Panasonic GX9 - pink hue

I am using the Panasonic GX9 and I have an issue with underexposed images. When I try to retrieve details from shadows (using Smart Lighting or Exposure Compensation) I get a pink hue on most of the images.

I hope you can do something about it, because the in-camera RAW editor seems to have pretty good results. This is an example, it seems related to some ISO values (some ISO values don’t get it).

Example:

DxO - export from RAW - the culprit seems to be Smart Lighting - set to moderate here:

RAW + dop: https://send.firefox.com/download/772e80cbd1665bcf/#btj-yhObWRPibuGF0lyEMA

in-camera JPEG with iDynamic turned on (I keep it that way for on-the-spot sharing via Bluetooth/Wi-fi):

I downloaded and modified your raw file. Attached below are two different versions. They are not meant to be final versions but rather a few quick and dirty modifications to try and address your concerns. There is much more I could have done to get the best from the original raw image. If you compare them to your in-camera version at full resolution you will see that they extract significantly more detail in general, including more deep shadow fine detail. I think the issue you are having is two fold. First a lack of familiarity with DXO PhotoLab, and second that your cat’s image contains colors other than blacks, whites and greys. You over processed the image in PhotoLab, but those colors are there, albeit in much less intense amounts. You can also see that even in your over processed DXO version there is far more fine detail then in you in-camera version. Note also the contour of the nose and mouth and the facial hair details in my versions. Your camera’s version completely or almost completely obscures them.

Getting fine detail from a black cat’s face in less than ideal lighting can be a struggle with any editor. While I did not apply local adjustments to my versions, judicious use of them may have improved things even more.

Mark

I cannot post more photos due to an account limit.

In-camera RAW editor iDynamic / Shadows +5 / Brightness +2

As you can see there is no hue. The edits are purely for exemplification of the problem - I can push shadows very much with the in-camera editor without the pink hue.

@mwsilvers Thank you for your reply. My only issue is with the colours - especially blacks/shadows. As you can see from the in-camera Jpeg, the cat is only black and white. Even in your images the black fur has different hues that shouldn’t be there.

And I don’t think my image is over-processed since the only colour-related processing I’ve done is turning on DxO Smart Lighting => Uniform/Medium. I have other examples where this is even more obvious, this is just the most recent one I’ve got.

There seems to be a bug related to GX9’s profile. I see the same pink hue in RawTherapee for example when I push the exposure. But since the in-camera RAW editor works much better on the same file I think DxO should also.

Here’s another example, this time I’ve only used Exposure compensation +4 EV from DxO:

What is strange is that the next picture I took (almost identical to this one, taken seconds apart) doesn’t exhibit the issue with exactly the same processing applied in DxO. You can find in this zip all the files (RAWs, dop, in camera Jpeg, DxO Jpeg):

I have also noticed this phenomenon with GX9’s RAW files. This occurs only when the shadows are strongly (or even very strongly) “pulled out”, especially in combination with DxO Smart Lighting. Neutral black migrates to pink tones. I’m not sure, but I also had it sometimes with RAW files from another camera (not Panasonic). I have a feeling that PhotoLab in the field of extreme manipulations in histogram endings (blacks / whites recovery) does not always deal with the natural-looking way. It’s manageable, but it should be easier. In general, however, the quality of images obtained from GX9’s RAW files is very good.

For reference the in-camera RAW Editor / Shadow +5 / Brightness +2:

@nemo In the GX9 case at least it looks like a bug to me, below a certain level of light it goes pink. This is the next photo, taken seconds apart, same camera settings (but more light due to longer exposure), same DxO processing - no pink hue:

Sometimes I need these extreme shadow lifts (contre-jour portraits), but sometimes I’m just trying to edit pictures of my cats and they are often pinkish due to them being mostly black. :unamused:

Any updates on this? To me this looks like a PhotoLab bug.

If you haven’t done so already, I suggest you log this with DxO Support … I’ve always found them to be responsive and helpful.

Regards, John M

The issue is already known to technical support (I reported it) and I am in contact with them.