DNG camera profile less flexible in Lightroom

[tom24]

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Hello,

 

What is your experience with DNG camera profiles in Lightroom?

 

I made a single dng profile for Leica MD and I have a feeling that this profile is less flexible when processing in Lightroom than the Adobe standard profile.

Above all, I find it more red-magenta (Especially in the blue sky).

The value of white balance also changes with dng profile and.... 

 

Maybe I don't know something - what are your experiences?

 

Thanks.

 

Happy holidays to all and all the best

Tom

[wda]

You will not get contaminated colour if you make a camera specific profile using a ColorChecker Passport.

[Jeff S]

+1

Jeff

[jaapv]

+2

[tom24]

Thanks

 

I will work on that and learn.

 

But I don't understand something. Why does White Balance change when I use dng camera custom profile?

For example with an Adobe profile the temperature / tint is 4800 / -7 with a custom dng profile is 5200 / + 3 (same photo without - no other corrections?

 

When I change the WB I have a feeling that it is easier to adjust with the adobe profile - for that I thought it might be more flexible (that's just my guess),

 

I apologize in advance for my no-knowing.

 

Thanks and all the best 🙂

 

Tomaz

[wda]

The captured white balance does not change. Only post-processing will change the values and you choose which best represents the scene as shot.

[zeitz]

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No apology needed.  This stuff is not intuitive.

The camera / sensor does not know anything about white balance / color temperature.  The camera / sensor  has no device to measure white balance / color temperature.  And a raw file is just the values from the camera's sensor pixels in a tabular format.  The software that makes the raw data into an image (de-mosaic) and guesses the white balance / color temperature based on some assumptions.  So different software / profiles will produce different results depending on how it guesses the white balance / color temperature.

The .dng file holds a lot more information than just the pixel readings.  It also holds metadata about taking conditions.  And it stores the camera's embedded profile, but does nothing with it.  My M8 and M9 only have one profile; I don't know about other Leica digital cameras.  My Nikon DSLRs have about 8 profiles; the one the user wants is selected from the camera's menu.  But all 8 profiles may be stored in Nikon's proprietary raw format.  Lightroom Develop Module / Adobe Camera Raw, which are the same, allows the user to go back into profiles and reselect what he wants to use for the displayed image.

[Jeff S]

The Color Checker Passport includes target options for easy white balance changes, separate from its custom color profile generation. The color profile portion works regardless of initial white balance used to photograph the tool.  Smart technology.  There are many online videos  regarding its installation and use.

Jeff

[Bobitybob]

A lot depends on how you made the profile, what type it is and what software you used, as they don't all offer the same number of ways to make and adjust profiles.

Generally speaking, profiles are made with either a single light source or with a combination of two at different colour temperatures.  If all of you work is normally undertaken in a fixed setting with a known colour temperature then it may be worth while using a specific profile that gives the best results for this setting from the one light source you use.  Obviously, if you move to another location where there is light with a different temperature, then the adjustments (white balance) applied by the profile would be wrong as it is fixed to the original lighting temperature.  That is why profiles are also now commonly made from a combination of more than one DNG image of a colour profile chart using different lighting temperatures.  As stated previously, there is plenty of info on this and how to make them and the various software used on the internet.

Also, don't forget that in LR you can alter the colours and tint of the profile as applied by using the Camera Calibration Settings in the Develop Module.  So for instance if you think that  the profile is too red or green you can then adjust these to your liking.  It's best to do this before and other adjustments, and as a bonus you can save the changes so that they are applied for that specific camera type on import.  You can do this be making the changes to the colours/tint etc and then hold the ALT key and the reset button will change to Set as Default, then just follow the prompts to save the changes.