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Writer's pictureTakashi Iwamoto

What are the colors in the photo and the colors that leave an impression on you? Color changes seen

Updated: Aug 11, 2022


This blog, all, is delusions and speculations based on the caretaker's own hands-on experience.

This time, we will consider what kind of color is impressive, based on the taste of the manager.


The caretaker is an old man who likes cameras and nature.

Due to her hobby, she is currently staying in Kenya and living as a cameraman.


By the way, I haven't returned to Japan for more than 3 years.

The Japanese driver's license expired two years ago. Since I am overseas, I should be able to recover if I go to the test site and take a course for 3 years after the expiration. For the time being, it's okay until next year! ?? ..

This time the gold license expired for the second time, and since I will not drive in Japan, the gold license will be automatically granted after 5 years.

It is a Japanese police officer who stands in the classroom while the unique students who have been suspended have gathered in the classroom and the class at the examination site that I had taken once before. The aura that floats in the class, or the atmosphere, is something that you can never taste in Kenya.

In the class, "Driving that might be, to driving that might be" The last hot thing was "Drunk police officer, drive a car, hit and run!" Immediately after such a thing, driving a car, but driving a car, easy I'm stuck in my life. I remember learning from such a class.

I have to go home before I can't update.

I hope that the current turmoil covered with Gudaguda interests will end soon.


content

  1. To the main subject around here

  2. Recent camera color development

  3. I tried to delusion about increasing the sensitivity of the sensor

  4. Recent sensor RGB filter color delusion diagram

  5. Nikon D70 APS CCD 6 million pixels

  6. D200

  7. D3

  8. D800E

  9. D850


 

To the main subject around here


Not surprisingly, the photo below is a photo taken with the Nikon D70 released in 2004, taken with Jpeg and slightly modified. The number of pixels is 6 million pixels.


There are quite a lot of people who think that it is not possible to take beautiful pictures if the number of pixels is low.

No, that's not the case at all.


Photographs taken with a low-pixel camera two years ago may have more impressive colors than recent high-pixel cameras.

If you want to see it on your smartphone in the first place, you don't need such a large number of pixels.


The manager of Nikon users, the cameras featured this time will inevitably be Nikon products.

The subject was also a natural object as usual, this time focusing on animals.


Lion, released in 2005 Nikon, D70 coloring, (APS, 6 million pixels)



Compared to the cameras of a decade ago or two years ago, I feel that the colors of the cameras have changed significantly.

Colors and colors cannot be expressed in concrete numbers in the catalog, so I feel that they are neglected.


However, the manager thinks that color and color development are more important than the number of pixels.

This is because it is an important factor that most affects the impression of a photograph.

You can't tell the difference in the number of pixels unless you zoom in or look closer, but even if you look far away from the color, you can see it at a glance and work directly on the brain through your eyes to create the impression of the photograph itself.


There are ways to express colors numerically, such as color gamut and dynamic range, but what they actually look like is the subjective world of the viewer.

Simply widening the color gamut, or widening the dynamic range, doesn't seem to make the colors in the photo impressive and more beautiful.

Ten people and ten colors, the way colors look and feel differently, the impression of photographs, and the way people look and feel may be different.


In terms of recent camera trends and image quality, the number of pixels and high-sensitivity performance are prioritized.

"You can take beautiful pictures up to IS25600!", And the ultra-high sensitivity that is unthinkable in the film era has become commonplace.

The contents that are clearly expressed in the catalog, even smartphones can be taken with high sensitivity these days, if the sensitivity is lower than the camera and smartphone that you buy to take pictures, no one will want to buy it.


Comparing the color development of the old camera with the color development of the current camera, it seems that some kind of color development and color reality are sacrificed in order to obtain such high sensitivity.

In the past and now, the change in color of photographs makes me doubt that.



Recent camera color development


The manager feels that the colors of recent cameras are faint and unrealistic.

Somehow pastel.

If you try to shoot with 14-bit Raw, even if you change the saturation and tone curve, the pastel tone will be emphasized and it will be more unnatural.

It looks like the original color information is missing.


Recently, I've seen some unnaturally saturated pastel example photos in the lens manufacturer's catalogs.

Such colors may be fashionable, but the caretakers just don't like them.


