Custom tone curves compared

[Onyx]

I guess it's been a slow day for me. I've been experimenting with custom tone curves, loading them 1 at a time into the camera and shooting the same scene for comparison. The normal tone curve is also included as a baseline. Thought it might be helpful for someone undecided on which custom curve to choose, and don't have the time or patients to do what I did (a special hello to all those unregistered lurkers )

At the moment, my hosting gallery Fotopic.net seems to be down, so I've uploaded them temporarily on Geocities. They don't like direct linking - so you'll have to copy/paste address into browser.

Other camera settings - JPEG large fine, Auto WB, sRGB Ia, med-low sharpening. Images resized in PS7, no further post processing otherwise.

These curves presented approximately in the order taken (judge by the shadow cast on the building).

Normal tone curve - use as baseline
http://www.geocities.com/choicebro2004/curve-norm.jpg

Normal + 0.3EV
http://www.geocities.com/choicebro2004/ ... orm0.3.jpg

Normal + 0.7EV
http://www.geocities.com/choicebro2004/ ... orm0.7.jpg

Alfredo 3 curve - slightly brighter than normal, 244 cutoff (NB: 255 is max light value).
http://www.geocities.com/choicebro2004/ ... lfredo.jpg

White Wedding v3.5 - +0.5EV over normal with highlights tapered.
http://www.geocities.com/choicebro2004/ ... wed3.5.jpg

Provia v3.4 - supposedly closely matches low contrast tone, but slightly brighter, and with highlights tapered.
http://www.geocities.com/choicebro2004/ ... via3.4.jpg

Normal - the sun moved quickly, so I took another just to standardise
http://www.geocities.com/choicebro2004/curve-norm2.jpg

BH Film curve - a new, very high contrast curve aims to match the look of positive film (shadow details completely lost)
http://www.geocities.com/choicebro2004/ ... hfilm1.jpg


If you want any further details, don't hesitate to ask. If you're wanting to find out more about each curve and where to get them, let me know too.

[pl55]

Thanks Onyx.
I'm currently trying the BHfilm1 curve - I like it. My other curve I like is the Agfa Optima , a bit dark though, but by using Nikon Capture using DDE mode - the result is quite nice.

By the way, for all of these curves, do you still need to set the WB to -2 and EV to +0.3, Hue to -2 and SRGBIIIa ????

I'm thinking loading the BHfilm1 curve most of the time using it for outdoor, landscape and using default Normal, with WB -2, EV +0.3 and Hue -2 , SRGBIIIa, flash -1 for indoor, etc. What do you think.

I'm very new to D70. Only have the gears 1 month.

My setup: D70 with kit lens 18-70, SB800, Jaycar remote ), and Nikon F80 with 28-105. Currently looking at Sigma 70-300 APO Macro super II ( still sourcing) or Sigma 70-200 F2.8 HSM.

[Onyx]

PL55 - some curves such as the white wedding were made so one wouldn't have to add +EV compensation. But others were made for other effects, eg. the BHfilm curve (BTW, I noted no difference between BHfilm1 and film2 curves).

Those other settings: WB, hue, colour space, etc can be set to whatever you like them to be. If you're happy with the settings you're currently using, I don't see a reason you need to change them.

Also, just to satisfy my curiousity - where/why did you learn to set hue -2?

[pl55]

Here' the link that give me the info on hue.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read. ... e=10313290

Thre's other tips by David Chin too. It would be nice to consolidated into a D70 cheat sheet .

Cheers

[Matt. K]

pl55...Very useful link. Thank you.