Color space for Olympus 3030Z

[Marc Aronson]

I take photos with my Olympus 3030Z, edit them with Photoshop 5.0.2 on top of Windows 98 and print them on my Epson 1200 printer. (I also use Photoshop Elements, which is very nice.) I recently purchased the "spyder" to calibrate my monitor and I'm getting good screen-to-print matching, but one thing has me confused: Does anyone know what colorspace the Olympus uses when creating the original jpeg? It comes into Photoshop 'untagged'. I know that editing in the sRGB space is considered a good choice for images targetted for on-line viewing and "Adobe RGB 1998" is considered a good choice for printing on inkjets, but it seems to me that the overall workflow is flawed if I don't know what I'm starting with.

Any help / insight you have would be appreciated -- thanks!

Marc

 

[buzzy2]

I take photos with my Olympus 3030Z, edit them with Photoshop 5.0.2
on top of Windows 98 and print them on my Epson 1200 printer. (I
also use Photoshop Elements, which is very nice.) I recently
purchased the "spyder" to calibrate my monitor and I'm getting good
screen-to-print matching, but one thing has me confused: Does
anyone know what colorspace the Olympus uses when creating the
original jpeg? It comes into Photoshop 'untagged'. I know that
editing in the sRGB space is considered a good choice for images
targetted for on-line viewing and "Adobe RGB 1998" is considered a
good choice for printing on inkjets, but it seems to me that the
overall workflow is flawed if I don't know what I'm starting with.

Any help / insight you have would be appreciated -- thanks!

Marc

...and mebbe others here, as well...

...but seems to me I saw a blurb somewhere (probly Qimage Pro) that Oly won't give out info that would help anyone profile their camera...
...ya might try Mike Chaney at
http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage/
...try tech support e-mail...or the QIP newsgroup...
...best o' luck...
buzzy

 

[John Davis]

The C3030 color space (and most other Oly cameras) is a proprietary space.

The makers's of QIimage Pro now also market a camera calibration product - Profile Prism - to calibrate your camera. Note though that camera calibration is a tricky business as it varies with the scene's illumination.

I like to open an original camera file into PS and assign it a standard profile - like Adobe RGB - and as a first step in the processing workflow, correct the neutrals either under levels or curves. That adjusts the image to the color space rather well.

John

I take photos with my Olympus 3030Z, edit them with Photoshop 5.0.2
on top of Windows 98 and print them on my Epson 1200 printer. (I
also use Photoshop Elements, which is very nice.) I recently
purchased the "spyder" to calibrate my monitor and I'm getting good
screen-to-print matching, but one thing has me confused: Does
anyone know what colorspace the Olympus uses when creating the
original jpeg? It comes into Photoshop 'untagged'. I know that
editing in the sRGB space is considered a good choice for images
targetted for on-line viewing and "Adobe RGB 1998" is considered a
good choice for printing on inkjets, but it seems to me that the
overall workflow is flawed if I don't know what I'm starting with.

Any help / insight you have would be appreciated -- thanks!

Marc

 

[Marc Aronson]

John:

Thanks for the feedback. Oh well -- I had hoped that they would use one of the standard color spaces. In your reply, you state:

I like to open an original camera file into PS and assign it a
standard profile - like Adobe RGB - and as a first step in the
processing workflow, correct the neutrals either under levels or
curves. That adjusts the image to the color space rather well.

I already use "Adobe RGB" as my working space. Can you elaborate on what you mean by "correct the neutrals either under levels or curves". I use levels frequently, but I'm not sure what you mean by "correcting the neutrals". Thanks!

Marc

 

[John Davis]

In order to balance the color in an image, the first step should be to make sure that all neutrals (gray) in the image are truly gray. Normally it is possible to identify something in a scene (e.g., concrete, asphalt, a white object, the whites of the eyes) that should be neutral. Then open Levels or Curves and point the gray (middle) picker to one of those reference areas. Try several (by undoing the pick Ctrl-Alt-Z) spots until you think the overall scene balance is right. You will be surprised to see how the other colors fall into place.

For a comprehensive tutorial see:

http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/13486-1.html

John

Thanks for the feedback. Oh well -- I had hoped that they would
use one of the standard color spaces. In your reply, you state:

I like to open an original camera file into PS and assign it a
standard profile - like Adobe RGB - and as a first step in the
processing workflow, correct the neutrals either under levels or
curves. That adjusts the image to the color space rather well.

I already use "Adobe RGB" as my working space. Can you elaborate
on what you mean by "correct the neutrals either under levels or
curves". I use levels frequently, but I'm not sure what you mean
by "correcting the neutrals". Thanks!

Marc

 

[Luis E Limon]

Wow..

I was handling the shots without assigning color space... Using Adobe RGB and Levels the shot looks more "alive" thanks

For a comprehensive tutorial see:

http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/13486-1.html

John

Thanks for the feedback. Oh well -- I had hoped that they would
use one of the standard color spaces. In your reply, you state:

I like to open an original camera file into PS and assign it a
standard profile - like Adobe RGB - and as a first step in the
processing workflow, correct the neutrals either under levels or
curves. That adjusts the image to the color space rather well.

I already use "Adobe RGB" as my working space. Can you elaborate
on what you mean by "correct the neutrals either under levels or
curves". I use levels frequently, but I'm not sure what you mean
by "correcting the neutrals". Thanks!

