Can I use a camera with a manually adjustable gamma curve, or do I need RAW for linear data?
Asked 1/30/2018
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I want image data without the camera’s usual gamma/tone correction. My current cameras apply this automatically and don’t seem to let me disable it. Is there a camera that lets me manually adjust or remove gamma correction in-camera, or is the right approach to shoot RAW and handle the curve later in post-processing?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
8y ago
2 Answers
5
Get a camera that can save its raw data. With the raw data, you can apply whatever brightness curve you want in post-processing.
There are many cameras out there that can save raw data. Look around. Pretty much most cameras above the point-and-shoot level can do this. All pro and prosumer cameras can do this.
Originally by user7603. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user7603
8y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
If your goal is linear image data with no gamma correction (gamma 1.0), the practical answer is to shoot RAW, not JPEG. JPEGs are 8-bit and are designed to use a standard transfer curve such as sRGB, so they are not a good format for linear data.
RAW files contain the sensor data before the usual JPEG rendering steps, so they give you the flexibility to apply your own brightness/tone curve in post. Most interchangeable-lens cameras and many advanced cameras offer RAW capture.
So rather than looking for a camera with manual JPEG gamma control, look for one that records RAW. Then you can debayer and process the file into a linear workflow, or apply whatever tone mapping or transfer curve you prefer afterward.
In short: for “no gamma,” use RAW; in-camera JPEG gamma adjustment is generally not the right tool for this.
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