Jack Flesher wrote:
Which film curve are you applying in C1? One of the Sony curves, or one of C1’s like “film standard” — I would apply a few different ones to your image above and see if any help the issue. I personally find C1’s film standard to be really well balanced, better than most manufacturer curves.
I don't have Sony for long, so it was on auto. I tried all of them including film standard and it did not help. Linear curve as a starting point is the only one that works for blue it seems. I hope I will have a chance tomorrow to walk around and shoot with a new understanding and see how it will work.
olegkin wrote:
I don't have Sony for long, so it was on auto. I tried all of them including film standard and it did not help. Linear curve as a starting point is the only one that works for blue it seems. I hope I will have a chance tomorrow to walk around and shoot with a new understanding and see how it will work.
Okay. One other comment. Any thin clouds in the sky can hit the blue channel hard, so my advice is find a totally clear blue patch of sky and photograph it with your ev set to 0. You will want a longer focal so you get only clear blue sky in the frame. My guess is not only will the blue channel not be blown, it will probably be under 225.
In Capture One, do you apply Auto Adjust - Levels?
If yes, what are your settings in Settings -> Exposure -> Enable Target Output Levels (Photography): Highlights and in Auto Levels Clipping Threshold (Photography): Highlights?
I shall second the earlier suggestions in this thread to look at the raw histogram in RawDigger. If you don't want to invest in this app, I believe it can be used at no cost during some trial period.
This is because the first question that needs to be answered is whether any channel is really clipped. If not, then the camera metering is correct and it applies an appropriate analogue gain on the signal from the sensor. Then, basically, you can stop worrying about anything that happens in camera and turn your attention to what might be happening in Capture One.
In Capture One, it makes sense to look at the "Curve" in "Basic Characteristics", as this has been noted already in this thread. I would also look at the Levels, and if these are manipulated - at how these are manipulated. For example (just to see the effect, and I don't mean this as recommended settings) set the Target Output Levels, Highlights to 245, and Auto Levels Clipping Threshold (Highlights) to 0, then apply Auto Adjust: Levels.
Note also that the White slider in High Dynamic Range can be pushed down all the way to -100, as this affects only the extreme highlights and usually has no adverse effect on the overall look of the images.
Looks like zebra at 107+ in camera and 'linear response' curve in C1 is the right answer for this. I get images that do not require big adjustments to look right, and sky/blue channel improves dramatically.
There was a similar discussion on the Fuji forum and using the linear curve was also the solution. Sounding like C1 should make that default.
olegkin wrote:
Looks like zebra at 107+ in camera and 'linear response' curve in C1 is the right answer for this. I get images that do not require big adjustments to look right, and sky/blue channel improves dramatically.
The other consideration here is what precisely happens as the B channel starts to clip *in a blue sky?* The result is that area starts to shift more yellow which initially is going to lean it cyan, especially if the R channel is also rising toward clipping before the G channel; and brighter sky areas can in fact lean cyan. Plus, we’re pushing much closer towards high gray (white) to begin with, so this may not be a significant “problem” at all, but actually an accurate representation of how the “film” curve(s) is(are) supposed to represent. And yes, using the flat option will eliminate that, but now the image will indeed look flat and need a manual curve adjustment applied. My guess here is most folks will find C1’s film-standard curve far superior to anything they can create and manipulate on their own — but they should definitely try 😎
PS. The other aspect of C1’s film-standard curve is its attempt to standardize color output as accurately as possible across different camera models; and historically speaking they’ve been very, very good in doing that. This could be related to them achieving that end, and while it may appear as a deficit to any single camera user, it might be a large benefit to multiple system users.
