SATOBI - a nice little upgrade

I'm sure I'm late to the party, but after upgrading my K-1 firmware a while back I recently started using the SATOBI image setting. I must say I really like the new color science Ricoh has come up with. Big thank you for back-porting it to the older models.

Truth be, I've always found Pentax image parameters to be a little garish, even "Natural", while more muted than "Bright", doesn't quite live up to its name. Sometimes the color balance works, and most times I can anyway persuade it back to something I like in post, but SATOBI gets closer to what I look for, more often, than any of the old presets.

Could I call it "Fuji-like" without causing great offense? Because that's the vibe I'm getting.


Traditional boathouses at Ine, Kyoto Pref. Japan. Pentax-A 35-105mm F3.5


Traditional boathouses at Ine, Kyoto Pref. Japan. Pentax-A 35-105mm F3.5

Mate, you could have at least taken some pictures of Mt Fuji, in "fuji mode"

I like that these custom profiles are picked up in the DCU RAW converter software as well, so that RAW shooters can pick and choose the various profiles at their leisure after a shoot.

I am not sure whether I like it. Those colours resemble colours of my prints, which I made some 50 years ago :-( . I am switching between Natural (regular pictures) and Bright (flowers, autumn colours). Sometime I use Portrait (for portraits ).

flektogon said:

I am not sure whether I like it. Those colours resemble colours of my prints, which I made some 50 years ago :-( . I am switching between Natural (regular pictures) and Bright (flowers, autumn colours). Sometime I use Portrait (for portraits ).

Click to expand...

Haha … that's exactly what Satobi is designed to do … emulate old colour film.

Seems like they achieved their objective

kypfer said:

flektogon said:

I am not sure whether I like it. Those colours resemble colours of my prints, which I made some 50 years ago :-( . I am switching between Natural (regular pictures) and Bright (flowers, autumn colours). Sometime I use Portrait (for portraits ).

Click to expand...

Haha … that's exactly what Satobi is designed to do … emulate old colour film.

Seems like they achieved their objective

Click to expand...

Bing! Bing! Bing!

"SATOBI

A Custom Image that provides a finishing tone similar to color photos from the 60 and 70s with colors such as distinctive cyan blue, dull yellow, and faded red.

The unique red expression is suitable for such as portrait photography. It conveys the image of a dry and desolate land and allows you to enjoy the expression of faded colors that bring back nostalgic memories of places."

https://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/products/custom_image/

EDIT: Satobi is 里び in Japanese. It's a made up word, sato means hometown - a important nostalgic construct in Japan - and while "bi" / び is phonetic only, I imagine the implied association to "beautiful" 美 ("bi") cannot be accidental.

;-) Wanna trade, my D800 for your K-1?

Satobi is definitely a beautiful JPEG profile, love the colours it can produce.