By 'zeroing out' I didn't necessarily meant to set controls to zero (I would leave them at default). The intension is to get a baseline using a DNG-profile (or similar) based on a color checker. The setting would take camera peculiarities and illumination spectrum into account.
As a comment, I generally think that default colors are oversaturated. My impression is that default processing pushes saturation a bit and may add something of an S-curve to increase midtone contrast. Both changes are intended to give pleasant color.
S-curves, or tone curves in general, always have their side effect on color saturation when applied on RGB data.
It is a math thing in the first instance, whether we find it pleasing or not.
The Chart wizard of the DNG profile editor does not delete the tone curve supplied by the source profile,
it is maintained (see Tone Curve tab: Base Tone Curve = Base Profile),
unlike with the "LookTable" e.g. from the Adobe Standard profile or the default Camera matching profiles which are stripped off, thus returning to the baseline matrix (matrices) before building the Hue/Sat.-corrections per patch.
But, this tone curve - even though being part of the profile - is ignored when the Hue/Sat.-corrections are built. My understanding is that the HueSatDelta table resulting from the Chart wizard always refers to a linear state, while the tone curve and its side effect on saturation comes on top. Color saturation is increased from the shadows to the mid tones and decreased again towards the highlights.
From a mechanistic point of view, it can be of help to consider the tabs from left to right as given below. The Hue/Sat.-corrections resulting from the Chart wizard are dependent on the Calibration tab settings (left), but are independent from the Tone Curve tab setting (right). The Base profile: ColorChecker which appears in the Color Tables tab after running the Chart wizard indicates the baseline matrix obtained from the source profile after removal of the LookTable.
If desired, the tone curve can finally be eliminated a.) within the profile by selecting Base Tone Curve: Linear, while staying with the camera default settings in LR/ACR PV2010: Brightness 50, Contrast 25, Point Curve: Medium Contrast), or b.) by selecting Base Tone Curve: Camera Raw Default, and a linear preset in LR/ACR PV 2010: Brightness 0, Contrast 0, Point Curve: Linear.
However, unlike with accurate Hue/Sat. which may not deliver a preferred rendition but which is typically not perceived as way off, such scene-referred tonality is quite dark and dull and it may not be everyone’s case even as a starting point for editing.
Best regards, Peter
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