Canon colour vs Nikon?

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mart77

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Right I shoot Nikon, now I have been going through 500px and picking out pictures that I liked for their colour only. Ignoring if the model was pretty etc. Ive been doing this for some time and have been looking at the exif data. I have found that the colour tone of images I really like have all been from Canon cameras except for 1 image. That 1 image was the only one I was not so sure on but I still liked the colour.

Is it possible that there is that much of a difference? It seems strange to me that I am finding it to be this way as the tests are essentially blind tests as I dont know what camera the photographer is using till I look at the data. Now I know its all about the photographer, but I was choosing the images purely based on colour. I have been a Nikon shooter for a very long time, I was not trying to find this result, i was simply trying to gather a group of images I like the colour of then spotted this trend.

Any thoughts?
 
Just my personal opinion I am sure all the techies on here will disagree, for me the way Canon and Nikon handles colour does differ. I have some times looked at an image and said straight away that the photographer was shooting Canon. I wouldn't say I prefer one to another just that there is a difference especially with portraits.
 
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Surely with enoutgh PP, any digital colour file from a Nikon would look like one from a Canon and vise versa?? Id say your results are probably a coincidence, as you dont know to what level they have been processed before being presented on 500px.
 
Nikon_Nick said:
Surely with enoutgh PP, any digital colour file from a Nikon would look like one from a Canon and vise versa?? Id say your results are probably a coincidence, as you dont know to what level they have been processed before being presented on 500px.
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maybe, but if there is an inherent colour difference then it will be present across a broad range of photos from various photographers.
 
I have always thought nikon colours to be a bit bland.. pastel like,, canon seems to be richer.. honest opinion.
 
KIPAX said:
cant tell if your being serious.. starting wiht the smile..
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Just thought the difference of opinion was funny. I was being serious.

Like most things it's going to come down to individual opinion and what the individual prefers. Not sure if any really bad camera's exist any more. They all seem pretty good.
 
f/2.8 said:
Like most things it's going to come down to individual opinion and what the individual prefers..
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hence why i put.. honent opinion.. have always thought it..
 
I normally find that canon shooter prefer the washed look or more desaturated look. Nikon colours often tend to be more bold and vibrant. It's neither here nor there though as everything can be changed in PP.
 
c-m said:
I normally find that canon shooter prefer the washed look or more desaturated look. Nikon colours often tend to be more bold and vibrant. It's neither here nor there though as everything can be changed in PP.
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you say its neither here nor there, but looking through 500px I seem to be able to pick out one canon photographer after the other.
 
In the age of picture controls and Lightroom presets it is hard to talk about Nikon/Canon unique colours.

DSLR camera sensors don't see the world in colour. They reconstruct the colour information based on parameters of the Bayer CFA in software - in camera or in post depending on if you are RAW shooter or not.

What you see is most likely just evidence of the fact than many Nikon shooters are happy with built-in picture controls and default workflow presets.

If you are on Nikon (D80 and later) you don't need to switch systems to get the colour look you like. Just put your own picture control curve to your camera or download one of many presets to your Lightroom and you can get very close.
 
In post processing any nikon camera can be made to output colour like a canon and visa-versa. In fact Darktable even has preset Nikon/Canon/Pentax/Sony curves.
 
Of all the things that can effect colour in a major or just a subtle way, the brand of camera is probably the least significant.
 
As someone who used to shoot Nikon, and has moved to Canon I would say there is a difference in how the two systems handle colour (and white balance) straight from camera. Obviously each camera can be made to look like the other, but for me, I much prefer Canon files straight from the camera, and spend much less time processing these days than I did with Nikon.
 
It may not be the brand of camera that makes a difference, but the brand of sensor, as may the size of sensor. I have taken the same scene with a Nikon DSLR and a Canon compact, both shot in RAW and it is impossible to get the colours to match. The Canon sensor struggled with yellow street lights, and as you would expect from a smaller sensor, dynamic range.

Canon make their own sensors, and Sony, Nikon and Pentax may use Sony sensors, slightly tweaked to the customers specs. Toshiba also make sensor too I think. Probably others too. All sensor manufacturers will do things slightly different to the opposition, and so not give exactly the same reproduction of the colours in a scene.

You can make reproduction very similar with a Color Checker Passport, but that may not be possible in many situations.
 
interesting topic.
I have always though that canon has more saturated "Autumn colors", and Nikon/Minolta more vibrant blue/reds/yellows.

Also its a bit like why National Geographic mags have a certain "look" to them.
 
Nikon_Nick said:
Surely with enoutgh PP, any digital colour file from a Nikon would look like one from a Canon and vise versa?? Id say your results are probably a coincidence, as you dont know to what level they have been processed before being presented on 500px.
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You could say that....until you see a Fuji image now that's colour :)

Steve
 
Greg I am in the same boat as you, having owned a D800/D700/D3/D7000 and Canon 5D mk2/3 I think the straight out of camera colour of the Canon much better suits me. Also skin tones seem to be much more faithful to me(scott kelby also noted this) Also agree theres not much of a biggie either way as you can process them whatever way you want shooting raw.
 
Depends what you mean by nikon. The d4 and d800 produce radically different colours to the d700 and d3s SOOC. I shoot nikon but prefer canon's JPEG processing in camera. I mainly shoot raw though so this doesn't affect me - i have custom DNG profiles for all my cameras. Shadow recovery and DR are more important to me and Nikon wins there.
 
decigallen said:
Depends what you mean by nikon. The d4 and d800 produce radically different colours to the d700 and d3s SOOC. I shoot nikon but prefer canon's JPEG processing in camera. I mainly shoot raw though so this doesn't affect me - i have custom DNG profiles for all my cameras. Shadow recovery and DR are more important to me and Nikon wins there.
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You don't have to shoot RAW to get that flexibility. Just download ViewNX2 (bundled with every Nikon camera sold). Run Picture Control Utility and create a custom curve you want and import it to the camera. Don't rely on default ones (Standard, Neutral, Vivid) as Nikon keeps changing these and tailors them for cameras (consumers/prosumers/professional).

By using custom picture controls you can achieve consistent JPEG outputs. This is very important if you are using multiple bodies on a shooting event and want consistent results.

http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Learn-And-Explore/Article/gu5zwt9w/picture-controls-step-by-step.html
 
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