Scene referred and ACR

[cocasana]

I'm trying to set ACR the best possible to be able to start post processing with nothing more and nothing less of what the sensor was able to capture. So I've set all sliders to 0. Curve to Linear. Profile to my own camera color profile. White balance the photo with a gray card.
Is there anything more I can do?

[madmanchan]

No, that's pretty much it.

However, please realize you'll have to draw the line somewhere (and you already have, by choosing to apply White Balance and a color profile, the act of which places limits on your color gamut).

If you REALLY want nothing more & nothing less of what the sensor captured, then you want the original, mosaic data, before WB. I'm guessing you don't want to go there, though ...

[cocasana]

No, that's pretty much it.

However, please realize you'll have to draw the line somewhere (and you already have, by choosing to apply White Balance and a color profile, the act of which places limits on your color gamut).

If you REALLY want nothing more & nothing less of what the sensor captured, then you want the original, mosaic data, before WB. I'm guessing you don't want to go there, though ...

Thanks Eric,
actually it looks to me as the best starting point to post process a photo. One knows what and how much "raw" material one has to play with...

No..., mosaic data is a tad to extreme for me...

[Max Penson]

I'd just like to point out that by setting everything to 0 you are assuming the post processing tools are better than what you have in ACR. I don't know what you are using for post processing, but in my opinion the basic Photoshop tools are outdated compared to what ACR has to offer, especially in terms of color and tone.
You should consider using the Smart Object option to be able to reload the image in ACR while post processing.

[cocasana]

I'd just like to point out that by setting everything to 0 you are assuming the post processing tools are better than what you have in ACR. I don't know what you are using for post processing, but in my opinion the basic Photoshop tools are outdated compared to what ACR has to offer, especially in terms of color and tone.
You should consider using the Smart Object option to be able to reload the image in ACR while post processing.

Hi Max,
I'm afraid your assumption is false. After having set everything to 0, and after having evaluated the raw material the camera captured, starts my post processing in ACR. Exposure, fill light, brightness, contrast, ecc, curve, local enh. ecc... trying to get the most out of the Raw pic at this stage. Then, eventually, smart objects and/or basic or non basic PS.
I was tempted to adopt the scene referred starting point after having noticed that ACR default settings were a starting point too. So, I thought, why not to adopt the scene referred one?!
If you ETTR -for example- the default +brightness & medium contrast curve in ACR will sometimes make you think you've blown the highlights even if you didn't. So instead of correcting the curve, fiddle with recovery ecc I prefer to set up my contrast every time pic by pic!