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Make em shine! Custom Curves for D70..

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When do you use your CC? In every circumstances or just in low light condition? Do you use AWB -1 beside using the CC?
Thanks,
Cs
davexl said:
Hi all,

I have had a great response to my gallery of D70 pics at pbase.
Thank you everyone for your kind words, like many here, I am very
enthusiastic about photography again, and the D70 looks like a real
winner and a great tool. Don't worry about the FUD and the trolls,
look at the results and make up your own mind.

I have had many requests for my custom curve that I use to brighten
the conservative (slightly dark in mid-tones) exposure of the D70.

You can make it by adding in the following two points to the curve:
99-120 and 141-171 or by downloading it from:

http://members.iinet.net.au/~dfx/DavidFmidtoneBoostA.ntc

For a great explanation of what a custom curve is, try this site:

http://fotogenetic.dearingfilm.com/custom_tone_curves.html

Also search the forum for his recent posts:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/postersprofile.asp?poster=hjimixixhzie

I recommend you also try Neils and Fotogenetics curves for the D100
as well, to see what works best for you. They can be downloaded
from:

http://fotogenetic.dearingfilm.com/downloads.html
http://www.planetneil.com/nikon/d100-customcurves.html

Ok, now you have the curves… You will need the 30 day trial of
Nikon Capture 4.1 if you do not already have it, to install and use
a custom curve. That means getting the 4.0 trial, and updating it
to 4.1 so it will recognise the D70.
http://www.nikon-asia.com/downloads.php

Once installed, plug in your camera, run Nikon Capture Control, go
to the Menu called Camera, and select Edit Camera Curves. Load up
the curve there. The sample image box is not a good guide to what
it will make the image look like – it does not display a sample NEF
correctly.

The curve, when selected in the camera menu – Green – Optimise
Image – Custom – Tone Comp – Custom – will affect every picture you
take in P, A, S and M modes. It will be a permanent change to JPGs,
but if you are shooting NEF/RAW you can turn it off after you
shoot. Playing in Nikon Capture Editor later, in the advanced RAW
dialog, will show you the difference with and without the curve
applied. If you are shooting JPEG, it is much better to apply the
curve in the camera before conversion to 8 bit and compression,
than afterwards in Photoshop etc.

Have fun, and shoot great pictures.

Regards,

David F.
Melbourne, Australia.
http://www.pbase.com/davexl/d70_images
Click to expand...
 
davexl said:
Hi all,

I have had a great response to my gallery of D70 pics at pbase.
Thank you everyone for your kind words, like many here, I am very
enthusiastic about photography again, and the D70 looks like a real
winner and a great tool. Don't worry about the FUD and the trolls,
look at the results and make up your own mind.

I have had many requests for my custom curve that I use to brighten
the conservative (slightly dark in mid-tones) exposure of the D70.

You can make it by adding in the following two points to the curve:
99-120 and 141-171 or by downloading it from:

http://members.iinet.net.au/~dfx/DavidFmidtoneBoostA.ntc

For a great explanation of what a custom curve is, try this site:

http://fotogenetic.dearingfilm.com/custom_tone_curves.html

Also search the forum for his recent posts:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/postersprofile.asp?poster=hjimixixhzie

I recommend you also try Neils and Fotogenetics curves for the D100
as well, to see what works best for you. They can be downloaded
from:

http://fotogenetic.dearingfilm.com/downloads.html
http://www.planetneil.com/nikon/d100-customcurves.html

Ok, now you have the curves… You will need the 30 day trial of
Nikon Capture 4.1 if you do not already have it, to install and use
a custom curve. That means getting the 4.0 trial, and updating it
to 4.1 so it will recognise the D70.
http://www.nikon-asia.com/downloads.php

Once installed, plug in your camera, run Nikon Capture Control, go
to the Menu called Camera, and select Edit Camera Curves. Load up
the curve there. The sample image box is not a good guide to what
it will make the image look like – it does not display a sample NEF
correctly.

The curve, when selected in the camera menu – Green – Optimise
Image – Custom – Tone Comp – Custom – will affect every picture you
take in P, A, S and M modes. It will be a permanent change to JPGs,
but if you are shooting NEF/RAW you can turn it off after you
shoot. Playing in Nikon Capture Editor later, in the advanced RAW
dialog, will show you the difference with and without the curve
applied. If you are shooting JPEG, it is much better to apply the
curve in the camera before conversion to 8 bit and compression,
than afterwards in Photoshop etc.

Have fun, and shoot great pictures.

Regards,

David F.
Melbourne, Australia.
http://www.pbase.com/davexl/d70_images
Click to expand...
 
