S100 RAW color issues

[pmartin89]

Hello all. I've had the new Canon S100 since November and have had the issues described below for a while, but wasn't able to get much help back then since not many people had the camera. I just discovered this forum so I thought I'd come here for some help.

I am having an issue with how the RAW files appear in Lightroom.

I import the photos into a Lightroom catalog and they all look fine within the importer window (which shows essentially what a JPEG would look like), but when I click on the photo in Library or Develop, once the photo finishes loading, the red saturation goes through the roof.
Any photo that already had a little bit of warmth to it exploded with red.
Whereas any photo taken in normal light gains a little more warmth and exposure.

Here are a couple examples of the JPEG preview (also how it looks in-camera) compared with what the RAW looks like once it's been loaded in Lightroom. (The above or left photo is the “normal” version, the bottom/2nd image is the RAW)






It’s sort of difficult to tell with some of the photos by looking at them side-by-side. I also have the individual photos if you want to A/B them to see the changes that are actually occurring.


There are no presets being applied upon import.
The only solution I've found is to convert them all into JPEGs using Canon's software (which does not alter the images as seen above), and edit them in Lightroom as JPEGs, but that completely eliminates the point of buying a camera that is capable of shooting in RAW.

I’ve been having this issue since the S100 first came out (when I purchased it) with Lightroom 3.6RC and was told that it would be fixed in Lightroom 3.6… which it wasn’t… nor was it fixed in Lightroom 4.
I decided to just go ahead and convert all my photos to JPEGs until I found a fix to this so I could at least have my photos (I had photos from my anniversary with my girlfriend in November that I couldn’t do anything with so I was sick of waiting).
I figured I’d wait till more people had the camera, expecting this issue to be more widespread… but now that a lot of people have the S100, I’ve looked around and found no other instances of this happening… so I’m worried it’s something on my end.


I have a 2008 13” MacBook Pro running OSX 10.7.3 and I have the latest version of Lightroom (4.0) and Camera Raw (7.0) installed. I’ve tried the photos in Photoshop CS5 and it does the same thing. When this first happened back in December I tried the photos in Aperture as well and it did the same thing.
The only software that seems to recognize the true color of the photos is Canon’s horrible “professional editing” software.

Thanks in advance.
-Patrick

[PopTarts]

Patrick, I can try seeing how they are on PS5.1 and LR4 on the PC, to see if you being on a Mac is a source of the issue. email is rs(dot)poptarts(at)gmail

[PopTarts]

actually, since raws are pretty big and gmail has a 25mb limit, maybe upload them to google docs and share them w/my address?

[tmwag]

Cute photos. Try PSE10

[stealthdave]

Try opening the photos in Canon DPP and see if the same happens?

I struggled for a while to get my s95 raw shots looking as good in lightroom and cs5 as they do in canon dpp, so eventually just resorted to adjusting brightness in canon dpp, exporting to a tiff then editing in lightroom/CS5

[pmartin89]

Originally Posted by PopTarts

Patrick, I can try seeing how they are on PS5.1 and LR4 on the PC, to see if you being on a Mac is a source of the issue. email is rs(dot)poptarts(at)gmail

These are actually how they look in Lightroom 4. I unfortunately can't imagine PS5.1 being any different since LR4 just came out. :-\

Thanks, for the offer, though.

Originally Posted by tmwag

Cute photos. Try PSE10

Thanks .
I've never used Photoshop Elements before. Any idea how it might differ from how the photos would appear in Photoshop or Lightroom?

Originally Posted by stealthdave

Try opening the photos in Canon DPP and see if the same happens?