Marc

 

[RickS]

John,

The EXIF header data from my C-3030Z and C-2100UZ cameras show a colorspace of sRGB. Is this not correct?

Rick

The C3030 color space (and most other Oly cameras) is a proprietary
space.
The makers's of QIimage Pro now also market a camera calibration
product - Profile Prism - to calibrate your camera. Note though
that camera calibration is a tricky business as it varies with the
scene's illumination.

I like to open an original camera file into PS and assign it a
standard profile - like Adobe RGB - and as a first step in the
processing workflow, correct the neutrals either under levels or
curves. That adjusts the image to the color space rather well.

John

 

[Marc Aronson]

In order to balance the color in an image, the first step should be
to make sure that all neutrals (gray) in the image are truly gray.
Normally it is possible to identify something in a scene (e.g.,
concrete, asphalt, a white object, the whites of the eyes) that
should be neutral. Then open Levels or Curves and point the gray
(middle) picker to one of those reference areas. Try several (by
undoing the pick Ctrl-Alt-Z) spots until you think the overall
scene balance is right. You will be surprised to see how the other
colors fall into place.

For a comprehensive tutorial see:

http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/13486-1.html

John

John:

I read the tutorial and tired this out -- it does do a very nice job of removing a color cast. Thanks for the tip.

I also following the link suggested by "buzzy" ( http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage ). This site is selling an ICC profile for $12.95 that they claim defines the color space of the Olympus 3030. Seems to me that using this profile as the working space in Photoshop should result in a better starting point for the images, assuming that the profile is legit. Any thoughts on this?

Marc

 

[Leo]

John,
I am using sRGB also because that what the EXIF shows for 2100.
Leo

The EXIF header data from my C-3030Z and C-2100UZ cameras show a
colorspace of sRGB. Is this not correct?

Rick

The C3030 color space (and most other Oly cameras) is a proprietary
space.
The makers's of QIimage Pro now also market a camera calibration
product - Profile Prism - to calibrate your camera. Note though
that camera calibration is a tricky business as it varies with the
scene's illumination.

I like to open an original camera file into PS and assign it a
standard profile - like Adobe RGB - and as a first step in the
processing workflow, correct the neutrals either under levels or
curves. That adjusts the image to the color space rather well.

John

 

[John Davis]

I doubt it is sRGB, but it really does not matter. What matters is to assign a givencolor space and do color balancing during processing. If you process your images for screen viewing you should assign sRGB as the color space.

John

The EXIF header data from my C-3030Z and C-2100UZ cameras show a
colorspace of sRGB. Is this not correct?

Rick

The C3030 color space (and most other Oly cameras) is a proprietary
space.
The makers's of QIimage Pro now also market a camera calibration
product - Profile Prism - to calibrate your camera. Note though
that camera calibration is a tricky business as it varies with the
scene's illumination.

I like to open an original camera file into PS and assign it a
standard profile - like Adobe RGB - and as a first step in the
processing workflow, correct the neutrals either under levels or
curves. That adjusts the image to the color space rather well.

John

 

[John Davis]

In order to balance the color in an image, the first step should be
to make sure that all neutrals (gray) in the image are truly gray.
Normally it is possible to identify something in a scene (e.g.,
concrete, asphalt, a white object, the whites of the eyes) that
should be neutral. Then open Levels or Curves and point the gray
(middle) picker to one of those reference areas. Try several (by
undoing the pick Ctrl-Alt-Z) spots until you think the overall
scene balance is right. You will be surprised to see how the other
colors fall into place.

For a comprehensive tutorial see:

http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/13486-1.html

John

John:

I read the tutorial and tired this out -- it does do a very nice
job of removing a color cast. Thanks for the tip.

I also following the link suggested by "buzzy" (
http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage ). This site is selling an ICC
profile for $12.95 that they claim defines the color space of the
Olympus 3030. Seems to me that using this profile as the working
space in Photoshop should result in a better starting point for the
images, assuming that the profile is legit. Any thoughts on this?

Marc

I do have that profile and almost do not use it, as I do not think it is very accurate; it is a V.1 profile and a more refined V.2 was never created, as was created for other cameras. In any event, even before converting the image to that profile you should correct the neutrals and once that is done, the other colors, for the most part, fall in line.

Beyond the method I described, I also use another tool (a plugin for for PS - PSE users) that allows for pinpoint color correction, allowing perfect neutrals correction and more is a plugin called Color Mechanic - http://www.colormechanic.com/ . This is an outstanding tool, and as other good tools, when used judiciously, is a tremendous helper.

John

 

[RickS]

John,

Why do you doubt it's sRGB?

(Inquiring minds and all that business.)

Rick

John

John,

The EXIF header data from my C-3030Z and C-2100UZ cameras show a
colorspace of sRGB. Is this not correct?

Rick

-------------- SNIP ---------------

 

[John Davis]

If it was sRGB when displayed on a browser it should be accurate and it isn't.

John

Why do you doubt it's sRGB?

(Inquiring minds and all that business.)

Rick

John

John,

The EXIF header data from my C-3030Z and C-2100UZ cameras show a
colorspace of sRGB. Is this not correct?

Rick

-------------- SNIP ---------------