We all perceive Colour differently and in photography it is highly subjective. The new SIGMA fp Camera comes equipped with a “Color” button which is the first time such a button appears on a SIGMA camera body. I decided I explore this magical little button and take some time to learn its features as it is something that can easily get overlooked.
The button does exactly what you would expect it to do; it allows you to quickly access the “color mode” feature that has been a part of Sigma cameras for many years.
Pressing the color button will bring up the color menu which you can scroll through by rotating the top dial and rear dial or pressing left and right.
Moving to a different color scheme like Teal and Orange will instantly show the effects. You can also press the square (display button) to pause the live-view but it will still allow you to scroll through and see how the effects of each mode. This is handy if you want to move the camera to a more comfortable position while looking at the effect you want.
Pressing up and down will allow you to adjust the strength of the effect. Likewise pressing the AEL button will give you contrast, sharpness and saturation sliders to further customize the look.
While you might think that this feature is new to the SIGMA fp Camera due to the dedicated button, older Sigma cameras can access this feature using the QS (Quick Select) like on this SIGMA dp3 Merril.
One thing to note is that if you are shooting JPG or Video using these modes the color will be baked into the files. But shooting RAW stills or Video you can change the color later if you wish.
Some people find shooting in Black and While helps to see contrast and shapes in a scene more while framing, freeing them from the distraction of color. It’s not for everyone but could be something worth trying.
What if you have already shot some nice images but want to play around with the color mode feature in post?
Well you have a few options here, the first is on camera itself as the Quattro series of cameras along with the fp have a build in raw converter.
You can find the RAW developer by pressing Menu and then moving to the Play section and DNG (or RAW) Development and pressing the center button.
In here you will see a collection of your usual raw development options from Exposure, White balance and more, if you move over to the little Pallet and brush icon and press the Center button you will now see the color modes.
As you can see the options here are the same as before allowing you to select different colors, adjust the strength and further options by pressing AEL.
There are more ways to do this by using Sigma Photo Pro or with Adobe Lightroom or Camera Raw for the fp camera.
Let’s first look at Sigma Photo Pro which requires the X3F files.
In Sigma Photo Pro you go down to the Color Mode option and press on the little up/down arrow button and select a color mode.
In Adobe Lightroom, which you will use can also use for DNG files, has a few extra steps but here is the overall screen.
When in Lightroom you want to look in the Basic panel for the Color option, here is a close up.
By pressing it opens a drop down menu, then press Browse and you should see this option appear.
From there select the color mode you want to use and press close.
One thing I want to mention from my experience when using Lightroom; I find I get much better-looking results from my Sigma camera images when I select the Standard profile in this menu than using the default Adobe profile which it assigns.
Enjoy this little tip and explore the many wonderful creative options that the SIGMA fp Camera provides and share your images with the world! Use the hashtag #SIGMAfpColor so we can see what you have accomplished!
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