So what do they do? When should I use one vs the other? What is the purpose of the LCH editor? The NC manual does not offer much on the subject.
davexl said:
This is where it gets messy. LCH curves are different to Curves,
and both are different to Custom Tone Curves. (the first two live
inside Capture, Custom Curves live in the camera)

Because of the way Nikon wrote this software, the curves are
applied at different stages and do different things. A Curve that
looks the same shape as a custom curve will look very different.
(darnit)

Ugh, explaining this in text is hard!
--
Regards,

David F.
Melbourne, Australia.
http://www.pbase.com/davexl/
Click to expand...
 
...to David for sharing his curve.
Csaba Ónody said:
So it is interesting quastion that this custom curve can be used
under "every" circumstances such as night, sun, cloudy?
Click to expand...
Well, one way of looking at this is: what you are actually doing is 'personalising' the sensor response to your preferences...so only one curve should be fine for that ;-)

What most of these curves are trying to do is keep the high- and low- lights from blowing, but make the mid-ish tones blossom more - usually by between +0.3 and +0.7 EV.

I have tried each of the curves, and find David's a fine compromise, but eventually returned to the good ol' White Wedding v3.3 curve, as being my preferred curve (keeps the highlights safely, whilst doing 'something' about the dull mid-tones - magic).

As others have said, if you shoot NEF, or NEF+JPG, then the curve in the camera is mostly irrelevant in that you can always post-process the NEF to your liking on a per-image basis ;-)

--
Nikon D70
 
Thanks for your effort on this. I am curious if you have had a challenge in the change in exposure from when using direct flash vs. using bounce flash? I shot my D70 at a wedding this past weekend and had to change from -.3 to .7 when I was using directly flash, and then I had to dial back up the compensation to +.3 for bounce flash, etc.

Think a custom curve coudl help? Or get in the way? I had tried a custom curve with my D100...but just went with a straight exposure, unless I bumped it up across the board. But now, I am wondering if I couldn't have save a lot of time in post processing if I had played around with it more.

--
Drew
http://www.pbase.com/lokerd
 
A custom curve saves you from applying it in capture. That said, the ONLY thing that is actually done in camera is the exposure. Everything else is done on your computer.

The custom tone curve is applied in your computer automatically unless you choose otherwise. This saves effort, basically.

Nick
dboyles said:
davexl said:
Besides, for unusual or problem shots you just shoot raw/NEF, and
if the curve does not help you can simply turn it off in Nikon
capture when you process the file, and tweak a temp curve for just
that image, as you would in Photoshop.
Click to expand...
I believe what I'm about to ask to be the case, but I wanted to
verify since I'm quite new to the subject.

Are custom curves also recommended for raw shooters, in order to
cut down on necessary postprocessing?

I'll go ahead and ask another question along the same lines, since
I can't seem to craft a search that will find an answer. What
adjustments are made in-camera when shooting JPEG? What I'm really
wondering is what settings I don't need to worry about (as much)
when shooting raw, since they can be adjusted later.

Thanks to all involved for the help on these subjects - we'll make
this a quality forum yet.
Click to expand...
 
I just don't understand one thing now.

I uploaded Provia curve onto my D70.

Shot a raw pic.

In Nikon Capture, switched custom curve off. (advanced Raw, tone comp - normal)

Then applied the same Curve within Capture ( so in a way repeated what was done in-camera)

And got a different effect..... and a different histogram...

How can it be?

Cheers,

Marcin
 
Marcin Kuty Markiewicz said:
I just don't understand one thing now.

I uploaded Provia curve onto my D70.

Shot a raw pic.

In Nikon Capture, switched custom curve off. (advanced Raw, tone
comp - normal)

Then applied the same Curve within Capture ( so in a way repeated
what was done in-camera)

And got a different effect..... and a different histogram...

How can it be?
Click to expand...
In-Camera curve is done for linear gamma, and in Capture it is gamma 2.2.
Marcin Kuty Markiewicz said:
Cheers,

Marcin
Click to expand...
--
no text
 
Nikon D70,

I'm trying out Dave's curve, but haven't had much time with it. I tried each curve in photoshop on the same pic and chose Dave's because it seemed to hold the most contrast. It appeared to me that the whitewedding curve looked somewhat overexposed, loosing some detail in the pic I tested on.

I was just wondering what you have found in your shots since you said you went back to this curve.
Thanks
jk
Nikon D70 said:
Csaba Ónody said:
So it is interesting quastion that this custom curve can be used
under "every" circumstances such as night, sun, cloudy?
Click to expand...
Well, one way of looking at this is: what you are actually doing is
'personalising' the sensor response to your preferences...so only
one curve should be fine for that ;-)

What most of these curves are trying to do is keep the high- and
low- lights from blowing, but make the mid-ish tones blossom more -
usually by between +0.3 and +0.7 EV.

I have tried each of the curves, and find David's a fine
compromise, but eventually returned to the good ol' White Wedding
v3.3 curve, as being my preferred curve (keeps the highlights
safely, whilst doing 'something' about the dull mid-tones - magic).

