Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Hey guys,

 

I've had my Q-P for 3 weeks now and I'm in love, just a small "inconvenient". How can I improve the Dynamic Range or the Metering of the Q-P? I've found myself pulling a bit more than usual the shadows. I have my camera set to multi point and tend to shoot at +0.3 ev. Maybe lower the contrast setting on JPEGs?

 

Any help would be highly appreciated!

 

Thanks!

Link to post
Share on other sites

29 minutes ago, Le Chef said:

You will get a lot more of everything if you try shooting RAW and using some post production software like Capture 1 or Lightroom. It’s a small effort that significantly pays back.

+1. I only shoot RAW and post process in LR any images I think worthy. It’s a very efficient way of realizing the most from the camera and definitely superior to jpeg’s for dynamic range and ultimate IQ. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

+1 to above.

If there is a weakness to the Q, it's the jpegs. Generally, I suspect Leica thinks of jpegs as a way to quickly review a shot rather than to be the final product.

Interesting you push the EV a bit. I believe most of us expose to the left. In RAW, far easier to recover shadows.

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

And in the beginning you might want to shoot JPG and DNG at the same time in order to be able to compare and choose the better of the two. Then you find out that in 99% of the cases the DNG (RAW) ist the better choice and subsequently you will stop shooting JPGs. Oh sorry: This is my own story. . .

Link to post
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Le Chef said:

You will get a lot more of everything if you try shooting RAW and using some post production software like Capture 1 or Lightroom. It’s a small effort that significantly pays back.

 

3 hours ago, Leica Guy said:

+1. I only shoot RAW and post process in LR any images I think worthy. It’s a very efficient way of realizing the most from the camera and definitely superior to jpeg’s for dynamic range and ultimate IQ. 

 

3 hours ago, bags27 said:

+1 to above.

If there is a weakness to the Q, it's the jpegs. Generally, I suspect Leica thinks of jpegs as a way to quickly review a shot rather than to be the final product.

Interesting you push the EV a bit. I believe most of us expose to the left. In RAW, far easier to recover shadows.

 

2 hours ago, M10 for me said:

And in the beginning you might want to shoot JPG and DNG at the same time in order to be able to compare and choose the better of the two. Then you find out that in 99% of the cases the DNG (RAW) ist the better choice and subsequently you will stop shooting JPGs. Oh sorry: This is my own story. . .

I fully understand your points and I highly appreciate them, but my case is that I have a mobile work flow, I edit my photos on my iPhone (if you can call play a bit with shadows and highlights, a bit of contrast and sharpen edit), so I don't know how that workflow would adapt to DNGs. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, phernz said:

I fully understand your points and I highly appreciate them, but my case is that I have a mobile work flow, I edit my photos on my iPhone (if you can call play a bit with shadows and highlights, a bit of contrast and sharpen edit), so I don't know how that workflow would adapt to DNGs. 

Even the free version of Lightroom for iOS/Android allows DNG editing I think. The main problem with a mobile workflow for DNGs is the (10x) size difference, making it way slower to transfer them over.

Link to post
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, bags27 said:

 

Interesting you push the EV a bit. I believe most of us expose to the left. In RAW, far easier to recover shadows

I don't. I watch the histogram in the EVF and use (on the CL) the exposure wheel to compensate the EV to an optimal histogram. That way I generate the most data to use in postprocessing. As often as not, I expose to the right instead of to the left. It all depends on the contrast distribution of the subject. Pulling a bit to the left is a fine technique on cameras where you cannot monitor exposure real time but on EVF cameras you are throwing away dynamic range.

  • Like 4
Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't generally expose to the left.

Regarding RAW, not to use it is to throw away a lot of the data that the Q's processing engine and wonderful lens are capable of capturing.

Link to post
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, jaapv said:

I don't. I watch the histogram in the EVF and use (on the CL) the exposure wheel to compensate the EV to an optimal histogram. That way I generate the most data to use in postprocessing. As often as not, I expose to the right instead of to the left. It all depends on the contrast distribution of the subject. Pulling a bit to the left is a fine technique on cameras where you cannot monitor exposure real time but on EVF cameras you are throwing away dynamic range.

