Raw Color Treatment

While I have tested some Canon shot images in this thread, I have never been unsatisfied with the decoding of the RAW images from my Nikon cameras -- first my D200, then my D300, and now my D800. As I have watched the camera Previews come up, and then get replaced by one generated by Aperture, I cannot remember ever wishing for the look of the initial Preview.

My workflow of multiple, drop-in ready copies of my Library, and access across other apps in OSX from what I read is not attainable with Lightroom.

Ernie

Hi to all

the too dark and saturated blue in Aperture, we can see in this thread, seems to be the same problem, I have wih my Nikon D800 and D4:

Strange blue color

And there is a thread, describing the same problem with a Canon 5D Mark II:

Does Aperture Pre Edit Your Images?

With my Nikons it happens with blue colours coming from LED beamers or LED flood-lights. Aperture can't handle these extreme saturation and/or hue. Maybe the internal colour space of the RAW engine of aperture is too small.

Here is a comparison of the effect if the Out-of-camera JPEG and the NEF out of different RAW Converters and what happens if I try to increase the exposure slider in Aperture. Aperture seems to have a bug or a big problem with these intense blue colours:

and here is a video showing the effect (toggling between out-of-camera-JPEG and RAW and exposure slider changes):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4oP3HBHRs4&feature=player_detailpage#t=19s

Léonie told me to set the "Boost" and "Hue Boost" sliders of the RAW setiings to zero. This helps to get rid of the loss of details in the blue, but not to get the brightness back. Here is my description of the workaround:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4483629?answerId=20896824022#20896824022

Hello wolframs,

after I had trouble again with LED light while shooting on a fair last weekend I tried to find some reasons / solutions via web.

So I found your comments which perfectly describe my problem.

Here are 3 more examples:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andreasjoost/sets/72157632574894243/

RAW, EOS 5Dmk2 and EOS 1DX.

The JPG previews in the camera looked fine but after being loaded in Aperture the shown result occured.

BR from Karlsruhe, Andreas.

Same problem for me (Canon D40, Aperture 3,4,4, digital raw camera 4,05, Os X 10,7,5)

I've just reorganised my entire library where i had both jpeg and raw for the same subject.

Compared to the Jpeg, the Raw version after conversion is more saturated and less contrasted. And with deep pink and blue I get artifacts: they are much more saturated that jpeg and originals and this cannot be twisted easily in Aperture settings (certainly not with the RAW import settings). Same problem with Preview, but not with Digital Photo Professional from Canon, nor with Photoshop + Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw.

So I suspect it is Apple Raw converter which is weak.

For normal pics, this is Ok, but for deep blue and pink/magenta: it is way off.

hey guys,

similars issues here: Nikon Raw files decoder - loss of information and oversatured pics

Marco

Aperture feedback report filled

A bit late to the Party, but I'm having the same problem with two different cameras. My Panasonic G5 and my Olympus E-PM1 both suffer from oversaturated blues (to a degree that you see artefacts and the picture is essentially lost...) while the JPG from the camera is absolutely fine?!

Lightroom also has this problem, but the oversaturation is a bit less than Apples Raw Converter, Silkypix (the software Panasonic delivers with the camera) has no problem.

Seeing that two cameras from different companies have the problem (which is exactly the same as in the video from the first poster) I suspect the problem lies in Apples RAW support, but even a harddisk wipe and clean OS install didn't solve my problem, very frustrating.... 😟

I have been thinking: since I am running Lion OS X, would upgrading OS solve the issue? I think I will upgrade today and see what happens. (Maybe the decoder has been fixed ?)

Some updates:

- I'd like to correct my previous statement in 'yes, Lightroom has an equally frustrating issue'.

- Camera RAW fine tuning doesn't help much

- converting do DNG doesn't help much

The way I handled this was by using Aperture feature that allows to import both jpeg & raw and pair them.

So i can keep the original jpeg which is usually better than the one from Apple, and the Raw if editing is needed.

I suspect there are no other ways. I don't think Apple is improving their raw converter parameters once released.

I have been thinking: since I am running Lion OS X, would upgrading OS solve the issue? I think I will upgrade today and see what happens. (Maybe the decoder has been fixed ?)

Just a caution: Make a bootable clone of your system, before you upgrade, so that you can easily revert to the previous version, if there should be issues. The new OS Mavericks is great, and the changes to Aperture barely noticable, no worries there, but many other applications will install considerably changed versions that you may not like, or that are causing problems because plug-ins are no longer supported.

HugoMe wrote:

The way I handled this was by using Aperture feature that allows to import both jpeg & raw and pair them.

sounds like it si worth trying, can you point me out to the option in Aperture to achieve this?

When you are in the importing dialog, at the left, you choose

Raw+Jpeg Pairs

Import: Both (use jpeg as original)

(supposed translation from the one I have in my language)

You need of course to shoot Raw + Jpeg in your camera. This is a minor annoyance, but again, I don't see any other way. Keep in mind that Apple Raw converter is used to display the pic, but the RAW file is untouched, so you can always use another raw converter (adobe, or your camera manufacturer's) for some editing.

This will handle all your future shoots.

For the past ones, if you have the jpeg and raw, and you want to pair them, it's more complex; you need to trick the software with the names of the pics and do some reimporting on top of existing library, but I'm sorry I don't remember how I did it.

HugoMe wrote:

Keep in mind that Apple Raw converter is used to display the pic, but the RAW file is untouched, so you can always use another raw converter (adobe, or your camera manufacturer's) for some editing.

this is only helpful to have a nice preview inside the Aperture, am I right?.

Does Aperture exploits the fact that there are two versions when editing?

M@rk1x wrote:

this is only helpful to have a nice preview inside the Aperture, am I right?.

-> Yes mainly (also through the OS X, for finder, mail... or your iOS devices). I suppose however it is also used when printing from Aperture

Does Aperture exploits the fact that there are two versions when editing?

it allows you to edit whatever version you want, without touching the other: Which means if you have not the above artifacts, you can use the RAW. If you have, you can either use the jpeg or try to modify the raw to look like the jpeg. Or use another software.