Fuji X-E1 White Balance Concerns

Started 5 months ago | Discussion thread
nixda
Contributing MemberPosts: 955
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Re: Take control - shoot RAW and then Post Process
In reply to Toanisanidiot, 5 months ago

Toanisanidiot wrote:

I understand that raw is an uncooked image, but its still an image that will have a certain look once its first imported. It's the starting point to my future edits.

Actually, the raw data do not represent an image, so to say. One has to apply white balance, tone curves, etc. to the raw data to generate an image. RAW has no look. It attains a look in a given piece of software, because that software applies these parameters.

Which is why, if the initial colours, exposure, and white balance is perfect, then there is less for me to do in post. so I was just wondering then, what setting would give me a wysiwyg when I first open the file. will default settings be 100% accurate of this?

Your question hinges on whether a camera can actually faithfully (i.e., WYSIWYG) capture a given scene. It cannot.

'Perfect' colors, exposure, and white balance, etc. are an illusion. What does 'perfect' mean? Scientifically perfect in the sense that every pixel captures the colors accurately and precisely like a high-resolution, high-quality spectrometer? What is perfect exposure? No blown highlights? Intensities that match what you see with your own eyes, or what someone else sees with their eyes? There is no sensor yet in an affordable camera that can fully capture all the intensities that occur in many scenes (particularly landscape). What is perfect white balance? In reality, unless you have absolutely uniform, perfectly defined lighting, there is no single value for color temperature that applies to the entire image, yet that is precisely what all software does, AFAIK. Also, you'd be surprised what kind of white balance your own eyes (and your brain) apply when you compare what you see with an accurate, objective, unbiased measurement. Night and day.

So, if you want to get WYSIWYG results, you will have to work out exactly how you see things, then apply the corresponding white balance, tone curves, etc. The camera manufacturers don't know what your preferences are. They can only supply some options and hope a lot of people find at least one of them acceptable. Likewise, the people who wrote SilkyPix, ACR, Aperture, etc. may have different perceptions and that will contribute to why images derived from the RAW files, when loaded for the first time (i.e., with default parameters applied), will look different in all these programs.

It's really up to you.

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