Recent queries on the Forum led me to want to try to quantify the differences between the Color Modes in the D70. I shot a target with 24 patches of roughly evenly spaces hues in all three Color Modes. All taken with D70 18-70mm@70mm f/4.5 1/13s ISO200 Contrast=NORMAL Saturation=NORMALHere is the target (upper left), Color Mode Ia (upper right) Color Mode II(lower left), and Color Mode IIIa (lower right) (I had to underexpose slightly to prevent clipping across all hues so the target looks brighter than the images.)
 I loaded these images into PhotoShop CS and noted the Hue, Saturation, and Brightness of each patch. (I used the Blur Average Filter on each patch before measuring.) In
the following analysis Color Mode II is shown but we'll concentrate on
the differences between Color Mode Ia and Color Mode IIIa. Here is the plot of Hue versus Saturation.
 And here is the plot of Hue versus Brightness.
 Hue On
the Hue versus Saturation plot it is clear that the red Color Mode Ia
squares are to the right of the Green Color Mode IIIa squares in the
240 to 300 degree range of Hue. This fits the hypothesis that Color Mode Ia shifts magenta hues toward red. (More pleasant flesh tones.) Saturation Also
on the Hue versus Saturation plot it is clear that the green Color Mode
IIIa squares are above the Red Color Mode Ia squares in the 60 to 120
degree range of Hue. This fits the hypothesis that Color Mode IIIa boosts the saturation of green/yellow. (Greener grass and vegetation.) Brightness On
the Hue versus Brightness plot it is clear that the green Color Mode
IIIa squares are well above the Red Color Mode Ia squares in the 210 to
300 degree range of hue. This fits the hypothesis that Color Mode IIIa boosts the brightness of blue/magenta. (Bluer skies.) Bill Visit me, info and galleries at: Nikon Photos and Information |