Controlling Contrast and Saturation

[John Howard]

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I am new to Leica, with an M 240 purchased a few months ago after a long wait.

 

Am I crazy, or do the contrast and saturation adjustments on the menu work backwards? Seems like if I change from normal to high contrast, the histogram flattens and the images look to be lower contrast.

 

Should this adjustment be made typically if you walk into a strong light situation, with high contrast seen by your eye, then you set the camera to high contrast to reduce it.

 

If this is correct, then you set the camera for the environment, and not set the camera for how you want to influence the image.

 

Have not checked, but presume the same will be with the saturation adjustment.

 

I know these only impact the jpeg files, but for now I am shooting both jpeg fine and raw, as I think this will give me faster feedback while I am traveling.

 

How do all the more experienced Leica shooters handle contrast, saturation and sharpness. So far, I'm just staying on normal.

 

Thanks to any more experienced Leica people for your response.

JH

[algrove]

Cannot help as I shoot DNG. Even so I would make those adjustments via LR in order to keep my jpeg images mostly pure out of the camera. But that's just my opinion.

[farnz]

Same here; DNG only so I can't help. I expect you'll find many here who do the same although I understand your reason for shooting jpeg fine too. For me it slows the camera down and chews up battery capacity and card space so I stick to DNG.

 

Pete.

[jaapv]

Same here : I have one of the first Ms and never used these controls once.

[Marten Root]

Dear John,

 

I am not knowledgable when it comes to these since I also shoot mainly .dng just as many others but your quote:

"Should this adjustment be made typically if you walk into a strong light situation, with high contrast seen by your eye, then you set the camera to high contrast to reduce it."

does not seem logical since increasing contrast indicates directing you towards increasing 'in camera' contrast in the jpg file.

 

I hope this helps, Marten

[jaapv]

I rethink you nailed the problem, Marten. The contrast and saturation and sharpen controls refer to the jpg output of the camera, not to the shooting conditions.

[david strachan]

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I rethink you nailed the problem, Marten. The contrast and saturation and sharpen controls refer to the jpg output of the camera, not to the shooting conditions.

 

Yes, Marten and Jaap are right.

On my M8 there are 6 grades, or settings for "Color Saturation" including the B&W mode. For "Contrast" there are 5 levels of contrast from Low to High.

 

They all make marked differences to the JPG output, and are very handy. "Contrast" pumped up a bit can improve colour and B&W shooting, particularly using older (lower contrast) lenses, and probably for those people not using a lenshood (causes veiling flare). Personally I like my M8 images with "Medium High" colour settings; adds a bit more "pop".

 

I'm not one to do processing on DNG's finding enough leeway with JPG's in CS4, and particularly Adobe Raw 5.7. So I try to get the best as OOC JPG's.

 

The settings have nothing to do with prevailing light conditions.

 

cheers Dave S

 

PS to further answer OP...I don't adjust sharpening, preferring to add a tiny touch, if necessary, in post, and depending if the images are for printing or web.

[LocalHero1953]

Seems like if I change from normal to high contrast, the histogram flattens and the images look to be lower contrast.

JH

 

I am sure the other respondents are right, that increasing contrast and saturation settings apply to the properties of the jpg, and are not intended to describe the scene.

A couple of comments:

- you say the histogram flattens. That is what you'd expect if you increase contrast and if most of your scene tones are somewhere in the middle of the histogram. Essentially, by increasing contrast you are pushing the mid-range tones to the dark and light ends of the histogram, so you'd expect the middle "hump" to flatten out.

- I would be cautious about reviewing on the LCD, if that is what you are doing. As well as using the in-camera jpg conversion settings, I guess the LCD imposes it's own settings and has its own limitations. I suggest you look at the image on a PC screen before drawing too many conclusions.

- which leads me to suggesting that you play with your images in image editing software (Lightroom, Aperture, Photoshop etc) partly to see what your images look like once you get them out of the camera, but also to test the contrast, sharpness and saturation controls there, so you can see what effect they have on the histogram and what your image looks like.

 

If, after all that, your camera controls still work the opposite way round, then something is seriously screwy:eek: !