Color fidelity between various camera brands.

[W.A.Crider]

I had a conversation not that long ago with a friend of mine that shoots professionally using digital capture. His place of employment has given him the latest Fuji body based on the Nikon platform to use. His own camera which he used/uses for his personal work is an older D100. He remarked that he spent much less time in Photoshop correcting colors with the new camera over his own, and it brings up my question about the color fidelity of different camera brands and what one finds about their own. I ask as I am within a year of buying a digital Slr.

[Don Bryant]

I had a conversation not that long ago with a friend of mine that shoots professionally using digital capture. His place of employment has given him the latest Fuji body based on the Nikon platform to use. His own camera which he used/uses for his personal work is an older D100. He remarked that he spent much less time in Photoshop correcting colors with the new camera over his own, and it brings up my question about the color fidelity of different camera brands and what one finds about their own. I ask as I am within a year of buying a digital Slr.

I don't know what others will say but these days Canon leads the field for best color reproduction, greatest dynamic range, and lowest noise. The Canon 5D is a sweet camera, but the 30D and EOS 400D offer economical options.

However, Nikon, Olympus, and Pentax make good products too. The new Sony Alpha is reported to be a good offering but has some noise issues. Waiting another year may bring better choices. In the end making a choice comes down to a lot of nit-picking features and performance.

Of course your budjet will also influence your decision! Take your time and do your research.


Don Bryant

[Walt Calahan]

Each camera, and brand, has its unique color. Camera to camera from the same manufacturer can vary. So one Canon 5D may not be the same as another. Same is true with the Nikon D2Xs compared to another. Etc.

Best to shoot RAW files. In PhotoShop Camera RAW you can create defaults for each camera you use to correct its unique color characteristic.

[Ted Harris]

I don't know what others will say but these days Canon leads the field for best color reproduction, greatest dynamic range, and lowest noise.

Don Bryant

Hmmmmm .... not sure I'd agree on all those points. IMO the Fuji S5 has the best color reproduction and the greatest dynamic range. I believe most, if not all of the reviews I have read, back this up. I have shot with both the S5 and 5D but not side-by-side so can't make a one-on-one comparison. I hope to be able to do so sometime soon.

[Don Bryant]

Hmmmmm .... not sure I'd agree on all those points. IMO the Fuji S5 has the best color reproduction and the greatest dynamic range. I believe most, if not all of the reviews I have read, back this up. I have shot with both the S5 and 5D but not side-by-side so can't make a one-on-one comparison. I hope to be able to do so sometime soon.

Where did you see that?

Don Bryant

[W.A.Crider]

Where did you see that?

Don Bryant

Well I don't know about the resolution aspect but I believe I read the same thing about the color fidelity recently in an article in one of the Photo magazines. I guess it's the new model Foveon chip.

[Don Bryant]

Well I just read the review at DPREVIEW.COM of the S5 and they do give this camera excellent marks for dynamic range and color fidelity. However the Canon 5D still produces a sharper looking image. If you have Nikon lenses this camera could be a good choice. Personally I will continue to invest in Canon glass.

Don

[W.A.Crider]

I think that Walt hit it on the head. Create an action(?) and apply it to the files. Now how do you do that again?

Canon would probably be best. I have wondered about the Pentax's tho. Just because their backward compatible from what I hear.

[jens g.r. benthien]

I have wondered about the Pentax's tho. Just because their backward compatible from what I hear.

Which is an advantage: starting this fall you can purchase Zeiss lenses for these cameras:

Planar T* 1,4/50 ZK, 503,36 € plus tax

Distagon T* 2,8/25 ZK, 671,43 € plus tax

Distagon T* 2/35 ZK, 671,43 € plus tax

Planar T* 1,4/85 ZK, 881,51 € plus tax

Makro-Planar T* 2/50 ZK, 881,51 € plus tax

Makro-Planar T* 2/100 ZK, 1.343,70 € plus tax

[wiz]

For Nikons, most of what you've observed has to do with the high IR sensitivity of a D100. Back when I shot a pair of D100, I used to use IR blocking filters (Heliopan or B+W) to keep IR contamination from messing up skin tones, plant greens, browns, and yellows, and any dark clothing. D1, D1X, D1H, D2H, D70, and D50 all shared this problem to one extent or other. D2X was the first to incorporate a dichroic IR blocker, followed by D200, D80, and D40X. These cameras lead the industry in color accuracy.

As to the rest, sorry to say that it's mostly blowing smoke. I've put cameras on a monochromator (a complex device used as part of the process of profiling cameras for writing good raw converters) and ran spectral sensitivity curves of the sensors. When you're talking about what camera can feed the best raw data into a conversion process, Canon is actually behind Fuji and Nikon (the same Sony sensors used by Nikon are also used by Pentax and Sony). So, in a profiled workflow, Canons are more difficult to profile, and will have greater problems with observer metamerism once profiled. This would technically put Canon at the bottom of the pile, just ahead of Sigma (the Foveon chip mentioned elsewhere in this thread), for color.

When you're talking about onboard conversion, Canon is the equivalent of Velvia, pleasant colors, but totally inaccurate. Fuji onboard conversion is a compromise between accuracy and "pleasantness" that many shooters find useful in a "shoot to print" workflow. Nikon is the most accurate, which paradoxically, makes the pictures the most unpleasant.