skin tones

[bikelike]

The sole thing preventing me from buying a X camera (X-pro2) is that both in my test shots with a borrowed camera as in the many portraits I see on this forum and elsewhere is that the skin tones look often too red and even magenta. Just have a look at Phil's shots at http://www.fuji-x-forum.com/topic/132-headshots/page-2. 

Ironically I bumped into Fuji because I was looking for a better skin tone camera than my Nikon; many people say the love the Fuji skin tone.

 

1 Below you see a Raw file, processed in Lightroom with Provia profile, white balance picked from the white poster left on the pavement. The auto WB was way too red.

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2 Same with Red Primary Red hue put to +9. Skin looks somewhat better, but I am loosing the red of the lips and the little car on the right.

3 Just to try: with the second settings I tried Velvia (with the settings of second picture), because sometimes I have people in my landscape pictures. Nikon provides a still usable skin tone with the landscape emulation. This is a bit of a shocking result...

 

Looking forward to hear from you!

Edited March 24, 2016 by bikelike

[milandro]

I have had this happening a few times too but i suspect that this is not unique to Fuji only and it has more to do with the nature of the light used and the color response of the skin of the person than this being a Fuji fluke.

 

In other words the sensor might be more sensitive to certain light conditions than our eyes are and it can see things that are not visible for us.

 

 

 

As for using the “ white” poster to set your white balance. The white poster on the left of your picture looks rather pinkish on my monitor which would match the car being too red.

 

I personally would have exposed a little darker but that in itself couldn’t have changed the color.

[Tom H.]

Phil's shots seem accurate enough. Maybe two that are slightly off, but those are very pale people with light hair, people who are prone to blushing and may well have been at the time of the shot.

 

Actually, on my calibrated monitor, your first one seems the most accurate depiction of colours. Second one seems too yellow, white balance is off in my view. It may seem more pleasing, but I doubt it's more accurate. Velvia is really not meant for portraits.

 

Try Classic Chrome if you want that muted look. Or shoot Pro Neg STD for reference. I find Fuji auto wb works really well in most circumstances, far better than my old Canon used to anyway. I rarely have to adjust wb after shooting.

Edited March 24, 2016 by Tom H.

[milandro]

exactly, the muting might be very well ne induced by film simulation (although OP says it was a RAW image processed with lightroom)

 

My personal preference for portrait is the humble provia. I too don’t have much need to change the white balance.

[quincy]

That's something I've noticed very often when looking at images with people in it.

Nikon and Sony (my Sony too) are almost always a little on the green side, while canon (and fuji) are a bit more on the red side. For ME on MY monitor, the first shot seems quite fine, a little bit too pink perhaps, the second is clearly too yellow/green, and the last... maybe you just shouldn't use Velvia for that. Phil's images look fine to me, too.

Is your monitor calibrated?

[bikelike]

Thank you for your replies. And you got me there: no, my monitor is not calibrated. I thought my Eizo was great out of the box.

Is the calibration system through X-Rite i1Display Pro + ColorChecker Passport Bundle well enough? I am located in Amsterdam.

[Tom H.]

Thank you for your replies. And you got me there: no, my monitor is not calibrated. I thought my Eizo was great out of the box.

 

Is the calibration system through X-Rite i1Display Pro + ColorChecker Passport Bundle well enough? I am located in Amsterdam.

 

I use this one, albeit previous generation. Works just fine. http://www.cameranu.nl/nl/p696485/datacolor-spyder-5-pro

[quincy]

Please don't get me wrong, I didn't want to say "HA your monitor isn't calibrated so you can't see the colors right". Eizos are indeed great, right out of the box. I just wanted to eliminate one possible source of error to prevent you from maybe editing all your images slightly wrong. But that does not have to be the case, personal taste is always a factor. Many people like the slightly greenish tint of Nikon/Sony as it is, and as many other people also like the slightly reddish tint of Canon as it is. I personally prefer my colors right in the middle of both, perhaps a bit more to the red side.

 

I use the i1 Display Pro, and it's good enough for me. But I don't think it's better or worse than the Spyder system.

[Guest thiswayup]

Thank you for your replies. And you got me there: no, my monitor is not calibrated. I thought my Eizo was great out of the box.

 

Is the calibration system through X-Rite i1Display Pro + ColorChecker Passport Bundle well enough? I am located in Amsterdam.

 

Generally, Fuji's are praised for their skin tones - some people shoot with them for exactly that reason. Buy a grey plus rgb card, shoot some portraits with it in frame, adjust the monitor until the card is right, then see what you think.

Edited March 24, 2016 by thiswayup

[Aswald]

On my eizo, the 1st pic looks well balanced. Also, as a note, the subject is wearing a rather loud magenta shirt.

 

I calibrate with Xrite i1Display Pro with good color consistency across all my monitors. I had to get my eizo recalibrated every time I upgraded my gpu.

[Tom H.]

Generally, Fuji's are praised for their skin tones - some people shoot with them for exactly that reason. Buy a grey plus rgb card, shoot some portraits with it in frame, adjust the monitor until the card is right, then see what you think.

 

Jup, main reason why I gave up my Olympus and switched to Fuji... Skin tones are nearly always great straight out of camera. Unless you are shooting under mixed tungsten/fluorescent light. And every camera struggles in those conditions.