Friday, December 21, 2012

Panasonic G5 – A study of latitude in RAW

Well, “study” is such a strong word. Smile

Let’s call this a demonstration of how much leeway RAW on the G5 offers you. Don’t try this on JPEG, as you will be profoundly disappointed with the results.

So … I was experimenting with bounce flash using an onld Nikon SB26 in manual mode on the G5. I followed Mary’s cat “Sammy” (Samantha) around and when she ducked under a table, I fired the bounce flash. Which of course did nothing …

P1020228_DMC-G5_228 mm_ISO 160_1-160 sec at f - 5.3

The original histogram is embarrassing …

image

But all is not lost when you are using Lightroom. There are sliders and dials and everything Smile

Here are the settings I used to fix the exposure issues …

First, the main panel:

image

Next, the tone curve:

image

And finally, detail (sharpening and NR):

image

This takes all of a minute or so and the end result is quite tolerable …

 

P1020228_DMC-G5_228 mm_ISO 160_1-160 sec at f - 5.3-2

The adjusted histogram is more like it …

image    as opposed to   image

More could be done to the image, but I think you get the drift …