Green cast on K5 photos

[Anthony Lee]

Hi,

I am trying very hard to keep my K5 but when I compare my old photos against my current photos on K5, I am more inclined to switching back. I am not sure whether I am doing correctly, especially the settings on K5 but I tend to get a greenish cast on all my photos. For most outdoor photos I always shoot at auto WB. I pulled an old photo captured almost of the same scene through my balcony window and the difference is so great. Both photos were processed in CS5 and done exactly the same thing without any color change or WB adjustment. Both photos below were just snapshots, handheld. I love to do this to test my lenses. I will like to hear some comments and suggestion on what I can do to get it right with K5.

FA 31f1.8 at F8 on K5

OM 50f1.4 at F8 on Canon 5D

FA 31f1.8 on K5 ( better example)

 

[darrrrrrrrrr]

Don't think this should be a major push factor.. if it's a greenish cast that's bothering you, you can tweak the white balance (even AWB) and push it along the blue/amber and green/magenta axes.

Also, I personally don't see a green cast, just the K-5's image is less saturated than the Canon's.

 

[one eye jack]

It is obvious the photos are taken at different time of the day and one is cloudy and the other clear blue sky.The canon photo of trees at right side has more shadows that look darker.The K5 photo of tree in foreground have new leaves so green is lighter.AWB does not mean perfect WB but overall on most lighting
situation.Also remember ,colour of light changes at different times of the day and therefore need to taken into account by selecting the scene mode like indoors,
florescent/tungsten,cloudy ,etc.plus fine tuning to get correct colour balance.As you said before ,a case of workman knowing his tools.IMO most people do not
read camera manual properly before using.Most people take auto settings for granted but it is not the best or optimal if you know what you want from your pictures.PS there is no perfect camera but only good photographers.Please don't take it personally it's a general observation.

 

[CorneliusK]

Can you share the exif data for the shots? The exposures look different.

Also each camera system has its own "colors". Canon color is usually a bit more saturated and contrasty, and it tend to emphasize red and downplay green. Nice for portraits, but terrible for anything with greenery inside. Pentax default color is more neutral.

You can try changing the color settings of the K-5 to see if any of the defaults give you better results. But in the end its a personal preference.

 

[Supersimon27]

Totally agreed the part of different timing taken.

Even when same timing , it cloud and light will varies from different day . Try take again early in the morn or late evening u will see different thing again.

Hope it clear Yr doubt

1 thing for sure . If one start to lost confident in his own gear , you start to find every single problem it had or maybe not even exist .

Uncle Lee , I am very glad to meet you before and glad that you give pentax a try . But if you alway feel that it's not for u , it will never be .

Rather then finding fault with my own camera , I will rather spend more time to understand it and know his pro , enhance it , know
it con and work around it .

Hope my suggestion help .

 

[Anthony Lee]

All my Pentax photos and my past photos are on flicker and I have noticed this green cast from the beginning as my K5 came with the FA 31f1.8 Ltd. The 2 photos above, with my same incompetency, one was taken by Pentax top of the line, one was with a S$200 lens on a 5 year old technology. Both were shot in M mode, F8 but at different time of course. I have tried the K5/FA31 combination hundreds of times at different times of the day over the last 4 month, and I could not get one close to the OM 50f1.4/5D combination. Even on a bad day, the OM 50f1.4/5D comination gave me the color rendition closest to what I see with my eyes. Although I am using CS5 now, I am still a noob in PP, so I do very little in PP, just the necessary like pushing the exposure, toning the highlights and shadow and possibly some sharpening, that's all. The K5 photos, I need to push more on contrast, clarity, vibrance and saturation. Yet I get a flatter photo than the other combination. Since I shoot only in raw, most of my K5 is at default setting, except contrast and AF adjustment. I switched from Canon to Pentax because of color rendition, as I hated Canon lenses on Canon bodies. That's the main reason I used only alternate lenses on my Canon bodies. Maybe, I should sit down with the pentax experts here to try one last effort before I give up.

