Retro
Colours
Since collecting retro digital cameras (mostly DLSRs) and combining that with my other hobby of photographing squirrels, I started to notice a pattern. The older cameras were producing significantly better colour separation. This was especially noticeable with red squirrels surrounded by lots of green foliage (more green bounce light), in the summer. The most obvious common specification of the cameras producing nicer colours was that they used CCD sensor technology rather than CMOS. However, after initially posing these findings on a Reddit channels, several people informed me that it was caused by something else. Coincidentally, large changes in the "colour filter arrays" (CFA) and "colour-science" occurred around the same time as the switch from CCD to CMOS.
Modern Cameras
All of my modern digital mirrorless cameras were launched between 2014-2021 (Sony A7, Sony A9, Sony A1, Sony ZV-E10) and so of course they all have CMOS sensors. What they unfortunately share is a brown haze when shooting red squirrels surrounded by green. I don't think this is a Sony specific issue, rather a time related one, but I will keep gathering samples of other cameras to paint a clearer picture about the cause.
Vintage Cameras
While editing an image from the Nikon D1, the colour separation of the red squirrel's fur against the green foliage jumped out at me. I simply could not get this pop with modern cameras, no matter what I did with processing. Now that you have the colours from those modern cameras in your mind, here are a few from older ones, starting with the 26 years old Nikon D1.
One thing I love about mirrorless cameras for shooting friendly wildlife like this is a tilting LCD screen and being able to use the autofocus while in live view. This enables me to get the camera close to the ground, to photograph squirrels at their level. None of the above cameras even had live-view, but even on newer cameras that do have it, autofocus is not normally usable in that mode. If only there was a camera that could do all this... Now I know that CCD probably wasn't the cause, but back then I was stuck on that thought, so kept that as a requirement for the next phase of the testing...
Sony A390 [2010]
After doing a little research, I discovered that Sony made DSLRs that featured full autofocus in "live-view" mode, with a tilting LCD screen and in-body image stabilization, on one of the last 14mp CCD sensors ever made (A350, A380, A390). On top of all that, it also supported some interesting fast Zeiss lenses. An 85mm f/1.4 Planar and a 135mm f/1.8 Sonnar. This is going to be interesting...
Sony A390 + Zeiss Planar 85mm f/1.4
For the first comparison; I did my best to match each image from the two sensor types. The same squirrel, at the same time, in the same lighting, position and pose. To do this, I switched between the Sony A390 and the Sony A1 (yes, it was awkward). Unfortunately I needed to use different lenses, but both were high quality 85mm prime lenses, so hopefully that helps to keep some level of consistency. Both images were taken in RAW format and manually edited in Adobe Camera RAW to provide the best combination of White Balance Temperature and Tint. OK, here goes...
Red squirrels were looking far more red on these older cameras. This was just what I was getting on the Nikon D1. It has been a conscious thought that something was lacking on the modern camera's colours. Previously, they felt washed out, like looking through a brown haze. The older cameras are providing more of that separation, a more saturated red, without looking contaminated by green. If I try simply boosting saturation of a CMOS image, their fur goes a rather toxic yellowy orange. Images from the older camera's might be over-saturated at times, but here they just make everything look better.
OK, One More
Both of these images were taken from the same position. The A1 images will be cropped down to match the APS-C area. I managed to get the poses even closer this time, and each image was only a few seconds apart. Both images used exactly the same settings, so this will also be an interesting comparison for exposure. The white balance for these will be calibrated to the same area.
Next
The next phase in my testing will be to add a Canon 5D and a Nikon D700 to the mix of sample photos. I also intend to colour calibrate all of the next sample images, try to use the same lens, and experiment more with processing. I will update this article at that point...