Best lens profile for ZM 35 f1.4--I think I found it.

[robgo2]

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The Zeiss 35 f1.4 Distagon is one of the finest 35mm lenses currently made, but it has been nothing but a source of aggravation for me to use on the SL. The reason for this is an array of green and magenta color casts that vary across the frame. I had tried all the recommended M-lens profiles for this lens, but none of them was even close to satisfactory. I was ready to give up on the Distagon until today when I decided to try a different profile just for fun, and what I found near perfection. 

 

It is the profile for Summicron 35 f2 ASPH (11879). On some images, I can still see a very faint magenta cast on the far left side of the frame but nothing that is very noticeable or difficult to fix in post. So, for those who use this lens and have suffered the same frustrations as I, hopefully this information will help.

 

Rob

[Steve McGarrett]

Have you tried the Summicron 28 profile?

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[robgo2]

Have you tried the Summicron 28 profile?

 

Yes, that is the one that I had been using unsatisfactorily. If you happen to have a ZM 35 f1.4, give it a try with the profile that I recommended above. I would be very interested in hearing from others about it.

[Steve McGarrett]

Yes, that is the one that I had been using unsatisfactorily. If you happen to have a ZM 35 f1.4, give it a try with the profile that I recommended above. I would be very interested in hearing from others about it.

 

I'll do it.

[geetee1972]

Thanks for this Robgo - I will give it a try myself.

[Irakly Shanidze]

I do not really understand the problem, as LR has a custom profile for this lens. What am I missing?

[robgo2]

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I do not really understand the problem, as LR has a custom profile for this lens. What am I missing?

 

What you are missing is that not everyone uses Lightroom or some other program that has a custom profile. My raw processor of choice is Photo Ninja. Its raw conversions are superior, IMO, but the program lacks advanced features, such as color cast correction profiles. It does, however, allow the user to create custom profiles for distortion and vignetting. Also, though I don't know this for sure, but there may be advantages to doing the corrections in-camera.

Edited May 2, 2018 by robgo2

[robgo2]

What you are missing is that not everyone uses Lightroom or some other program that has a custom profile. My raw processor of choice is Photo Ninja. Its raw conversions are superior, IMO, but the program lacks advanced features, such as color cast correction profiles. It does, however, allow the user to create custom profiles for distortion and vignetting. Also, though I don't know this for sure, but there may be advantages to doing the corrections in-camera.

 

I would also like to know if the LR profiles correct for color casts or just for distortion and vignetting.

 

Rob

[robgo2]

I would also like to know if the LR profiles correct for color casts or just for distortion and vignetting.

 

Rob

As I previously stated, I am not a Lightroom user and, thus, have no experience with its lens correction profiles. However, I did a search on the web and discovered that the LR profiles fix distortion, vignetting and chromatic aberration for specific lenses. I found no mention of color casts. So there we have the answer to Irakly’s question as to why in-camera lens profiles are preferable to LR profiles. There’s a good reason why Leica provides them in their digital camera bodies

 

Rob

Edited May 2, 2018 by robgo2

[Irakly Shanidze]

I would also like to know if the LR profiles correct for color casts or just for distortion and vignetting.

 

Rob

 

Whatever LR profile corrects for, 1.4/35 ZM files with the profile applied look the way they should.

 

In-camera correction works for JPEG files only. DNG needs correction in post.

[Irakly Shanidze]

What you are missing is that not everyone uses Lightroom or some other program that has a custom profile. My raw processor of choice is Photo Ninja. Its raw conversions are superior, IMO, but the program lacks advanced features, such as color cast correction profiles. It does, however, allow the user to create custom profiles for distortion and vignetting. Also, though I don't know this for sure, but there may be advantages to doing the corrections in-camera.

Thank you. That explains everything.

However, in-camera profiles work only with JPEGs.  DNG format has no ability to retain the in-camera color profile. This is not something like white balance. So, you may feel like a real Ninjutsu master, but no in-camera profile will help you in your noble ways.

[Steve McGarrett]

Thank you. That explains everything.

However, in-camera profiles work only with JPEGs.  DNG format has no ability to retain the in-camera color profile. This is not something like white balance. So, you may feel like a real Ninjutsu master, but no in-camera profile will help you in your noble ways.

 

Not true, all my DNGs taken with Leica cameras have the Leica profile correction already applied in LR, if I've coded the lens correctly on camera menu (or automatically if it's a 6 bit / ROM lens).

[robgo2]

Not true, all my DNGs taken with Leica cameras have the Leica profile correction already applied in LR, if I've coded the lens correctly on camera menu (or automatically if it's a 6 bit / ROM lens).

 

Absolutely correct. The profile is applied in-camera to DNGs.

 

Rob

Edited May 3, 2018 by robgo2

[BernardC]

Absolutely correct. The profile is applied in-camera to DNGs.

Technically, the profile is embedded in the DNG as metadata (as opposed to the raw image data), and then applied in your processing software. Lightroom automatically applies the profile that is listed in the DNG, which is why people try to find the Leica profile that best matches their non-Leica lenses, and then code the lens that way. It makes life simpler.

 

As others have noted, you can choose to manually apply a different profile, or no profile at all.

[Steve McGarrett]

In LR, profiles from the curtain menu are from Adobe, and it's not the same thing of built-in Leica profiles you select on-camera.

Adobe's profiles never even exist for many older lenses (and BTW don't fix color cast, just vignetting and distortion)

In other raw converters, things may be different, it's a long time since I use LR only.

[scott kirkpatrick]

In this discussion, there are three types of correction which are being lumped under "profile."  Actually, they are done at three different points in the processing of an image.  First is vignetting and, in the case of M rangefinder lenses which can suffer from color shifts at the edges, a sort of red vignetting.  This correction is applied in camera, pixel by pixel in the raw, Bayer-filtered image whenever the lens is recognized.  You can turn it off for M or R lenses, and you may use the profile for a different lens if shooting with a non-Leica lens.  Second is the mapping from the colors as shot to a starting point for the post-processed colors.  Adobe and Capture One both offer generic and camera-specific transforms, called "profiles," for this.  I assume that this is also applied to the raw pixels, each still associated with one color of the Bayer filter.  Finally, the DNG file contains a prescription for transforming the demosaiced pixels to remove barrel or pincusion distortion by mapping the RGB pixels at the final stage of rendering into the image that the lens actually saw without its distortions and then cropping to the desired 6000x4000 final image size.  Lateral color shifts are corrected at this stage (a sort of final software APO correction).  This is optional and controllable in Capture One, which also gives some flexibility in the final crop.  I believe it is also optional in LightRoom. 

Edited May 3, 2018 by scott kirkpatrick

[Steve McGarrett]

I'm talking about (and intended that the topic is about) the 1st one (and marginally, the 3rd)

Never mentioned the 2nd one.