Bart’s Bestshot Collection
Updated 2006-May-4
The following contains links to bestshot files for the Casio EX-Z750. They have a jpe file extension. The Z750 expects the bestshot files to be sequentially named as follows: U750001.jpe, U750002.jpe, U750003.jpe, etc… So when you download these, be sure to appropriately rename them so they don’t conflict with custom bestshots you already have on your camera.
To put them in your camera, remove the memory card and place the camera in the cradle. Copy the files into the directory named “scene” in the camera. Put your memory card back in and turn on the camera and the bestshot scenes are installed.
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Virtual ISO1200 (UZ750001.JPE)
ISO=400, EV=-1, Sharp -1, Contrast -2, Saturation -1, Program Mode = Action.
(Note: this was
formerly called virtual iso1600 based on the observation in some cases that the
Z750 was 1EV brighter than other cameras, but a more recent review and some
users were reporting that the ISO readings on the Z750 were understated by
closer to 0.5EV, so it was renamed to virtual iso1200.)
The general idea here is the fairly common trick of taking photos underexposed by EV -1 so you can brighten them up afterwards and apply NR to obtain ISO1200 (ISO400 on the Z750 is actually at least ISO600).
Low contrast and saturation maximizes dynamic range to prevent shadow clipping. Low saturation and sharpness help reduce noise. Action mode ensures fastest shutter speed.
I go back and forth from time to time on the saturation setting. Saturation = 0 is really a bit more accurate, but it’s hard to tell and results look about the same either way.
How to use virtual ISO1200 BS (with an example):
1. Take Photo. Take a picture with the ISO1200 bestshot. Since the EV was set to -1, it causes the camera to underexpose the image by one stop assuming EV 0 gave perfect exposure. In practice, turn down the EV setting until the shutter speed is as fast as you need, but you also want to keep an eye on the histogram and try to avoid clipping the shadows too much (experiment with this—you’d be surprised how far you can push it.) Don’t worry too much about the image looking too dark—this gets fixed in post-processing.
Here’s our example 100% crop right out of the camera shot with virtual ISO1200 bestshot:
In this particular example, I had turned the EV down to -2 to get a decent shutter speed (1/20s).
2. Brighten. Load the picture into Paintshop Pro (or others) and apply some combination of the brightening curve adjustments to get the exposure back up to where you want it. Here are some curve presets for Paintshop Pro that do that conveniently. Use whatever you have.
Presets for Layer->Adjustment Layer->Curves:
Preset_NewAdjustmentLayerCurves_z750_plus_1-3rd_stop.PspScript
Preset_NewAdjustmentLayerCurves_z750_plus_1_stop.PspScript
Preset_NewAdjustmentLayerCurves_z750_plus_2_stop.PspScript
Presets for Adjust->Brightness and Contrast->Curves:
Preset_ColorAdjustCurves_z750_plus_1-3rd_stop.PspScript
Preset_ColorAdjustCurves_z750_plus_1_stop.PspScript
Preset_ColorAdjustCurves_z750_plus_2_stop.PspScript
These presets work in PSPX and I have tried to make them work with PSP9. Earlier version than that and you’re on your own. Either of these sets of presets does the same thing—it’s only a matter of whether you like working directly with the image or with layers. I keep these presets (all six) in the following directory:
My Documents\My PSP Files\Presets
These curves will brighten by +1/3rd stop, +1 stop, and +2 stops respectively. These mimic exposure increase which means they will cause highlights to be blown just as if you really increased exposure. Adjusting the curve near the top so it doesn’t clip is a way to prevent blown highlights. Example is shown below:
+1EV curve
+1EV curve adjusted to prevent highlights from blowing.
Applying a +1EV curve seemed to look about right for this scene. Here’s the result
Image looks good exposure-wise, but the noise is really noticeable now. We’ll fix that next.
