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M Color


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I'm using Lightroom and will be getting the M soon.

Is there a consensus what might be the best custom profile for it?

If so, could someone explain in few steps how to apply it in Lightroom? Can I setup this profile so it would be applied right during the import of files?

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I think the general consensus (if there is such a thing as concensus on the LUF), is that a dual illuminance profile from a Gretag Macbeth card is the way to go. I would suggest that an indoor tungsten one image and a grey but bright overcast sky for the other, with the camera set at fixed colour temperatures of 2800º and 7000ºK respectively. You can either use the very easy to use Color Checker passport from X-Rite or DNG Profile Editor from Adobe. These are both free downloads from their respective websites. X-Rite is simpler but has fewer options. You save the profile in user/library/application support/adobe/camera raw/camera profiles and restart LR. I have no idea where you save them in Windows - you will have to look this up.

 

Wilson

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Obvious difference on red, magenta and green so far. Well done.

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Thank you, Ario, for the profile. This is my first few hours with the M. I went out and shot in some places that had both direct sun and shade and found the color tricky, and slightly unsatisfying, to manage when working with the files. Your profile made for a noticeable improvement!

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Ario,

 

Many thanks for that profile. It looks almost identical to the wide dual I posted on my dropbox but your one has a fraction more yellow saturation (only noticeable on straight yellows). The skin tones don't seem to change at all. As I was reasonably happy with my wide dual, that is fine.

 

Now can somebody PLEASE make an ICC profile, so I can go back to using C1. LR is driving me potty! Admittedly the M240 on C1 7.1.2 seems a bit calmer than the previous one.

 

Wilson

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Ario,

 

Many thanks for that profile. It looks almost identical to the wide dual I posted on my dropbox but your one has a fraction more yellow saturation (only noticeable on straight yellows). The skin tones don't seem to change at all. As I was reasonably happy with my wide dual, that is fine.

 

Now can somebody PLEASE make an ICC profile, so I can go back to using C1. LR is driving me potty! Admittedly the M240 on C1 7.1.2 seems a bit calmer than the previous one.

 

Wilson

 

There are DCP to ICC converters on the web but I confess I haven't tried them ...... basically because ICC doesn't seem to support (correct me if I'm wrong :confused:) dual illuminant profiles, so you will need several to cover all eventualities .... which again becomes a bit of a chore.

 

The M240 is calibrated for Illuminant A (Tungsten) and D65 (Noon Daylight) (as are most cameras) so it seems logical to use a dual illuminant profile pegged to these values. Using a single .... or multiple ICC profiles seems a step back to me.....:rolleyes:

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There are DCP to ICC converters on the web but I confess I haven't tried them ...... basically because ICC doesn't seem to support (correct me if I'm wrong :confused:) dual illuminant profiles, so you will need several to cover all eventualities .... which again becomes a bit of a chore.

 

The M240 is calibrated for Illuminant A (Tungsten) and D65 (Noon Daylight) (as are most cameras) so it seems logical to use a dual illuminant profile pegged to these values. Using a single .... or multiple ICC profiles seems a step back to me.....:rolleyes:

The use of dcp profiles, either based on dual or single illuminant, is restricted to LR/ACR and few other raw developers (Accuraw and Iridient and may be other I do nor know). With Capture One you have to use ICC profiles but I do not see it as a step

back as I do not see a major disadvantage (quality wise) in using single illuminant dcp profiles inside ACR.

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Adobe DNG profile editor will remap all the colors to neutral so they match the 24 patch MacBeth color chart.

 

LR and ACR can be set to open with the new default profile. This is all that is required to get perfect color.

 

AWB does not work on any camera. WhiBal card is the answer. Or at least set it to sun etc.

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Just a comparison of the macbeth card with the M (typ 240) and the M9 in sunlight, RAW loaded with tint=0 and temp=4800 and the embedded profiles

 

M240M9macbeth.jpg

 

And here with the M (240) loaded with the "LEICA M (Typ 240) Cloudy" profile posted in this thread, compared with the M9

 

 

m240cloudym9macbeth.jpg

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I have had my M (240) only since Friday, but it is quite apparent -- at least to me -- that the color brouhaha here was and is a nonissue. Having applied several of the camera profiles kindly posted here and having done a dual illuminant of my own, my eye says the M240 can be made to render quite well, comparably in faithfulness to the M9, which is very good. My profile was daylight and what I would call "cloudy bright". It is not materially different than the duals that have been posted, and it is easy to do it and save the profile as your default in ACR. I looked especially at skin tones and to my eye they are fine (caucasian adults and children). I will repeat that once you have a M240 in your hands, most doubts about what it is capable of disappear. I have not yet had a chance to really thrash out high ISO (have not gone beyoned 800) but I think any limitations for future images will be coming from me, the user, and not the camera.

 

I don't expect to test skin tones too much in Yellowstone/Tetons next week but will report on tones for bears and elk. :)

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Ken Rockwell says in his Leica Mr Users Guide that he uses sRGB colour space setting but a number of other reviewers say that Abobe RGB is the better camera setting because of the greater number of colours. What are other users using either in their M8 or M9.?

 

It seems to me rather humorous that many of the reviewers of the M, in a hurry to be first or to strap the camera on a cube, pull out gray cards and perform exacting side by side comparisons failed to simply take the camera out of the box and use the camera as many M users would use the camera ... with features like AWB engaged. If they did, they would have observed that both the AWB setting and the color profile need work. I'm amazed at how little this has been discussed on this forum.

 

Personally, I know two friends who have used the M for several months who have recently sold their copies. They've deemed it safer to re-enter the water for an M swim sometime in the future when the color is more accurate.

 

I recently spent a half day shooting with the camera and came away feeling that the color misrepresents the colors and skin tones of what I see on the street everyday. Will it get there, most likely. But it's simply not there yet. I write this not as a troll, fanboy or apologist but as someone who has and uses many Leica digital products.

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Ken Rockwell says in his Leica M9:) Users Guide that he uses sRGB colour space setting but a number of other reviewers say that Abobe RGB is the better camera setting because of the greater number of colours. What are other users using either in their M8 or M9.?
:)
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Ken Rockwell says in his Leica Mr Users Guide that he uses sRGB colour space setting but a number of other reviewers say that Abobe RGB is the better camera setting because of the greater number of colours. What are other users using either in their M8 or M9.?

Of course he uses an sRGB workflow - have you ever seen the colour of his photographs? :D

For the rest of us who are mortal it should be Adobe RGB or even better Prophoto. If you use Lifghtroom you are doing it right automatically.

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Ken Rockwell says in his Leica Mr Users Guide that he uses sRGB colour space setting but a number of other reviewers say that Abobe RGB is the better camera setting because of the greater number of colours. What are other users using either in their M8 or M9.?

If you shoot DNG, as I hope you do, the color space camera setting sRGB/Adobe RGB has absolutely no influence, since the color space is defined by the raw converter.

If you shoot JPG the optimal choice is determined by the use you intend to do with the file, if it is for the WEB only sRGB is the right choice, otherwise Adobe RGB is the way to go.

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