DNG Profile Editor

[John McDermott]

Whatever became of the DNG Profile Editor? Last I knew (2008) it was in beta 2. Is it still there? Anyone hazard a guess as to its future?

[madmanchan]

It is still available on Adobe Labs as a free download. It is true that it has not been updated for some time, but it can still be used to build and fine-tune color profiles for the latest cameras (e.g., Sony NEX-5, Panasonic LX5, etc.)

[John McDermott]

Thanks for the reply Eric.

The point I was trying to get at is that the beta period is what, 2 years old, which is quite unusual for any software. Does that mean that the DNG Profile Editor will never be "released" or what?

[Schewe]

While DNG Profile Editor is 'called' beta, the fact is it's been reved once and as it stands now is entirely usable and useful. The term 'beta' as it relates to many of the softwares released in Abobe.Labs.com may never go beyond what is termed 'beta'.

Call it unsupported if you wish but sometimes the functionality of stuff released on Labs is simply a proof of concept and a touchstone as to what can be done by others. X-Rite's Passport software for creating DNG profiles from ColorCheckers cards is an example of a 3rd party extending the proof of concept idea.

[madmanchan]

I would say it's been released, but only in this beta form. At the practical level, this entails some restrictions, e.g. it's not an official Adobe product, in the sense that you can't call up Adobe Support and ask for help on it. On the other hand, it can be used (and is indeed used) as-is for real photographic work with no strings attached.