Sorry. I was writing metaphorically, when I said expose to the left. The OP writes that he exposes +0.3 ev. while I (and a lot of folks I know) shade that in the other direction. Filling the histogram and yet having a setting of (say) -0.3 ev is effectively "exposing to the left." I realize that it is an increasingly debatable point with improving camera and software technology, but the "truism" in digital, to protect the highlights, is the flip of the "truism" of Adams's zone system, which protected the shadows.

Link to post
Share on other sites

You misread my post. I regularly expose at +1 or even more to

51 minutes ago, bags27 said:

Sorry. I was writing metaphorically, when I said expose to the left. The OP writes that he exposes +0.3 ev. while I (and a lot of folks I know) shade that in the other direction. Filling the histogram and yet having a setting of (say) -0.3 ev is effectively "exposing to the left." I realize that it is an increasingly debatable point with improving camera and software technology, but the "truism" in digital, to protect the highlights, is the flip of the "truism" of Adams's zone system, which protected the shadows.

You misread my post. I regularly expose at + 1.0 or more, depending on the subject, using this method.  Or -1.0 etc. for that matter. I find a spread of about 3 EV values around zero. A blanket underexposure by -0,3 only makes sense when you are not able to tweak exposure real time using the histogram.

 

 

 

=

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, jaapv said:

You misread my post. I regularly expose at +1 or even more to

You misread my post. I regularly expose at + 1.0 or more, depending on the subject, using this method.  Or -1.0 etc. for that matter. I find a spread of about 3 EV values around zero. A blanket underexposure by -0,3 only makes sense when you are not able to tweak exposure real time.

 

 

 

=

Thanks for this: much appreciated! And obviously it must work. But please correct me if I'm wrong (and I know you will 🙂), but I thought the histogram reflects the jpeg settings and is only an approximation of dng. Thanks.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Yes, it does, and it gives you some leeway. But still, exposing for a "full" histogram and avoiding (or understanding and accepting) a spike up against the righthand side of the histogram avoids blown highlights whilst providing an optimum exposure. That is the nice thing of a wheel: you can walk your histogram from left to right (and opposite, of course).

  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

On 1/23/2020 at 11:43 AM, Le Chef said:

You will get a lot more of everything if you try shooting RAW and using some post production software like Capture 1 or Lightroom. It’s a small effort that significantly pays back.

 

On 1/23/2020 at 12:13 PM, Leica Guy said:

+1. I only shoot RAW and post process in LR any images I think worthy. It’s a very efficient way of realizing the most from the camera and definitely superior to jpeg’s for dynamic range and ultimate IQ. 

 

On 1/23/2020 at 12:37 PM, bags27 said:

+1 to above.

If there is a weakness to the Q, it's the jpegs. Generally, I suspect Leica thinks of jpegs as a way to quickly review a shot rather than to be the final product.

Interesting you push the EV a bit. I believe most of us expose to the left. In RAW, far easier to recover shadows.

 

On 1/23/2020 at 1:21 PM, M10 for me said:

And in the beginning you might want to shoot JPG and DNG at the same time in order to be able to compare and choose the better of the two. Then you find out that in 99% of the cases the DNG (RAW) ist the better choice and subsequently you will stop shooting JPGs. Oh sorry: This is my own story. . .

I decided to give the DNGs a go and the Fotos Pro version. Will try playing around lightroom to see how it goes.

 

Just out of curiosity, I used to own a Ricoh GR II which had in camera dng conversion, I could convert to b&w in camera, and tweak jpegs, is this posible with the Q?

Link to post
Share on other sites

JPEGs look a lot better on the Q/Q-P if you adjust the in-camera JPEG settings to lower contrast and increase saturation. The lowered contrast will allow you to shoot JPEGs with no exposure comp or only -1 and not as easily blow the highlights. Of course RAW DNG is best, but I've found the JPEGs now are very close to where I ended up with the RAWs.

Edited by hdmesa
Link to post
Share on other sites

Without all pros and contras: I use DNG+JPG on my Q always (I play both into Lightroom perpetual).

I don't see much difference between them, either on the camera or in LTR. Firmware 3.1. Settings:

JPG settings:

sRGB

contrast medium high

saturation medium high

sharpness standard

White Balance:

AWB Automatic

Exposure Preview::

P-A-S-M

Exposure Metering:

Spot

Exposure Compensation:

+/- 0

Focussing:

AFs

 

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...