In comparison, a photo taken with Jpeg using a two-year-old camera, such as the Nikon D70 (released in March 2004), which sold well as a single-lens digital camera (see the photo above), can be imaged with just a little tweaking of the tone curve and saturation. The color will be dense and three-dimensional.

With recent cameras, the color like the lion above doesn't appear.


I hear that the color changes with the change from the CCD sensor to the CMOS sensor, but I think that there is something more that changes the color.

Comparing recent cameras with old ones, it may be exaggerated, but I sometimes feel that the colors are as different as watercolors and oil paintings.

Recent ones have a pastel tone when the saturation is increased, and the color is something like a light watercolor painting.



I tried to delusion about increasing the sensitivity of the sensor


Most modern cameras have different pixel counts, but most are single-layer Bayer array seamos sensors.

In order to produce color, filters of the three primary colors of light, red Red, green Green, and blue Blue, are regularly attached to the sensor surface in a Bayer arrangement.


Nowadays, the number of pixels has become extremely high and the pixel pitch has become extremely small.

Conditions that make it difficult to achieve high sensitivity.

In order not to waste the light, various measures have already been taken, such as backside irradiation.


I want to increase the sensitivity further!

In such a case, the easiest way for an amateur to come up with is to increase the transmittance of the filter, that is, to lighten the color!


So, in order to increase the sensitivity, I think the color of the RGB filter is lightened to increase the transmittance. Delusion


Recent sensor RGB filter color delusion diagram

   Old,    recent,   future

Red     →    →   

Green     →    →   

Blue     →    →   



In the figure above, the color becomes lighter toward the right.

If you do this, the transmittance will certainly increase and the sensitivity will increase.

In addition, I feel that it will be a modern pastel color.


The realistic colors of old digital cameras and the colors of pastel these days don't make sense.

When the color of the filter becomes lighter, other color components are mixed. Does that work?

Is the lightness of color processed by the engine?

Maybe it's pastel because the color resolution is bad?

Unnecessary G green and B blue components are mixed in the R red part. That's why the color doesn't come out.


Delusions should be around here.



Even if it doesn't produce impressive colors, the new camera, subtle tones and tones are very subtle. I think the new camera is awesome, but it doesn't show the impressive colors of the old days.


While delusional about this, let's compare the pictures of animals taken in the cloudy sky below and the colors of each camera.

The delusion continues.



 

Nikon D70 APS CCD 6 million pixels


When the D70 was released in 2004, positive film was still used for crunching.

You can take beautiful pictures with positive film up to ISO200 sensitivity at best. ISO 200 with double sensitization of Velvia 100 or Provia 100.

There was a Provia 400, but despite the high price, the particles were coarse, the color did not come out, and the image quality was rough and could not be used normally.


So, at that time, ISO400 was enough, and I had no complaints.

Above all, the threat was "You don't have to buy a film! You don't have to pay for development!" It's a hassle to buy a film, go to the photo lab to develop it, wait, and go to the photo lab to receive the photo. You don't have to do that!

As a photographer, I hope.


How can camera makers produce beautiful colors like positive film rather than ultra-high sensitivity? I guess I was making colors aiming for such a thing.



By the way, Nikon D70 is an APS-C size CCD with 6 million pixels.


How do you see the color of the lion above?

The caretaker gives the impression of a more natural or powerful color.

It has a texture and a three-dimensional effect, and the colors are outstandingly impressive.


As for the performance of the D70 camera, it is not easy to see the pentamirror and finder without using a pentaprism, and the monitor is very small and it is difficult to check the focus.

Still, autofocus is also sloppy.

It is quite difficult to capture the subject firmly.

Even so, it has a performance that surpasses that of professional machines, such as mixing the electronic shutter and synchronizing 1/500 seconds. The mirror used was a full size one.

It is a camera that strongly feels that it was made in a hurry to lose to Canon in the competition for market share of the single-lens digital camera market.


I still have the D70, but I can't use it now because I can't read the CF card.

The plastic body, pentamirror, and camera were sloppy, and I was often sick.

I repaired it once in Japan, but ...



 

D200


Next to the D70, the camera used by the manager was the D200, which was released in December 2005, one year and eight months after the D70 was released. The number of pixels, which was 6 million pixels, is now 10 million pixels.

APS size CCD.


Japanese macaque in Jigokudani



When I first started using the D200, I thought it was worse than the D70, but when I look at it now, I can see that it is a dense and natural color.

