Nikon D80

[elwoodsusanm]

How do I set this camera to use Adobe RGB? Is it possible? I want to shoot in RAW. Posssibly 'numpty' questions but I am new to all this There is so much to learn and so few hours in a day!

[billd2]

Sue, under your Menu options (button on the left of the screen) you will find a Shooting Menu. Go to Image Quality and press ok. You should see your RAW option among others to the right. Click ok and that should do it. If you have problems feel free to ask.

[Whiplash-GT]

hey Sue..

all of the preset color profiles can be used under raw
check page 79/80 of the manual for a step by step to change to RGB

that's what i use as well

tho, if you also dabble in Nikon's CaptureNX don't worry about it as the settings can be changed thru it as well

[TonyW]

Color Mode in the Optimize Image part of the Shooting Menu is where you would set Adobe RGB (it's Color Mode II). But if you're going to be shooting RAW then it doesn't make any difference what you use - RAW file color space is determined by your Elements preferences.

For shooting JPG's though I much prefer Color Mode IIIa which is an sRGB variant. But that's a matter of personal taste!

Tony

[Not4wood]

Tony,

I have been seeing the Color Mode IIIa a lot lately and everyone that shoots it swears by it.

I keep looking in my D80 Menu's and I see other Color Modes but I don't or actually I will say I haven't run across it yet. Where is it in the Menu??

Thanx in advance.

[TonyW]

Mark: It's buried pretty deep, Shooting Menu>Optimize Image>Custom and you'll find Color Mode along with Image sharpening, Tone compensation, Saturation and Hue adjustment. Just make sure you select Done and OK if you change them or they won't take.

Tony

PS One thing to watch for is that if you use Auto or any of the Scene Modes (and I wouldn't recommend any of those) I think the camera does the Custom settings for you. I've somewhere seen a table of what it does pick but I can't remember where but I do remember it made be decide that I should avoid using those modes unless I really had to.

[Not4wood]

Lately, I've been shooting a lot in Manual especially when I'm trying to figure out my old Vivitar 283. Otherwise, I'm in Aperture Priority mostly and on occasion been playing with Shutter Priority. I'm not sure why, but I am not really pleased with shutter priority. I think it might be my old 35mm Konica. It was Aperture Priority and I think I'm still used to it.

I have been trying out the Program Mode and I don't think its too bad. I need to walk around with my camera more and really give it a test. LOL

Since were talking about the D80, I want to ask about the A C Autofocus Mode. From what I've read, once I lock my focus on my moving subject I have to move my Lock Up to have the Focus Lock on target correct?? I can't seem to get the hang of this yet.

Thanks Tony, I'll look for it and see what happens. At one point I did make the basic settings more saturated and I did like it but now I'm confused when I think I should play with it in post processing and leave the image NORMAL as a just in case I don't like this later I still have room to play. I am just about shooting in Raw only at this point. I've graduated from shooting in Raw + JPG, I couldn't get out of this mode for some reason. I think it was insecurity. LOL

[lexcell]

Great input everyone. It really depends on what your output needs are as to what color space is best. However, I always shoot in Adobe RGB so that I have the very most information possible. Later, if I want smaller files or something for the web, I can downsize. I prefer to set the camera up correctly and not have to make corrective adjustments later. I prefer using Photoshop for it's creative aspects that are available to help me to finish my images.

[TonyW]

Laurie: That's one of the other good reasons for shooting RAW. At least the way I understand it is that it then doesn't matter whether you shoot Adobe RGB or sRGB. The RAW files just contain color numbers and you can later choose to convert to whatever color space you want. As I understand it Adobe RGB and sRGB have the same number of colors, it's just that the Adobe RGB numbers are more spread out so get into regions that a lot of monitors and printers can't handle.

My current monitor, printer and the outside lab I use are sRGB so that's what I work with but should I get a wider gamut printer or use an outside lab that can handle Adobe RGB I can always go back to the RAW file and generate an Adobe RGB version without having lost any information.

Tony

[lexcell]

Tony,
That's one way to do it. Personally, I don't want to have to go back and redo images later as technology improves if I can help it so I stick with RAW, and Adobe RGB to have the most information possible. I also save all my layers so I can tweak an image if I learn a new technique or some new technology comes out and I need to make an adjustment on my images.

It really depends on each person's inndividual needs...