M9 DNG Set up question

[steve70]

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Just got my M9!.

Digital is a bit new to me, having been an old film guy from way back, even though I do have a Canon digital.

On the DNG Set Up there are 2 choices, Compressed and un-Compressed.

What does that mean exactly?, and where should it be at?

Thanks for the patiance to put up with such a, I suppose, neophite question.

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[chris_tribble]

Hi - welcome to the forum. Lots of posts on this. Check:

 

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m9-forum/100936-m9-compressed-uncompressed-dng-whos-using.html#post1063557

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m9-forum/107278-dng-vs-compresses-dng-m9.html#post1133189

 

I reserve uncompressed for ISO 160 where it seems to make a difference and use compressed for other ISO speeds. You can save on diskspace in lightroom by converting the Leica DNG's to Lightroom DNG's - but this causes problems later for some flavours of Aperture apparently ....

 

LOTS of fun climbing the learning curve (if you're new to digital you might want to get the Luminous Landscape tutorial videos - not a bad investment... find these via Google...)

 

ENJOY!

[250swb]

If in any sort of doubt leave them Uncompressed until you know enough of the background to digital photography that you can say for sure you can abide a theoretical drop in quality, which could happen if you go to Compressed.

 

Steve

[steve70]

Thanks Chris,

Thant was somewhat helpfull.

It's a whole new language!

[jaapv]

Use uncompressed. Memory is cheap and there is a real advantage when postprocessing extensively. You may not do that now, but in the future you may want to rework your files, and you will appreciate a maximum of data.

[ho_co]

It's a whole new language!

Oh, Steve! You're just at the beginning!

 

It's a whole new ball of wax, and as you know, there are a lot of folks here who are ready to help.

 

Congratulations on the M9!

[steve70]

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Thanks guys,

you have all been most helpful.

One more question, for color mamagement, I see sRGB and Adobe RGB.

 

I am now running a new iMac with the Photoshop CS4

Any reason to choose one over the other?

[Jeff S]

The forum provides lots of useful guidance (including use of the search function at top)...but there are lots of other places to help get up the digital learning curve. Here's one that might be useful on a variety of topics, including the complex subject of color management...Digital Photography Tutorials

 

Jeff

[steve70]

Hello there,

Antother possibly neophite question, but am new to digital here.

On my 1 day old M9 on the menu there is an sRGB and an Adobe RGB.

I just purchased a new iMac (Lerning curve there as well!) and am running Adobe CS4.

Any reason to choose sRGB over Adobe RGB? pros & cons?

 

Thanks

[chris_tribble]

Thanks guys,

you have all been most helpful.

One more question, for color mamagement, I see sRGB and Adobe RGB.

 

I am now running a new iMac with the Photoshop CS4

Any reason to choose one over the other?

Steve - the colour profiles only apply in JPEGS. sRJB shows better on computer monitors but throws information away. Adobe RGB covers a wider colour gamut. Lightroom uses a colour space called ProPhoto. Isn't it just so much fun!

 

The good news is that if you shoot RAW you can ignore pretty well all of the settings on the camera and do everything in post (though it's good to play with White Balance and learn about that - and essential to see the impact of different ISO settings).

 

Again - if this is all a brave new world, I really do recommend Reichman and Schewe's Luminous Landscape video tutorials. They've really helped a lot of people I've worked with who were new to digital (but who had shot film for a long time...)

 

Have fun...

[Jeff S]

You're too quick on your posts! I replied to this question on your other thread by suggesting the following site to get up to speed on various digital topics, including the complex subject of color management...Digital Photography Tutorials A grounding in the basics will better help you understand any suggestions you get here.

 

Jeff

[d2mini]

sRGB is a limited color palette meant for viewing on images on the web with fairly accurate color. aRGB on the other hand has the full color gamut and most pixel information. I shoot in aRGB and before posting to the web i resize to low-res and convert to sRGB. If you are shooting jpg and plan on using images pretty much straight out of the camera than you can just shoot in sRGB.

