How do you use your GRD?

[nightfly]

Have had a GRD 3 for awhile (and a GRD1 before that). I mainly shoot film but it's my digital camera when I need one. However I've never really gotten to the point where I love the images I take with it and want to start using it more.

Generally I shoot RAW and process in Lightroom, mostly leaving the images color although with film I shoot a lot more black and white. I've got SilverEfx and ColorEFX but have never really gotten into using them.

Thinking I'd like to try setting the camera up so that I just shoot jpegs that come out mostly the way I want and then just do a bit of manipulating in Lightroom rather than working on a RAW photo as a starting point.

Basically I'd like to try using it more the way I use film. Where I choose the way I want it to look largely before I take the shot. Maybe a custom setting for black and white, one for color and one for cross processed color which basically mirrors my use of film.

Just wondering if anyone could share their settings and approach to using a GRD (or other digital) this way.

 

[Archiver]

I've found that black and white hi-contrast in the Scene menu works pretty well. I use -1 contrast and maximum vignetting, which produces quite interesting images. Similarly, the cross processing scene mode is good, and I use the yellow mode with max vignetting there as well.

With Lightroom, I always create my own general preset for each new camera I get. It starts with taking bright daylight photos of a street with some trees, and then I adjust the file until I get something that pleases my eye as a general look. I use a street with trees in daylight because I can see how much sharpening I need to get crisp foliage and rich colours in high contrast situations.

It usually involves bumping up saturation, clarity and a touch of contrast; adding a tiny S-curve to the Levels, although I like to bring up the shadows as well as improve highlights; make sure the lens correction is right for the camera or lens, if possible, and decreasing EV just a hair. The result is a rich image with a lot of highlight recovery and full blacks and slightly pushed whites. This forms the basis for individual adjustments if necessary.

 

[nightfly]

Thanks for answering.

Will see how those scene modes go. Really trying to see how close to what I want I can get to come right out of the camera.

 

[petronius]

I played around with most settings of my GRD III, but finally I found that the best for me is aperture priority, standard color, AWB, jpg, Iso auto. The rest is done in PS/SilverEfex.

 

[nightfly]

Thanks pertronius. Love the latest stuff you posted in the GRD photo thread.

 

[petronius]

Thank you; the honour goes to Silver Efex IMO and the presets from streetshooter (www.streetpresets.com). When it comes to color, I have created an alternative setting with saturation, clarity and sharpness set on the highest level, but mostly I use the standard setting.

 

[nightfly]

Any reason for preference of jpg over raw.

 

[shadowfox]

Good question, this amazing little camera is full of conveniences for those of us who have certain "look" in mind. I wanted a good B&W digital, and with this camera I think I've found it.

I set mine like this:
1. MY1 set to High Contrast B&W with contrast -1, snap 1.5m, highest jpg settings (cannot get RAW with this mode)
2. MY2 set to normal contrast B&W, dynamic range comp. set to weak, also jpg.
3. MY3 set to cross-processed mode, for the times I want colors that is slightly "off" 😀

If I had Silver Efex, I'd probably go with RAW, but the jpg straight out of the camera is enough for 4x6 prints, maybe 8x10 (haven't tried yet).

 

[awbphotog]

I use my GRD like lots of people use their iPhone cameras. It's always with me now, is reliable enough to capture 95% (if not more) of exactly what I wanted, and it's tiny, discrete, and stealthy! I honestly can't believe I allowed myself to talk myself out of buying this type of camera for so long. Gone are the chains that bind me!

 

[nightfly]

I'm trying to get myself to use like a cell phone or really like I use my GR1.

I just get all caught up with digital in the way the shots look in a way I don't with film since it's all baked in.

Going to try those setting Shadowfox and leave the camera on RAW for the standard aperture priority setting which will pretty much cover all bases.

Might try those Streetshooter setting for SilverEfx which I have but don't really use as it adds another level of complexity to what is already a too complicated process for me.

I tend to find limitations actually make me more creative and productive. Digital opens up too many options but then I forget how long I spent at the begining coming up with the development process that is now second nature to me with film.