Canon 5Neutral Color

I have a 5D and mostly L glass. One thing I note is that Canon glass tends to be warm, well, maybe it is not as warm as it is orange emphasis. I shoot mostly JPEGS but some RAW. It is hard to get to neutral with sliders although sometimes just PS Auto correct does a pretty good job.

For further reference, I consider Nikon too cool, Canon too warm (great for portraits usually though) and Leica just right. I put Leica glass on the 5D with an adapter and WOW, beautiful color balance, so I am sure it is the lenses, I suspect the coating formulation.

In the 5D I know I can adjust the color on the grid and have tried several settings but have not found one I really am happy with yet. Can anyone suggest color settings in combination user defined settings that they really think gives high contrast but not burned out, sharp neutral color for L glass on the 5D?

John Stitt

Here is how to adjust Picture Styles to your liking. Shoot RAW using any Style. Open the Images in RIT which is located in the horrible Zoombrowser. Unlike DPP, which is a far better application, Zoombrowser is more camera accurate for RAW conversion. Its controls are exactly like those in the camera including the WB corrections. After you get the look that you are after set up the camera to the exact settings that you used in RIT. Works like a charm.

Jack,
Thanks much for this advice. I had not even loaded the Zoombrouser! I found what you are talking about and it is really good. I even like processing raw images in it. It has quite a bit more easy access control than PS. Very good advice.

John Stitt

Hi John,

To get a neutral color use custom white balance. What can be more simple?

A WhiBal in your wallet can do wonders. Get religion, get the WhiBal!

It's rock solid!

Asher

Great tip Jack, thanks. I haven't tried ZB either but I will later on.

Regardless of what ultimate technique or creative color you will create for your work, an accurate WB is an absolute must as a staring point. Only with an accurate White balance can the raw converter (whether on a computer or in the camera) create the colors that it was designed to do.

My WhiBal card is one of the easiest ways to accomplish this. A lot of info and videos are on my website.

Enjoy...

I agree , i use the whibal occasionally it is a great tool , but it is not an all around solution. For example if you are shooting a sunset that obviously has a warm color cast , making the white balance neutral will kill the effect. The truth is , you can adjust white balance quite easily in raw without a grey card and many surfaces can serve as points for white balance adjustment. If i were you id stick to DPP or C1 with magnes 5d profiles. While Zoombrowser RIT provides nice tonality and skin tones i find that it does not pull all the detail out of the file as DPP does and DPP further tweaks the color response of the cameras DSP.

Pawel,

For sure Zoombrowser's only use is as a tool to adjust camera JPGs. Other than that DPP is far superior and produces better results.