 

[detritus]

hi uncle anthony,

i don't see anything "wrong" with either pic.

maybe the questions you need to answer for yourself is: "which output do you prefer?" and "which one is more conducive to your PP workflow"

 

[Anthony Lee]

Totally agreed the part of different timing taken.

Even when same timing , it cloud and light will varies from different day . Try take again early in the morn or late evening u will see different thing again.

Hope it clear Yr doubt

1 thing for sure . If one start to lost confident in his own gear , you start to find every single problem it had or maybe not even exist .

Uncle Lee , I am very glad to meet you before and glad that you give pentax a try . But if you alway feel that it's not for u , it will never be .

Rather then finding fault with my own camera , I will rather spend more time to understand it and know his pro , enhance it , know
it con and work around it .

Hope my suggestion help .

Hi Simon, you and my Pentax friends need not be kind to me as I have never stopped learning although I am 65. I have made a decision to try Pentax and I have to live with it. What I am trying to find out is how I can improve on my handling over the K5 because to sell it is to lose money unnecessararily. So just tell me or wake me up, but one thing for sure, I will always compare the photos with that of my old system.

 

[darrrrrrrrrr]

The K5 photos, I need to push more on contrast, clarity, vibrance and saturation. Yet I get a flatter photo than the other combination. Since I shoot only in raw, most of my K5 is at default setting, except contrast and AF adjustment.

Of course one has to push the K-5 raw files much more than the 5D's files - the K-5 has so much dynamic range that the shadows can end up looking flatter than you're used to if you haven't pumped up the contrast. To me it's a godsend as I can pull out so much detail in the shadow areas. Compared to the raw files from the K20D, the K-5's are much better, but I need to turn up the blacks to get a consistent end-result. Even with the same brand, 2 generations apart, there are so much differences, let alone different brands.

If you are not chasing after Pentax's strong points, such as the Limited lenses, WR bodies and lenses, or the latest and greatest high ISO shooting, you might be better served in using the simple but reliable tools that you are most familiar with, so that you can focus on your craft rather than trying to fight the camera all the time.

 

[edutilos-]

Anthony the lighting is so different in the 2 scenes.. To have a fair comparison you need to shoot both frames same time leh

 

[edutilos-]

Just to highlight at first sight the output from K20D is a lot more contrasty and saturated but I can do a lot more with the K-r.

Contrast and saturation are destructive processes beyond a certain point. Detail is destroyed and it cannot be saved. Dont believe, whack +100 sat thrice and try to desat after that..

So yes K-5 result would probably be more neutral than even past Pentax cameras, but the result is so much more malleable and customizable.

 

[Anthony Lee]

Anthony the lighting is so different in the 2 scenes.. To have a fair comparison you need to shoot both frames same time leh

I found a better example also shot with FA 31 on K5 at F8.

 

[one eye jack]

Hi Simon, you and my Pentax friends need not be kind to me as I have never stopped learning although I am 65. I have made a decision to try Pentax and I have to live with it. What I am trying to find out is how I can improve on my handling over the K5 because to sell it is to lose money unnecessararily. So just tell me or wake me up, but one thing for sure, I will always compare the photos with that of my old system.

Ah hyia Anthony,You are too hard on yourself have more confidence,I'm also a noob,digital wise anyway.Sorry I can't post links but if you go to Newbies Corner,
I have list some photography books you can download for free.Especially Photoshop CS5 for nature photographers.As you know photoshop was designed for graphic artists so this one adresses the needs of photographers.The thread is "How to know you're on the right track?".Personally I don't see any green colour cast.The photo looks ok. Also take note when you have a large portion of colour,any colour it tends to shade or overwhelm lighter tones and you then can say there
is a colour cast.I think this is the case.More likely to notice on a LCD monitor in dimly lit room.

