Firmware and Tonal Response Curves

[can-photo]

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I just stumbled upon the description of firmware 1.3, about the tonal curves

 

 

 In-camera image processing has also been improved. New tonal response curves for images processed in JPG format have been implemented and ensure a consistent visual impression for JPG and DNG images.

 

Does anyone know what that actually brought, or what it actually means? Perhaps you have a image sample before 1.3 and after 1.3?

 

Surely tonal response would change DNG file as well?

 

Regarding colour rendering, each camera (T, M, X, Q) have a different colour tones?

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[bencoyote]

Hmm good question. I can't answer your question directly but I did notice some difference between the T and the M when I profiled them using the color checker passport by X-rite. "Adobe standard" camera calibration is pretty far off for both of them. However the embedded color profile in the T matched the color checkers color profile very closely. I suspect that may be closely related to this tone curve in the release note.

[can-photo]

Thank you very much for your answer, very insightf

 

Since you are using  color checker, are you applying different curve to your images, is there a colour you want to achieve (m like, standard, your own taste) ?

 

Hmm good question. I can't answer your question directly but I did notice some difference between the T and the M when I profiled them using the color checker passport by X-rite. "Adobe standard" camera calibration is pretty far off for both of them. However the embedded color profile in the T matched the color checkers color profile very closely. I suspect that may be closely related to this tone curve in the release note.

[jaapv]

I just stumbled upon the description of firmware 1.3, about the tonal curves

 

 

 In-camera image processing has also been improved. New tonal response curves for images processed in JPG format have been implemented and ensure a consistent visual impression for JPG and DNG images.

 

Does anyone know what that actually brought, or what it actually means? Perhaps you have a image sample before 1.3 and after 1.3?

 

Surely tonal response would change DNG file as well?

 

Regarding colour rendering, each camera (T, M, X, Q) have a different colour tones?

I think what they mean is that the embedded profile of the DNG and the JPG output of the camera have been tweaked to render a similar tonal response.

[bencoyote]

Thank you very much for your answer, very insightf

 

Since you are using  color checker, are you applying different curve to your images, is there a colour you want to achieve (m like, standard, your own taste) ?

I have 4 cameras:  Leica T, Leica M, Olympus O-MD E-M1, and a Olympus TG-4.

I also have 3 output devices a laptop display, an apple cinema HD monitor and an Epson 3880 printer. 

 

Originally, back when I first got the E-M1 there was a madrone tree that looked lovely at different times of the day but I could never get the color right.I bought the color checker passport and it basically fixed the problem by giving me a standard. The Olympus was sort of making the colors too punchy. Actually, what it really taught me was the real purpose of those embedded "camera calibration" presets like "vivid" "natural" etc... Unlike Leica Olympus seems to reach for "looks good" vs. correct but to my eye the colors seem too intense.

 

Then I had a problem with the colors looking one way on my laptop's display vs my monitor. So I bought the Color Munki Photo to get those set correctly. That way I could make the photos look the way I wanted and didn't have problems where I happened to have Lightroom window.

 

When I got the T I was very impressed by how close the calibration was to "real". My friend whose a National Geographic photographer told me that I needed to profile the cameras at different altitudes and different lighting conditions and so I did. Interestingly, the T's embedded profiles seem pretty nearly dead on at the altitudes that I've been at.

 

The Adobe Standard profile for the M is horrible. The colors look flat and lifeless. Flipping to the embedded really makes the shots look so much better to my eye. The interesting thing is that profiling at different elevations seems to matter more to the M than to the T. 

 

So in answer to your question, I don't think that what I'm trying to do is go for some sort of specific look or to create some sort of specific artistic effect. I HATE(!!!!) instagram filters and photoshop presets. While I've reluctantly given up all pretenses to Straight Photography, I do try very hard to get it right in camera and then post-process as little as possible for the nature of the shot. Color profile correction gives me some coherency and consistency throughout my workflow. 

 

It may be because I'm 3/4 German by ancestry but one thing that I like about Leica is that attention to accuracy that they have. Shutter speeds are right on, ISO isn't fudged by the marketing department, Color accuracy in the embedded profiles are really close enough that they are usable (the T is nearly spot on, I have to stare intentl at the color chart and flip between the profiles to notice any color shift, the M isn't as close but the change while greater is still fairly subtle.)