Best in camera JPEG settings.

[lucky88]

Hey, guys!

 

Could anyone recommend me please best in camera settings for JPEG? Mostly i shoot in raw but sometimes i want best quality JPEG's out of the camera.

 

Now i have something like this:

Color -1

Sharpness -1

Highlight tone -2

Shadow tone -1

Noise reduction -2

 

What should i change?

 

By the way, i am user of Fuji X-M1.

 

Thanks.

[perfis]

I also have the X-M1 and use somewhat different standard settings: Color 0 - sharpness +2 - highlight tone 0 - shadow tone 0 - noise reduction 0.

I make heavy use however of the highlight and shadow tone settings depending on the situation. For very contrasty motives, for example a face photographed from below towards a bright sky I would set the highlight tone to -1 or probably -2 and the shadow tone to -1 or probably -2.

Anyway, if you shoot RAW+JPEG - as I do - you can always produce a new jpeg picture afterwards by adjusting these parameters and see the effect on the screen immediately. Actually it's both fun, informative and effective.

I doubt there is one set of settings that can universally be called the 'best', not even for just you or me. Much is depends on the situation.

[Larry Bolch]

The best settings are the ones that match the view of the subject matter to your visualization of it. The best settings for product photography in the studio may well be entirely different from a cityscape at twilight. Portraits by window-light may require something radically different from a sun-drenched landscape. 

 

This is the reason why you buy a fully adjustable camera instead of a point and shoot. You are in control, not a programmer in Japan. If there was an actual "best", there would be no need for all the choices. So it is up to you to choose what best matches your expectations and taste in each individual situation.

 

To the best of my knowledge, all X-cameras have a built-in RAW converter that allows you to apply any setting after the fact. The factors work the same whether applied before or after the exposure. The camera shoots a file with the raw data from the sensor. If JPEG is chosen for the output, the camera then applies whatever settings, so the results will be the same whether applied by you after the shot or applied by the camera automatically.

 

Pick a typical situation and photograph it. Choose each one of the settings and bracket it, saving the resulting JPEG. Take notes and compare the effect. This will give you far more personally meaningful information than any long and conflict-ridden forum thread. Highlight Tone and Shadow Tone are not very intuitive terms. The neat thing with the built-in converter is that you can do this at leisure in your cozy chair. 

 

Next use this knowledge to analyze the test exposure, and optimize it. The best settings for that situation is the one that gives results that most please you. When you next find yourself in that location and you need to shoot JPEGs use these settings as your starting point. At the most, you may have to do a bit of fine tuning to match the dynamic range, tonal curve or whatever. The more experience you have, the quicker that you can make an analysis without necessarily doing a lot of test shots on location. 

 

My taste may be very different from yours, depending upon our individual styles of photography. Your settings as listed above may be totally repugnant to me, given the environment and shooting conditions. And of course, the opposite is just as true.

[jlmphotos]

There are no "best settings"  What works for me, may horrify you.  LOL.  You need to experiment.  however I see you have color at -1.  Why?  If you want color reduced, then use the Provia, or Classic Chrome.  That's my opinion only.  I shoot in JPEG + RAW, And I had my camera set to -1 highlights, and -1 shadows.  However, when I did that the jpeg looked fabulous, but I found I needed to tweak the raw to bring it up to the jpeg exposure so I stopped doing that.  The only item I change in my Q menu are the Film simulation - where Astia is used about 90%, Velvia for Landscapes, and Classic chrome for the odd shot or two.  

I've also read where you want the sharpness at default or higher.  My understanding is this allows you to properly gauge the image sharpness when you chimp on the rear LCD.  Having it at less than the default zero setting may not show you what you've captured. I also leave my NR at default zero. I just don't mess with it.

I'm now well over the 100,000 mark on my X-T1 and I'm super excited with my results so much that I've now own no more Nikon gear.

[tarikolmez]

Best settings are up to your taste.

I shoot raw and I rarely use jpeg. Only for bw.

For bw I would recommend: Nr: -2, Higlights +1, shadows -2, sharpness +1. This gives me really nice contrasty bw. I prefer to keep it is Iso 800 or 1600 so I can get this real good fuji grains

[Maurice]

Exactly, they are customize-able for a reason.

 

I would recommend trying each setting separately on a nice static scene with a good variety of color and contrast. Like flowers next to a window.

It's best to do it yourself because only you would know what the scene actually 'should' look like in real-life.

 

All you need is one Raw-only photo, and then you can try an infinite variety of conversions with the in-camera Raw converter to see what effect each setting has exactly, one at a time.

To save time try the maximum and minimum ends first, then you should be able to judge what part of the available spectrum is right for you.

 

I don't think it needs much tweaking aside from choosing the right profile (film simulation) for the right situation in the first place, though i do prefer the lowest level of noise reduction.

Fuji has spend a great deal of time finding the 'perfect neutral' in the Provia default, and it does exactly that with everything at 0.

 

Keep in mind that results may vary depending on the device/monitor you're looking at.