GX7- What settings are you using for contrast, Sharpness, Saturation etc.

Question: What settings are you using for contrast, Sharpness, Saturation etc.

GX7- What settings are you using for Contrast, Sharpness, Saturation, Picture Style etc. or are you using curves?   took my  first pics at high ISO settings but pics look a little soft and not well saturated . Using kit tele lens.

I keep it at default because I always process RAW and I don't think it has any bearing on it.

I could be wrong though. So I hope others reply. I know I tweaked my GX1 so I'm guessing I should do it too on the GX7.

I was going to write,,those questions assume we're shooting jpeg.

I'm enough of a control freak that I shoot raw.  I do not believe that the battery powered processor in the camera can, in a fraction of a second, determine optimal white level, black level and white balance so consistently that I can't do better using Adobe Camera Raw.

If you haven't tried it, and if you can develop from raw, I suggest you shoot "raw + jpeg fine" for a while.  Whenever the JPEG isn't everything you hoped for, try converting the RAW image to jpeg. I think you'll be pleased with what you can easily do.  In fact, I think you'll end up shooting RAW (almost) exclusively, like me.

Shoot fast enough. Follow the old rule about 1/focal length being slowest shutter speed.  200mm focal length?  use 1/200 second.  It's very conservative, IS can help by a stop or two.  But if you do this your images will be sharper.

For static scenes where that suggestion can't be done, I use a tripod for sharpness.

I am also a RAW, ETTR shooter and therefore shoot zero'd / default jpeg parameters.  I don't shoot UniWB as I find AWB with a bit of "english" works just fine.   I also chimp a lot.

If you are contemplating shooting RAW I suggest that you'll save yourself a lot of frustration by reading Gollywop's Exposure Vs Brightening .  It will save you a lot of frustration.

I have been shooting RAW for about a year now and both the quality and my enjoyment of my photography have improved significantly.

Tom

And in case it's out of the question shooting RAW (but it's the general consensus that you do), I use the Natural photo style at default with both i.Dynamic and i.Resolution turned off, and AWB at default [I use this for deliberating bad shots from good shots on a PC since thumbnails for RAW files doesn't show up]. The GX7 does a better job than the GX1 in terms of JPEG's I found no reason *yet* to change the default values.

But for comparison, I used to have NR -1 and Contrast +1 on the GX1 with AWB adjusted to A+2/M+1, or A+1/M+2.

But I decided to shoot RAW since I had some sort of "Olympus envy", and during that time before the E-M5, it was general knowledge that Olympus will always have better JPEG's but Panasonic will always have better RAW. So I thought, why not utilize my camera to the fullest? So yeah, I suggest learning how to edit RAW files, it's worth it.

No text.

Jed Perkins wrote:

Bumping this back to the top to see if we can get any GX7 JPEG shooters to offer their settings. I have the GM1 and am interested in preferred JPEG user settings for that camera, but their are probably not enough of them out their yet.

PLEASE no more recommendations to just shoot raw. I know how to shoot and proces raw files, I am interested in peoples preferred JPEG settings

I would like to apply a profile for sharpening and NR in LR when I import, and not have to bother with more image processing. I shoot in a lot of high contrast conditions and would like to take advantage of the GM1 iDynamic or HDR options but would prefer to do the sharpening and NR in LR. Should I just turn in camera sharpening and NR all the way down to -5. I would basically like to turn these off in camera while letting the camera do other picture processing (color balance, dynamic range adjustments, etc.)

Any suggestions.

I have the GX7.  I'm one of those photogs who happens to like more full color, saturated photos.  I know many of you do not, but that is just my preference.

Settings I use much of the time (not always):  Vivid, Contrast +1, Sharpening 0 (sometimes +1), Saturation +1 (sometimes 0), NR -2.  I want my photos to pop more, so that is why I use these settings.  In good light I also use ISO 200.  As for P, A, S, I will use any of these settings depending on what I am trying to do.  In other words, although I like to shoot in Aperture mode, I do not do that all the time.  Usually iDynamic and iResolution are Standard.

caver3d

I shoot raw and convert with ACR. At times JPEG pictures have better colors though. I use everything default, with NR at minimum. Caveat, I only had the GX7 for 36 hours.

Is there a better converter for the GX7 than ACR?

Enrique

I shoot RAW + JPEG...the RAWs for printing, the JPEGs for screen display & online. But I always process even the JPEGs so I want a fairly flat file I can tweak a bit. I use the Normal color profile with sharpness & contrast at the lowest setting. Everything else at mid-point. I also dial in a subtle reverse S-curve (+1 low mids, -1 high mids) to preserve more midrange tonal info. For monochrome I use a simulated yellow filter with all other settings the same as above. IMO the GX7 creates very nice b&w files.

-Dave-

I am  JPG shooter. Because I am colorblind, I do not have a lot of success working with RAW files.

I just did some testing with my 3-week old GX7. My first pics were taken with standard out-of-the-box settings. My initial reaction was not good when comparing ISO 800 pics to my Canon 30D. In low light, hair looked like a watercolor painting.

So, I did a little research and set the camera with Sat +1, Sharp +1, Contrast +1 and NR -3. I took a few more pics at ISO 800. I was still seeing a little too much noise reduction. So, I set NR to -5, and I am much happier. Compared to my 30D, the noise is finer and less blotchy. My wife also says that the colors are much more true on the GX7.

I have not had time to do much more than this, but I initially thought there was no way I could go to anything higher than ISO 800. Now, I look forward to seeing how the higher ISOs are handled.

Jim, since the post you've replied to I've backed off the saturation to -2. But, as I noted, I do some post-processing work regardless of whether I'm using RAW or JPEG data so I like to start with a flatter-than-normal look.

The GX7 has a surprisingly film-like noise profile in the ISO 400–3200 range. Very little chroma noise, and what there is can be dialed out without causing artifacts. This was a pleasant & welcome surprise since I like a bit of texture in my photos, especially for printing.

Electronic cameras have come a long way in the past decade!

-Dave-

i have yet to improve on the defaults, but i haven't shot any raw yet until dxo gets a module ready for this body/lens combination. i do however plan to heavily use the 'dynamic monochrome' setting that panasonic has done so well with many of their models.

/guy

I am trying to get my color straight OOC to where my wife says it looks good. I cannot do much with color in post due to the colorblindness. I am good with other post, and I do a lot of B&W processing.

Yes, I am pleased with the noise that is present, especially compared to my 30D. I think when it seems a problem it will be handled much better in post than in-camera.

I almost feel like I am starting over after using my 30D since 2007!