Picture Control Choices: As an amateur, I am curious about how and why people use Neutral and Standard settings in Picture Control. The others are rather obvious as per the manual. I...

old poet

As an amateur, I am curious about how and why people use Neutral and Standard settings in Picture Control. The others are rather obvious as per the manual. I use vivid for colorful birds and fall foliage. Is that wise? I am not shooting raw though I should take the leap. Please be kind and forgiving of my ignorance.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

If you're shooting JPEGs, then these in camera setting make sense. With RAW images, they are meaningless. Same way I feel about in camera HDR.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Before I started shooting in raw I think I was leery of any special settings because I might find, after it was too late, that the result was disappointing. If you are enjoying your foliage and bird photos with vivid there's certainly no reason to feel guilty (not that you said you are, lol) or feel pressured to change.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

I've seen suggestions to use Neutral for the presentation style of your images when viewed on the camera display for RAW shooters. You can process your RAW any which way desired so the 'neutral' display on the camera helps you judge the potential of the capture. Personally, I don't agree with this approach. But, it is one reason I've seen. Standard and Vivid are two ways to pump up the SOOC JPEG without subsequent post processing of the saturation.

BebuLamar

Les Brown wrote:

As an amateur, I am curious about how and why people use Neutral and Standard settings in Picture Control. The others are rather obvious as per the manual. I use vivid for colorful birds and fall foliage. Is that wise? I am not shooting raw though I should take the leap. Please be kind and forgiving of my ignorance.

I use the Neutral settings because when I chimp it reflects what I got well. I can change the settings in post if I decide the pictures need it. Settings with high contrast and/or high saturation (vivid) makes it difficult to judge exposure by chimping.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Les Brown wrote:

As an amateur, I am curious about how and why people use Neutral and Standard settings in Picture Control. The others are rather obvious as per the manual. I use vivid for colorful birds and fall foliage. Is that wise? I am not shooting raw though I should take the leap. Please be kind and forgiving of my ignorance.

If shooting jpeg images, neutral standard and no sharpening will record far more information, allowing you to manipulate the image further. When all of the settings are maxed out, there isn't much you can do.

A raw file is easier to process than a jpeg, btw. And the results are generally superior.

old poet

Thanks, good information. Neutral or standard seem to make sense, since PP can get the other effects. I need to move to raw as I'm on the upslope of the Creative Cloud learning curve.

canon Lee

Les Brown wrote:

As an amateur, I am curious about how and why people use Neutral and Standard settings in Picture Control. The others are rather obvious as per the manual. I use vivid for colorful birds and fall foliage. Is that wise? I am not shooting raw though I should take the leap. Please be kind and forgiving of my ignorance.

Shoot RAW! edit in LR....

srt101fan

Not sure what the difference is between Standard and Neutral? (if it was addressed above, I missed it, sorry!)

My camera’s Help (Nikon D5300) says Standard is “Standard processing for a balanced effect”; Neutral is “Minimal processing for a natural effect”.

Could someone please explain the difference?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

srt101fan wrote:

Not sure what the difference is between Standard and Neutral? (if it was addressed above, I missed it, sorry!)

My camera’s Help (Nikon D5300) says Standard is “Standard processing for a balanced effect”; Neutral is “Minimal processing for a natural effect”.

Could someone please explain the difference?

It took 0.48 seconds for google to resolve this query and generate about 89,000 results: Nikon d5300 standard vs neutral

The first item on my response list is probably what you're looking for: http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/microsite/picturecontrol/picture/neutral.htm

srt101fan

CHG_CANON wrote:

It took 0.48 seconds for google to resolve this query and generate about 89,000 results: Nikon d5300 standard vs neutral

The first item on my response list is probably what you're looking for: http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/microsite/picturecontrol/picture/neutral.htm

Thanks.

I don't always think of Google when a question pops up in my head while I'm reading a UHH thread. Also, in asking on UHH one hopes to get an answer based on someone's experience. Wading through web-based info can be very confusing at times.

Almost any question raised on UHH can be answered, at least to some extent, by googling. Does that mean that one should not ask questions on UHH?

In any case thank you for the link. Looks like a good site.

cameraf4 Loc: Delaware

Les Brown wrote:

As an amateur, I am curious about how and why people use Neutral and Standard settings in Picture Control. The others are rather obvious as per the manual. I use vivid for colorful birds and fall foliage. Is that wise? I am not shooting raw though I should take the leap. Please be kind and forgiving of my ignorance.

Les, when I shoot Jaypegs, I like to try to approximate the look I got from the various slide films that I used to use "back in the day." Others may also. One thing I will say, I have an azalea bush in my back yard that produces beautiful blooms (very soon now) that only photograph their "true color" when I shoot them in Neutral or a custom setting I saved based on Nikon'e Neutral PC. Just depends on the "look" you want to achieve.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

With my Nikon cameras I tend to use Standard Colors. I was happier with the first generation of colors in cameras like the D200 and D2X. I also liked the colors displayed with the D100.
I tend to like natural pastel colors not saying that in post sometimes I saturate colors to taste depending on the subject. The problem is not to overdo it, at least not for me.

IDguy Loc: Idaho

CHG_CANON wrote:

It took 0.48 seconds for google to resolve this query and generate about 89,000 results: Nikon d5300 standard vs neutral

The first item on my response list is probably what you're looking for: http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/microsite/picturecontrol/picture/neutral.htm

Neat link! Thanks.

IDguy Loc: Idaho

srt101fan wrote:

Thanks.

I don't always think of Google when a question pops up in my head while I'm reading a UHH thread. Also, in asking on UHH one hopes to get an answer based on someone's experience. Wading through web-based info can be very confusing at times.

Almost any question raised on UHH can be answered, at least to some extent, by googling. Does that mean that one should not ask questions on UHH?

In any case thank you for the link. Looks like a good site.

No. Think of UHH as a conversation. Other people may have discussed your topic before. So what?

It can be helpful, though, when folks post a link to a Google search or suggested search terms for more information.