The TG-6 offers a number of picture and scene modes, but doesn't have abundant documentation on what these do. I thought it would be interesting to share my notes on what some of these mysterious modes do.
PICTURE MODES:
Muted:
- Contrast is set to low (-1)
- Sharpness is set to soft (-1)
- Gradation is normal (I believe this means it is disabled)
- I'm not a fan of this mode as resulting pictures are flat and desaturated.
- It might be suited for high dynamic scenes though.
Natural:
- The default picture mode for Program Mode
- Contrast, Saturation, & Sharpness are all normal
- Gradation is auto
- Results can be a bit flat and under-saturated
Vivid:
- Contrast is normal
- Saturation is High
- Sharpness is Hard
- Gradation is Auto
- I actually like the extra saturation, but sharpness for Vivid is often too much...with just a 12 MP camera, over sharpened images can get that "gritty" appearance.
I-Enhance:
- The exif tags don't reveal much about this mode
- Images appear more sharpened and more color than Natural, but maybe less so than Vivid
- Auto Program Mode loves to choose I-Enhance
- I-Enhance has three modes (low, standard, high).
- I find standard (default) often results in overcooked images (too sharp, too saturated). But low is not bad...and i-enhance/low is a good setting combo for many situations
- In low light situations, I-enhance/standard or even I-enhance/high may work better.
Custom:
- You can choose another picture mode (like vivid) and then adjust the contrast, sharpness, gradation, & saturation by plus or minus two
- If you choose i-enhance, you can choose the strength (low is often best)
UW:
- Exif tags don't reveal much
- Blues are likely nerfed while reds are likely buffed
GRADATION:
Auto:
- A common preset...but it's not clear when this kicks in
Normal
- I think this means gradation is disabled
High Key:
- In essence makes the image brighter...kind of like EV but with more focus on tones I think
- I find this rarely works well
Low Key:
- This makes the image darker (especially the highlights)
- This CAN be useful...and can produce very nice rich skies
- This has potential for sunsets, but I haven't tried that yet.
SCENE/PROGRAM MODES:
Auto
- Typically again the camera will choose i-enhance
- Exposure, SS and other settings are set automatically
- No EV control (unless you cheat and move the camera to spot meter)
- Results can sometimes be overcooked by i-enhance/normal
- Works ok for indoor shots, but isn't great for outdoor nature shots.
Micro:
- I believe the default picture mode was Natural
- This tends to work well...close up subjects tend not to need too much pop
- Every so often a macro picture + natural picture mode can lack a bit of contrast...easy to fix in PP.
- Oddly enough, the most open fstop is usually chosen by default.
- I don't think you can turn off noise reduction in Micro
Aperture Priority
- You can choose whatever picture mod you want
- You can select "Microscope Focus" to turn AP into a macro mode of sorts...but AP images seem a bit different from Micro images...not sure why yet.
- The closed aperture does tend to produce a lot of noise
- The fake "aperture" f/8 is in fact a ND filter
- I suspect many macro shooters use f/8 by accident and don't realize the harm they cause (eg noisy images, poor lighting, overly black backgrounds).
- A flash and ND filter will especially not work well together...and flashes are crucial for most macro shots.
Scene - Landscape
- It uses vivid
- Note you can't tweak a picture mode used by a scene mode. If I set vivid to be less sharp...this only works for program/ap mode...scene modes like landscape will ignore my customization even though they too use vivid
- This would be normal contrast, high saturation, and hard sharpness
- The shutter is slow at this setting...in my test it slowed to 1/8 from 1/30 in mediocre light.
- The iso tends toward 200...good for reduced noise, but could be tricky for action scenes
- In theory, landscape shots usually boost the blues and greens, but I didn't see evidence of this in the Exif data
- It prefers the wide open aperture and the ND filter
- I'm not a fan because of the over sharpening
Scene - Landscape & Portrait
- Uses Natural picture mode
- Also has a preference for blues and greens
- I like this better than landscape mode
-- SS is much faster
-- Less saturation
-- Significantly less sharpening
- It prefers f2.8 over f8 (aka no nd filter but still good DOF)
Scene - Beach/Snow
- This also uses vivid
- The SS will slow a bit (1/8 from 1/30 in my case) but not as much as other modes
- EV is set to +.3
- There are likely other hidden ingredients for this mode
- The extra saturation actually works curiously well to counter the +.3 EV. This usually means well lit shadows and vibrant highlights.
- I actually really like this mode. It actually works on beaches and for some water shots. The over sharpening is annoying though.
- Shots can skew on the red/yellow side.
Scene - Sunset:
- This also uses picture mode Vivid
- Saturation is intense...there is a "custom saturation" exif tag that boosts this beyond the vivid defaults
- Ev is set to -.3
- SS is very slow (1/6 from 1/30 in my test)
- ISO is very low at 100 (not 200 like several of the other modes)
- I suspect there could be a color tweak for this mode, but I didn't see it in the Exif data
Scene - Handheld Starlight
- Special mode designed to get low iso images in low light
- It does this by combining multiple images and using a special noise reduction trick
- This actually works surprisingly well...and is actually suitable for some daylight situations
- Results look much more realistic than Scene - HDR mode...I haven't been able to get the latter to look good
HDR Mode
- Takes several shots and combines exposures
- In theory good for high contrast scenes...but I haven't had luck with this...my colors became radioactive or flat
- Could be situational...maybe I'm just not taking shots that would benefit from it
DELAY/BURST MODES:
Single:
- default
Custom:
- Can set the initial delay, interval, and number of frames.
- I like setting the initial delay to be one to prevent camera shake
Sequential Low
- Shoots at 5 FPS
- Focus and Metering are fixed like all burst modes...so be careful about what you initially meter and focus on.
- Slower SS but lower iso than other burst modes (usually)
- Good for scenes with less than ideal light
- Works well for whitewater
- My preference of all bust modes
Sequential High:
- Shoots at 10 or 20 FPS
- Focus and Metering are fixed
- The more FPS you choose, typically the lower the shutter speed and the higher the noise
- Likely best suited for very well lit scenes and very fast action (like a dragonfly hovering in flight)
Scene - Sports
- Uses i-enhance/high for picture mode
- Some users mistake this as a picture mode...when it is actually a burst mode that can machine gun off shots
- Shoots at 5 FPS
- Very similar to Sequential Low...but sports mode prefers a bit faster SS and a bit higher ISO
- i-enhance/high can results in overcooked images for outdoor/nature shots
- I wouldn't recommend...picture mode + sequential low will give you more control, lower iso, and less under-cooked images.
- Maybe suitable for well lit situations like indoor basketball games.
Pro-Capture
- Takes shots at 10 FPS
- Another machine gun mode very similar to Sequential High/10 FPS
- But...it also stores pre-picture burst 0.5 seconds before full trigger
- I suppose this is good for surprise action scenes where you don't want to waste SD space.
Other Modes:
- Modes like candlelight and fireworks, I won't use so I didn't dig into those
Conclusions & Favorite Modes:
Typical outdoor shots:
- Program + i-enhance/low.
Beach Shots:
- Scene > Beach
Modes I will be experimenting more in the future:
- Program > custom mode > vivid (-sharpness +saturation)
- Scene > Landscape & Portrait
- Scene > Handheld Starlight
Burst mode:
- Sequential Low
Macro:
- Microscope + natural + flash
Most Disappointing:
- AP
- Scene > Landscape
- Scene > Sports
