New Custom Curve +0.7 EV

Jeffrey Broder said:

1. Apolinario-(+0.7 curve)
2. d100-custom-tone
3. d100-custom-tones-settings

When the right one is installed how do you access it.
sorry for being slow. Jeff

Apolinario said:

I appreciate your comments on my curve. Let me know if there's any
area where it could be improved. I think the thing that remains to
be done is to push the shadow detail to it's limits now as DavidSL
has suggested, and make an "extreme shadow lift" curve to maximize
the theoretical 7 stops of exposure dynamic range the D100 has.
Actually, what I really want to do is take some pictures.

Brent Burzycki said:

All I can say is that if this does 80+ % solve our issues and since
he has put alot of work into these customs curves, and since his
copy of NC3 is expired - I will be the first to give to the

"Give a copy fo NC3 to the nice guy fund"

Hell a buck a piece from all the posts this has had and it would be
paid for already....seeing i just bought my copy for 99.00...

Just a thought....I know parting with cash is always an issue, but
hell it would have taken me a month to do what he did...

IS: Learn it - Do it - Test it - do it again...

Click to expand...

--
You cannot perceive beauty but with a serene mind

Click to expand...

--
Jeff B

Click to expand...

Apolinario said:

Jeffrey Broder said:

1. Apolinario-(+0.7 curve)
2. d100-custom-tone
3. d100-custom-tones-settings

When the right one is installed how do you access it.
sorry for being slow. Jeff

Apolinario said:

I appreciate your comments on my curve. Let me know if there's any
area where it could be improved. I think the thing that remains to
be done is to push the shadow detail to it's limits now as DavidSL
has suggested, and make an "extreme shadow lift" curve to maximize
the theoretical 7 stops of exposure dynamic range the D100 has.
Actually, what I really want to do is take some pictures.

Brent Burzycki said:

All I can say is that if this does 80+ % solve our issues and since
he has put alot of work into these customs curves, and since his
copy of NC3 is expired - I will be the first to give to the

"Give a copy fo NC3 to the nice guy fund"

Hell a buck a piece from all the posts this has had and it would be
paid for already....seeing i just bought my copy for 99.00...

Just a thought....I know parting with cash is always an issue, but
hell it would have taken me a month to do what he did...

IS: Learn it - Do it - Test it - do it again...

Click to expand...

--
You cannot perceive beauty but with a serene mind

Click to expand...

--
Jeff B

Click to expand...

--
You cannot perceive beauty but with a serene mind

Click to expand...

Jeffrey Broder said:

Thanks,

Deleted other files. Have the file with "less" inthe file. Will
download tomorrow. anything special I need to do after it is
downloaded to make it work.

Click to expand...

Brent Burzycki said:

My quesiton is why we cannot keep multiple curves in the camera
and then select form them when we are out taking pictures.

Jeffrey Broder said:

Thanks,

Deleted other files. Have the file with "less" inthe file. Will
download tomorrow. anything special I need to do after it is
downloaded to make it work.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Jeffrey Broder said:

Brent Burzycki said:

My quesiton is why we cannot keep multiple curves in the camera
and then select form them when we are out taking pictures.

Jeffrey Broder said:

Thanks,

Deleted other files. Have the file with "less" inthe file. Will
download tomorrow. anything special I need to do after it is
downloaded to make it work.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
Jeff B

Click to expand...

Apolinario said:

Stop! If your only complaint about the D100 is the underexposure
issue, don't sell your D100's yet! I just made a custom tone curve
that simulates +0.7 EV without clipping highlights. I just took
several photos using my new curve. I shot first at the normal tone
setting with the camera's programmed exposure. Then I shot with my
custom tone curve with the programmed exposure. Finally, I shot
with the normal tone at +0.7 and the photo looks almost the same as
my custom tone shot except for that the skies are not as blown out
in my custom shot. I took several other shots to confirm this and
all results are the same. Later tonight, I will post the results.
I think most of you will be pleased.

FYI, I had read the translated French solution to D100 exposure
problems after I had made these curves and found that it explained
in a couple of pages what I had taken 1000 shots to discover, that
the problem is not underexposure, but rather a compression of the
image's tonality towards
the darker values. The trick is to increase the tone of the darker
values without changing the lighter values and without losing
contrast.

Other curves I have seen in the past increase the darker values,
however, they lack contrast. I have two other curves, one is a
+0.0 EV that simply cleans up whites and increases contrast
somewhat, but doesn't have too much effect on overall brightness (I
will post photos I had taken yesterday using this curve tonight as
well). I also have a +1.0 EV that really brightens up the photos
and increases contrast, however, I think it is overkill. I will
upload all my curves to my website as well for anyone to download.

Stay tuned!
--
You cannot perceive beauty but with a serene mind

Click to expand...

