RED,RED over done red.

[Ardy]

Ive had an issue for the last couple of years with reds being the dominate colour in my shots and I grabbed the exif info. and wonder where do we change these settings? Any other ideas why shots are so red?

See bolded near bottom of exif:


Filename - P4231890.ORF
ImageWidth - 4640
ImageLength - 3472
BitsPerSample -
Compression - 1 (None)
PhotometricInterpretation - 1
ImageDescription - OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Make - OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.
Model - E-M5
StripOffset - 1451008
Orientation - Top left
SamplesPerPixel - 1
RowsPerStrip - 3472
StripByteCount - 12677699
XResolution - 350
YResolution - 350
PlanarConfiguration - 1
ResolutionUnit - Inch
Software - Version 2.0
DateTime - 2016:04:23 10:40:16
Artist -
Copyright -
ExifOffset - 290
ExposureTime - 1/160 seconds
FNumber - 20.00
ExposureProgram - Manual control
ISOSpeedRatings - 100
ExifVersion - 0230
DateTimeOriginal - 2016:04:23 10:40:16
DateTimeDigitized - 2016:04:23 10:40:16
ExposureBiasValue - 0.00
MaxApertureValue - F 2.80
MeteringMode - Center weighted average
LightSource - Auto
Flash - Flash fired, Compulsory flash mode
FocalLength - 60 mm
UserComment -
FlashPixVersion - 0100
ColorSpace - sRGB
FileSource - DSC - Digital still camera
CustomRendered - Normal process
ExposureMode - Manual
White Balance - Manual
DigitalZoomRatio - 1.00 x
SceneCaptureType - Standard
GainControl - None
Contrast - Hard
Saturation - High
Sharpness - Hard
Lens Info - 60 60 2.80 2.80
Lens Model - OLYMPUS M.60mm F2.8 Macro

Maker Note (Vendor): -
Mode - Normal
CameraID -
BodyFirmwareVersion - 2000
LensType -
LensSerialNumber - ABQ233566

 

[Chris Ross]

In the menus go to picture mode then you should have choices like vivid and natural then for each of them can change contrast. sharpness saturation etc.

If you are shooting raw (which you should be!!) then these settings are irrelevant and are used on the embedded jpeg only and some applications will use them to set up the defaults in the raw software.
To tone down red you need to add cyan to the image. What software are you using to edit the images?

 

[Ardy]

Thanks Chris, I am shooting in RAW and although I tried to attach the RAW file the system only allows 800 x 800.
The RAW file looks very identical to the posted jpg. as I made no alterations apart from resizing. I am testing messing around with the natural picture mode I am using, but as you say this only affects jpg.

I use irfanview for quick adjustments or LR for the serious shots.

 

[ColoDale]

I shoot an OMD EM5 (older one) and without going through all the exif informaiton and just lookiing at the three highlighted (contrast, saturation and sharpness) I looked at my settings. Assuming your firmware and mine are fairly close, I think maybe you should look at the Picture Mode settings in shooting menu 1. I have mine set to Natural which shows it as 3 next to the flashlight (which I don't think it really is - just looks like one), then under the Natural settings you can see Contrast, Sharpness and Saturation along with Gradation. The first three in my settings at +/- 0 and Gradation is normal. I believe these are default settings for Normal Picture Mode.
You might also check the cusotm menu G, Color/WB (white balance) and see what your WB and color space are set. I use auto WB and you show manual WB in the exif data. I do not (yet) use the gray card for manual WB and my Color space is set to sRGB.
I would have to really plow through the settings you show and all the exif data to see what is happening.
I did get my initial settings off a Wetpixel forum post for EM5 settings years ago and while it doesn't have a lot on Picture mode you might search the wetpixel forums and see if anyting pops up

 

[Ardy]

Hi Colodale, thanks for that but I have my picture mode set to natural and all are set to +-0. Anyway this only affects jpg. files and I use RAW exclusively and save jpg's. However it is my RAW files that are totally overblown in RED.

Not sure what to do!
regards

 

[ColoDale]

Ok, there is an article in DPreview in the 4/3s forum that talks about overblown red in land shots and with Olympus cameras. Basically they are blaming the camera and firmware not settings. Problems in dense colored light: Micro Four Thirds Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review. It seems they talked to Olympus and did a comparison with an Oly and Nikon camera to check jpeg differences among other things. Seems very similar to your issue.
I assume you are shooting RAW and jpeg in the camera and not seeing the jpeg thumbnails from a RAW conversion.

 

[Ardy]

Yes Dale ,it is in the RAW files that I am getting overblown reds. Will look at the link you attached.
Thanks
Ardy

 

[Ardy]

Hi Dale this seems to be the problem. I am amazed that this has not come up as an issue before and Oly fixed it. I guess most thought the same as me, ie It must be me!
Unfortunately I have no plan to replace the EM5 mk1 as my UW camera anytime soon, any fix will not come down to that age or my EM1 mk1. So I guess as UW photography is often strong in reds and short on light, it becomes a post processing issue. Not an easy one either.

 

[bvanant]

I think post processing (especially in LR) should be fairly simple to fix, just turn down the red saturation and luminance when you import. On my monitor it is not only the red that is the issue, the white on the harlequin is totally blown out. Here is a 5 second fix in LR.
Bill

 

[Ardy]

HiGuys in working through this I stumbled on this utube which has an interesting setup of OMD cameras to insure accurate exposure using the camera set up.