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New D810 - not happy with colors

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If you buy a Ferrari does it make you Michael Schumaker?

If you buy a football does it make you Pele?

If you buy a Nikon D810 does it make you a good photographer?

No, no and no. Instead of complaining on here take your £2500 camera outside, switch off auto mode and go and LEARN how to use it.
 
Although I don't own a D810, I have a wide experience of various cameras. And Auto WB works best when there are a wide variety of colours in a scene.

Outside in sunlight with green grass, blue sky and with buildings and some red, yellow and brown items. Auto WB is often spot on.

BUT with scenery of mostly one colour Auto WB often gets it wrong.

By wrong, I don't mean wrong colour. Just the wrong shade. Blue is still blue, green is still green etc. But the colours just look off.

My No. 1 hint is shoot raw and use the software that came with the camera to develop the jpeg.

When it comes to fine adjustments to colours you can always alter the camera jpeg or change colour settings in camera. But I have found that working with the raw file is faster, easier and the end result is more satisfying and natural looking.
 
foodiepics2012 said:
just started shooting in P mode , everything else set to standard and not happy with the colors. Too much red ,not enough black and with other shots the colors just seem to be off

d52091315db640ef90c6839d537a690d.jpg
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Were you perhaps expecting (or hoping for) something more like this? Perhaps overdone to make a point. But a simple set of slider moves in the basic panel and adjustment brushes in ACR/LR to remove the color cast (due to overly warm WB) and to bring out the "black".





--
Mike Dawson
 

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As improved as that is, Mike, I think the main takeaway from these threads is that the OP needs to learn camera basics so that SOOC images are closer to what he/she envisions and is trying to capture. (it's not like it's particularly difficult subject matter and it's not like most of us would blame our cameras) As things stand, SOOC, the OP seems to be doing better with a cellphone. For some, that's good enough. Whether it's good enough for the OP or not, only time will tell. Cheers.
 
earthbound_ca said:
As improved as that is, Mike, I think the main takeaway from these threads is that the OP needs to learn camera basics so that SOOC images are closer to what he/she envisions and is trying to capture. (it's not like it's particularly difficult subject matter and it's not like most of us would blame our cameras) As things stand, SOOC, the OP seems to be doing better with a cellphone. For some, that's good enough. Whether it's good enough for the OP or not, only time will tell. Cheers.
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I don't disagree with you at all. Given, though, that the OP was complaining that the D810 colors weren't good and that the blacks were gone I think it is a good thing to post a corrected image that demonstrates that there is nothing wrong with the camera. If the OP can be convinced that there is nothing wrong with the camera, that it is user error in capturing the image in-camera, perhaps your advice will take hold with the OP.
 
michaeladawson said:
earthbound_ca said:
As improved as that is, Mike, I think the main takeaway from these threads is that the OP needs to learn camera basics so that SOOC images are closer to what he/she envisions and is trying to capture. (it's not like it's particularly difficult subject matter and it's not like most of us would blame our cameras) As things stand, SOOC, the OP seems to be doing better with a cellphone. For some, that's good enough. Whether it's good enough for the OP or not, only time will tell. Cheers.
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I don't disagree with you at all. Given, though, that the OP was complaining that the D810 colors weren't good and that the blacks were gone I think it is a good thing to post a corrected image that demonstrates that there is nothing wrong with the camera. If the OP can be convinced that there is nothing wrong with the camera, that it is user error in capturing the image in-camera, perhaps your advice will take hold with the OP.
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I think the OP just wanted to rattle people's cages seeing a didn't respond to anyones suggestions. Based on all the responses to help this individual, I think he succeeded.
 
He did not say it was Jpeg and there is nothing wrong to use P mode. In fact P mode has nothing to do with color. And frankly I do not see anything wrong with the color either.

Wheel looks black at 2-3 o'clock regardless under mixed light.
 
foodiepics2012 said:
just started shooting in P mode , everything else set to standard and not happy with the colors. Too much red ,not enough black and with other shots the colors just seem to be off

d52091315db640ef90c6839d537a690d.jpg
Click to expand...
Reset the camera. I've had some with some weird color setting straight out of the box.

