#Iridient developer vs on1 professional#

In post-processing Nikon Z50 RAW files, I was generally able to coax these elusive hues with a bit more work via specific color saturation, hue settings, or masking of areas to arrive at the desired results. In shooting with both the Sigma SD Quattro and the Nikon Z50 side-by-side (each has an APS-C sized sensor) with an equivalent focal length/aperture setup, the Sigma easily captures colors that the Nikon does not capture as easily, such as a wide range of yellows, oranges, lilacs, purples, greens, pinks or teals.

I think I am drawn to the Sigma/Foveon color rendition because I began my career as a painter and illustrator, where I was particularly attuned to subtle color distinctions and the many variations of a hue, e.g., cobalt green, viridian green, olive green, forest green, prussian green, etc. The juxtaposing of such color areas gives images a dynamic quality to help an image come alive. With other cameras I was often forced to resort to masking or saturation tricks in order to coax more colors from the shadows or fine tune foliage greens, especially if you photographed warm color sunlit areas juxtaposed with cool shadow colors.

#Iridient developer vs on1 professional#

Note: CaptureOne and Canon's excellent Digital Photo Professional 4 offer exceptional hue selection and saturation controls for specific colors). Other systems utilizing a variation of the Bayer filter array (in Canon, Sony, Nikon, or Fujifilm) typically require quite a bit more work on my part to coax these hues from the RAW files, regardless of which RAW converter was used (e.g., Adobe Camera Raw, Affinity Photo, PhaseOne’s Capture One, Iridient Developer, or ON1 Photo RAW. While each digital system has its own advantages, in my experience the Foveon sensor expertly distinguishes between nuanced hues of lilacs, purples, teals, viridian greens, and olive greens much more easily than other sensors, and depending on your demands it may not require any post-processing or color manipulation. One of the things that caught my attention early on when I first rented and tested the Sigma SD Quattro, was the fact that the Foveon sensor effortlessly and accurately rendered the warmth (yellow) of sunlit areas without compromising the cool (blue) tints of the shadows. (5) The proof of all this technology is in the nuanced color it actually captures. Each of the three stacked photodiodes has a different spectral sensitivity, allowing it to respond differently to different wavelengths.” (4) In other words, “the sensor technology is able to measure and report three distinct colors per pixel location” as the wavelengths pass through the silicon wafer. Foveon utilizes an “array of photosites that consist of three vertically stacked photodiodes. This is contrasted by the vast majority of professional and consumer digital cameras that utilize the Bayer filter array (a mosaic of RGB filters that limits every photosite from being exposed to all three primary colors)(3). As a result, “Foveon sensors detect all three primary colors at every pixel location, producing images that are sharper and have significantly reduced image artifacts when compared to competing image sensor technologies.” (2) Foveon made history when it developed and patented the world's first three-layer image capture technology by placing a stack of Red-Green-Blue pixels in each pixel location. When I first handled the Sigma SD Quattro I was impressed that it is an eminently well crafted, solid piece of equipment but what sets the SD Quattro apart from the competition is its stellar Foveon sensor.