[melissah]

simply put

Adobe RGB is your friend.

when you have a raining afternoon

you can spend several hours reading about color space and gamuts.

and then you can knowingly select Adobe RGB.

until then just do it as well as always shoot raw. then when youre ready to

do serious processing/printing all your files will be as they should be.

also remember to do proper color settings in photoshop.

best, melissa

[Guest WPalank]

I agree with the others on shooting in aRGB. However, if you shoot in DNG (RAW), it's no big deal to switch it in the ACR processor to any space you want. DNG is DNG as RAW is RAW.

 

I personally process as ProPhoto (larger than sRGB or aRGB) as many of the new Epson printers can reach into that color space (I currently own a HDR 7900). I would rather keep and save my images in the largest color gamut possible because you never know what the following years will bring to the technology forefront.

 

That being said, you should convert your images to sRGB when uploading to the web.

[wparsonsgisnet]

Steve, the info I took away from the other threads is that people see a difference between compressed and noncompressed at the lowest iso settings.

 

I am shooting noncompressed as a rule.

 

I used to use raw plus a jpeg, but this makes the camera very slow. It takes a long time to calculate the jpg and the camera takes time to do this.

 

If you fill the buffer, you will notice this setting.

 

I shoot a lot of dance -- and am ALWAYS filling the damn buffer. So, I use raw only and no screen review to reduce the drain on the processor.

 

G'luck!

[steve70]

Hi,

Thanks. So, if I got this right, sRGB is shooting in RAW, and Adobe RGB is shooting in JPG?

[vanhulsenbeek]

Hi,

Thanks. So, if I got this right, sRGB is shooting in RAW, and Adobe RGB is shooting in JPG?

 

No. When you shoot in DNG, you must choose later, in post-processing, in what space to render; certainly the best way to go.

 

When you shoot in JPG you have to choose the colorspace first. Later you can convert , but you will have missed your chance to get the best from your camera. Certainly when you have shot in sRGB.

[steve70]

OK, let me see if I got this right.

I should set the camera for sRGB and shoot in the "Uncompressed" mode at 18mgp

t5his will than give me the best possible results and I should be able to open the RAW files in Adobe CS 4 with no difficulty.

I did download the free software, Lightroom I think< from the Leica owner's forun last night.

 

Thanks again.

Boy!, film was so much easier!

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[andybarton]

My advice would be to shoot in AdobeRGB, otherwise you are throwing away colour information before you have even started. Don't even begin to think to convert to sRGB until you have finished your edit and want to save to a jpg.

 

Only ever save a jpg once. Every time you save jpgs, even more information is thrown away...

[vanhulsenbeek]

OK, let me see if I got this right.

I should set the camera for sRGB and shoot in the "Uncompressed" mode at 18mgp

t5his will than give me the best possible results and I should be able to open the RAW files in Adobe CS 4 with no difficulty.

I did download the free software, Lightroom I think< from the Leica owner's forun last night.

 

Thanks again.

Boy!, film was so much easier!

 

 

Again: Not quite: only true when you shoot DNG plus JPG.

 

You set the camera, with the SET button at DNG (item Compression). If you choose DNG only, your choice of colorspace under MENU is grayed out; nothing to choose. In compressed mode that would give you 18 Mb DNG's (In the MENU you can choose for uncompressed DNG's. 35 Mb. Search this forum for advantages). Those DNG's you convert in your RAWconverter CS4 to whatever you like. But best is Adobe RGB for quality, sRGB for the web. Do not touch (save in any changed form) your DNG: that is your 'negative' for unaltered keeps. Look at it as your container with your complete information. It is OK when in CS4 or Lightroom you save as JPG of TIFF. That leaves your DNG unaltered.

 

When in SET you choose for DNG + JPG, you will have a colorspace choice for the JPG. Again, as Andy says, choose for Adobe RGB initially. You can always render down. The DNG you make together with that JPEG you keep for later use.

 

So: always go for the Full Monty first! That's DNG!