So what does the color editor do? I can't find anything about it anywhere?
Technically speaking: Color editor modifies the ICC profile used to interpret colors coming out the back. It is low in the processing stack, so it allows color correction/enhancement/modification prior to exposure/contrast/sharpening etc allowing for style-independent color modification. This leads to less artifacts in shadows/highlights and less cross-over failure and color bleed issues in enlargements.
Plain speaking: It's a flexible and fast way to modify colors while staying in the raw file. It makes the color change before anything else happens to the file so it's great quality and saves tons of time in workflow.
It can modify lightness allowing you to use it as a selective dodge/burn tool (e.g. lightening the shadow side of a blue couch while leaving the rest of it alone. It can modify hue allowing selective changes in color (push a green dress on a model more towards yellow). It can modify saturation allowing you to turn the volume up on a particular shade, or turn it down. I use that all the time to remove distracting background elements (e.g. a bright green purse) in event situations.
All of this can be applied to incoming captures as a modified-and-saved ICC profile or as a set of adjustments to the existing capture. It can be batch applied to 10 or 1000 images very quickly.
Since skin tones are almost entirely a derivative of ICC profiles, this also means you can push skin tones in any direction that you personally find "appealing". JR sometimes uses it to cool an overall image via WB and then bring skin tones back towards warm/natural via Color Editor.
Very very powerful. Few used it in 3.X because it was hidden and cumbersome. It's much easier to learn and use now; though, as I said, to get the most out of it a bit of paid instruction specific to your workflow and imagery/style wouldn't hurt :-).
Doug Peterson, Head of Technical Services
Capture Integration, Phase One DealerPersonal PortfolioQuick Edit: yes, you can do 99% of this in Photoshop in post, but if you learn the tool right you will save TONS of time, and be uncoupled from the style you process the file in. The same photoshop batch action will not work on an image when you change the WB and contrast. Also, yes you can do this in lightroom/aperture/etc when converting raws, but this (to my knowledge) is the only way to save your results in a cross-platform-cross-application ICC profile and is specifically tuned to the Phase One backs (though it does a fine job on other raw files too). In any case it is MORE than worth a look if you've never used it.
