Sigma SPP Help

Ranger Rick

Regular
Location
Tempe, AZ
Name
Rick
I'm renting a DP2 Merrill, and having problems with images where there is pink/orange in the image.

I was attracted to this location by the architecture and color, but the RAWs are nowhere near either "reality" or the jpeg. I have attached 2 screenshots showing the problem. Using the eyedropper to change color of the building changes the entire image, sky included. This is the same problem I had with a photo of a restored rv trailer with pink lower half.

I'm not an expert with SPP, so not sure if this is one of those things one lives with in Merrill-land, or whether DPP and RAWs can work together.

[Sorry for the Hasselblad image- I can't delete it from this post for some reason, even tho the "Manage Attachments" box shows only the two DP2 images]

Thanks,

Rick
attachment.php?attachmentid=5831.jpg
 

Attachments

  • DP2 JPEG.jpg
    DP2 JPEG.jpg
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  • DP2 RAW.jpg
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I think u mean spp.. Anyway.. Looks like spp maybe doing its own wb instead of taking info from camera raw data.. If I remember correctly, spp is defaulted to applying its own idea of the wb. U need to go to top area of spp, u will c in top center area, a click notch for x3f which means use the wb from the raw file. Auto means let spp decide and custom happens when u do something manually. I remember seeing this type of problem when I first started until I noticed the x3f setting. Hopefully this is it.

Btw sigma wb is not as good as other cameras..

Hope that helps
Gary
 
Yes, meant SPP, thanks.

WB was set for Sunlight, changing WB to the other options in SPP doesn't do much in terms of changing color- unlike LR/PS. Changing Saturation does increase that, but still stays on the yellow side. Can't get those pinks to show up in RAW. Tried X3F, auto, custom, etc.

I'm to the point where I just won't be using it if there's pink in the picture. Rather disappointing to see this, but it will save me money.
 
Can you share the RAW file somewhere? Maybe if people can play with it, something will strike a chord. It's still not clear to me what the problem is. The 2 images you have posted.....what do they represent? Is one SOOC and another one an attempt to correct? And what are you trying to correct? That should help for starters.
 
Yes, meant SPP, thanks.

WB was set for Sunlight, changing WB to the other options in SPP doesn't do much in terms of changing color- unlike LR/PS. Changing Saturation does increase that, but still stays on the yellow side. Can't get those pinks to show up in RAW. Tried X3F, auto, custom, etc.

I'm to the point where I just won't be using it if there's pink in the picture. Rather disappointing to see this, but it will save me money.

Hmmm. I c. Ok one of my last resort when I have white balance issues is create a tiff 16 from the raw using the camera raw settings and importing into my photo editor since the tools are usually better there.

Luke suggestion of a drop box or the raw would help other play w/ it as well..

Gary
 
I haven't used the latest SPP versions since I have the older DP1/2's, but wb selection is very hard with SPP and the color depends on it. I usually try to hit gray tones w/ eye dropper eg on concrete or the gray door on the right corner and see how it will change. Then I can manually select the ranges, close to that to fine tune it. It is not an exact method, it is the only way that worked for me.
 
I am in the same camp as Luke on what your question is. I haven't had any problems with the white balance on the DP2M. Without some raw samples it's difficult to discern the cause/nature of the problem you are having. do you have the camera set to neutral? The eye dropper will effect the entire image in SPP. As suggested by Serhan, you may want to manually set the white balance to achieve the best color balance for your images
 
Top picture is SOOC jpeg, bottom is screen shot of the corresponding X3F file. I can't get the X3F building color to match the SOOC color (salmon or whatever)- the X3F is nowhere near the SOOC in terms of the color- X3F is lifeless and dull. ISO 100, WB set to Sunlight, Color Mode STD, Picture Settings are all zero color space Adobe RGB, Camera firmware is 1.03.

In SPP, WB is Sunlight, Color Mode is Standard. Using the eyedropper in Color Adjustment and clicking on the pavement in front of the building makes a slight improvement, but introduces magenta into the picture, especially noticeable in the sky. Very little difference in changing the Adjustment Mode from X3F to Auto.

I tried uploading the X3F to Flickr as a way to perhaps get the 55mb file on line, but the format prevents it being accepted. Finding a place to put a 55mb file is not easy.

I have considerable experience over the years with Aperture and LR/PS, and have used raw files from Panasonic, Olympus, Canon and Nikon, but have not encountered what I am seeing here, being unable to get the raw close to the jpeg. raws are often "dull", but they can be adjusted; here, I am stumped.

Thanks for your suggestions and taking the time to respond!
 
well that JPEG looks sweet! There are a bunch of free file sharing websites out there if you want to try one. There is a good base of Sigma experts here who would be wiling to check it out for you.
 
Top picture is SOOC jpeg, bottom is screen shot of the corresponding X3F file. I can't get the X3F building color to match the SOOC color (salmon or whatever)- the X3F is nowhere near the SOOC in terms of the color- X3F is lifeless and dull. ISO 100, WB set to Sunlight, Color Mode STD, Picture Settings are all zero color space Adobe RGB, Camera firmware is 1.03.

