal" left eye. First time I ever noted this. Medically, I have light insensitivity in my right eye mostly in yellows (appear more tan or more of a dull yellow) and greens (appear dull or sometimes blue), barely perceived changes with orange colors. Rarely, in lower light, sometimes, my entire field of view is notably darker through the right eye. At roughly the same time I was diagnosed with central serous retinopathy / maculopathy. The CSR / CSM is when fluid is in retinal layers where it should not present. So vision in these areas is distorted, wavy – it was seeing straight lines looking curved that led me to seek an eye exam. My visual acuity fluctuates, sometimes within a week. 15/20-20/20 left eye and up to 30/20 right eye. I also perceive a darker patch, only notable with very low light with the right eye. All of these can relate to CSR. CSR diagnosis requires a dilated funduscopic exam and an OCT (sort of like a laser eye ultrasound – but utterly painless). The OCT can easily find any fluid in the wrong place in the retinal layers – but this cannot be found with the funduscopic exam alone !
Please consider doing an Amsler grid test. You can find the graph paper like grids on the internet. Just cover one eye at a time when doing this. If lines look wavy, time to see the eye doc. Usually, this is not due to CSR, but other badness.
I hope folks will forgive me for posting this here. I only do this for purposes of public service as CSR is not diagnosed very often. I am lucky and have been examined by doctors at my local university medical school and the National Eye Institute at the National Institutes of Health (NEI, NIH) in the US. Also, steroids, which can be used to make things better, can make the CSR worse. So I can’t use them for mosquito bites anymore. Happy to answer any questions and yes, just like our hearing, we also vary in our light spectrum perceptions. But unlike a hearing test, I am unaware of any equivalent for vision testing or standardization.