The best software for S2?

[jjjjuin]

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My friend who's a S2 beginner user, asked me about the best software for edit pictures shot by S2.

 

 

Any ideas?

 

thanks

 

-----

 

Kevin

[andybarton]

I would use what Leica recommend.

 

I am struck that there are people who drop BMW money on a camera system, but don't know what to do with the files it produces. Not exactly a starter system.

[MA-Sweden]

Hi Kevin,

 

Adobe Lightroom is included in the buy of the camerabody.

If Lightroom is the best software for Leica S2, I´m not the person to answer.

[Gentleman Villain]

I would use what Leica recommend.

 

I am struck that there are people who drop BMW money on a camera system, but don't know what to do with the files it produces. Not exactly a starter system.

 

It's a sign of good taste to start with the best.

[Constable]

To answer the original OP.

 

LR2 is included with the S2. LR3b2 works perfectly as well.

 

Bibble is a no-no

 

Capture One is fine (body recognised, no lense details incorporated) and IMHO does a better conversion than LR" (but not LR3).

 

CS4 is also OK.

 

Apparently the recent update for Aperture also included the S2 but I have such an evrsion to Aperture that I didn't bother trying.

 

Hope this helps

 

Ed

[arminw]

I don't use a S2 but I am a digital medium shooter using the latest H4d50 and yest it is true that aperture has been updated with some new RAW converters for the S2 and for the Hasselblad H4d,H3d .

The actual result is not bad at all and if you like the way aperture works then you should give it a try. I personally don't like Adobe LR so aperture is for me .

 

Armin

[wattsy]

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It's a sign of good taste to start with the best.

 

Not really. I think people who buy something way beyond their needs usually end up looking like a bit of a cock.

[Gentleman Villain]

Not really. I think people who buy something way beyond their needs usually end up looking like a bit of a cock.

 

Then there must be 100s of "cocks" in this forum

[jjjjuin]

A lot of chinese leica users are just being as 'cock', consider the population btw.

[Vladimir Sadov]

Not really. I think people who buy something way beyond their needs usually end up looking like a bit of a cock.

Thanks, that was really helpful.

 

Is there a custom S2 profile or two for LR3b2 that someone with the actual experience might be willing to share? I am still trying to decide on the camera.

 

This Saturday I'll have a chance to shoot it with the strobes and also outside, in the street canyons of NYC, which is a very wide DR situation.

 

Cheers.

[Constable]

Thanks, that was really helpful.

 

Is there a custom S2 profile or two for LR3b2 that someone with the actual experience might be willing to share? I am still trying to decide on the camera.

 

This Saturday I'll have a chance to shoot it with the strobes and also outside, in the street canyons of NYC, which is a very wide DR situation.

 

Cheers.

 

I've got some on my desktop but I'm with my laptop at the moment. I'll try to put some up on Sunday. But using Capture One without tweaking is fine ... just don't play around with highlights and recovery. For some reason S2 files are exceptionally sensitive to these.

 

 

 

Ed

[Vladimir Sadov]

Not really. I think people who buy something way beyond their needs usually end up looking like a bit of a cock.

Thanks, that was really helpful.

 

Is there a custom S2 profile or two for LR3b2 that someone with the actual experience might be willing to share? I am still trying to decide on the camera.

 

This Saturday I'll have a chance to shoot it with the strobes and also outside, in the street canyons of NYC, which is a very wide DR situation.

 

Cheers.

[Overgaard]

I would go for Lightroom 2.6 which is the official release - and then wait with the 3 beta till the 3 is released officially.

 

There might be an idea in downloading the 3.0 beta and then using the 2.6 as the 2.6 will then use the profiles from the 3.0.

 

But the S2 files look quite great straight through LR 2.6 without any tweaking. The skin tones are amazing.

 

 

As for people with or without skill buying the S2, get over it. Anyone who has the money to seek the ideal tool should be looking at the S2. It's not something you have to "deserve" to own, or need a special drivers license to use.

[markowich]

I've got some on my desktop but I'm with my laptop at the moment. I'll try to put some up on Sunday. But using Capture One without tweaking is fine ... just don't play around with highlights and recovery. For some reason S2 files are exceptionally sensitive to these.