Jack310 said:

Hi Apolinario,

I test many shots with your curve, it does very good job of keeping
highlight and lift shadow area but it has bad habit of oversaturate
red-ness.

I hope u can do some modification and save us all... if you
interested in see those image (in NEF) please email me:
[email protected]

thanks

Jack

Click to expand...

Jeffrey Broder said:

Brent Burzycki said:

My quesiton is why we cannot keep multiple curves in the camera
and then select form them when we are out taking pictures.

Jeffrey Broder said:

Thanks,

Deleted other files. Have the file with "less" inthe file. Will
download tomorrow. anything special I need to do after it is
downloaded to make it work.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
Jeff B

Click to expand...

Apolinario said:

Unfortunately, in custom tone curves, you cannot change individual
channels of color. Also, I've noticed that reds and yellows
increase in saturation at a different rate than the cooler colors
whenever there is a bend in the curve.

Jack310 said:

Hi Apolinario,

I test many shots with your curve, it does very good job of keeping
highlight and lift shadow area but it has bad habit of oversaturate
red-ness.

I hope u can do some modification and save us all... if you
interested in see those image (in NEF) please email me:
[email protected]

thanks

Jack

Click to expand...

--
You cannot perceive beauty but with a serene mind

Click to expand...

Mike Sommers said:

I'm anxious to install the curve and take it through the paces this
weekend. It is getting extremely positive feedback in this forum.
Now that I've got a few thousand shots under my belt with my d100,
I feel I'll be able to get an accurate read on what Apoliario's
custom curve does for me. Lots of fall foliage down here in
Northern Virginia!!!

Now, I have a very very silly question...

Would one achieve the same results if they applied Apolinario's
prescribed curves fix AFTER the image was taken (in Fine JPG mode)?

In other words, if I take the shot in manual mode (or full auto
mode) with the in-camera meter saying I was properly exposed...
then open the JPG file in Photoshop, fix the curves according to
Apolinario's prescription, and save it as a high quality JPG (12).

I understand it might save me a little time, but how would these
results be different than loading the custom curve into my camera
with the same settings?

I've uplaoded a simple web page to illustrate the results I get
when making the changes Apolinario prescribes using Photoshop,
compared with a few other tries at getting better detail in the
shadows...

http://www.sinfin.com/curvestest.htm

My results in this test are not very promising for Apolinario's
custom "0.7 less" custom curve. I consistenly get better results by
simply fixing the histogram using Photoshop's LEVELS tool.

Am I missing something? Apolinario's curve doesn't seem to help me
much here. The overall image contrast has taken a big hit, and the
colors don't seem real.

Is this not the proper way to determine how a custom curve is going
to operate once it's loaded into my camera? Does the on board Nikon
firmware apply curves differently than Photoshop 6.0 does on my
computer? If so, I applaud you Apolinario for the amount of time
you must have spent with trial and error, until you finally arrived
at the custom curve that has pleased so many people.

Thanks alot, I'm just learning and still a little confused by all
this technical speak (I just wanted to take better pictures!)

Mike

R. Bond said:

Thanks Apolinario

Loaded your curve w/contrast and shot all day sunday. I shot
landscapes and arcitecture in a variety of lighting conditions and
they turned out great when I did my part and needed very little
post processing. After reading this thread I am going to try the
curve w/less and see what happens. Custom curves make better sense
to me than the +.7 EV setting.

Best regards

RB

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Apolinario said:

Stop! If your only complaint about the D100 is the underexposure
issue, don't sell your D100's yet! I just made a custom tone curve
that simulates +0.7 EV without clipping highlights. I just took
several photos using my new curve. I shot first at the normal tone
setting with the camera's programmed exposure. Then I shot with my
custom tone curve with the programmed exposure. Finally, I shot
with the normal tone at +0.7 and the photo looks almost the same as
my custom tone shot except for that the skies are not as blown out
in my custom shot. I took several other shots to confirm this and
all results are the same. Later tonight, I will post the results.
I think most of you will be pleased.

FYI, I had read the translated French solution to D100 exposure
problems after I had made these curves and found that it explained
in a couple of pages what I had taken 1000 shots to discover, that
the problem is not underexposure, but rather a compression of the
image's tonality towards
the darker values. The trick is to increase the tone of the darker
values without changing the lighter values and without losing
contrast.

Other curves I have seen in the past increase the darker values,
however, they lack contrast. I have two other curves, one is a
+0.0 EV that simply cleans up whites and increases contrast
somewhat, but doesn't have too much effect on overall brightness (I
will post photos I had taken yesterday using this curve tonight as
well). I also have a +1.0 EV that really brightens up the photos
and increases contrast, however, I think it is overkill. I will
upload all my curves to my website as well for anyone to download.

Stay tuned!
--
You cannot perceive beauty but with a serene mind

Click to expand...

