X2D colours (vs X1D)

[JCM-Photos]

@Matt

After having had a look at the horseshoe color diagram displayed on the Cobalt site, I understand why there are not so many differences in your images : with the Cobalt profiles, the gamut extends farther to the reds when compared with generic ones, but not that much to the cyan/green/blue.
They give examples where the reds are far better when using the Cobalt standard rather than the Adobe.

Yeah. It wasn't a great test. Comparing the X2D with the Leica S3 also shows differences mainly in the deep reds.

Yes, I am not surprised. Leica is not the best as far as colors are concerned. I had two digital Leica M and they were not that good when compared with HB. I don't know anything about the S3, though.

Yes, I'm often worried about colors after importing my Leica Q file in Capture One, I have to tune them and it's not that easy.
With HB files in Phocus it's just more flexible and easy to get what I want.

[fh29]

Hi fh29
Wonder what the studio repro-work results yielded, would possibly look like? when shot on a 9-micron 'fat-pixel' CCD multi-shot Imacon/Hasselblad v528C 22mp back (at effectively approx 88mp with multi-shot) by comparison to the lastest generation of 100mp cmos sensors!? Curious!

Using "old-school grey-card and spotmetering" to always get it all groovy, before starting in our humble-studio JCM
Always, with the shorter exposed u-shaped design of flash-tubes, such as those in monolights, usually end up, by adding diffusion layers to the selected light-shaper (even very fine-silks) in order to cutdown on the contrast a touch, in the mid tones.

Still absolutely, adore the "Kodachrome" look yielded by our vintage 9-micron 'fat-pixel' 16mp Hasselblad/Imacon V96c back at ISO 50 - those colours are truly, something else!
Best wishes

I don't know, honestly. As much as I loved my fat pixels Leaf backs for portraiture or even architecture, colour accuracy wasn't their main characteristic. Aliasing / moire / false colours wasn't always fun either !

Anyway, my intention wasn't to start a debate on the best colours out there Also I don't use the X1D for repro work, and don't intend to with the X2D either. I just find the colours to suit my personal work well (portraiture & landscape).

The GXF50 had a Fuji look but rather ok colours overall, then came the GFX100 and its dreaded red/magenta cast. The problem could be seen in other products based on that sensor design.
That's why I feared the X2D would exhibit the same issue, but it looks like Hasselblad managed to work around it. Using Phocus or the 'Camera standard' profiles, the colours seem very close to the X1D ones, which is all I can ask for

[fh29]

Hi fh29
Just out of sheer morbid curiosity!
Did you ever consider experimenting with changing your "light-shaping-signature" to have a go reducing the magneta/red cast, just a thought!

Theres one hell of a difference - even with "top-end" parabolic-light-shapers, light-signature emissions ...
and especially, mid-tone tonal ranges and mid-contrast ranges, always present so very differently, (even by comparison, when used in the same light-shaper) the shorter-tube design, which emits a much-harsher and more limited mid-tonal contrast range due to it being a much a smaller-light source.
The elongated-exposed u shaped flash-tube design emiited light-signatures, exceptionally smooth transition of non-harsh and full-tonal range including mid-tones, and images lit with this, most often dont require any post-production adjustments, thats our findings !! ...

Most parabolic light-shapers alter/shift colour temperature with focusing and thats a fact! ...
There are however, a few "dual-fabric-construction" parabolic-light-shapers that dont ... and are focusable over 5 f- stops without shifting color temperature!

Best wishes

Good point Dicky, light modifiers do alter colours indeed.
That's the reason we systematically create custom profiles for each reproduction. Sometimes we have to resort to cross polarization which messes everything up for instance.
But with the latest sensor gen it's often a real struggle to achieve a neutral result. If we force the profile to correct too much it usually leads to problems elsewhere (brutal hue shifts, lack of separation, etc).

Yes, that's why Hasselblad Phocus software has an integrated "subject profiling" tool.
I've noticed that faulty colors in this case come from bad chart illumination angle when some patches glare.
The ultimate technique is using a calibrated chart and loading the calibration data file in Hasselblad Phocus as you do it with high end film scanners.
Hasselblad has the best colors because the Imacon legacy still works in their Copenhagen development office that's spezialized in software.

Indeed, there are several sources of metamerism and the angle of view or illumination is an important one.
The profiling tool in Phocus is certainly nice to have, never understood why Capture One insisted on not having an integrated one

[Larsb]

while I'm not a "pixel peeper" or have done a 'scientific' evaluation of the colours coming out of the X2D, I can say, that based on my impressions seeing the results from taking about 1000 or so pictures on the X2D, that the colours are absolutely awesome and noticeably better than what I have seen from my other cameras in the past. The X2D with a lens such as the 38mm V lens is a fantastic tool and any 'perceived problems' would be more based on a lack of skills from the photographer rather than issues with the equipment. This is a wonderful tool that, to quote a saying, is only limited by the person using it.

[MGrayson]

The profiling tool in Phocus is certainly nice to have, never understood why Capture One insisted on not having an integrated one

Is this "insisted" in the "Here's our white paper explaining why" sense or in the "we didn't put it in. We also didn't include a pony" sense.

[fh29]

The profiling tool in Phocus is certainly nice to have, never understood why Capture One insisted on not having an integrated one

Is this "insisted" in the "Here's our white paper explaining why" sense or in the "we didn't put it in. We also didn't include a pony" sense.

Well, insisted in the sense they kept ignoring what has been a popular request by studios and pros since 2006 or so ? Instead they chose to offer icc profiles for various illuminants, which helped in some cases.
Hasselblad took its time too, but finally offered the option.
Back then external profiling softwares were uncommon or awfully expensive, that was a big deal.

[fh29]

So... I took the plunge and joined the ranks of broke photographers again

Only shot a few pics yesterday, but can't find any obvious colour issue.
Comparing to the X1D I'd say there's slightly less separation between reds and yellows, certainly nothing that can't be easily fixed.
The perceived contrast is lower too IMHO, which could be expected given the additional DR. With flatter files colours may look a bit dull out of the box. A gentle S-curve takes care of that too.
I'm a bit disappointed by the Adobe Camera Standard profile here, especially if one needs to alter the WB. Will see how the Cobalt profile behaves or build my own, till then I'll probably rely on Phocus more.

That's it for colours. Still resisting the urge to shoot calibration charts at the moment, I'll do my best to spare you these unless I discover something worthy of your time...

As for the rest it's really a pleasure shooting with the X2D. The AF improvement is noticeable, even on my 45 & 80mm. 100% view is almost instant thanks to the SSD.
I admit I didn't care much about the stabilizer till I saw the results. It certainly was needed to make good use of those pixels and opens up a lot of new possibilities. It's a lot less noisy than the one in the GFX100, but seems to work continuously (still hear the sound when the option is turned off in the menu ?).
No more - or a lot less - aliasing in fine details is a nice side effect from the increased resolution too.

Quick portrait attached, edited to taste, and obviously not meant to make a point regarding colour neutrality
It's just nice being able to take your pics where you want without colours falling appart.