I finally could dedicate some time to play with my recently acquired D700.

My quest at the time was to find the equivalent setting or set of settings for White Balance minus 2 in my D2X.

Here is the account of that search.

Please give me your comments.

Have a great time
JRP (Founder & Administrator. Nikonian at the north-eastern Mexican desert) Gallery, Brief Love Story, The Team
Join the Silver, Gold and Platinum members that help this happen; upgrade. Join your personal web site to the Nikonians WebRing
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Great little article, JRP. You catch on really quickly. How about sharing that C1-AAASTANDAR-02 picture control.

Danny
A Nikonian in North Carolina

What he said...

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>Great little article, JRP. You catch on really quickly. How
>about sharing that C1-AAASTANDAR-02 picture control.
>
>Danny
>>size="2"]A Nikonian in North Carolina

+2...

Thank you gentleman, I have yet to learn how to download it to a card.
As soon as that happens I will email it to you since most likely it will be in a file format that may not be downloadable from here.

In the meantime here is a shot made with fill flash to test accuracy of color rendition when using that mysterious color setting.
I just applied a little curve to it and it was a perfect match with the subject.
That had to be done because I shot it by mistake in TTL-BL, instead of plain TTL.

Have a great time
JRP (Founder & Administrator. Nikonian at the north-eastern Mexican desert) Gallery, Brief Love Story, The Team
Join the Silver, Gold and Platinum members that help this happen; upgrade. Join your personal web site to the Nikonians WebRing
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Attachment #1, (jpg file)

> As soon as that happens I will email it to you since most likely it will be in a file format that may not be downloadable from here.

You should be able to put the file in a '.zip' file, and post the zip file on the site.

George
My Nikonian Galleries

Good thinking. Thank you.

Have a great time
JRP (Founder & Administrator. Nikonian at the north-eastern Mexican desert) Gallery, Brief Love Story, The Team
Join the Silver, Gold and Platinum members that help this happen; upgrade. Join your personal web site to the Nikonians WebRing
Make sure you check our workshops at The Nikonians Academy

JRP

Just saw this post and tried downloading your picture control files. When I try to save them to the D700 from the card, I get a message that they are not picture control files. If you can help I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

Regards,

Vic Santoro

Sharing Custom Picture Controls starts on page 172 in the manual. Here are the steps:

1) Go into the shooting menu
2) Select Manage Picture Control
3) Scroll down to Load/save
4) Select Copy to card
5) Select a Picture Control
6) Choose a destination
7) Press OK

The destinations are 1 through 99.

The manual doesn't explain how the picture controls are saved on the card. I'm experimenting with my D300 at the moment, but I'm certain it works the same way for the D700. When put my card into a reader, I found the picture control files I created in:

\NIKON\CUSTOMPC\PICCONxx.NCP

where xx is the destination number you chose like 01, 02, etc. If you want to share or save that file, rename it so you can remember what it is. In this case, I would probably rename it C1-AAASTANDAR-02.NCP. The manual describes how to load picture controls from the card to the camera, but it doesn't really explain where on the card to put them so the camera can find them. I suspect that worst case, we can just rename them back to the way the camera writes them.

We can give this a try to see if it works.

Danny
A Nikonian in North Carolina

Thanks for the info, Danny. Your explanation appears to be very easy to follow - and a big step in the right direction in my view.

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I will camping here for this mysterious .NCP file

OK, guys. Thank you for waiting.
I saved them in positions 1 (AAASTANDARD-02) and 2 (VELVIA-02).
They produce the results as shown in the article.
You can choose in what positions to save them from your memory card into your camera.
Color space used to produce such results was sRGB; White Balance: AUTO; Metering: MATRIX

http://www.nikonians.org/dcfp/user_files/174733.zip

Have a great time
JRP (Founder & Administrator. Nikonian at the north-eastern Mexican desert) Gallery, Brief Love Story, The Team
Join the Silver, Gold and Platinum members that help this happen; upgrade. Join your personal web site to the Nikonians WebRing
Make sure you check our workshops at The Nikonians Academy

Attachment #1, (zip file)

Thanks, JRP. I'll give these a try.

Danny
A Nikonian in North Carolina

thanks again

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Thanks JRP

Bob Baldassano
My Nikonians Gallery

"Nikonians membership - My most important photographic investment, after the
camera"

Retirement is a gift of time - Don't waste it!

