Camara calibration in Lightroom

[Muizen]

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In Lightroom 3 I find three options for camera calibration:

* Embedded

* Adobe Standard

* M9 Digital camera 18sept09

Which one should I use and in what way can I make this a permanent choice?

Thanks for response!

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[adan]

I don't use any of the canned calibrations "straight" - I use "Adobe Standard" as a base on which I then create my own calibration using a Macbeth ColorChecker, because I found Adobe Standard to be a better "near miss" than "Embedded" (Leica's own calibration via Jenoptik).

 

The process of creating one's own color calibration is explained here - yes, it is 7 years old, and yes, it still works like a charm: Out of Gamut: Calibrating Camera Raw in Photoshop CS | CreativePro.com

 

As to saving the calibration as a permanent choice (aka default), there are two ways (not mutually exclusive - I use both)

 

Both are under the "Develop" menu item (the menu at the top left, NOT the word "Develop" top right!)

 

"Set Default Settings" will save EVERY setting you have currently selected as of that moment - under the "other" Develop tab at the right - as the defaults that LR will use from then on for M9 images - not just calibration, but white balance, exposure, sharpening, lens corrections, you name it (every single setting that appears in the eight "drawers" on the right). Open any new M9 image after saving new defaults, and that's what LR will use.

 

Note that "Set Default Settings" saves defaults PER CAMERA MODEL as listed in the EXIF data - so saving new defaults for the M9 will not change the defaults for other cameras you may use (Canon, D-Lux, etc.), but will apply to images from all M9s (in case you get or borrow a second body).

 

"New Preset....." allows you to save any SINGLE setting, or group of settings, separately - but they are not applied to any image until you tell LR to apply that Preset to that image.

 

"Set Default Settings" is kind of a nuclear option, but I use it to handle the things that are generally the same for any picture and that I want to use as my universal starting point. Calibration for daylight, white balance for daylight, lens corrections set to zero, sharpening turned off, noise settings the way I usually want them, exposure settings the way I usually want them, etc.

 

I use "New Preset" to save things I only use for some pictures, but do not want to have to reinvent every time I need them: calibrations for unusual light sources (tungsten, fluorescent, flash, halogen, etc.); the chromatic aberration corrections for each of my lenses, and so on. Known and specific settings that do NOT apply to all pictures.

 

Note that cameras DO require (if one is picky) different calibrations for different kinds of lighting. Which is why I never trust the "canned" calibrations from Adobe, Leica or anyone else - they are a "one-size-fits-nobody" calibration.

[archi4]

I have used two calibration methods for creating Lightroom and (Adobe Camera RAW) profiles:

Color Checker Passport program from x-Rite and the Adobe DNG Profile Editor available as a free download from Adobe Labs.

DNG Profiles - Adobe Labs

X-Rite: Get exactly the color you need, every time, anywhere in the world.