As others have said, if you shoot NEF, or NEF+JPG, then the curve
in the camera is mostly irrelevant in that you can always
post-process the NEF to your liking on a per-image basis ;-)

--
Nikon D70
Click to expand...
 
The White W curve I created has the exact same contrast as the normal tone with +0.5. However, for some people, even that is not enough contrast.
jfk said:
Nikon D70 said:
Csaba Ónody said:
So it is interesting quastion that this custom curve can be used
under "every" circumstances such as night, sun, cloudy?
Click to expand...
Well, one way of looking at this is: what you are actually doing is
'personalising' the sensor response to your preferences...so only
one curve should be fine for that ;-)

What most of these curves are trying to do is keep the high- and
low- lights from blowing, but make the mid-ish tones blossom more -
usually by between +0.3 and +0.7 EV.

I have tried each of the curves, and find David's a fine
compromise, but eventually returned to the good ol' White Wedding
v3.3 curve, as being my preferred curve (keeps the highlights
safely, whilst doing 'something' about the dull mid-tones - magic).

As others have said, if you shoot NEF, or NEF+JPG, then the curve
in the camera is mostly irrelevant in that you can always
post-process the NEF to your liking on a per-image basis ;-)

--
Nikon D70
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
http://fotogenetic.dearingfilm.com
 


The first image is with the curve in the camera while the second is with the curve applied in Capture. Very interesting explanation about why that makes sense. I've also wrote some on the matter on my webpage http://fotogenetic.dearingfilm.com/custom_tone_curves_2.html Scroll down to the last section.
Iliah Borg said:
Marcin Kuty Markiewicz said:
I just don't understand one thing now.

I uploaded Provia curve onto my D70.

Shot a raw pic.

In Nikon Capture, switched custom curve off. (advanced Raw, tone
comp - normal)

Then applied the same Curve within Capture ( so in a way repeated
what was done in-camera)

And got a different effect..... and a different histogram...

How can it be?
Click to expand...
In-Camera curve is done for linear gamma, and in Capture it is
gamma 2.2.
Iliah Borg said:
Cheers,

Marcin
Click to expand...
--
no text
Click to expand...
--
http://fotogenetic.dearingfilm.com
 
fotogenetic said:
http://fotogenetic.dearingfilm.com/custom_tone_curves_2.html Scroll
down to the last section.
Click to expand...
Quoting from your page (hope I'm not breaking any rules here?):

"The first half of the custom tone curve affects the first three-quarters of the original image's tonality (shadows AND midtones) while the second half only affects the last quarter of the original image's tonality (higlights ONLY). "

Middle point of in-camera curve (defined for gamma=1), which is 127 on the scale, is equal approx. 186 for gamma 2.2

--
no text
 
Thanks for the response. I'm trying out Dave's midtoneboost(MTB) right now, and I plan on giving WW a try next. I've only looked at them in PS by adding the points in curves and comparing. I like the way WW looks, as it appears to give a bit more midtone boost that MTB may lack, but appeared that contrast was somewhat lower than the MTB curve. But again, that was just a one picture comparison in PS.
Thanks for making your curves available for testing.
jk
fotogenetic said:
jfk said:
Nikon D70 said:
Csaba Ónody said:
So it is interesting quastion that this custom curve can be used
under "every" circumstances such as night, sun, cloudy?
Click to expand...
Well, one way of looking at this is: what you are actually doing is
'personalising' the sensor response to your preferences...so only
one curve should be fine for that ;-)

What most of these curves are trying to do is keep the high- and
low- lights from blowing, but make the mid-ish tones blossom more -
usually by between +0.3 and +0.7 EV.

I have tried each of the curves, and find David's a fine
compromise, but eventually returned to the good ol' White Wedding
v3.3 curve, as being my preferred curve (keeps the highlights
safely, whilst doing 'something' about the dull mid-tones - magic).

As others have said, if you shoot NEF, or NEF+JPG, then the curve
in the camera is mostly irrelevant in that you can always
post-process the NEF to your liking on a per-image basis ;-)

--
Nikon D70
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
http://fotogenetic.dearingfilm.com
Click to expand...
 
Re red boost:

for 6000k sensitivities of R, G, and B pixels in D100 are approx. 2.374 : 1 :1.677; scaling of pixel values is applied to reach neutrality.
--
no text
 
Thanks Iliah! I'll have to add this to my website.
Iliah Borg said:
Iliah Borg said:
http://fotogenetic.dearingfilm.com/custom_tone_curves_2.html Scroll
down to the last section.
Click to expand...
Quoting from your page (hope I'm not breaking any rules here?):
"The first half of the custom tone curve affects the first
three-quarters of the original image's tonality (shadows AND
midtones) while the second half only affects the last quarter of
the original image's tonality (higlights ONLY). "

Middle point of in-camera curve (defined for gamma=1), which is 127
on the scale, is equal approx. 186 for gamma 2.2

--
no text
Click to expand...
--
http://fotogenetic.dearingfilm.com
 
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