Dynamic Range of M8

[x-ray]

Let me offer a suggestion to M8 shooters. Each make of camera has it's own personality. With my previous Nikon system (D1X) it handled shadows much better than highlights so it was better to bias on the under exposure side and bring it up in raw. With the canons under exposure creates excessive noise in the shadows but over exposure, 1/3-1/2 stop, makes the images more glass like and reduces noise. The canon default settings translated in CS2 allow for pulling exposure without loss and actually giving a slight gain up to about 1/2 stop. This might be of advantage in shooting raw and a 1/3 over exposure and pull the highlights back in the processing software. Experiment to see the personality of your camera and software. I find for the canons that I like the look of images processed in CS2 vs phase one or canon DPP.

Another suggestion if you use phase one is to reduce the default sharpening. It's a personal taste thing but I find the C 1 software to over sharpen. My personal preference is photoshop CS2 raw converter but again it might be different on the M8.

 

[jaapv]

My take on sharpening is that one does not sharpen in RAW conversion, only before the final saving, depending on the destination of the file (web or print and what size of print etc.)

 

[x-ray]

In the commercial world use might be many so there's no one formula for sharpening. I sharpen moderately for the default size of the file. Most art directors don't have a clue about shrpening or how to handle files. I find it best to give them the best file possible for the default size of the file. After that it's in their hands.

 

[jaapv]

In the commercial world use might be many so there's no one formula for sharpening. I sharpen moderately for the default size of the file. Most art directors don't have a clue about shrpening or how to handle files. I find it best to give them the best file possible for the default size of the file. After that it's in their hands.

This sounds like many fruitless discussions... Sometimes I'm glad I'm but an amateur.