In SPP, WB is Sunlight, Color Mode is Standard. Using the eyedropper in Color Adjustment and clicking on the pavement in front of the building makes a slight improvement, but introduces magenta into the picture, especially noticeable in the sky. Very little difference in changing the Adjustment Mode from X3F to Auto.

I tried uploading the X3F to Flickr as a way to perhaps get the 55mb file on line, but the format prevents it being accepted. Finding a place to put a 55mb file is not easy.

I have considerable experience over the years with Aperture and LR/PS, and have used raw files from Panasonic, Olympus, Canon and Nikon, but have not encountered what I am seeing here, being unable to get the raw close to the jpeg. raws are often "dull", but they can be adjusted; here, I am stumped.

Thanks for your suggestions and taking the time to respond!

RR... try getting a free 10gb mediafire acct for uploads/downloads:

MediaFire
 
Hi Rick,
I just downloaded your .x3f file and opened in the Sigma software. I haven't done anything to it yet and it looks like just like your JEPG.... nice blue sky and the building is somewhere between pink and salmon color....not the beige that shows in yours.

I'm a bit at a loss to explain why yours is working out that way.

EDIT - OK...I've just fiddled about with some sliders to try to recreate where yours may be set to yield losing all the pink. My guess is that your "Color Mode" drop down is set to FCBlue (or maybe Neutral).....for this shot I got much more pleasing results with it set to Standard or Vivid.
 
I did the same and have the same results as Luke. They are identical, lovely blue sky, a pinkish salmon color. If i move the eyedropper to the upper left in the blue quadrant of the color wheel i get a cyan effect to the sky and the building becomes similar to your less appealing sand colored building. I think you should retry the adjustments .
 
Yup. I would reset the eye dropper tool. The setting that I like (not sure how accurate it is since I don't know the building is +.4 for Contrast, Saturation and X3 fill light with WB set to sunlight and color mode set to Vivid. There are just a few spots where the saturation is clipping, but for me this shot is all about the colors so a bit of clipping (to me) would be acceptable.
9549938686_8ed9221ea8_b.jpg

Building_001 by Lukinosity, on Flickr
 
Yup. I would reset the eye dropper tool. The setting that I like (not sure how accurate it is since I don't know the building is +.4 for Contrast, Saturation and X3 fill light with WB set to sunlight and color mode set to Vivid. There are just a few spots where the saturation is clipping, but for me this shot is all about the colors so a bit of clipping (to me) would be acceptable.
9549938686_8ed9221ea8_b.jpg

Building_001 by Lukinosity, on Flickr

U beat me to it Luke. Luke's rework looks like the ooc jpg to me. I personally don't like foveon blue becaus it makes other colors look so wonky..

I would suggest resetting spp back to default conditions maybe. All settings to their neutral position and color mode to std. At first i was wondering if a previous renter left some weird setting on the camera until u told us the first shot was a ooc jpg.

Hope it works out for u now
Gary
 
i think the whole problem was the dropper tool. I just looked again at the settings he used and they should be good. One of my problems with the Sigma software (and the only reason I sold the camera) was how wonky the software was. On my low tech laptop, it can take awhile for the changes you make to regsiter...and if you think the photo looks wrong, you change another setting...sometimes before you're even seeing the results of the last change. I don't know if the software is that bad or if the files are just so huge. Makes no difference...the end result is the same. I may get one again someday though, because what it does well.....it does REALLY well.
 
I also gave the RAW file a try. Here is your OOC JPEG:


And my RAW conversion:

9548324401_f7d4259ff4_b.jpg


Settings:

  • All tonal adjustments set to "zero" except for saturation which is set to -0.4.
  • White Balance: Sunlight
  • Color Mode: Landscape
  • Color Adjustment (Color Wheel): 2M
  • All noise reduction set to minimum except for banding which is set at default.

SPP 5.5.2 for Mac
 
i think the whole problem was the dropper tool. I just looked again at the settings he used and they should be good. One of my problems with the Sigma software (and the only reason I sold the camera) was how wonky the software was. On my low tech laptop, it can take awhile for the changes you make to regsiter...and if you think the photo looks wrong, you change another setting...sometimes before you're even seeing the results of the last change. I don't know if the software is that bad or if the files are just so huge. Makes no difference...the end result is the same. I may get one again someday though, because what it does well.....it does REALLY well.

It's the size of the files mainly..is what I believe is at issue. U maybe ok w/ a low end machine if u ave a lot of memory (RAM), w/o it, u may end up using HD space at virtual paging memory, which slows everything down to a crawl. That doesn't mean a faster machine is not going to help. I run a dual core iMac w/ 8gb of ram memory and it works fine. I usually have both aperture and spp running at the same time.

If u are running below 4gb of memory on your machine, try closing down all your other programs before starting spp. If u are using less then 2gb, c if it is possible to upgrade the memory to 4gb.. If u are using a windows xp machine, I can't remember what the max usable memory is for xp vs system 7.

Hope u can give it a try again one day
Gar
 
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