Also; When you take a pic with pretty much only dark gray / black in the picture, the camera will overexpose. But that's easy to correct, even after the fact, especially if you shoot RAW. The free Nikon software (View NX-I / Capture NX-D) can do that already.
 
caspianm said:
He did not say it was Jpeg and there is nothing wrong to use P mode. In fact P mode has nothing to do with color. And frankly I do not see anything wrong with the color either.

Wheel looks black at 2-3 o'clock regardless under mixed light.
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?? But he posted a JPEG... And he also said:
caspianm said:
caspianm said:
everything else set to standard
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...which means "Picture Controls are set to 'Standard'" (and this only affects JPEG's). I don't think there are any other settings that can be set to "Standard" in the D810.

Agreed there is nothing *technically* wrong with using "P" mode, though it's not something I'd do. Now that I think about it, I don't even think I know how to use P mode...like I have no idea what the dials would do in P mode??? :)

I feel bad for saying this, but when I read the original question, I honestly thought it was a joke. The D810 is marketed as a pro camera, and I think we all typically expect that owners know some of the basics and have 'graduated up.' It's not the best camera for learning on.

...but I think to most of us, this seems like buying an advanced driver's car (like a BMW M-series), ignoring all of the "M Button" controls (like the EDC, DSC, Steering & Throttle responses, etc.), hiring a chauffeur to drive you around in it, and then asking "how do I make the car turn faster?"

So beyond shooting in "P" mode or shooting JPEG's, this is a very strange question. It also implies that the OP may not have invested the time to read up on and understand the answers to some of these questions--which are answered pretty much directly in Nikon's literature (See page 148-152 or search for "redder"). That's the user's manual that comes with the D810. The first paragraph even tells you what to do "if the desired cannot be achieved with auto white balance..."

There is an educational journey, but it's just strange to start with an advanced camera, not reading the manual first, and asking a bunch of enthusiasts such a basic question that's more to do with the expertise (ie. "driving") rather than the equipment (ie. "car").

As far as the colors go, this is obviously subjective. Sounds like he wants a punchier and cooler image. And I think most people here would obviously know how to correct for this. Nikon even has a generic, step-by-step guide to using picture controls, with examples.
 
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You reading too much into it imo. Standard or else profile affects the raw (not only jpeg) files the way it appears in Nikon software but you can change things around. It has to use a profile.

I have shot jpegs and look nothing unusual. Blacks look black and color (8bit) still look great for some applications.
 
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caspianm said:
You reading too much into nothing imo. Standard or else profile affects the raw files the way it appears in Nikon software but you can change things around. It has to use a profile.
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I know this is how profiles work. But you said he didn't say it was a JPEG, and yet he posted a JPEG and explicitly said that he set everything else to standard.

Do you think he took a RAW (.NEF), picked a different picture control, converted it either in camera or Capture NX-D (without correcting colors), and then uploaded that and asked that question?

...or did you not bother to look at the EXIF data before posting that...?

c85751254ea74ad0917aa4d7cba9364d.jpg.png
 
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Most samples on this site are jpegs. Raw would need a download and that would be a up to your converter as how it is going to look like. Are you even serious? My point was jpeg or raw has nothing to do with stated problem. Now time to move on.
 
caspianm said:
Most samples on this site are jpegs. Raw would need a download and that would be a up to your converter as how it is going to look like. Are you even serious? My point was jpeg or raw has nothing to do with stated problem. Now time to move on.
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That's clearly not what you said about jpegs earlier (and why would you bring it up, when the only time it was referenced was in relation to picture controls, which have everything to do with the stated problem), but ok...And this was clearly a post-standard picture control jpeg.

The issues described by the OP in the original image are:
  • White balancing
  • Contrast / Brightness / Saturation
These are corrected seamlessly through the camera's picture controls & white balance settings (which affect ONLY to in-camera jpegs or RAW files in Capture NX-D only) , or manually by a user--which is exactly what 'too old for this' was describing and you were refuting.

Agreed that 'P' mode has nothing to do with the color rendering here...and nobody in this thread ever said they did.

We all said this is about picture controls and/or color rendering (white balance, brightness, contrast, saturation, etc.), which I hope you'd agree with because that is the stated problem. Yes, let's move on.
 
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