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You might think I would use Vivid or More Vivid, except that they crank up some of the contrast
and sharpness settings and leave them there. I want vivid colors, but leave the contrast and
sharpness on Auto. This way as subjects get contrastier I don't have to stop and turn the contrast
back down. In VI* you can easily blow out a slightly high-contrast scene.
Therefore I use the Custom (pencil icon) setting:
Custom (pencil icon)
This is where Nikon hides the critical adjustments other camera makers make more obvious.
Canon lets you define many of these and recall them easily. Nikon only gives you one setting.
Canon also gives you a wider and more precise range of adjustments, and therefore it's easier to
make bad mistakes with Canon. The extreme settings here aren't very extreme. Play to your
heart's content and see what you prefer.
Done
"Done" is the most important Custom Optimize Image menu item. If you forget to select it
and then click to the right to select OK it forgets everything! Always remember to select DONE
and OK after you change any of the settings below, otherwise they will be ignored.
Image Sharpening
I leave mine on AUTO. I've never messed with the manual settings. Sharpening is an artificial
effect not to be confused with sharpness. When I first got a digital camera I thought: "cool, I'm
cranking this to 11," and realized my error. Don't turn it up for no reason, since the image can start
to look artificial. Play with it if you want. I've played with it out of curiosity, and always leave it on
AUTO.
Tone Compensation (Contrast)
Nikon meant to say Contrast. I always leave mine set to AUTO. In AUTO the D40 automatically
applies the Zone System (page 69) and adjusts contrast to match your subject, for each and every
shot!
If Nikon's marketing department was paying attention, they would promote this as Automatic
Dynamic Range Optimization, since that's what it does and Canon has nothing like this.
The D40 automatically lowers contrast and increases dynamic range for very contrasty subjects,
and cranks up contrast for dull subjects.
Saturation also varies with this setting. If you crank it to + it looks vivid and bold for flatter
subjects, but when you have a contrasty subject it's too much and blows out. Leave it in AUTO
and you won't have to piddle with it.
Avoid Custom tone compensation. Most people call this a custom curve. I've never used it. To
© 2007 KenRockwell.com 22 converted by Sándor Nagy