I use ACR for raw conversion (associated with CS5). Up to a couple of years ago, I used to generate my own camera profiles using my shot of a Gretag-Macbeth color chart and the Chromoholics automated script. Since upgrading to CS5, however, my old profiles don't seem to work as well as they used to (presumably because of updates in how ACR handles camera profiles?). Anyway, I've started to research whether such an approach is still the best way to go (and how would I do it now?), or whether I should use a newer approach (such as "Camera Matching profiles"?), and I'm getting confused by all I'm reading (much of which is likely obsolete).
Can someone who's up on the current methods answer... what is the recommended best approach these days to using camera profiles in ACR? My goal is to get a "neutral" (i.e. realistic) profile as a starting point for each of a couple of typical lighting conditions. However, if that's no longer easy, than I might be convinced to use a generic profile generated for my model of camera (is that what the "Camera Matching" profiles are?). In case it matters, I use a Nikon D300.
Thanks,
Lisa