SD15 Full Spectrum w/ Visible Filter - Street

xpatUSA wrote:

tagscuderia wrote:

xpatUSA wrote:

tagscuderia wrote:

P.S. why not a Custom WB? Just out of curiosity.

WB makes no difference to raw values, Tom, and I convert with RawDigger.

Yeah I know, I was wondering what the benefits of using a RAW composite are over SPP... ?

For FS, I use RawDigger's RGB export, not raw composite. The RGB export remains superior to SPP 5.5.3 RGB for SD15 shots.

I'm with you now, and curious... that SPP 5.5.3 is inferior.

By that token, a RawDigger raw composite export is completely unaffected by the in-camera WB setting; and for the RawDigger RGB export (for that capture) the three RawDigger WB options made very little difference so I left it at "As Shot".

Somehow RawDigger's 'LibRaw' conversion does a much better job than SPP's insane magenta look for full-spectrum shots - I never use SPP for them!

LibRaw is producing a straight composite, with zero scaling/gain vs SPP's 3x3 White Balance matrix

A "straight composite" is not the option that I use. LibRaw in RawDigger also offers an RGB conversion which is what I use. In Preferences, the RawDigger WB selections make little difference to the RGB review image so, again, I leave it 'As Shot'.

I've replicated the settings on an SD1M shot (and both Auto and Daylight were inferior to 'As Shot,' which I thought was interesting... ?)

− the "insane magenta" is because you're using a visible light WB matrix; Auto WB is not tuned for Full Spectrum, NIR or Infrared and seemingly defaults back to Daylight or similar.

In IR or FS work, I don't understand people's emphasis on WB - especially Custom. Do you?

For Infrared, White Balance is pointless but for FS, absolutely! And it has to be Custom because (obviously) none of the presets are going to work... So have you never shot FS with a Custom WB taken off a grey card?

I don't recall trying with the SD15 but it was rarely successful with the SD14. The SD1M was better at the capture but, when all said and done, the main reflectors of IR came out less red which is not what I'm looking for.

Since you keep pushing Custom WB, Tom, what do you get over shooting with any preset WB and adjusting in post?

I'm not pushing it, I'm simply intrigued that you use and prefer RawDigger − if it's superior, then I'm interested!! And some things are impossible to recover e.g. "insane magenta," even working on a 16-bit ProPhoto TIFF, so a good starting point is necessary i.e. Custom WB.

Bearing in mind that the SPP "magenta" comes from the green RGB channel being forced to zero, does a Custom WB actually fix that?

I predominantly shoot with a B+W 099 infracolour filter, but see below for an FS shot (no critique needed, it was taken to confirm a good Custom WB, nothing else): Left is a default settings SPP export / Middle is RawDigger with 'No profile (raw colour)' / Right is RawDigger with 'Camera profile Embedded in RAW' ...

The 'Camera profile Embedded in RAW' version doesn't appear to have been White Balanced i.e. gain applied to the RAW channels to establish the correct White Point. Otherwise it's a very nice starting point!

The issue that I have with SPP is that there isn't a FS preset, so the colour mode and tone curve are not as I'd like and unadjustable. The right-hand RawDigger export is making me think that it'll be worthwhile to revisit UFRaw − with all of the additional RAW converter tools at our disposal... I'm excited 

P.S. for Infracolour / NIR especially, working on an SPP 16-bit TIFF is an uphill struggle; bring on a 100% RAW workflow! Thanks Ted.