Color science is a very complicated topic as I’ve learned in recent years between fiddling with various post processing techniques, custom picture profiles, white balance (WB) shifts, different lens rendition characteristics, and playing with various cameras and comparing countless photos produced from them. It’s also one of the key reasons many folks (still) shoot Canon, myself included.

But, for all the importance of (Canon) color, it’s evolution within Canon’s own models has gathered little attention, yet it’s subtly been evolving for a couple reasons over time, and also in recent years, Canon’s colors have been drifting away from the colors I prefer. The topic is of great interest to myself as I’m in a very traditional Canon color rendition camp; some of my older cameras like the Rebel XTi, EOS M, M2 and 5DIII seem to produce more pleasing results then the newer EOS 80D, EOS 5DIV, EOS M3 and EOS M5 after them for whatever reasons, which I’m going to delve into the weeds on what I feel those reasons are, and where I think things are going for Canon and what you can, and can’t do about it.

                                                                5D III - EF 17-40L f/4 USM

                                    

        EOS M2 - EF-M 22mm f/2 STM

                                                                80D - EF-S 18-135 f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

        EOS M3 - EF 50mm f/1.8 STM

(Second) Warning, this isn’t going to be a usual conversation for me where I can back it with facts, statistics, etc; I’ll be backing it with personal observations and what I make of it and presenting my journey getting to my conclusions, so you may or may not agree as this is opinion driven. But, I’ve been shooting with Canon a while and have spent much time pursuing the phenomena so I hope I can speak to it with some authority, at least so I think.

First up, my favorite color renditions come from my former 5DIII and EOS M / M2. Obviously your mileage may vary as I know some folks prefer cameras even further back, and I’m even starting to hear some people actually prefer the more muted colors of the newer cameras, particularly from those younger than myself, but, this will hopefully address just what is going on here and why, and where I think things are headed, whatever your stance.

When I went to an EOS M3 a little over 3 years ago, I did so for some relief from the horribly slow AF (autofocus) of the EOS M and M2, which although the EOS M2 was better (than the original M), it still wasn’t good enough. The EOS M3 on the other hand, offered better low light performance, better AF and a detachable EVF as well as somewhat of a grip (the EOS M5 has a much better grip, IMO), but for some reason, I didn’t quite like the pictures coming off it as much from day 1, and couldn’t put my finger on why for probably a good solid 1-2 years afterwards. They were acceptable, but didn’t quite have the character of my former photos. Turns out it was all about color.

        EOS M3 - EF 50mm f/1.8 STM

Before I even had any idea something was wrong on a cognizant level (I felt something was wrong, but didn’t know something was wrong), the popular belief was that all rendition shifts between brands and cameras within a brand was white balance. Clearly after much failed attempts in post processing, that was not it (hint, it is a part of it though).

Then one day I was reviewing old photos for nostalgia when I had the epiphany that it was the colors, I noted they were cooler on the EOS M3 vs my former cameras, ironically while reviewing shots from my former Powershot S110 (so I knew it couldn’t be the lens, sensor, size, etc, it was the age of the camera), I thought it must be evolving software, as I have a computer background. So after doing some research (playing with lots of RAW files, tweaking individual colors in Canon DPP4 and WB adjustments plus lots of web research), I discovered something I’d never played with and ignored on every Canon I’d ever owned: picture profiles.

            Powershot S110

Picture profiles are a customized color/setting (picture) preset that can be customized in camera to shift contrast, sharpness, color saturation, etc to taste for SOOC (straight out of camera) rendition in your JPEGs (but don’t change RAW data, that’s RAW data, but the RAWs do get tagged with the ICC of the picture profile selected at time of shooting for when they are converted to JPEG later, but the tagged profile can be changed just like white balance if using Canon’s DPP4 at that time). Picture profiles also double for movie-duty on a Canon too, not just JPEGs, and hence videographers actually are more keen on the color subject because changing colors on “flat” files like video in post is a big deal, that is changing already lossy compressed video is like trying to shift color or WB on a JPEG (you can’t, easily anyways) thus changing colors in post isn’t a small thing for (most) video formats. Canon also has a more advanced picture profile editor for changing the behavior of individual colors on your computer for configuring and loading into your camera, for even more granular changes. I’ve played with several customized picture profiles developed by others, and also tried my hand at making my own, very limited success on making my own I might add; colors are as I said, a very complicated subject as I learned quickly from my failed attempts to produce pleasing results from homemade custom picture profiles.

Eventually I settled on the “Nikon” picture profile which I found online from a video forum (as I said, that bunch is keen on colors), which I’m not sure who the author of it is to date as it was a part of a compilation which some of them were labeled with the author, and others like the Nikon, were not. The only problem is, its default color saturation was too much, and the oranges could really blow out but, it was far better than the cool default colors coming off my EOS M3 at the time. I used the Nikon picture profile till I bought my Powershot G1X III when by chance I discovered a better combination from a DPreview forum member, Marco Nero, he recommends a customized profile with -1 Contrast +2 (I use +1) color saturation and +1 color tone customization to it. He also recommends the “fine detail” profile which ships on models 80D and newer. I’ve been shooting with it ever since with excellent results on my existing G1X III and reprocessed many photos on my M3 and M5 with it. The fine detail picture profile is meant for reproduction work, for SOOC shots from a museum gallery etc. Thus, taking something that has the slate wiped clean, and then bumping its color saturation and tones just a hair, does a good job of emulating the older more punchy look, without appearing artificial like the Nikon profile, which uses a landscape base, with shifts to the orange and browns.

    EOS M5 - EF-M 18-150 f/3.5-6.3 IS STM - “Nikon” Picture Profile

The trouble is although this (the modified fine detail picture profile) definitely improves results, even reprocessed photos (with the modified fine detail picture profile) from my EOS M3 and EOS M5 (and now Powershot G1X III), they still don’t look quite as good as my former EOS M2 or 5DIII before it and I plan to go back to full frame someday, and the latest 5DIV rendition is very on par with the 80D / EOS M3, cooler colors to say the least… Not very reassuring that those colors are ever coming back or that there is much I can do about it. I was really starting to think perhaps when I go back to full frame someday when the kids get older, maybe I’ll go back to a 5DIII, if Canon still sells em, not something newer because this was a very tough nut to crack and there’s something very special about a good L mounted on a 5DIII (optics influence colors too, but this is very, very unnoticed by every review I’ve read. L’s tend to give stronger contrast and better bokeh and color rendition, not just the obvious faster apertures and weather sealing, and costing an arm and a leg, and weighing a ton).