Thank you JRP. Both PC's are very nice additions to our tools.

Rob Puller
my Nikonians gallery

thanks for sharing

"Color space used to produce such results was sRGB; White Balance: AUTO; Metering: MATRIX"


While I commend you for the profiles you have set-up and made available, I'm sure you realize that using the sRGB colour space profile gives you the smallest colour gamaut available with about 6,000 colours.

For others reading this, the sRGB colour space is fine for web images or for use on digital projectors if this is your intention. However if you desire a larger colour space with better results and a larger colour gamut, the Adobe RGB colour space is superior for initial capture.

To find out what colour space you are shooting with, go to Menu->Shooting Menu (camera icon)->Colour Space. Clicking on colour space will give you two choices - sRGB or Adobe RGB.

I realize that in post-production, be it with Photoshop or some other image processing software you will ultimately have to convert these images to an srgb colour space for printing. However, some high-end printers and pro-print labs accept .tiff files in the Adobe RGB colour space, or CMYK if going to a book printer.

Something to consider depending upon the ultimate destination of your NEF images.

FYI - I shoot in RAW mode and use a colour profile set-up in the Raw converter of Adobe CS-4 to give me the results I want.

Hope this helps.

Frederic in Montréal

Nothing ventured... nothing gained!
http://www.RemarkableImages.ca

Thank you!! Installed on my D700 with no problems, added to Capture NX no problems..
Works like a charm and gives GREAT color!!!

jrp,

Could you please tell me what the picture control settings were for the AAASTSNDARD-02 file? I did not see them in the article, and I am unable to open files on my computer with the .NCP extension.

Thanks,
Ken Olson

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jrp,

Just in case there are any others out there that don't understand that they don't have to open the .NCP files, but only have to copy them and then paste them to their CF card, I thought I'd mention it.

Ken Olson

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

>OK, guys. Thank you for waiting.
>I saved them in positions 1 (AAASTANDARD-02) and 2
>(VELVIA-02).
>They produce the results as shown in the article.
>You can choose in what positions to save them from your memory card into your camera.
>Color space used to produce such results was sRGB; White
>Balance: AUTO; Metering: MATRIX
>
>http://www.nikonians.org/dcfp/user_files/174733.zip
>

Thanks for sharing that PC, creates very nice images.

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JRP,

For those with a D3s, is there a way you can provide a description of the settings so we can replicate it on the D3s?

Jim

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KRP Thanks for sharing, I like the results it gives images.

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I have them load on my memory card, but for the life on me I can not figure out how to get them into the camera....help !!!

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Thanks for the diligent work.

TFC

also some downloads from Nikon
http://nikonimglib.com/opc/index.html.en

bon succes !

“There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.”

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Can someone please help me regarding this file when I click this on my IMAC anothing happens I have tried this several times and no success.
Thanks

Keith


OK update I was able to get the Nikon downloads and save them to my card and also to the camera the other pic controls Im not able to get . The camera says nothing in the folder......

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It works. Thanks.


Tom Wilby

http://picasaweb.google.com/GTomWilby

Please add me to the list of those who would like to have this control.

Thanks in advance!

Ron

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JRP posted an attachment in this post.

Danny
A Nikonian in North Carolina

Can your C1-AAASTANDAR-02 picture control be reproduced by showing its position in the picture control grid or is it something more involved?
I have been shooting in Neutral because I was told it would give me a larger dynamic range but find the color and contrast still need adjustment.

-------------------
"On no account allow a Vogon to read poetry at you." - The Hitchhikers Guide

Nikonians keeps me very busy. But I'll look to find a moment during the weekend to copy/save my C1-AAASTANDARD-02

Nikon recommends to use NEUTRAL when you will do extensive post-processing to meet your personal taste. So it is not strange at all that you find color and contrast lacking.

As soon as I get a good hold of all the variables that can be bunched together into a Picture Control I'll make my VELVIA 50 look picture control for landscapes.

Have a great time
JRP (Founder & Administrator. Nikonian at the north-eastern Mexican desert) Gallery, Brief Love Story, The Team
Join the Silver, Gold and Platinum members that help this happen; upgrade. Join your personal web site to the Nikonians WebRing
Make sure you check our workshops at The Nikonians Academy

VERY interested in these two setting if you would post them for us to "steal"

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Visit my Nikonians gallery.