3. Remove Noise. Run a noise reduction (NR) program to remove the noise. The NR built into Paintshop Pro is tough to beat IMO. Neat Image, Noise Ninja, and Picture Cooler, etc… are fine too if you don’t have Paintshop Pro. Using the NR tool in Paintshop Pro, make sure you choose good sample points on the image. Here’s a screen shot showing the choices made on this image. In real life, it’s easier to find places to sample—I was sort of cramped here because I used a small crop for demonstration.
Note the image sample marquees in the upper left pane.
Here’s our output from the NR step:
4. Remove residual haze. In especially dark shots like this, there is usually a bluish haze left in the image (visible in the shadows). This is what the NR unavoidably leaves behind because the noise in the shadows isn’t evenly distributed—it adds more light than it subtracts. So, I have a special curve tool that primarily attenuates the blue channel (small amount of the red and green as well) in the shadows. Here are links to those curves:
Presets for Layer->Adjustment Layer->Curves:
Preset_NewAdjustmentLayerCurves_Remove_Haze_After_ISO_Boost.PspScript
Presets for Adjust->Brightness and Contrast->Curves:
Preset_ColorAdjustCurves_Remove_Haze_After_ISO_Boost.PspScript
For those w/o Paintshop, here’s what the haze-remove curve looks like. There’s one for the luminance (left) and one for the blue channel (right)
These are usually close to the right answer for a +1EV boost. If you boost less, you might want to tone down these curves. If you boost more, you might apply the curve twice. If you are specifically trying to enhance details in the dark shadows, these curves might look a lot different. In lieu of these curves, I’ve also had success with the clarify filter and with the unsharp mask with large settings—eg., radius 40 and strength 30. In any case, it’s just a starting point—make adjustments to suite taste. Here’s the final image:
5. You’re done. The effective ISO of your photo is the original ISO you shot at (ISO600 in this case) plus whatever brightening you did (+1EV in this example which means you doubled the virtual ISO value to 1200.) So In other words, the shutter speed, aperture, and exposure levels are all the same as if you’d really shot at ISO1200. This is the most common scenario which is why I call it virtual ISO1200. Results are generally good enough for sharp 5x7” prints.
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Same as Virtual ISO1200 except camera is set to ISO200 and the saturation is set to 0 because ISO200 noise isn’t as bad as ISO400 noise.) If there's enought light, use this instead to get sharper photos. In some cases, photos taken at ISO200 look fine with very little or no post-processing.
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Action! (UZ750003.JPE): Same as Casio built-in Sports mode except Contrast is set to -1 because I like it better.
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Turbo Action (UZ750004.JPE): Same as Action! except the ISO is set to 200 and the sharpness is set to -1 to help reduce noise. Use this for super-fast shutter speeds in bright light or sports shooting in not-so-bright light. Flash is also disabled here. It’s very similar to virtual ISO800 except the contrast is -1 (-2 in virtual ISO800), and the default EV is 0 (it’s -1 in virtual ISO800).
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Contrast -2, Sharpness = -1, Program Mode = Auto, AF area = spot, Flash disabled, EV = -0.7
I don't like Casio's choice for scenery so I use this instead. Lower contrast improves capturing high-dynamic range scenes--especially when there's snow. Currently using auto exposure mode with EV initialized to -0.7 (because blown highlights are very common with EV = 0—especially for natural landscapes that have huge dynamic range.) You need to keep an eye on the histogram and adjust EV appropriately.
I have sharpness at -1—the most accurate setting for my camera. “Accurate” means the spatial frequency response is flattest at this setting.
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Contrast -2, Sharpness = -1, Program Mode = Auto, AF area = spot, EV = -0.7, WB = daylight, Color enhancement = Green
This is like the Scenery mode except it's got some of Casio's "Natural Green" settings--daylight WB and green enhancement. Really works great for forest scenes. Again, contrast is set low to minimize the problem of blown highlights where there is sky peeking through the leaves.
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