Panasonic G7 Colors with Camera RAW Just Wrong

[McVey Images]

I recently came back from photographing fall foliage and found that the RW2 raw files from my Panasonic G7 camera are not processing correctly.  The reds in the leaves are almost fluorescent.  I tried at home with some light red flowers and the result is the same.  The out-of-camera jpeg files are fine, but the raw files in Lightroom are a mess (Camera Raw version 9.7).  I have to adjust the hue in the red and/or orange channels significantly to even get close to the actual colors.  When converted with Silkypix Developer or Piccure+ the files display just fine.  Any suggestions appreciated.

[ssprengel]

A discussion would be easier if we could look at an example raw file as well as a corresponding JPG as output from SilkyPix, with just the default processing in SP.

Upload both to somewhere like http://www.DropBox.com/ and post a public share link, here.

[ManiacJoe]

The first place to look is in the Camera Calibration panel. See if any of the camera profiles there work better for you than the one you are currently using (probably "adobe standard").

[namechange25_02_2017]

Hi,

Can you provide us with the sample files so that we can look at the issue and also which lightroom version are you using and on which OS ?

Thanks,

Bhavesh

[McVey Images]

Lightroom CC 2015.7 release, Camera Raw 9.7, Windows 10 Pro Anniversary Update, Dell UP2716D wide gamut monitor.

I've created a Dropbox account to post the files:

Original RAW https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/68063651/P1040694.RW2

Original RAW exported as full size jpeg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/68063651/CRAWexport.jpg which carries through the fluorescent colors.

In camera jpeg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/68063651/InCamera.JPG which is pretty accurate color wise and matches the SilkyPix output.

As to camera profiles, I used the "Panasonic DMC-G7" built-in profile in Lightroom.  I did create a custom camera profile with X-Rite Color Checker which produced identical results.  So it is something happening in the Camera RAW processing that is causing the color shift.

For comparison, here is the same flower photo taken with an Olympus E-M5II camera:

Original Olympus RAW https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/68063651/PC050006-2.ORF

Olympus in camera jpeg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/68063651/PC050006-2.JPG

[ssprengel]

In general I agree that the colors are more saturated in the G7 using Adobe Standard compared to the in-camera JPG vs the other camera raw and jpg; however, the exposure and white-balance are quite a bit different between the two raw shots:  3350K and 1/8s for one and 4450K and 1/30s for the other, so it's hard to tell what is actually different between the cameras vs the lighting.  One benefit the older Olympus has is Adobe has gone to the trouble of creating several other camera-match profiles, whereas the G7 only has Adobe Standard.

It would be helpful to have the two cameras set to the same exposure and white-balance and take a shot from the same position with the same general window lighting, so one right after the other without there being different amount of clouds and identical sun angle.

[McVey Images]

ssprengel - Thank you for taking the time to look at the images and try to assist.  However, I don't think you are seeing my point.

The Adobe Standard profile was not used in the raw conversion.  Lightroom offers a camera specific profile for the G7.  What I said above is "As to camera profiles, I used the "Panasonic DMC-G7" built-in profile in Lightroom.  I did create a custom camera profile with X-Rite Color Checker which produced identical results".  But for the record, using the Adobe Standard profile doesn't make any difference either.

I only included the Olympus images to demonstrate that Camera Raw was properly converting them, and to offer a comparison of color to compare the G7 images to.  I also have the same flowers photographed with my D800e, also with accurate color when using Camera Raw.  This isn't about color temp or lighting.  It's not about camera profiles.  It happens only to the G7 files when they contains certain reds regardless of lighting or exposure and only with Camera Raw. 

The point I was trying to make is that Camera Raw processes these images from other cameras correctly, and the problem I am seeing is specific to the G7 and the latest version of Camera Raw, and not the OS, computer, monitor, etc.  As I said previously, other raw converters process the G7 raw files properly, with accurate color.

So I continue to believe it is something happening in the Camera RAW processing that is causing the color shift.

This is not my first rodeo.  I've used Adobe products since the second version of Photoshop.  I've never encountered a problem like this, which is the reason for my post.

[JP Hess]

I don't have a wide gamut monitor. I compared the two raw files. They were shot at the same ISO  and f-stop, but the shutter speed on the Olympus image is 1/8 sec. and the shutter speed of the Panasonic image is 1/30 sec. When I increased the exposure on the Panasonic image the colors matched very closely as far as I can see. I suggest that you shoot the images in manual and match exposures and compare the results.

[ssprengel]

In the Camera Calibration section of Lightroom and the Camera Raw plug-in for Photoshop, there is only an Adobe Standard profile listed.  There is no profile that contains the model of the camera in its name.  Now on disk the filename is the camera model in the Adobe Standard profile sub-folder but the embedded profile name, itself, is just Adobe Standard, and that is what I'm referring to.  You may have created other profiles with a CC but as it ships LR only has one called Adobe Standard:

You provided a set of raw+jpg images from another camera and said they were more the same as each other; however, since the colors are so much lighter in that pair and the color balance is so different, it is not easy to conclude just by looking at both sets of images, that the G7 is worse than the EM5.2, which I think was the point of your providing other images, as evidence of a difference.

I believe you when you say the colors are oversaturated using Adobe software, I'm not ready to conclude that the older camera conversion is better, based on those other images, is all I'm saying, since my experience with Adobe profiles is that they are easily oversaturated, with various cameras I've used.