Custom DNG Profile for Lightroom

[novice9]

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Thanks all. I was able to get the M9 profile into LR 3.0 beta. My initial observations are that it renders skin tones on the redish side. But many thanks to all. I will definitely make my own at some point in the next couple of months. I have alot to learn and can't do everything at once! much appreciated. tony.

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[hoppyman]

... but if you have access to a Colorchecker card (maybe borrow a friends), why not make your own profile that is custom to YOUR specific sensor rather obtain a profile that is custom to someone else's?

Hi William that is the ideal situation certainly. I intend to do that once I actually take delivery of my own camera. Thus far I only have files from three other M9s.

 

Since this may be new to some people, I'll mention a couple of points with the process. Feel free to fast forward me if it is old news to you:)

 

The basics of the way Adobe makes a profile is to use a sample camera or more than one camera (probably only one with the rarity of the M9) and photographs a standard color checker chart twice, once under 6500K (daylight) and once under 2850K (tungsten). The rendering of the standard patches under those two conditions is used to make the profile. That is because the sensor sensitivity can vary in different conditions. Multiple camera samples because individual cameras can theoretically vary.

When you make a profile yourself you can follow the same method. For the best accuracy you need to be able to measure your light sources and have them as close as possible to those two ideals. I went through this for my M8 and made a useful profile, measuring colour temps with a meter etc. In practice I've found my profile to be excellent for many light conditions but less effective at the tungsten end. In theory it ought to be 'correct' there too. However what is 'correct' and what is most acceptable are not necessarily the same thing. I defer to Sandy and Adobe on the much more sophisticated processes going on to make the colour look 'correct'.

Sandy created a program that lets us have our own computers make the calculations from the two images. Now Adobe has incorporated that process into their free DNG Profile editor which is very simple and fast to run. I can't comment on comparative accuracy.

Anyway some points to consider are:

Get the free DNG Profile Editor prog from Adobe. I recommend getting that and rerading through the help files.

Get Sandy's free prog too.

You need to start with a DNG although for other Raw formats, once you do that you can use the profile for them too later.

A profile here is not the same thing as an ICC profile.

You need to own or borrow a color checker card and photograph it carefully

You need to be able to measure colour temperature accurately for your two light sources (I borrowed a colour meter and a tungsten light from my dealer).

Profiles can be freely shared with others although it is possible to set end use restrictions with them.

It is possible to edit an existing profile (that's what the prog is for) for specific uses.

 

Share with everyone and report your experiences. My M8 profile is available to anyone tht is interested. I shall do the same once I actually get to OWN an M9!

[Guest WPalank]

For those that are interested, I found written directions for using the ColorChecker Passport system.

Just click on the respective link if you intend to use it through Lightroom or the standalone application.

I used the standalone application today to create a M9 daylight profile for use in LR3 and 2.5 and it was very, very easy.

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