I feel like I am waiting to get my first car.....

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Would shooting in Adobe RGB have negative consequences when shooting in Vivid or in your C1 setting?

I am basically new to serious digital photography. The last shooting I did was with an N6006 film camera over 10 years ago. The new plethora of controls is mind-boggling.

"Would shooting in Adobe RGB have negative consequences when shooting in Vivid or in your C1 setting?"


You can apply the Vivid setting to Adobe RGB images too.

If you shoot in RAW format, to the best of my knowledge, these settings can only be read and retained in Nikon's proprietary Capture NX2. If you were to open your RAW images in Photoshop, the information is not read in the Adobe Raw Converter (ACR) as it will consider them as a "neutral" image for you to apply the processing you desire. Here's a flowchart to show you how most digital camera's create a RAW file. Notice how all in camera setting are completely bypassed in creating the RAW file.





If however you shoot these images as JPEG's, all the data and pre-sets including whatever sharpening, colour, contrast etc will be retained and burned forever into the image. This includes JRP's suggested settings to recreate the Vivid film look (which I like by the way ). You can of course shoot JPEG+RAW and get the best of both worlds. In the next flowchart below, here's how a JPEG file is created, or if you shoot TIFF files to avoid JPEG compression.





You can learn more about how to create custom profiles for RAW images in ACR from Scott Kelby's excellent book "Adobe Photoshop CS4 book for Digital Photographers" which you can buy on-line from major book retailers like Amazon.com.

He also has books for CS3 and CS5, and Lightroom 2 and 3 if these are the programs you use to browse and process your images. Another method that's popular is to do your initial processing in Capture NX2 then bring them into Photoshop or other image processing softwares for post-processing.

Many fine tutorials are available on YouTube, at PhotoShopUser TV, (for example this episode on creating camera profiles for Lightroom 2 at http://kelbytv.com/lightroomkillertips/2008/08/27/video-camera-profiles-for-lightroom/), or by Googling Photoshop, then browse through the many websites offering good tips.

Hope this helps.

Frederic in Montréal

Nothing ventured... nothing gained!
http://www.RemarkableImages.ca

Attachment #1, (jpg file)
Attachment #2, (jpg file)

I disagree with your RAW flow chart for a Nikon. The Bayer filter is an integral part of the sensor and the RAW recorded data has been influenced by the Bayer Filter. Also Nikon's NEF includes the RAW image data, the EXIF data for the camera settings and a JPEG thumbnail created from the RAW data by the imaging ASIC. If you now use Nikon's proprietary SW or SW that uses the Nikon tool kit, the stored camera settings data will be applied to the RAW data when the file is opened giving you what you saw on the back of the camera monitor. ADL also influences the RAW data by lowering exposure and moving binned data. If as you point out you use a 3rd party post processor that has not used the Nikon tool set, like any Adobe product, they cannot see the special tagged data in the NEF file, so apply their own interpretation to the Bayer Filtered RAW data.

Bob Baldassano
My Nikonians Gallery

"Nikonians membership - My most important photographic investment, after the
camera"

Retirement is a gift of time - Don't waste it!

The flowchart I have provided Bob is a simplification of the process to illustrate what happens with the image processing in most digital cameras today.

I probably should have shown the line between the Bayer filter and the sensor as bi-direction, meaning the info flows back and forth between the too.

Of course there are thousands of ancillary circuits attached to or working with the sensors. The sensor itself is actually an analogue device, in which the photos that hit the picture elements (pixel) then convert the varying voltage created by the varying light intensity into a numerical reference of ones and zeros via an ADC (analoge to digital) converters. There are also feedback loops, counters and many other circuits tied in including the focusing system and the iTTL of the flash that also takes data from the sensor.

Needless to say, there's a lot going on within the electronic brain of today's modern camera! To put it in perspective, the computing power of the camera in your hand is greater than the first modern computer called ENIAC built in 1946. That vacume tube device weighed 30 TONS and occupied a whole floor at the University of Pennsylvania! More here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC

All the best,
Frederic in Montréal

Nothing ventured... nothing gained!
http://www.RemarkableImages.ca

.....

