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Nikon D200 - part 3 of 1 2 3 4 5 6

by Mike McNamee Published 01/06/2006

On Test We have done so much colour accuracy testing of cameras in the past 12 months that we have become very wary of interpreting data from cameras. We start with the basic premise that skin tone accuracy is of paramount importance for wedding photographers, including both the exposure level and the accuracy of the colour (as measured by hue and saturation). These data are influenced by

1. Light Quality (spectral quality)
2. The lens
3. The CCD chip in the camera
4. The infrared cut-off filter in the camera
5. The data processing
a) in camera
b) in Photoshop
c) in a RAW file handler of your choosing

Exposure testing was carried out using a Macbeth target, gradually increasing the exposure until clipping just occurred and then backing off by 1/3rd of a stop. A RAW file was then captured and processed by adjusting the white balance and exposure values only.

Using the Macbeth Target as an exposure guide left the image effectively a little under ½ a stop under exposed. Adding a 1/3rd of a stop to the exposure resulted in a near perfect exposure level. This RAW file was opened and colour balanced using the eye dropper on the Macbeth Chart.

Overall the chart was rendered perfectly neutral and slightly up in saturation. The skin tones were 8% too saturated and rotated about 1° too red. The mid-tone skin value was about 8% too light. The average error across the whole Macbeth Chart was 8.7 ΔE and the largest portion of the error was in the saturation channel. The overall result was quite pleasing and many photographers would welcome the enhanced saturation. have reported that sharpening is best set at one notch above "normal". With a 22 RAW frame burst depth and 5fps the D200 was very capable of handling sport subjects.

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Contact Mike McNamee

1st Published 01/06/2006
last update 09/12/2022 14:56:59

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