Over saturation

[Ross]

I probably could have posted this somewhere else as it's not specifically an X100 question.

However this camera is my first and only digital one (added to a couple of Fuji film rangefinders) so excuse me.

Question: What are the ramifications of over saturation as indicated by the RAW processor (in my case Raw Developer, not Silkypix) A fairly pure red seems particularly susceptible to this result. It is, of course, fixable--with some loss of intensity. How would this likely print without correction?

I note that pure red does play tricks in both photographic and digital imaging, I see the phenomenon on digital TV often and when I was a film editor it was a colour that I avoided in super titles for films for TV broadcast.

I do presently make initial enhancements in Raw Developer then fine tune the TIFF result in Photoshop Elements (which does not seem to have an over saturation indicator BTW)

I'd appreciate any advice, preferably without suggestions that I purchase other software, this is my toolkit for now.

[gavinlg]

You can avoid clipping the red channel by toning down red saturation and luminance. I'm not sure if this adjustment is available in your raw converter. If it's any help, the x100 JPEGS in provia mode handle reds superbly - they very very rarely clip color channels. Perhaps silkypix is similar?

[jsrockit]

It's probably going to print too saturated too, but that depends on your monitor calibration, etc. RAW is not magic... you are going to have to do PP. I've had issues with reds and yellows. The M8 and M9 have this issue too. It's just life in digital at this point.

[v_roma]

Yes, I've also found the X100's reds to be a little too much without some PP. Like fdigital, I tend to tone down the red luminance and/or saturation when it's particularly offensive (e.g., someone wearing a red jacket).

[Ross]

Thanks.

The Iridient Raw Developer I'm using does allow me to tame the red saturation and easily indicates it.

I should try Silkypix again, a few sessions with the more understandable Iridient may have helped me to comprehend Silkypix's quirkiness. I know that it, too, has oversaturation indicators.

The eyeball method sometimes makes me think how punchy the reds might be, but I haven't tried printing yet. I assume that I might just find a featureless red hole?

[IK13]

The way to judge how the picture will look printed is:
1. Have your monitor calibrated.
2. Get the icc profile for the printer/paper combination and use it for soft proofing. PS does it, don't know if PSE can do it.

A word about the reds - on the newer, wide-gamut monitors, reds appear way over saturated (even if they are not) if the picture is displayed in an application which is not color space aware. Unfortunately many/most of the popular applications fail into this category. Trust what you see in PS.