Camera Calibration

[Robert Boire]

Is there a way to determine which and how settings are changed  when the various Camera Calibration profiles are selected (Camera Landscape, Camera Faithful etc). Unlike AutoTone, changing the profiles clearly change the image and the histogram, but the various settings (exposures, black etc) seem unchanged. My goal is to be able to use them as a starting point for further modification.

Thanks

[Schewe]

Is there a way to determine which and how settings are changed  when the various Camera Calibration profiles are selected (Camera Landscape, Camera Faithful etc).

No...you could open up DNGs from the camera in DNG Profile Editor and check how the tone curve and color settings are adjusted, but I think that would be fool's gold. Won't tell you what you think you want to know.

[Robert Boire]

Won't tell you what you think you want to know.

Right...is there a reason why this information is "hidden"? (I just know there will be a reason). Can you explain (or perhaps provide a reference)what the various profiles are doing? Sometimes they give great results...while other times...I know Canon has a picture style editor to modify the equivalent to the Adobe profiles which provide some visibility into what is going on....but of course it won't work in LR.

Thanks

[Schewe]

Right...is there a reason why this information is "hidden"? (I just know there will be a reason).

Well, it's a profile...it's the result of taking a chart and calculating the differences between what the chart should be and what it is and then try to make a correction. In the case of the Adobe supplied profiles, they're all hand tuned prolly by Eric Chan (although Thomas used to do it). That's why I said to look at the profiles in DNG Profile Editor...

[Robert Boire]

I have been doing a bit of reading on this and there is one thing I would like to verify.  Are the various Camera Calibration profiles (Landscape, Faithful etc) some kind of generic Adobe profile or are they meant to be profiles for specific camera model numbers (ie Canon 40D, Nikon etc)..

If the latter, then I guess they can be modified with the DNG profile editor. Where are they located? How does LR know which camera I am using? How can I verify that the right ones are being used?

Thanks

[madmanchan]

http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/DNG_Profiles:FAQ#WhatIsNewCM

[Robert Boire]

Thanks Eric, the link answered pretty much answered all my questions.

However after experimenting a bit, I do have another question.

I was surprised at the magnitude of the effect of switching profiles.  I was expecting differences in saturation and contrast, but in some cases the colors themselves seem to shift significantly. Take a look at the attached. The file names clearly identify the profile that was used. So for example landscape is supposed to render more vivid greens and blues, but clearly in this case the dominant color was neither green and blue and there is a significant shift in color whereas I would have expected hardly any at all. Does the profile affect the white balance as well? I ask because I can get  match one profile to another pretty closely by adjusting the white balance.

Thanks