Why do RAW photos change color after import into Aperture 3?
Asked 3/6/2011
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When I import RAW files into Aperture 3, the image first looks correct, then the colors shift after Aperture finishes processing the RAW file. Reds in particular become less saturated or slightly different compared with what I see in-camera or in Adobe Camera Raw.
I’ve only adjusted the default RAW Fine Tuning settings by removing Hue Boost and De-Noise. Why does this happen, and is there a way to keep the imported image closer to the original camera preview color?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
2 Answers
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It's really fairly simple: there's a direct trade-off between color accuracy and apparent noise.
To sense color, the sensor has a filter in front of each sensel. As it happens, the filter for the red channel cuts out the most light. This means when you're doing the conversion, you have to multiply the red channel by the largest factor1 to achieve a particular color balance. When you multiply the data, however, you're increasing the apparent noise right along with the intended data.
As such, to minimize apparent noise, the raw converter software wants to use the weakest multiplier on the red channel that it can get away with.
It looks to me like Aperture is simply using a somewhat smaller multiplier on the red channel to reduce the appearance of noise. ACR apparently uses a slightly larger multiplier to give more accurate reds. Though it appears unlikely to matter much in this particular picture, it's probably fair to guess that when you have pictures taken in relatively low light that Aperture will do a slightly better job of suppressing noise without losing detail.
1 In case you care about the details, the green channel is normally the "baseline" so we'll treat its factor as 1.0. The blue channel is multiplied by a factor of around 1.3 to 1.4, and the red by a factor of about 2 to 2.3. This varies with the camera though -- Sony, for one example, uses much stronger red filters than Canon, so their cameras reproduce saturated reds more easily, but also do relatively poorly in noise tests.
Originally by user603. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user603
15y ago
0
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This is normal RAW-processing behavior, not usually a fault with the file.
At first, Aperture often shows the embedded JPEG preview from the camera. That preview includes the camera’s Picture Style / color rendering. Once Aperture finishes processing, it replaces that preview with its own interpretation of the RAW data.
Different RAW converters render color differently, especially reds. They also make different trade-offs between color accuracy and visible noise: boosting the red channel more can give stronger reds, but can also increase apparent noise. Adobe Camera Raw and Aperture simply use different RAW conversion choices.
So the “correct” first view is likely the camera-generated JPEG preview, not the untouched RAW itself.
What you can do:
- Compare the RAW rendering, not the embedded JPEG preview.
- Check RAW Fine Tuning settings such as Hue Boost, since those can affect color.
- If you want Aperture results to resemble the camera preview more closely, adjust its RAW settings or use a preset that matches your preference.
You generally cannot make every RAW converter produce identical color automatically.
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