Black and White pics on D700

DaveKoontz

Senior Member
Speaking of 'Picture Control', I have my D700 set to ViVID. This appears to be the minimal sharpening setting ... Are others use this setting? Any recommendation. Please advise.
 

blueiron

New member
I use Vivid for landscapes, but never for people. It makes them look like they have unnatural colors [bad spray on tans, etc].

If you > Set Picture Control, then > Vivid, then > with the donut button; you can adjust Sharpening, Saturation, and Hue. Quick adjust is also available in the same sub-menu.

This is from my D3, since I don't have a D700 to check.

You can then adjust around the settings to be pleasing to your eye.
 

blueiron

New member
Picture Control in the high end cameras determines color settings such as saturation, hue, tone, and B&W.

Raw saves the photo as shot.
 

Eltari

New member
And if you shoot black and white in NEF then it'll only be B&W on the back of the camera, when you put it on your computer it's in colour. Unless you specifically controlling your lighting for back and white, i'd just shoot in colour and remove the colour in photoshop
 

Eduard

Super Mod
Staff member
Super Mod
if you shoot RAW then I don't think the picture control makes any difference, please correct me if I'm wrong

The only application that will use picture control with RAW that I'm aware of is Capture NX2.
 

Joseph Bautsch

New member
Eduard is correct. The picture control programing in any model Nikon is proprietary. That means only another Nikon program can use it. If you download your raw shots into an Adobe or Apple or any other raw converter the Picture Control settings do not follow. You can use the Picture Controls with Jpeg. Then the Picture Control settings are imbedded into the picture at the time of download. You can get two bites at the Apple so to speak if your Nikon model will store both a raw and a Jpeg format on the card. That way you can make in camera settings that will download in the Jpeg for immediate distribution to friends, relatives, or customers and still have a raw format for other uses.
 

Ruidoso Bill

Senior Member
I think it's better to have it in color and convert if required in post processing, never know when the color may come in handy.
 
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Browncoat

Senior Member
I think it's better to have it in color and convert if required in post processing, never know when the color may come in handy.

I agree. Ask yourself this question: Which processor is more powerful, the one in my camera or the one in my computer?

Not everyone has access to great post-processing tools like Lightroom or Photoshop, but if you do, then leave this kind of work to your computer and don't do it in-camera. Use Auto exclusively for White Balance settings, and change it later if needed. The same can be said for special effects like B&W conversions, sepia tones, etc. Specialized tools are much better suited for these tasks then doing it in-camera.
 

Ruidoso Bill

Senior Member
I have been teaching a small group of six that all went out and bought D40's, all on limited budgets and I actually found some pretty neat "Free" editing software, one is Photoscape and the other is Paint.net, the combination of the two is actually pretty powerful.
 

Joseph Bautsch

New member
Bill, I agree. The question was how to take B&W pictures from a D700. To do that you set the camera in Picture Control, on monochrome, and if you are not using a Nikon PP program, you set the picture quality to Jpeg. Then the B&W is imbedded and you can down the picture to any PP program and it will still be B&W. I never shoot in anything but RAW, so someone correct me if I'm wrong. Once the Jpeg is down loaded in monochrome from the camera it cannot be converted back to color.

I also recommend shooting in RAW and down load to a PP program and convert it. I use Aperture 3. With two clicks I can convert the RAW shot to any of several monochrome colors and still have the original RAW picture for any other processing I want.
 

Oz1

New member
Yibel, you're 100% correct. I shoot everything in color and then convert is PS and for more dramatic B&W effects I use Nik silver FX pro.
 
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