I struggled for a while to get my s95 raw shots looking as good in lightroom and cs5 as they do in canon dpp, so eventually just resorted to adjusting brightness in canon dpp, exporting to a tiff then editing in lightroom/CS5

I briefly explained it above but maybe I wasn't clear, Canon DPP is actually what I have to use.
When I bring the photos into Canon DPP they look completely normal with the colors appearing as they would in-camera. So what you're doing is what I've been doing as well...
I import all the photos into Canon DPP, make any minor exposure/temperature adjustments that need to be made to the RAW image, then export it as a JPEG to fully edit in Lightroom.
Would you recommend export as a TIFF instead?



It seems there are a lot of S100 threads on here, wish I could get someone with an S100 to give some input on what they do for their images.
I can't be the only one having this problem... and if I am, I'd like to know what I'm doing wrong haha.


Thanks for your help, guys!

[guitplayer]

This may not have anything to do with your problem but when editing in RAW the 1st thing I to do is change the default Camera Calibration setting from Adobe Standard to Camera Standard or Camera Neutral. This has a big effect on the colors. This calibrates the image colors to the camera you are using. DPP doesn't need this because it automatically applies the proper caibration.

[davidc502]

As a S100 owner, I stay away from RAW. This is because the digic 5 processor is correcting a lot of different little issues like CA and distortion and color, so I don't fight it and just use .jpg.

[guitplayer]

The ability to shoot RAW was a key feature for me buying the S100. The digic 5 is great and it's in several Canon cameras but for me it doesn't mean not shooting RAW. As for pmartin89's issue I do beleive setting the Camera Calibration to to proper camera is important. With JPG it's not a big deal because it's already done for you.

[LincsRP]

Originally Posted by pmartin89

but that completely eliminates the point of buying a camera that is capable of shooting in RAW.


Thanks in advance.
-Patrick

Personally I feel that these new compacts are doing so much in the digic processors (as has been said here) that raw developer programmes are struggling to keep up?

I've tested the raw capability and honestly cannot get it any better than the ooc jpeg. However that's using Canon's DPP.

The S100 is my first taste of a compact which auto-corrects different areas of the image's white balance on full auto. Now that must surely be creating extra problems for raw developers as I imagine (maybe wrong) the raw files will have some code attached even tho you cannot shoot raw on full auto?

Dunno but, it is a cracking little compact all the same.

[pmartin89]

Sorry for such a delayed reply. Got a lot going on right now...

I appreciate the help everyone.

As far as the camera profiles within LR are concerned, I've tried both Camera Standard and Camera Neutral. Camera Standard was actually worse than Adobe Standard, and Camera Neutral sucked all the color out of *all* the photos, not just the overly warm ones.

As far as shooting in RAW is concerned, I just really love the ability to modify as much as you can in post. Especially in Lightroom 4 which REALLY improves upon its existing toolset. It's astonishing how much can be fixed on a RAW file and how natural it still looks.
Plus, and I'm not sure why this, I've taken a shot in RAW then switched my camera to JPEG and taken the identical shot... then compared the photos. And for some reason the RAW has looked better every time I've tried it. I've even done a "blind" test where I mix up the files.

A few people on Adobe's forums have suggested I create my own profile, but that just seems so way over my head. You have to buy some color pallet thing and take photos of it and use some software... I dunno.
I like to think I'm pretty tech-savvy, but none of what they were saying made any sense to me. haha

[janner]

Sorry I can't help with your problem, just like to say that I only shoot raw and have had no problems in LR4.
When I first got the S100 I shot raw+jpg. The jpg results were very good, it's when you have wide variations in exposure (bright, cloudy skies) that raw comes into it's own.

[guitplayer]

Originally Posted by janner

Sorry I can't help with your problem, just like to say that I only shoot raw and have had no problems in LR4.
When I first got the S100 I shot raw+jpg. The jpg results were very good, it's when you have wide variations in exposure (bright, cloudy skies) that raw comes into it's own.

Same here, I shot only RAW and have no issues with LR4. RAW gives you so much ability to retrieve dynamic range in post processing I consider it a must. I do set the camera calibration with no problems.

pmartin89, It almost seems your camera may have a problem.