Camera Profile setup

[ChetParks]

I have always left the Camera Profile setting in LR 2.5 to default. Does anyone know of a good tutorial that goes through the entire install and setup of a camera profile? I have a Nikon D3'' and do change the Picture Control settings based on my shooting conditions. Will thsi effect the camera profile. It would seem to me that each different Picture Control setting would require a different camera profile. Is this correct?

 

[Brad Snyder]

Chet, I'm going to refer you to my post in Tips and Tricks, Why did Lightroom Ruin my Picture, which is in fact probably the most frequently asked Frequently Asked Question about Lr. It's not specifically about what you're asking, but it does address your question in some detail, and provides some resources for moving forward.

As a specific answer to your question, have a look at X-rite's Passport Color Checker, which is a combination colorchart, software product. Their product info and specifications, should add to your knowledge as well. I'm not recommending the product, haven't personally used it, but it's intended to address the situation you're asking about.

If no one has said so yet, Welcome to the forums.

 

[sizzlingbadger]

Hi Chet, the picture control settings in the camera will not do anything if you are shooting in RAW. Only Nikon Capture NX (View NX) will take any notice of them and render an image with the controls in force. LR will not read the picture control settings in the RAW file. You can simulate the settings as Adobe have created camera profiles to try and match the in-camera 'picture controls' like "Vivid" and "Portrait" in the camera calibration pane in the develop module.

You can use a color checker (as Brad sated above) and create a custom profile. I have done this for my D3'' and the results were *very* close to the ACR 4.4 setting in the camera calibration pane so I use that now and have set it to be my default.

Docs and Tutorial are here http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/DNG_Profiles:Editor

 

[Mark Sirota]

[quote author=sizzlingbadger link=topic=8995.msg6'61'#msg6'61' date=1264191252]
Hi Chet, the picture control settings in the camera will not do anything if you are shooting in RAW.[/quote]

That's a slight oversimpification. The picture control settings will affect the embedded JPEG, which is displayed on the back of the camera, used to calculate the camera's histogram display, and displayed briefly by LR before it generates its own. It is also stored in the metadata so that Nikon's software can process the raw data the same way the camera did.

However, there are already camera profiles for the D3'' in Lightroom designed to mimic the camera profiles. You can certainly make your own for a bit more accurate match, as described by Brad and Nik, but it sounds like overkill to me. For what purpose are you changing the picture control settings? Why not do that work in post, so that you can concentrate on the actual photographic process at shooting time?