E. Lee said:

Apolinario said:

Stop! If your only complaint about the D100 is the underexposure
issue, don't sell your D100's yet! I just made a custom tone curve
that simulates +0.7 EV without clipping highlights. I just took
several photos using my new curve. I shot first at the normal tone
setting with the camera's programmed exposure. Then I shot with my
custom tone curve with the programmed exposure. Finally, I shot
with the normal tone at +0.7 and the photo looks almost the same as
my custom tone shot except for that the skies are not as blown out
in my custom shot. I took several other shots to confirm this and
all results are the same. Later tonight, I will post the results.
I think most of you will be pleased.

FYI, I had read the translated French solution to D100 exposure
problems after I had made these curves and found that it explained
in a couple of pages what I had taken 1000 shots to discover, that
the problem is not underexposure, but rather a compression of the
image's tonality towards
the darker values. The trick is to increase the tone of the darker
values without changing the lighter values and without losing
contrast.

Other curves I have seen in the past increase the darker values,
however, they lack contrast. I have two other curves, one is a
+0.0 EV that simply cleans up whites and increases contrast
somewhat, but doesn't have too much effect on overall brightness (I
will post photos I had taken yesterday using this curve tonight as
well). I also have a +1.0 EV that really brightens up the photos
and increases contrast, however, I think it is overkill. I will
upload all my curves to my website as well for anyone to download.

Stay tuned!
--
You cannot perceive beauty but with a serene mind

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Apolinario said:

E. Lee said:

Apolinario said:

Stop! If your only complaint about the D100 is the underexposure
issue, don't sell your D100's yet! I just made a custom tone curve
that simulates +0.7 EV without clipping highlights. I just took
several photos using my new curve. I shot first at the normal tone
setting with the camera's programmed exposure. Then I shot with my
custom tone curve with the programmed exposure. Finally, I shot
with the normal tone at +0.7 and the photo looks almost the same as
my custom tone shot except for that the skies are not as blown out
in my custom shot. I took several other shots to confirm this and
all results are the same. Later tonight, I will post the results.
I think most of you will be pleased.

FYI, I had read the translated French solution to D100 exposure
problems after I had made these curves and found that it explained
in a couple of pages what I had taken 1000 shots to discover, that
the problem is not underexposure, but rather a compression of the
image's tonality towards
the darker values. The trick is to increase the tone of the darker
values without changing the lighter values and without losing
contrast.

Other curves I have seen in the past increase the darker values,
however, they lack contrast. I have two other curves, one is a
+0.0 EV that simply cleans up whites and increases contrast
somewhat, but doesn't have too much effect on overall brightness (I
will post photos I had taken yesterday using this curve tonight as
well). I also have a +1.0 EV that really brightens up the photos
and increases contrast, however, I think it is overkill. I will
upload all my curves to my website as well for anyone to download.

Stay tuned!
--
You cannot perceive beauty but with a serene mind

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
You cannot perceive beauty but with a serene mind

Click to expand...

Apolinario said:

Stop! If your only complaint about the D100 is the underexposure
issue, don't sell your D100's yet! I just made a custom tone curve
that simulates +0.7 EV without clipping highlights. I just took
several photos using my new curve. I shot first at the normal tone
setting with the camera's programmed exposure. Then I shot with my
custom tone curve with the programmed exposure. Finally, I shot
with the normal tone at +0.7 and the photo looks almost the same as
my custom tone shot except for that the skies are not as blown out
in my custom shot. I took several other shots to confirm this and
all results are the same. Later tonight, I will post the results.
I think most of you will be pleased.

FYI, I had read the translated French solution to D100 exposure
problems after I had made these curves and found that it explained
in a couple of pages what I had taken 1000 shots to discover, that
the problem is not underexposure, but rather a compression of the
image's tonality towards
the darker values. The trick is to increase the tone of the darker
values without changing the lighter values and without losing
contrast.

Other curves I have seen in the past increase the darker values,
however, they lack contrast. I have two other curves, one is a
+0.0 EV that simply cleans up whites and increases contrast
somewhat, but doesn't have too much effect on overall brightness (I
will post photos I had taken yesterday using this curve tonight as
well). I also have a +1.0 EV that really brightens up the photos
and increases contrast, however, I think it is overkill. I will
upload all my curves to my website as well for anyone to download.

Stay tuned!
--
You cannot perceive beauty but with a serene mind

Click to expand...

Jim Cullen said:

Apolinario said:

E. Lee said:

Apolinario said:

Stop! If your only complaint about the D100 is the underexposure

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

nd67 said:

I've been using the "less" curve since I received my camera back
from the FW-upgrade... love it! I noticed a few threads ago that
the ability to edit and change curves within the camera is specific
to the D100 or D1. Is that correct? If so, this is a HUGE HUGE
selling point for Nikon.

Click to expand...

nd67 said:

I took me a while to understand why this
is so important but it has really increased the quality of my
photos.

Can't D60 and S2 owners do this as well?

Click to expand...