Nikon D7000 Skin Tones Problem | Fuji S5 Comparison

First...all the D7000 pics look pretty bad and not typical in any way. Something is wrong.

It looks like WB is off or you have a filter on the lens. Turn ADL off untill you sort it out as ADL can indeed affect skin tones but in this case...more than just skin tone colors seem wrong. Did you change the WB presets or the Picture control defaults?

Have you tried looking at the pics with ViewNX2? This could be a LR issue as I've not seen D7000 pics this poor before. If you have one of the "bad" D7000 shots take OOC jpeg. Upload that pic here just as it came from the camera so we can see the EXIF and camera settings. If you do upload...be sure and go here http://www.dpreview.com/members/settings/profile
And under the "allow download of originals"  check  "Allow visitors to download full size original images from your gallery" That way we can download the pic to ViewNX2 and check the camera settings you used. That assumes you uploaded pics/files as they came from the camera vs any change in Lightroom or the like.

Hi,

Thank you for your quick reply. I'll be sure to post full pictures soon.

In the meantime, to answer your questions:

• I sold my D7000. I'll buy or rent a new one and test again with ADL on and off. When I did test it over the past month, I did not see a difference in skin tones/colors with ADL on/off.
• The lens used was always the same for both camera: a Nikon 17-55 with the top-of-the-line B+W multicoated UV filter. 
• No changes were made to the WB shift presets for any of these shots.
• WB settings were identical for both cameras for the same sets of shots; if auto WB was used for one, it was used for the other. If the Neutral Expodisc was used, it was used for both cameras in the same way (taking a WB preset shot from subject location towards shooting position).
• Most of my shots (both from S5 and D7000) were taken as jpegs

I agree with you that something is wrong with the D7000 colorwise (not just skin tones).

Here you go. D7000 original picture below.

http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/9725133081/photos/2369473/test-040

Neutral is not a good choice for skintones, it has a slight yellowis/green cast that needs adjustment. But it's more than that, fine detail also suffers in my experience.

Portrait is usually better, but you always need some adjustment for optimal results in my exp. But I think you are used to the Fuji and that's a big point. I'd have tested it more carefully, playing with WB at conversion, before deciding on keeping it or not.

My routine now involves always a quick WB adjustment for portraits, I like a bit more blue than what the auto WB gives, in most situations.

--
Renato. http://www.flickr.com/photos/rhlpedrosa/ OnExposure member http://www.onexposure.net/ Good shooting and good luck (after Ed Murrow)

Please keep in mind that I purchased both the D7000 and the S5 at the same time (end of November and beginning of December 2012). I'm not used to either one more than the other.

I played with both the Neutral and Portrait modes. I slightly favored Neutral, but they both had a yellow-greenish cast.

I've seen great pictures of people online taken with the D7000. I could not figure out why mine did not even come close, as I never had this problem with my previous Canon or Nikon cameras.

I have always felt that Nikon cripples their DX lineup by processing skin tones with a weird plastic feel and an unnatural hue.  RAW helps achieve more pleasing skin tones, but JPEG is just hit or miss, and typically DX Nikon cameras miss.  I've also felt this trend continues to worsen with newer DX bodies.  The D70 had great skin tones.  The color rendition (for skin tones) on the D200 was superb.  The skin tones on a D300, D90, D300s, and D7000 (order of release) just went from bad to worse.

It wasn't until I upgraded to my D700 that I was truly happy with skin tones.  The D700 is what you want to look at for portraits.  In my opinion, not even the D800 compares in terms of skin tones.  The D800 does to the D700 pretty much what the D300 did to the D200: more megapixels, better ergonomics, faster, newer, but weaker skin tone rendition.

Here is what I've learned:

• Don't expect great skin tones from a Nikon DX body (not even with "nice" lenses) unless you have extremely controlled lighting
• Skin tones can always look better with post processing regardless of the camera
• Some cameras know skin tones better than others

--
John Tatyosian
Check out my site: http://www.jtatphotos.com

I owned the D70 (my first DSLR). I had no problems with its skin tones (and I sure liked its 1/500s flash sync speed).

I'd love to test the D700. I'll rent one soon.

It looks to me like your real problem is Sony CMOS sensors as you seem happy with the results from the Sony CCD and Nikon CMOS.

D70 and D200 - Sony CCD

D90, D300 and D7000 - Sony CMOS

D700 - Nikon CMOS

D800 - Sony CMOS

Unfortunately the file isn't the original OOC file but has been changed slightly by Lightroom so much of the settings data from the camera is gone. That aside, the flash fired and ADL appears to be on and at ISO 200 and in P mode with a global EC of -1/3. That can indeed account for much of the skin tone problem. But I still think another setting is at play as the rest look as poor (and not typical at all for the D7000). Flash and ADL do not mix well...especially with EC in program exposure mode.

I actually shoot the D70 daily (JPEG only) and find the D7000 skin tones much more accurate. Skin tones can often be subjective. In this example ADL "normal" actually got it perfect regards accuracy but the look many won't like as "accurate" is not everyone's' cup of tea.

You say you upgraded from D5100 to D7000.  Did you also have have this problem with D5100?

Thank you. I'll look for pictures taken in Aperture priority and with ADL off (and I'll get the original this time).

I wonder, however, if something else is at play with my camera because Nikon would have a problem if one would have to watch ADL, P, and flash to get decent skin tones. I can't be the only D7000 user that shoots jpegs with the above settings.

With all my previous Canons and Nikons, in fact, I would almost always shoot in P mode outdoor, with fill flash and, if the camera had it, with ADL Auto (or the Canon equivalent) turned on.

Each camera rendered skin tones nicely (more or less, depending on camera).

But I agree with you that your suggestion must be implemented to find out what's affecting the color rendition.

Don't think so. I'll go through my D5100 pictures to make sure.

Those are nice skin tones. I never came close to getting anything like that, even though I shot jpeg like you with the same settings. I'll have to try another D7000.

Do you always get results like that? Or is it hit or miss?

Generally I think I agree with you.  Skin tones are slightly better from CCD senors, but they are now long gone in Nikon bodies.  I still think the D700 CMOS does the best.  Maybe Nikon should stop outsourcing their sensors??

Ultimately, Nikon has the processing control over the Sony sensors, and I think they can do a better job.

--
John Tatyosian
Check out my site: http://www.jtatphotos.com

The problem with flash is that often you are close to base ISO and ADL works best when it has room to play. With P mode there are aperture limits imposed as soon as flash is used (at ISO 200 no larger than f3.5 with pop-up and f5 with external flash). Shutter speed is also often limited depending on settings. That all combines to make the ADL results less than optimal and why I caution using ADL in that scenario.

I do know the ADL algorithms have changed slightly with the newer RGB meters so ADL with the newer bodies is indeed a better tool than in earlier generations.

Yes, I think something else might be at play as they just look wrong compared to what I am used to. Also trying to take Lightroom out of the equation just in case.

I honestly have no problem normally...but strange lighting (new CFL's) can give me fits. Here is another skin type example...It looks right to me and is accurate regards the subjects actually skin color. But there is certainly a subjective side to all this and folks have adjusted Picture Control presets to great effect regards tweaking the look they are after. (minor PP to remove blemishes)



If you are going to be this fussy (I see nothing terribly wrong with any of these that a few nudges with the color sliders in LR couldn't fix) then you really want a D600.  The D5200 looks pretty darn good, too.  The D800 would be better still.

that you are using "neutral" in a lot of those shots? I find that neutral usually gives pretty crappy skin tones and portrait or standard are better options.Your raw files don't look much different than mine when I first open them up in lightroom.

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Antonio
http://www.intensitystudios.com