What settings are you using for sharpness & clarity under set picture control ??

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
Re: What settings are you using for sharpness & clarity under set picture control ??

Hi

there's a lot of talking about jpeg's, RAW and so on...
But topic starter "Iceman55" just asked for your settings sharpness & clarity under set picture control.
Which only "Horoscope Fish" gave us.
These setting won't affect your RAW images, so you don't have to discuss about RAW...

Most of the time, I shoot with my 24-120 lens. Sharpness 3, local contrast +1, contrast +1.
(I shoot RAW + JPEG, so I always can use the RAW files wenn needed.)
Discussions about why or why not using RAW is better to do in a separate topic... (I think...)

Ad B

Cant see a problem with the way the thread went,the OP had his question answered,the thread then moved on,the OP must have been interested or he wouldn't have stayed with it,a good thread is the same as a good conversation,you can end up miles away from where you started but still be enjoying the conversation.
 

Ad B

Senior Member
Re: What settings are you using for sharpness & clarity under set picture control ??

Only one (now two...) gave his settings, the other hundred (or so) didn't... :cool:
But, you're right...
Iceman already answered himself.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Re: What settings are you using for sharpness & clarity under set picture control ??

I think bringing up RAW vs JPG was germane to the conversation because the overarching point in the OP, as I read it, was about picture quality; he just happened to be shooting JPG at the moment. Suggested settings for shooting JPG were addressed but seeing as there's really only "so much" you can do with a JPG, shooting RAW becomes the next logical step for someone who really wants to get the best overall picture quality they can out of a sophisticated DSLR.

This place would get boring in a hurry, and learning would grind to a halt, if threads weren't allowed to "breathe" and evolve like this one did.
....
 

Blacktop

Senior Member
Re: What settings are you using for sharpness & clarity under set picture control ??

Only one (now two...) gave his settings, the other hundred (or so) didn't... :cool:
But, you're right...
Iceman already answered himself.
This is your second post in this thread complaining that only one poster gave settings, and yet you have not come up with any settings of your own. (just sayin'):indecisiveness:
 

iceman55

Senior Member
Re: What settings are you using for sharpness & clarity under set picture control ??

I think this is One of Those Things... You have to decide what your level of involvement is going to be with this whole "photography thing" and learning to shoot in RAW, and especially how to perform the required post-processing, definitely means taking on learning a new skill-set. The payoff is the degree of control you can exercise when working with a RAW file.

RAW files, in comparison to JPG's, contain an enormous of data that is forever thrown away when compressed to JPG. As I'm fond of saying, image files are like cookies...

An image, saved as a .jpg, is Nikon's fully baked cookie handed to you on a platter. It's handed to you ready to eat and composed of those ingredients that Nikon thinks a cookie should have based on the information presented to it at the time. These cookies, generally speaking, are pretty darn tasty too. Sometimes the flavor is a bit off, sometimes it can be way off, but that's too bad because Nikon baked the cookie and handed you the finished product. If it's missing all the chocolate chips YOU think should be there, tough noogies. You also have no idea, really, what went into the cookie because all that information was thrown away, so making changes to any particular cookie, while not impossible, is awkward and limited. Still, most of time, you get a pretty acceptable product when you go this route.

An image, saved as a RAW file, is the dough for making Nikon cookies. All the information about how to make it into a proper cookie is there and all the information you could want about the ingredients themselves has been preserved for you. Further, you also have all the basic ingredients that went into making this dough so if you want to modify the dough before baking you can. In short, with a RAW file you have everything you need and all the information possible to modify your cookies as much or as little as you want. Yes, it's more work to go this route but you wind up getting the EXACT cookie you want EVERY time. Your dough can be pretty whack and even that's okay because you have SOOO much more workable latitude because even the information about the ingredients that went into your cookie dough has been preserved and can be tinkered with. Taking this route you can get the exact cookie you want every single time. It's also why your .jpg files look better, generally, out of the box than your RAW files, do. It's a question of who is in control of your cookies.

Your RAW files are just that, raw... They're waiting for you to come along and tweak them to perfection. I went this route because at some point I decided I was tired of simply taking what Nikon thinks is best. I wanted to be known, not as the guy with a great camera, but rather as the guy that consistently "Nails the Shot" and gets the oooo's and ahhh's. I got tired of hearing "Oh, nice picture". I wanted to hear what I call the "Spontaneous 'Wow!'"

The downside (if you want to call it that), as mentioned previously, is that it takes time, and a certain degree of commitment, to learn how to process RAW files into great photos.
.....

***UPDATE***

Just picked up the stand alone version of Lightroom 6, now shooting in RAW + Jpeg. Learning curve hasnt been that bad with all the tip & tricks on you tube...lol
My pictures have now been turned up a notch or two for sure :)
 

Powerstroke2000

Senior Member
Re: What settings are you using for sharpness & clarity under set picture control ??

Im shooting with the D750...Sold my D7000 & D7100 some time ago...Never tried raw always jpeg...
I put in two Scandisk Pro 64 GB cards (Slot 1 & Slot 2) with the top card taking all NEF RAW, and the second card set to Jpeg. Works great, although it could use up lots of computer hard drive space over the years. Thankfully, I have an external hard drive as well! :)
 
Re: What settings are you using for sharpness & clarity under set picture control ??

I put in two Scandisk Pro 64 GB cards (Slot 1 & Slot 2) with the top card taking all NEF RAW, and the second card set to Jpeg. Works great, although it could use up lots of computer hard drive space over the years. Thankfully, I have an external hard drive as well! :)


Even better is that External drives in big sizes have gotten much cheaper over the years.
 

Roy1961

Senior Member
Contributor
Re: What settings are you using for sharpness & clarity under set picture control ??

I used to do the same, one raw the other jpeg, now I stopped using jpeg, slot 2 is just and over ride (which I never use)
 

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
Re: What settings are you using for sharpness & clarity under set picture control ??

I used to do the same, one raw the other jpeg, now I stopped using jpeg, slot 2 is just and over ride (which I never use)

I would still do the Raw and Jpeg if the jpeg actually came out as good as they look on the back of the camera :D
 

Roy1961

Senior Member
Contributor
Re: What settings are you using for sharpness & clarity under set picture control ??

Or as good as what you see in the view finder
 
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