DESTRUCTIVE AND NON-DESTRUCTIVE CAMERA SETTINGS
Many digital cameras provide you with a lot of set-up options before you ever click the shutter. Some of these options are destructive to the image data, limit what you can do with the file later on, and limit the quality of the final image. A visitor to one of my websites sent an e-mail (below) about the problems he has run into with some camera settings. My answer follows the question.
QUESTION
Hi Jim,
I love your website by the way.
Having purchased my 5d about 2 months ago I used your menu settings and am quite happy with them as they are in effect very similar to those I used with my EOS film cameras. I am a recent convert to digital and it is the picture styles I am currently trying to understand. I have been using Landscape hoping this will give me an image quality close to Velvia 50. My settings for this are: +2, -2, -1. I
use the kit lens, 24-105 L which, apart from its noticeable barrel distortion (easily remmedied by shooting around it or Photoshop), I find to be very sharp indeed. This brings me to my question. Some of my shots are ok as the one attached and very sharp. Some shots however are just too contrasty, as if oversharpened to the point of looking almost unnatural. If you have the time, I would be obliged if you could let me know the optimum settings for picture styles.
Thanks for your time
Keith
ANSWER
Keith,
Thanks for the complement.
Good question. I think I will turn it into an article for my photo blog. Picture Styles is a neglected topic.
For picture styles on the 5D I would recommend using Neutral and 0,0,0,0 or Faithful and 0,0,0,0.
When the 5D creates a jpeg image, it uses the Picture Style setting to adjust the image when it is created from the original RAW camera data. If you use Standard, Portrait, Landscape, or Monochrome, the camera enhances sharpness, contrast, or color (or discards color) in such a way that is destructive of the original image data. Once that is done, you can’t go back and redo things. I think the logic behind Picture Styles is to give the average person the same kind of punchy colors, sharpness, and contrast that they are used to from a typical digital point and shoot camera or from a contrasty color film. This approach is fine for small prints.
The problem with an over enhanced image is that it develops one or more digital gremlins (pixelation, banding, posterization, etc.) when it is optimized in image editing software and printed out at a nice enlargement size.
Using the data destructive Picture Styles is the camera equivalent of letting someone open all of your original image files on the computer, jazz up the
color and sharpness of every photo by some set amount
(whether they need it or not) and then discard all the originals so you can’t go back and redo the photos later in the way that you prefer.
Neutral is the least destructive Picture Style and Faithful increases some colors a tiny bit. Purists tend to use Neutral, I usually go for Faithful.
I think it is best to let the camera produce a jpeg file that is as close to the RAW data as possible, even if some of the photos look a little “flat”, and change color, sharpness, and contrast in the computer. If you overdo it, you can always go back to the original file and try again.
I hope this helps.
Jim