What do you think is the best camera for JPEG fine tuning on the spot?

quintana · Aug 18, 2023

So I am currently shooting with a Nikon Z7. The image quality of the camera and the glass is great - if I shoot RAW and edit the images afterwards.

But after 15 years of serious hobby photography (sounds contradictory but I think you know what I mean) and almost exclusively shooting RAW I am getting tired of editing my photos. Probably because smartphones show that it's possible to get decent results without editing.

I know there are lots of cameras that produce good looking JPEGs like the Fujifilm cameras but not all of them let you fine tune the JPEG settings according to the scene you are shooting. For example if there is a high dynamic range in the scene it would be cool if you could easily lift the shadows and directly see the result in the EVF and the histogram - before even taking the picture.

So in your opinion which camera is best suited for altering the settings for the resulting JPEG most easily to get the desired result on the spot instead of later after editing a RAW file at home? An accurate (in terms of colours, brightness etc) preview in the EVF would be a great plus and the ability to see the preview while changing the settings so that you don't have to dive into a menu, change the setting, go back to the preview only to see that it doesn't match your expectations and you have to go into the menu again. This is a big downside with my Z7 and from what I know it unfortunately hasn't changed with more recent Nikons like the Z6/7 II or Z8.

inlawbiker · Aug 19, 2023

jiberlin said:
quintana said:

So I am currently shooting with a Nikon Z7. The image quality of the camera and the glass is great - if I shoot RAW and edit the images afterwards.

...

So in your opinion which camera is best suited for altering the settings for the resulting JPEG most easily to get the desired result on the spot instead of later after editing a RAW file at home? An accurate (in terms of colours, brightness etc) preview in the EVF would be a great plus and the ability to see the preview while changing the settings so that you don't have to dive into a menu, change the setting, go back to the preview only to see that it doesn't match your expectations and you have to go into the menu again. This is a big downside with my Z7 and from what I know it unfortunately hasn't changed with more recent Nikons like the Z6/7 II or Z8.

Click to expand...

The Z-series has many options to tweak the JPEG conversion and the option to save the tweaked parameters as custom styles. They have also Nikon Picture Control. The EVF and Backside-LCD shows the SOOC-JPEG if configured. You can assign the Picture Control selection to a function button + dial, no need to enter menu. What do you miss?

About 'accurate preview': The only way for true accurate view is to have a controlled environment. No EVF or Backside-LCD can give you this controlled environment, because your view is always affected by the surrounding light, even with EVF.

It seems to me that you have unrealistic expectations and did not deep-dive in the options of your camera.

This is good advice. All cameras are very configurable for out-of-camera JPEGs, it just takes some work.

When I shot a lot of youth sports and shot 2 to 3 games per day I was getting thousands of photos in a day to process. It was not manageable to process the raw files. What I did at the time was experiment with the Nikon software to get a look I liked, then set the camera to exactly the same settings. Typically the software matches the in-camera settings. Again I don't own a Z7.

I ended up with JPEGs that were great right out of the camera. I don't know what software came with the Z7 but the same should hold true. I ended up using a combination of Landscape preset with some tweaks. At any rate, I suspect the Z7 can get a combination you'd be happy with.

Paul Pasco · Aug 19, 2023

I shoot jpeg only and set up a new camera ( contrast, sharpness, etc.) with a number of test shots and then pretty much leave it alone. I look at the test shots on my computer screen and would never trust just looking at the camera LCD nor would I try to make changes on the fly. I do a minimum of PP and am generally happy with the results. I don’t think there is a “best” camera for jpeg settings.

GodSpeaks · Aug 19, 2023

... your plan is FAR more difficult than shooting RAW and post processing, on top of which, while fumbling with the menus and color options, you may well end up missing many shots.

I would like to add that I would never make color decisions based on the LCD or EVF of the camera. I use those ONLY for framing and for getting a rough idea of exposure.

I shoot RAW only on all my cameras and have WB set to Daylight. I batch process my RAW after a cursory look at the shots and minor adjustments. I use the batch processed JPGs as proofs to select any files I might want to print. Only the selected files get the full tweaking treatment.

quintana · Aug 20, 2023

Thank you all for your points of view. There was some very interesting input among it.

Probably I shouldn't think that better JPEGs straight out of camera were as easy to achieve as just buying a new camera (system).

I guess I should try out more JPEG only shooting with my Nikon Z7 before even thinking about buying new gear because chances are high that by experimenting I can get much closer to the JPEG results I'd like to achieve than just by switching to another brand and hoping that by some magic it will look much better without fine tuning the settings.

gary0319 · Aug 20, 2023

quintana said:
Thank you all for your points of view. There was some very interesting input among it.

Probably I shouldn't think that better JPEGs straight out of camera were as easy to achieve as just buying a new camera (system).

I guess I should try out more JPEG only shooting with my Nikon Z7 before even thinking about buying new gear because chances are high that by experimenting I can get much closer to the JPEG results I'd like to achieve than just by switching to another brand and hoping that by some magic it will look much better without fine tuning the settings.

Good resolution, I think. But….if you decide to add a good JPEGGER, my vote is for Olympus/OM, particularly those that do Hand Held Hi Rez (great for high ISO incamera stacked, noise free, 50mpx, night cityscape JPEG images)

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What do you think is the best camera for JPEG fine tuning on the spot?

quintana

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inlawbiker

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Paul Pasco

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GodSpeaks

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quintana

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gary0319

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