Author Topic: My E-P1 blows out the reds (Read 1444 times)

Centauri27 · « **on:** August 31, 2011, 09:41:16 AM »

Here's something that has bugged me for a while: in all my flower shots, I've found that my E-P1 blows out the reds very easily--they are way too intense in the digital file. I've tried to minimize this by using the "Light Tone" and "Pale Light" art filters. My only other solution is to pull each photo into Photoshop Elements and manually reduce the Red channel of each photo, or just desaturate the photo.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is this an inherent fault (tendency) of the E-P1 sensor?

adash · « **Reply #1 on:** August 31, 2011, 10:17:50 AM »

Shoot RAW, or dial a negative exposure compensation. I've had such problems with flower shots too, using Shadow/Highlight mode when previewing your photos helps.

Centauri27 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 31, 2011, 10:39:19 AM »

I've tried shooting RAW--it comes out too intense in my RAW file too. I then try to compensate by dialing down the saturation or vibrancy during RAW conversion.

I'll try the negative exposure compensation--I never thought of that. (Though the intense red never comes out as "overblown" in the Shadow/Highlight review mode.)

adash · « **Reply #3 on:** August 31, 2011, 10:48:18 AM »

If it is just too red without becoming oversaturated, then you can easily adjust the curves for the red channel. Lower the right part, and you will lower the red for the brightest areas only, while keeping the mid tones and the shadows neutral. Give me a file and I will try to show you.

Em5 Pete · « **Reply #4 on:** August 31, 2011, 02:05:44 PM »

That must suck.... can you adjust your color hues to be less red?

peterb666 · « **Reply #5 on:** August 31, 2011, 02:11:27 PM »

What are you using for your RAW processing? What are your camera settings that affect colour? If using Olympus software, the settings are picked up and applied automatically.

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Centauri27 · « **Reply #6 on:** August 31, 2011, 03:18:03 PM »

Quote from: M5-User on August 31, 2011, 02:05:44 PM

That must suck.... can you adjust your color hues to be less red?

You mean using the in-camera setting to dial down the red? That's another idea I never thought of. Of course, I'll have to remember to change it back afterwards, otherwise all my other photos will look funny. (Or set up a custom "My Setting", once I figure out how to do it again.)

Centauri27 · « **Reply #7 on:** August 31, 2011, 03:20:29 PM »

Quote from: peterb666 on August 31, 2011, 02:11:27 PM

What are you using for your RAW processing? What are your camera settings that affect colour? If using Olympus software, the settings are picked up and applied automatically.

I've been using either the Olympus Viewer 2 or Adobe Camera RAW in Photoshop Elements. I've just used all the default camera settings, but I try to remember to manually set the white balance for my flower photos.

Em5 Pete · « **Reply #8 on:** August 31, 2011, 05:49:25 PM »

Quote from: Centauri27 on August 31, 2011, 03:18:03 PM

Quote from: M5-User on August 31, 2011, 02:05:44 PM
That must suck.... can you adjust your color hues to be less red?
You mean using the in-camera setting to dial down the red? That's another idea I never thought of. Of course, I'll have to remember to change it back afterwards, otherwise all my other photos will look funny. (Or set up a custom "My Setting", once I figure out how to do it again.)

You can set up a custom setting can't you...? I have my G3 set for -1B and -1G to warm it up a tad...

lisandra · « **Reply #9 on:** August 31, 2011, 11:48:33 PM »

Every camera Ive owned so far has problems exposing reds, Its a ccd/cmos problem apparently. In a photo with intense reds I turn down luminosity in the red channel in lightroom, the open the 16 bit tiff file in photoshop colorspaced in prophoto rgb and boost saturation and hue as needed.
The original was blown to hell.

Details

lisandra · « **Reply #10 on:** September 01, 2011, 02:48:49 PM »

I just tried it in srgb, it works fine, nobody will notice the difference unless seeing it side by side printed big (compared to prophoto rgb i mean)
So its down on on luminosity on the raw file and then saturation and hue adjustment on the tiff in photoshop/elements/whatever

Centauri27 · « **Reply #11 on:** September 01, 2011, 04:01:24 PM »

lisandra: Thanks for the tips--I'll give them a try. Nice to know that even the fancy pants DSLRs have this same problem.

adash: Here are a few samples of shots with blown reds. These were converted from RAW files as is, without any additional tweaks. The white balance was set to "Daylight" for all three.

n2hhr · « **Reply #12 on:** September 01, 2011, 04:01:51 PM »

Every CMOS and CCD based digital system in the world has a problem with the red channel being more sensitive. It has to do with the softening filter and the layout of the Red, Green & Blue micro lenses on top of the individual pixel wells in the sensor. This is a well established problem and is usually overcome with in camera processing to some extent in the newer top camera systems. Tackle the problem in post processing.

lisandra · « **Reply #13 on:** September 01, 2011, 05:07:18 PM »

Quote from: n2hhr on September 01, 2011, 04:01:51 PM

Every CMOS and CCD based digital system in the world has a problem with the red channel being more sensitive. It has to do with the softening filter and the layout of the Red, Green & Blue micro lenses on top of the individual pixel wells in the sensor. This is a well established problem and is usually overcome with in camera processing to some extent in the newer top camera systems. Tackle the problem in post processing.

Ive read it a couple of times over the years, its well documented, but right now I cant seem to find a link. They were often time unsavable in the 40D files. Foveon and pannys new patent sensor solve the red channel problem, but bayers are too popular

voyager · « **Reply #14 on:** September 06, 2011, 04:33:32 PM »

Quote from: Centauri27 on September 01, 2011, 04:01:24 PM

lisandra: Thanks for the tips--I'll give them a try. Nice to know that even the fancy pants DSLRs have this same problem.

adash: Here are a few samples of shots with blown reds. These were converted from RAW files as is, without any additional tweaks. The white balance was set to "Daylight" for all three.

As the doctor would say to the patient..."well if it hurts when you do that, then don't!"

javarob75 · « **Reply #15 on:** September 13, 2011, 02:39:38 AM »

I have the perfect solution... avoid shooting red flowers

Sorry, couldn't resist...

My e-p1 does the same with red, as well as bright orange.

My E-P1 blows out the reds