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Ok JRP time to deliver the goods

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Hmmmmm

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We're stiiiiiillllll waiting.

Be good
Ed

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Please see my message above, #19

Have a great time
JRP (Founder & Administrator. Nikonian at the north-eastern Mexican desert) Gallery, Brief Love Story, The Team
Join the Silver, Gold and Platinum members that help this happen; upgrade. Join your personal web site to the Nikonians WebRing
Make sure you check our workshops at The Nikonians Academy

Well for some reason I am just getting an error message and nothing opens. Could it be because I'm on a Macbook Pro? Can someone send me these setting a different way?

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>Please see my message above, #19

Thanks JRP. Now to go try them out.

Be good
Ed

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Any reason these wont open on a Mac?

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The file type is "ZIP".

Do you have a program that can open a '.ZIP' type of file?

It is a library file that is it has multiple files within it and each file is compressed by a special coding technique. So you need a program that can read the internal directory of files and uncompress each contained file.

Stuffit Expander
Zipit

George
My Nikonian Galleries

The file opened fine on my iMac. I am running OS X 10.6.4 Are you running an earlier version?
If you still can't get the file to open, I will be happy to try to send you the opened files via email.
-------------------
"On no account allow a Vogon to read poetry at you." - The Hitchhikers Guide

>Nikonians keeps me very busy. But I'll look to find a moment
>during the weekend to copy/save my C1-AAASTANDARD-02
>
>Nikon recommends to use NEUTRAL when you will do extensive
>post-processing to meet your personal taste. So it is not
>strange at all that you find color and contrast lacking.
>
>As soon as I get a good hold of all the variables that can be
>bunched together into a Picture Control I'll make my VELVIA 50
>look picture control for landscapes.
>
>
JRP,

I placed the files in my D700 and I am enjoying the using them. I believe you shoot a D300 also which I have also, and a D7000. Is it possible to set those files up for either of those. I know the functions are different, so I would assume it would not be easy to work that out.

Chuck

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To make full use of the picture controls that JRP so nicely provided, you have to load the picture controls onto your camera and import them into Capture NX2. It took a bit of digging to figure out how to import the picture controls into NX2. Here's how I was able to do it.

1) After loading the picture controls onto my D700, the picture controls are still on the CF card. I inserted the card into my computer's card reader so that the picture control files are in:
E:\NIKON\CUSTOMPC\PICCON01.NCP
E:\NIKON\CUSTOMPC\PICCON02.NCP

2) Start NX2 and open a NEF

3) In the Develop section open Camera Settings and under the Picture Control section, click on the menu icon.



4) In the menu that pops up, select "Load Custom Picture Control Settings"



5) Surprisingly, NX2 was smart enough to find the CF card and display the picture controls on it

6) I selected both picture controls (Ctrl left click on each in Windows) and clicked the OK button



Hopefully this helps everybody take advantage of these picture controls.

Danny
A Nikonian in North Carolina

Attachment #1, (jpg file)
Attachment #2, (jpg file)
Attachment #3, (jpg file)

Danny,

Thank you for posting that info. I was not aware you could import picture controls into NX2.

-------------------
"On no account allow a Vogon to read poetry at you." - The Hitchhikers Guide

For what it's worth I could only get picture control to work with a 4GB card and not a 8GB card.

Danny

I am unable to open files with the .NCP extension on them. I am able to unzip the original file, but I get stopped by the files with the .NCP extensions on them. Windows needs some software to open this type of file, and I don't know where to obtain this software on the web. I mistakenly bought some software that I thought would work, but the only thing it can do is correct errors that .NCP files might contain. All that I was able to figure out was that it may have something to do with something called NHL2002. Can you please help me? I am writing this to you because you seem to be one of the most helpful people here at Nikonians and one of the least likely to think unfavorably of me for asking such a basic question.

Thanks,
Ken Olson

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Now that I've downloaded the picture control I was looking at it in the editor. the AAA one is just the Standard picture control with sharpening set to 7 (instead of default 3). It doesn't put in a custom curve, for example.

The Velvia one is Vivid with sharpening at 5, contrast at 1, brightness at 1, saturation at 2 and hue at 0. The net effect is a contrastier, brighter image.

I still can't get them to work! They won't load on our card. If I just make those adjustments in the camera ^^ would it be the same difference?

