Canon Color Science - Does It Live Up?
Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash
Color science is all the rage these days!
And any discussion on the topic eventually touches upon Canon’s color science.
Why do Canon colors look so pleasing? What makes Canon’s color science stand out? Do Canon sensors trade-off accuracy for prettiness? Do Canon colors live up to their reputation?
But before we decode all that, you need to know the basics of color science. So, let’s dive right in.
What Is Color Science?
The video above by Crimson Engine clarifies why the term “color science” is NOT exactly what it sounds like. It is not the science of color or the science of how our eyes interpret different wavelengths of light as different colors.
photo by hh5800 via iStock
Color science is how a particular manufacturer’s camera sensor processes the raw color data to make the colors look unique. In other words, as the video above says, color science is an internal LUT, or Look Up Table built into the camera.
That brings us to the next question.
How Does Color Science Work?
The above video by Gerald Undone explains what camera companies do to make their colors look unique.
It often comes down to the filters they place on the camera’s image sensor.
A camera will typically have a color filter array (CFA) or a mosaic of tiny Red, Green and Blue filters placed over its image sensor. This helps capture color information.
The most common type of CFAs is the Bayer filter mosaic, which contains 50% green, 25% red and 25% blue filters.
By Romkur via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0
Since human eyes are more sensitive to Green, especially in daylight conditions, the Bayer filter mosaic uses two Green filters for every Red or Blue filter.
But not all color filters are created equal.
And that gives the manufacturers some control over how they want a particular color to look like.
For instance, they can manipulate the color filters to make the red look a little more orange or the blue a little more cyan.
Learn More:
What Makes Canon’s Color Science Stand Out
photo by Igor Alecsander via iStock
As discussed above, color filters placed on the camera sensor often do not reproduce 100% accurate colors. Some camera brands deliberately choose to use a slightly inaccurate color filter in order to create colors that look more pleasing to the eyes.
Canon does the same! The Canon EOS R camera, for instance, is known for producing rich skin tones in portrait photography. The camera does this by shifting the reds and yellows closer to orange, which helps even out any harsh features of the skin, hides any blemishes in the skin and makes the skin tones look more consistent.
photo by RelaxFoto.de via iStock
Canon cameras also shift the blue a little bit toward cyan. So, if you shoot the blue sky with EOS R during the daytime, the sky doesn’t look 100% blue but it still looks very attractive and unique.
I have also been incredibly impressed with the EOS R’s color science for video. In fact, I’ve found that the colors it produces right out of the camera often don’t need any color grading! This saves me a ton of time in post-processing and allows me to attend to other tasks.
Of course, this is just one of the EOS R’s many excellent features. You can get more details on my thoughts on this awesome camera in this post.
Anyway, I digress...
This blog post by EOSHD does a good job of explaining how Canon color scientists draw on their years of experience in the photography industry to put a unique, artistic spin to the Canon colors, rather than simply relying on their technical knowledge.
Editor's Tip: Ready to jump ship to Canon to take advantage of their superior color science? Visit Samy's to peruse their extensive collection of popular Canon cameras, including crop sensor and full frame DSLRs and Canon's growing line of full frame mirrorless cameras.
Accuracy vs. Prettiness
Photo by Denise Jans on Unsplash
Most camera brands deliberately alter the colors coming off the camera sensor. And there’s a reason why they do so.
When it comes to colors, accuracy often does not equal prettiness. Brands like Sony and Red, for instance, are known for producing the most accurate colors but most people find those colors less attractive.
Brands like Canon, on the other hand, focus more on producing attractive colors and less on accuracy.
One great thing about Canon is that it gives you a few different picture profile options. As for Canon EOS R color profiles, you have the options of Faithful, Portrait and Neutral, among others.
Most photographers would choose the Neutral picture profile, when they need more flexibility but still don’t want to spend a lot of time and effort in post.
The Faithful profile is perfect when you are looking to capture more accurate colors without having to do extensive grading in post.
You can also switch to Canon Log (Log 1) in the Canon EOS R camera when you have more time to spend in post but want to capture a dynamic range.
