To answer your specific question, there is not really an easy way to use the DNG PE to create a DPP-like profile, even with the aid of a ColorChecker. Please keep in mind that PE was really designed with profile tweaking in mind, rather than building a full-fledged profile from scratch. As such, it does not contain the full set of tools and interface that one would normally need to build a DPP-like profile. The PE is mostly designed to help users deal with problem colors; i.e, you find a profile that is mostly to your liking, except for a few colors that appear off (in your mind, at least). You have example images that demonstrate the issue. You open those images into PE and add color control points and attempt to fix those colors. Additional images can be opened to verify the generality of your fix.
Eric, - many thanks for explanation! It's good to understand the idea. No problem to agree that it's probably better to leave the full-fledged profiling and color matching to the experts and their pro tools.
Another issue I encountered in the course of trying to emulate DPP, is that the numerical difference between 'colorimetric' (hue-sat.-accurate) and 'pleasing' can be rather small. For example, DPP apparently likes to render blue sky with a slight shift towards purple. Looks nice as I find, however, it's just approx. 5° hue. Clearly visible, and of course it's possible to trace this with the ColorChecker as well, but considering any possible sources of measuring error, 5° hue are just +/- 0.7% in terms of a deviation. So it probably makes less sense (for me) to establish such color shifts based on the numbers only. Which finally leads back to a visually driven approach as you suggest.
FWIW - I've outlined the procedure which so far seems to give me the 'best' profile and colors in Camera Raw (see below). Of course it also reflects my personal taste, and general validity may be limited. Nonetheless, comments are of course appreciated.
Some types of DPP-like color behavior can be achieved with the DNG PE. For example, saturation-dependent hue twists can be achieved, e.g., by making more saturated reds push towards magenta and less saturated reds push towards orange. This is done via a control point in the more saturated reds that points downward, and another control point in the less saturated reds that is directed upward.
Interesting! What would be a good sample image in order to see the relevance of these color adjustments? Maybe a sunset?
Peter
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/> Open a DNG image of the ColorChecker in the Profile Editor.
/> Select Base Profile: Adobe Standard if this is not already given.
/> Select the Color Matrices pane and increase global saturation by setting the respective sliders for Red, Green and Blue Saturation to + 5.
/> Select the Chart tab, place the four colored circles and run the Chart wizard.
/> Select the Color Matrices pane again and reset all sliders back to zero.
/> Save the Recipe (if desired) and export the new profile.
/> Close the Profile Editor and re-launch it again (not sure if this is really necessary but can't be wrong).
/> Open the DNG image of the ColorChecker in the Profile Editor again.
/> Select the new Base Profile i.e. the one created above.
/> White-balance the image via right-click on the second gray (patch # 20).
/> Click on the three primary color patches: Blue # 13, Green # 14 and Red # 15 as well as the Light Skin patch # 2. This creates respective color control points and "locks down" these colors, thus preventing them from getting changed.
/> Click on the Blue sky patch # 3 and adjust the Hue to +5
/> Click on the Yellow Green patch # 11, adjust the Hue to -5 and Lightness to -5
/> Save the Recipe (if desired) and export the new profile.
Done.