 

 

 

Ed

 

are you saying that S2 files are inelastic wit respect to PP in general (pulling shadows etc) or just in C1? p

[dfarkas]

As the S2 raw files are DNG, they can be opened in several different processing applications.

 

Personally, I use Lightroom 2.7 for my files. I will second Thorsten's comment that the color looks quite good out of the box, even without a specific profile. LR doesn't use camera ICC profiles, so making one serves little good. The best option is to use an X-Rite Color Checker Passport which will make an Adobe DCP file (Digital Camera Profile) and automatically associate it with your camera model (eg. Leica S2). Conveniently, the Color Checker software uses DNG as its preferred input.

 

You can use Capture One, which some people prefer (I used to be one myself for many years). The number one advantage of C1 is that it does use ICC camera profiles. The number one disadvantage is that you can end up with generally oversharpened, "speckly" files with strange maze artifacts. The default color is horrendously wonky with the S2, using C1's Generic DNG profile, especially in blues, reds, and yellows.

 

For those wanting to experiment, I created an ICC profile using C1, a Color Checker SG, and an i1 XTreme system. It is available for download here. Because Phase One doesn't officially support the S2 (they are competitors, after all), I had to name the file as an R8 profile. Once you've put the profile in the correct folder, restart C1 and choose it from the Leica R8 selections.

 

Aperture actually works pretty well, but I don't have a lot of experience with it yet. From what I've seen so far, the color is good and the files are smooth with good detail. I just prefer LR for its workflow and cross-platform compatibility.

 

My recommendation is to try the available options and decide for yourself, based on asset management ability, workflow, level of control, overall usability, speed, and ultimate output.

 

 

David

[Vladimir Sadov]

David

 

Thank you for the link: I will try it. What lighting is that C1 profile made for? Also, I'll bring the Passport along for the shoot: see how that works.

 

Hoping for the best...

[Constable]

As the S2 raw files are DNG, they can be opened in several different processing applications.

 

Personally, I use Lightroom 2.7 for my files. I will second Thorsten's comment that the color looks quite good out of the box, even without a specific profile. LR doesn't use camera ICC profiles, so making one serves little good. The best option is to use an X-Rite Color Checker Passport which will make an Adobe DCP file (Digital Camera Profile) and automatically associate it with your camera model (eg. Leica S2). Conveniently, the Color Checker software uses DNG as its preferred input.

 

You can use Capture One, which some people prefer (I used to be one myself for many years). The number one advantage of C1 is that it does use ICC camera profiles. The number one disadvantage is that you can end up with generally oversharpened, "speckly" files with strange maze artifacts. The default color is horrendously wonky with the S2, using C1's Generic DNG profile, especially in blues, reds, and yellows.

 

For those wanting to experiment, I created an ICC profile using C1, a Color Checker SG, and an i1 XTreme system. It is available for download here. Because Phase One doesn't officially support the S2 (they are competitors, after all), I had to name the file as an R8 profile. Once you've put the profile in the correct folder, restart C1 and choose it from the Leica R8 selections.

 

Aperture actually works pretty well, but I don't have a lot of experience with it yet. From what I've seen so far, the color is good and the files are smooth with good detail. I just prefer LR for its workflow and cross-platform compatibility.

 

My recommendation is to try the available options and decide for yourself, based on asset management ability, workflow, level of control, overall usability, speed, and ultimate output.

 

 

David

David,

 

That sems to be a windows .exe file. Is that correct?

 

Ed

[Gentleman Villain]

 

 

As for people with or without skill buying the S2, get over it. Anyone who has the money to seek the ideal tool should be looking at the S2. It's not something you have to "deserve" to own, or need a special drivers license to use.

 

Thank you! my thoughts exactly

[Arif]

Adobe Camera Raw works pretty well. The attached test photograph has minor adjustments only, and I feel that the color and skin tones are decent. Obviously a lot of detail is lost in downrezzing.

 

Thank you,

Arif

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Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[Vladimir Sadov]

David,

 

That sems to be a windows .exe file. Is that correct?

 

Ed

 

Ed, if you open it in a text editor it looks like a bona fide icc profile.

I've copied it to (my local) ~/Library/ColorSync/Profiles/LeicaR8-S2.icc and C1 seems to be happy with that.