"Olympus" colors

[ditto1958]

Can you really tell the difference between photos from different manufacturers' products. I read a lot of posts on this and other forums where people say they buy Olympus for the colors they produce. I wonder how many people could actually recognize images from a particular brand in a "blind" test?

I will say this: a long time ago when I got an OM camera and my brother got a Nikon, his pictures did have a distinctly different look. Primarily, I think the colors were different, and the contrast, too.

[BigB]

I couldn't tell the difference, mainly because picture taking techniques will also play a huge role in the colors that are produced on screen. A person not getting a decent exposure in given lighting will not help produce "Oly colors". Though I do love the colors I get compared to other amateurs (like me) I see online using other systems.

[Paul Shields]

There is a definite tone I see when shooting with the E-1, particularly skin tones. Luckily, I really like the tones from the E-1. They appear slightly less saturated than the tones I see when shooting film (accepting that film development variances are probably greater than digital variances - try taking a portrait with Velvia 50 and you will know when you've been Tangoed ). An example is a shot of my son I posted earlier (http://www.photocamel.com/index.php/topic,2056.0.html). I'm pretty sure that if this came from a film camera and developed in the usual 1 hour lab it would appear more saturated.

I doubt if I'd be able to spot different digital cameras based on an example shot - it should be easier to spot which film was used though, and I'm sure there are people who can do this with great accuracy.

[AlbertP]

Originally Posted by ditto1958

Can you really tell the difference between photos from different manufacturers' products.* I read a lot of posts on this and other forums where people say they buy Olympus for the colors they produce.* I wonder how many people could actually recognize images from a particular brand in a "blind" test?*

I will say this:* a long time ago when I got an OM camera and my brother got a Nikon, his pictures did have a distinctly different look.* Primarily, I think the colors were different, and the contrast, too.

I can. I find Olympus colors on the cool side. Canon is on the warm side. Nikon is on the reddish side. Adjusted, Canon pics are often deemed more pleasing to my viewers. Just reporting...

[BigB]

Originally Posted by AlbertP

Adjusted, Canon pics are often deemed more pleasing to my viewers. Just reporting...

Troll!

j/k

[Paul Shields]

Originally Posted by BigB

Troll!

j/k

No, it would only be a troll if it was stated that Albert's viewers preferred the over-saturated, unnaturally soft, plasticky images that the Canon DSLR's are justly famous for .

Sorry, currently bored and sometimes I miss dpreview-style posts !

[tomh1000]

Originally Posted by Paul

No, it would only be a troll if it was stated that Albert's viewers preferred the over-saturated, unnaturally soft, plasticky images that the Canon DSLR's are justly famous for* .

Sorry, currently bored and sometimes I miss dpreview-style posts !

hehehehehehehehehehehehehhehehe......

ok I feel better now!

[Kevin Barrett]

It is quite evident that different bodies from different makes have different color responses, but
lenses also affect color response. I've noticed this moving from one lens to another on the same body.
Example: My 70-200 F4L w/ 20D reproduces a color rendition similar to what I've seen from an Olympus E1.

[Paul Shields]

Originally Posted by Kevin Barrett

It is quite evident that different bodies from different makes have different color responses, but
lenses also affect color response. I've noticed this moving from one lens to another on the same body.
Example: My 70-200 F4L w/ 20D reproduces a color rendition similar to what I've seen from an Olympus E1.

That's a good point which I neglected to mention. The tonal differences between the new Zuikos and the old is quite dramatic - there is a yellowish cast to the old lenses, easily removable but there all the same.

[Kansas Ron]

I have an E-300, 14-54mm, 40-150mm, and Sigma 55-200mm. The Olympus colors were one of the main reasons I purchased the E-300 after looking at the Canon Rebel XL, the Nikon D70, and the Pentax *ist DS. I have not been disappointed. To bring out the best of the Oly colors you need to use RAW and process with either Master (comes with the camera) or purchase Olympus Studio. Though I must say that with firmware 1.3 the JPEGs are very good now too.

[hartcons]

I think God must have given some olympus engineers a day pass to heaven. Shooting RAW I can only match Olympus JPEG colors using Olympus Master (the world's slowest raw converter) but not (so far at least) with Adobe Camera Raw, Silkypix, Raw Shooter Essentials or CaptureOne (they're all very capable but they don't have the Olympus special sauce).

e-300 with 14-45: