question about G3 colors

[H.SH]

Hello all,
I am considering the G3 for my first digicam (current film SLR user). I have seen many pics of from the G3 and I have a question about the colors it produces. I noticed there is a tendency to saturate the greens and the yellows and sometimes the colors are shifted like tree trunks being greenish. While I find the saturated G3 colors are nice for some photos. Sometimes I like to get photos with somewhat accurate colors. Are there certain in-camera settings or certain workflow with the G3 that gives neutral colors ?

thanks

[Dana]

There are settings that allow you to adjust contrast, sharpeness, and saturation.

I would agree, greens can be a bit intense, in some cases...but I find in general that I prefer the G3 colors.

Dana

[H.SH]

Hi Dana.. thank for yoru reply. I know about these settings but do any of these help you get neutral colors or does for example working in RAW help ?

[Basiltoo]

RAW files certainly do help because you can choose your "in camera" settings, by trial and error if necessary, when post processing your RAWs.

[Leighow]

I do not know what the professional / scientific answer to your question is... but the G3 is a very good camera. Eland might know.


A look back at film
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I guess that as a former SLR user, I always loved my slides. Wonderful color. But when I moved on to a more portable P & S film camera (for its portability) not as many color images shots impressed. Film is complex too. Each film has its own color rendition, and I liked Agfa for its pastels.

My assessment of digital
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Well I am not always sure of the colors in digital. There are many issues. But the problem in advising you is that with film, I never attempted such a wide range of subject matter under trying light conditions as I do with digital. With digital, I am often disappointed in the colors, or in the color saturation (too much usually);but on reflection, I probably have more wonderful color images "thanks to digital", in part because I shoot so many more images.

Second Opinion
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One of my best friends is an outstanding and award winning amateur photographer (a Nikon whiz in his teens). He has now armed himself with a G3 (whay not a DSLR ? Not my place to ask).

He states that he cannot tell the difference between film vs G3 digital on a 10 x 15 inch print. He prints 9 by 12 (I think) for salon work.

CONCLUSION
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If you are a younger man, my advice would be to wait a few years until prices decline and the technology moves along. If you are an oldtimer (like myself), go for it. Of course if you have the big bucks there are many advantages to a DSLR re lens choice, canera settings, and focus control. Finally, remember that PS offers a wide range of color controls.

Good Luck with your Decision

HOWIE

[marcel wouters]

Hi,
Yes the normal jpeg conversion looks a little bit saturated! If you want more accurate colors you must work in RAW, if you succes to implement your workflow you could discover another side of your G3.
The bad side of this is the complexity.
You need at least to calibrate your monitor (to see what you will print), profile your camera and you need a good software package to handle image.
Not all, in some case you will find that jpeg result could be more satisfactory than raw mode at first try!
This is due to the more extended range capacity of the raw mode that need in some case an image tweaking.
Normally in jpeg conversion mode the range is limited to 5 stops trying to put the midtone in the center of the range, similar to the photo paper range.

The advantage of SLR is not the color accuracy but lens quality and a better dynamic range due to the bigger CCD (less noise).

[dchao]

I've also noticed the difference between working from RAW image and the in-camera produced jpeg image.

The in-comera's RAW conversion produces more yellow , so the color on grass and leaves look funny, and grey object too yellow.

I don't know if this is a bug on the Canon G3 camera. Because, in theory, the RAW should produce the same color output as the camera's jpeg conversion firmware. The only difference is jpeg has more compression and is limited to 8-bit. Is Canon aware of this problem?

Closely examine the thumbnail preview window in ZoomBrowser, the original RAW thumbnail has the yellow tint, the PC processed images don't.

Here is a screen dump of the ZoomBroswer preview windows:

http://home.pacbell.net/dchao99/pictures/raw_vs_jpeg.jpg

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Notes:

Weather condition: sunny with blue sky, little hazzy, 10am.

Location: San Francisco.

WB on camera: Auto. (I found auto mode is pretty accurate outdoor under sunny condition)

ZoomBrowser RAW conversion - WB: "Same as shot", default on everything else.