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Yes, if you make those adjustments you've basically replicated what these two picture controls look like.

Good deal. I'll just make a couple more with these setting and name them accordingly. Thanks

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Many thanks JRP for sharing these files.

Kind regards

G

Please feel free to visit and comment on my Nikonians gallery.

Resurrecting this thread as I've been trying to add this Picture control. I already have DX2 controls and can't add anymore. I downloaded the zip file in my mac. How do I load it to my NX2 or into my D700. I know its in my CF card because when I put it on my card reader I can double click on it.

Having only recently gotten my D700, I say a great big Thank You!!

Greg
Striving to Learn Something Everyday.

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>Resurrecting this thread as I've been trying to add this
>Picture control. I already have DX2 controls and can't add
>anymore. I downloaded the zip file in my mac. How do I load
>it to my NX2 or into my D700. I know its in my CF card
>because when I put it on my card reader I can double click on
>it.
I've tried to load them into the D700 as well as NX2 and can't seem to make it happen. Any suggestions. The two files are in the CUSTOMPC folder on the CF card. Neither the camera, nor NX2, see the files at all.
I may have stumbled on the answer. The folder on the CF card should be "NIKON". Is this correct?

Best, Jim

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You are correct.

Tom Wilby

>You are correct.
>
>Tom Wilby
>
>
Well, it still didn't work. I will still work on it but need to be able to take more time working it out.

Best, Jim

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Let me know when you find the answer, been trying for awhile.

I had trouble getting the name of the folder right. Got round this by making the camera save one of the existing Picture Controls to the card. This created the folder in the right place and with the correct name. I then placed the new files in the folder and was able to load them.

Stephen

D700 - D80
F4s for B&W film
Assorted lenses

I got it to work using Danny's (ApexUS)suggestion above:
---------------------------------------------------------------
To make full use of the picture controls that JRP so nicely provided, you have to load the picture controls onto your camera and import them into Capture NX2. It took a bit of digging to figure out how to import the picture controls into NX2. Here's how I was able to do it.

1) After loading the picture controls onto my D700, the picture controls are still on the CF card. I inserted the card into my computer's card reader so that the picture control files are in:
E:\NIKON\CUSTOMPC\PICCON01.NCP
E:\NIKON\CUSTOMPC\PICCON02.NCP

Best, Jim

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Hello all, it's my first day!

I was looking around and stumbled on this thread, having a few custom controls myself I of course added the two above and really like the Velvia.

I do however have a question....does anyone know of a "D700 shooting bank"? As in, a source for more custom controls.

I know, it isn't hard at all to set your own, more that it would be interesting to see what others are shooting with. For example, my C3MOREVIVID setting is VERY close to C2AAASTANDARD but was achieved in the inverse (sharpness -1, saturation +3).

If no bank is known, what are the chances of making it a sticky thread?

Cheers!

Jason

Recently downloaded and installed this onto my D700.
Good results so far and have put this photograph into my gallery taken with it.
Thank's for sharing jrp.

Barry.

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Help....I have download jrp's files to a freshly formated memory card and can not for the life of me figure out how to get them into the camera, when I go to "Manage Picture Contol/Load & Save/copy to camera" I get "No picture Control file found on memory card". Do I have to rename them? and if so to what?

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Hi

First you need to create a folder on your card called Nikon.
Into this folder you need to place the unzipped folder you downloaded called CUSTOMPC.
Then put into the camera and (hopefully) this should work.

I'm not the greatest with a computer but this worked for me. If not I'm sure someone on here can sort it for you.

Regards, Barry.

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And how do you creat a folder on the card? is it done with the card in the camera or attached to the computer?

Attached to the computer.

Regards, Barry

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I kept messing with it and got it upload to the cameras. I really like Velvia-02 it makes the colors pop. Thanks JRP

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thank you for your work
works nicely

“There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.”

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Hi,

Thank you very much!

Chris

I know this is an older thread but I just want to say thank you to all who contributed to this topic. It helped out a lot since I was able to maximize the usefulness of NX2. It would be nice to have the topic pinned for future reference.

This made my pictures more vibrant especially the velvia picture control although I had to adjust the saturation by 1 for my liking.




Regards,

Glenn
http://gqtuazonphotography.smugmug.com/