This is probably the color of the CCD.

It is delusional that he was particular about the beauty of colors without being particular about high sensitivity.


The above photo, shooting sensitivity is ISO200.

Is this camera also highly sensitive at most ISO 640?

High sensitivity was weak compared to the current camera.


From the weak plastic body of D70 to a solid die-cast body, the viewfinder also uses glass prisms properly.

There was almost no illness, and he played an active part in the work of shooting.


Once, the battery lid opened the moment the shutter was released during shooting, the battery fell, and the shutter condition has gone wrong since then. At that time, there was no battery stopper.

After that, Nikon's single-lens reflex cameras were equipped with stoppers on the batteries to prevent problems.


The D200 is still usable, and I miss the colors above, so I use it occasionally.


The D200 had a lot of shadow noise and the battery was exhausted so much that it was not suitable for star photography.

In that respect, the old D70 was superior in terms of shadow noise and battery life, and it was the early evolution of digital SLR cameras that was not straightforward.


 

D3


And the next thing the manager used was the full size D3 (released in November 2007)

12 million pixels, CMOS sensor.


It was released as Nikon's first full-size digital camera with a standard ISO sensitivity of ISO 6400.

At that time, I felt that ISO 6400 was a threat.

In fact, I feel that ISO1250 is the only thing that can be used regularly.


Color-changed D3, a high-sensitivity pioneer?



Compared to the D70 and D200, I felt that the color development had changed significantly.

Did the sensor change to CMOS, or did it change for higher sensitivity?

D3 is pretty yellow.

The colors are so warm that you may feel that the color temperature does not match.

Even if you play with the above picture, saturation and tone, you can't make a deep color like the lion taken with D70.

The pixel pitch should be slightly larger than D70.


The first Nikon, full-size digital, full-size digital that the manager himself uses for the first time.

It's more fun to shoot because you can shoot with the same feeling as uncropped 35mm film.

I feel that it is a very good camera that matches with the manual lens of a long time ago.

I still use it from time to time when shooting children.


Even so, the color development has changed significantly compared to the D70 and D200.

It was stated in catalogs that CMOS sensors would be used, and that the colors would be different from those of CCDs. Why?



 

D800E


Released in February 2012,

At the same time as the release, I bought it as a new product, which is rare for a manager, and I still use it.

The caretaker sometimes contributes to the camera manufacturer!

36 million pixels, full size CMOS sensor



The D800E is easier to produce more natural colors than the D3, but in terms of color reality, is it comparable to the first two CCD sensors, the D70 and D200?


After all, when comparing them, I feel that the texture and three-dimensional effect of natural objects such as leaves and animal hair are not comparable to the previous two.

Is it a characteristic of CMOS?


If you compare them side by side, is it a modern color?

The colors of cameras using three CMOS sensors feel similar.


 

D850


The newest camera used by the caretaker, with 45 million pixels.

I am surprised that the sensor using backside illumination can take images that can be seen as it is up to a sensitivity of 25600.

However, the noise at low sensitivity feels bigger and coarser than the D800E.

Especially the shadow part.

The photo below was taken with such a camera.




I feel that the color reproducibility is lower than that of the D800E.


It looks beautiful if it is not enlarged, but when it is enlarged to the same size as the pixel, it feels particularly rough in the shadow area.

Noise reduction to eliminate such a rough feeling, this time it will be flat.

Sometimes you don't know what the high pixel is for.


Compared to the D800E at the same magnification, the D800E is more natural with a straightforward feeling without image processing.

Even with low sensitivity, the characteristics of the shadow part of the D800E surpass those of the D850.


The D800E's celestial bodies are more tenacious images from shadows to highlights.

It is difficult to excommunicate even with considerable emphasis processing.

There are few gradation skips, and natural noise, especially noise reduction processing, is not a concern.


The D850, which has gradation skipping noise, is not very suitable for emphasizing celestial bodies.



Is that also a harmful effect of high pixel count and high sensitivity?



As you can see from the comparison, the newer the camera, the less the impression of color will be.


The dynamic range has expanded and the high sensitivity characteristics have also improved.

Maybe that's the reason why it's hard to get an impressive color.

Even though it's an impressive color, it's the caretaker's discretion and prejudice.



So, this time around here.



 

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