[Leica] M8 Camera Profiles

[kididdoc at cox.net (Steve Barbour)]

On May 3, 2009, at 11:18 PM, Geoff Hopkinson wrote:

> WARNING contains geeky discussion on using Raw Convertor and DNG  
> files.
> This thread may only be of interest to M8 DNG users and DNG  
> enthusiasts.
>
> Firstly background:
> Adobe Camera Raw (later versions) provides two profiles for the M8,  
> one
> called Adobe Standard and the other called Camera Standard.
> These are applied via the Calibration tab. Lightroom 2 uses the same
> profiles.
> I am not finding the 'Camera Standard' very useful. It is meant to  
> emulate
> the default jpeg settings for the camera.
> I find the Adobe Standard to be quite restrained in its rendering of  
> primary
> colours. This is not a fault but a starting point for developing.
> For colour I prefer to achieve something closer to the Fuji Pro  
> slide film
> that I used previously.
> Adobe generated the profiles for each supported camera type by  
> photographing
> a Color Checker card under 6500K light and 2850K light.
> When you open a DNG file you are offered the profile/s particular to  
> your
> camera type. The selected profile then interpolates from those two
> renderings to give you the starting point for your DNG file.
> Adobe offers a free DNG Profile Editor which allows you to customise  
> any
> profile. It also has a function to duplicate the original process  
> with files
> from your individual camera.
>
> I used their original method as follows:
> Color checker, WhiBal (white balance card) colour temperature meter,  
> 2 light
> sources, being bright open shade and a tungsten lamp at my helpful pro
> dealers, Kayell here in Brisbane.
> I used their meter,tungsten light and outside area to establish the  
> light as
> close as possible to each ideal (6500 &2850) and made two exposures  
> of the
> chart and card subjects.
> Using Camera Raw 5.3 I opened both DNG files. I used the default ACR
> settings only and saved as 16 bit PSDs in ProPhotoRGB.
> I made two versions from each shot, applying the Adobe Standard and my
> customised profile.
> I made final web size versions of each and have posted two samples for
> comparison here.
>
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/gh/t_001/D65AdobeStandard.jpg.html>
> There are a number of complications since the 8 bit Color checker RGB
> numbers are not always quoted in a specific colour space, and  
> producing a
> final web version requires conversion to sRGB too since web browsers  
> are not
> colour mangement aware anyway.
> But the inyent was to change the data as little as possible during all
> processes and treat each file identically. Every monitor will differ  
> as
> well, obviously
> Exposure and white balance are not actually crucial in the target  
> files
> although even lighting is.
> However you can still see significantly different rendering in the  
> example 2
> that I have posted. Subjectively the customised one is more accurate.
> This whole process is about the relationships between the 24 patches.
>
> I am happy to send my custom profile (small file) to anyone that is
> interested and would appreciate any comments on methodology or from  
> anyone
> who has also experimented here.


I like the custom file, pops more...please send it to me, how do I put  
it into CS4?...thanks...Steve
>
> -- 
> Cheers
> Geoff
> 'Life's not B&W, except at both ends'
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/gh/
> http://www.pbase.com/hoppyman
>
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