 

[oceanpriest]

There're some discussions about lens color rendition on pentaxforums :

http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-slr-lens-discussion/49851-lens-color-rendition.html

 

[pentax]

Just a thought.
Perhaps can try a DA lens (like DA1645, DA1650, DA primes) during one of the outings.
IMO(with limited exposure to various lenses), DA lens seems to catch photos with more contrast and higher saturations than FA lens.

 

[Anthony Lee]

There're some discussions about lens color rendition on pentaxforums :

http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-slr-lens-discussion/49851-lens-color-rendition.html

Thanks. You will be surprised I spent 12 hours a day most of the days when I am not out, on the internet, looking at photos. The biggest problem with web photos is one cannot tell how much of PP was done. I spent most of my time at FM, alternate section, because that's where most of almost every type of lenses are being discussed and most, I hope it's true, do very little PP on their photos. Generally, I still find photos shot with such lenses, the old OM, Nikkor, Zeiss, Leica on the old 5D/40D giving the best rendition that I like. The key distinct difference in the photos above is the the 3Dness of the one shot with the OM/5D. The FA31/K5 photos are very flat. Before I decided on the K5, I looked at Canon's 60D and 7D and they happen to be the same as K5, unlike the feel I had with the old Canon 40D/5D. The 60D/7D phtos are very flat also. Maybe this has something to do with pixel density and thus size. Higher resolution, better DR but the lost on the presence (3D) feel. Incidentally, I also looked at the D7000, and it has the same feel. Am I going crazy?

 

[flowerpot]

actually green cast or not... its all depends on what is your expectation... as far as i know, there is not a single camera out there that can claim to have 100% accurate color as compared to the real world... every camera has its own color characteristics... some camera handle certain color better than others...some are warmer, some are cooler, some handle red better than others etc etc.... just like film, different brand, different make all different color... so different ppl will choose which film base own their preference.... i dun think ppl will say this color film is not accurate, rather its not their preference...

just to quote Ryan Brenizer... "No one used Fuji Velvia film because it was accurate(it wasn't) they used it because it was gorgeous"

in terms of skin tones imo fuji S5 still has the most accurate/natural colors ... but whether its nice to your eyes hard to say and it has a bit of magenta cast...

but i still prefer my D700 for portraits... and my fuji is only for macro and the occasional landscape... so there you go... different ppl different preference...

and frankly i still prefer the K10D and K20D "look" than the current pentax line up...

to get the "look/feel" that you want... you have to decide yourself...

 

[Anthony Lee]

To express how I feel better, here is a photo I took when I had an old Mamiya sekor 55f1.4 on the 40D. It was taken indoor with anto WB, possibly at F2, can't remember, under M mode which I always use. The camera meters very accurately that I didn't have to do anything. I can feel my cat popping out. No matter how hard I try with my A 50f1.4 or FA 31 on K5, I can never get such rendition. I could get it most of the time with my old 40D and 5D. I don't believe that the technology today cannot give such feel and I always think there is either something wrong with me as I am catching on in age.

 

[one eye jack]

To express how I feel better, here is a photo I took when I had an old Mamiya sekor 55f1.4 on the 40D. It was taken indoor with anto WB, possibly at F2, can't remember, under M mode which I always use. The camera meters very accurately that I didn't have to do anything. I can feel my cat popping out. No matter how hard I try with my A 50f1.4 or FA 31 on K5, I can never get such rendition. I could get it most of the time with my old 40D and 5D. I don't believe that the technology today cannot give such feel and I always think there is either something wrong with me as I am catching on in age.

Mind over matter.There's nothing wrong with you or your age.Just overstressing yourself.I suggest you take a break from photography and meet nature or your cat.You need to recharge with mother nature.Look at her and breathe her air.Do leisure walks around the place.You will be surprised how good it feels.Don't forget to take a dose of sunshine daily if possible,it will take you out of your low spirits.

 

[hellfire88]

hi anthony, i looked through your flickr and i really like this shot http://www.flickr.com/photos/alee1803/5744662399/sizes/l/in/photostream/

i dont see any green colour cast.