The test is designed to show ME if RAW will work better than SHQ
for ME for MY uses. This may help others, but it wasnt an all
encompassing test for everyone's purposes.
MY USES: (That wasn't "yelling", RI, I'm using caps to signify a
heading.)
80% of my work is printed at 8x10, 8x12 and 11x14. 8x10 and 8x12
are Fuji Frontier prints and 11x14 are Epson 1280 prints. I will
eventually send 11x14s to the lab but I dont currently use one that
prints digital 11x14 so I need to research it and I'm a bit lazy.
10% of my work ends up leaving me on CD to be printed by the client
using various methods of various sizes.
5% of my work ends up for digital, onscreen use only.
5% is printed on Epson large formats at larger than 11x14.
MY SUBJECT:
Snapshots - for now. I will not waste client time performing a
sterile studio test. It is too time consuming. I WILL do a studio
test but it wont be until after New Years. I will only do it on a
personal shoot and that should be the first week or two of the new
year.
The snapshots used were no great photographic achievements. They
were just that, snapshots, composed only to include details and not
proper photographic composition. The subjects were chosen for their
included colors and details. Wide, blank skies were included
because noise lives in blank skies. Actually I give God credit for
the blank skies - I didnt create them, I only shot them.
CAMERA SETTINGS:
I will get c-r-a-p for this, no matter. You do your tests, I'll do
mine. Shots were taken in APPERTURE PRIORITY mode. I chose this
mode because I often shoot in it outdoors. IN studio I only use
MANUAL, but outdoors I often use A. I was also curious to see if
RAW and SHQ handles exposure differently for some reason.
Shouldn't, but I was curious to see. I had NO Exposure Compensation
set although I usually shoot at -.3 to -.7 when in A or S. I wanted
to see what the camera gave me ON IT'S OWN. SHQ had low and soft
contrast and sharpness settings.
FILE PROCESSING:
RAWs were converted using the Olympus Photoshop plugin and
processed with the second option, which is "RGB, WB, and Color
Adjustment". My test is to see if RAW gives better FINAL results
than SHQ, NOT which converter is better. No doubt my whole test is
flawed because I didnt use Bibble.
Each file was given a minor levels adjustment and USM of
100% 1.5p/13th. All files were then saved as uncompressed TIFFs for
output to Frontier. (PSD for Photoshop, TIFF when IT is needed. All
things have their purpose. Fun, huh?)
I also saved the RAW as a TIFF DIRECTLY after conversion - with no
alteration made. This will be used for other comaprisons, not print
comparisons.
PRINTER SETTINGS:
Like I said, this test is for MY use so I used MY settings. I see
too little difference between 2880 and 1440 so I printed at 1440.
I work in an sRGB colorspace which my monitor is calibrated for. I
use no profiles for my Epson 1280, I just print the sRGB files as
they are. Frontiers are an sRGB system and my files are printed
exactly as are saved to CD - NO ALTERATIONS BY THE LAB. I want my
bad eyes to make the mistakes, not the lab.
Inkjet prints have been made on my Epson 1280 at 1440dpi. 8x10.66,
210ppi. No interpolation. Printed on regular Epson Glossy Photo
Paper. $19.99 for 100 sheets at Costco. Works for me.
(I accept that each Frontier is different but my results have been
accurate enough to forego custom profiling.)
I will follow up with
THE IMAGES
and
THE RESULTS
I have my Inkjet results already. I took the files to be printed on
the Frontier and they were, uh... how do we say... not prepared
properly. I usually print everything as Level 12 Jpeg and I took
TIFFs this time. Turns out the Frontier cant handle 16Bit TIFFs.
Oops. The results were interesting, though. I will take them back
tomorrow. I'll post my inkjet results tonight, though. (But
Boomtown is on so it might be late.)
I prefer for comments to be made AFTER I post all phases of the
test (this, images, then results) but do what you like. I'll have
everything but the Frontier reults up tonight.
For those who care,
GageFX
(For those who dont, what are you doing int his thread?)
--
E-10, LiPo, FL-40, Stroboframe 120 QF, Lumiquest Softbox,
Speedotron Force 10s, AlienBees, HP P1100, Epson 777, Epson 1280
