No Sharpness, Reduced Contrast Profiles

Many discussions about achieving optimal image quality from the Nikon D2H have resulted in recommendations to turn off the camera’s sharpening filter and reduce the camera’s contrast a bit. I have built Default Noise Profiles under these conditions for JPEG and TIFF image formats with varying lighting conditions and at various ISO speeds. 

 

Photos of Neat Image’s standard Calibration Target image were used for profile generation.

 

Camera Settings:

Camera Model: NIKON D2H

Firmware: Ver.1.00

Exposure mode: Program

Flash: Off

Metering mode: Multi-segment

AF mode: MANUAL

Image quality: RAW + JPEG Fine

White balance: AUTO

Sharpness: NONE  (not the default camera value)

Tone Compensation: Less Contrast (not the default camera value)

 

Cloudy shots:

ISO

Shutter speed

Aperture

200

1/125 sec

f/5.3

400

1/180 sec

f/6.7

800

1/250 sec

f/7.6

1600

1/320 sec

f/9.0

3200

1/500 sec

f/11.0

6400

1/750 sec

f/13.1

 

Incandescent shots:

ISO

Shutter speed

Aperture

200

1/20 sec

f/4.0

400

1/40 sec

f/4.0

800

1/80 sec

f/4.0

1600

1/100 sec

f/5.0

3200

1/160 sec

f/6.0

6400

1/200 sec

f/7.1

 

The JPEG images used in profile generation were those produced directly from the camera with no adjustments whatsoever.  The TIFF images were generated from the NEF (raw) files using Nikon Capture by:

 

  1. Setting the White Balance temperature to reflect the correct lighting
    (Cloudy: 6000K,   Incandescent: 2800K)

  2. Exporting the resultant picture as a TIFF image

 

Best Regards,

Jim Kelly

Email: jimk@pinnacleridge.com