Re: Subject: Profiling Digital Cameras
Re: Subject: Profiling Digital Cameras
- Subject: Re: Subject: Profiling Digital Cameras
- From: Dan Reid <email@hidden>
- Date: Sat, 01 Mar 2003 10:25:16 -0700
on 2/26/03 10:54 AM, montespluga at email@hidden wrote:
>
Stefan
>
Just had a look at your site, and as I understood, your camera
>
calibration-kit would have the ability to produces 200 ( =
>
beginnerkit, and more) different tags for 200 different light
>
situations.
>
As a photographer, this seems to me to be to complex to handle. When
>
shooting, I rather want to care about the photos, not the profile.
>
(This doesn't means that I'm not caring about the profiles)
>
>
But, as time is changing, we all have less time to get the photos
>
done, time that we need for controlling the camera, the light, the
>
object. Even when shooting such a static thing as architecture, per
>
example, the light might change in half a second. This might be the
>
most important second of that shot. I've been already waiting more
>
than 3 hrs for that!
>
Well, theire wouldn't be any time to select a tag.
>
>
Then, as you use a own program, I still had to change in PS, to
>
work the files.
>
>
I might be missing out something about your work, but you might clear me up.
>
>
regards, montespluga
Finally, someone has brought up why I feel CR may have little use for
photographers that process lots of images and want to preserve their
interpretation of the scene. A good camera profile is agnostic to the
subject and the lighting conditions. We DO NOT want to compensate for
lighting qualities nor exposure with a camera profile and therefore do not
need separate profiles for each lighting scenario.
Adobe CR provide the option to rebalance and adjust images without
preserving the scene's integrity. I don't understand how the same settings
in CR can apply to a disk full of images shot in different lighting and
subjects unless you correct each individually or separate them into groups
to be processed using a Photoshop action. The CR solution seems best for low
volume photographers who can take time to massage their images to look a
certain way.
I, like many others on this list, have successfully profiled many
difficult field (35mm) cameras and scan backs. Most fail in camera profiling
because they don't understand the goal in camera profiling -- to describe
the cameras response to color irrespective of exposure and lighting. Those
are the variables that make exciting photography! I have customers who enjoy
unparallel accuracy in their images netting them significant reduction in
color correction. The CR solution seems to offer the opposite requiring more
work to color balance for each image and necessitating reinterpretation of
the scene. Now if CR were to function like a real go between (i.e. CMM) that
allowed us to tweak away while *using* a good camera profile and destination
(working space) that would be something. Unfortunately, I don't think this
product works this way today. Others will elaborate I am sure.
Sure certain targets do not reflect *actual* scenes but other charts
like the venerable ColorChecker from GretagMacbeth were designed for this
exact purpose. The PCS in camera profiles is LAB so you will have very good
results in measuring the ColorChecker to find out its LAB values to compare
with the camera RGB values recorded. Conversion from RGB back to LAB for
transformation into a working space or CMYK relies heavy upon the
interpolation of the profiling software. This is why the DC ColorChecker is
sometimes more helpful than the original ColorChecker with the additional
sample points. Lets not start the whole ColorChecker/ DC ColorChecker war
again -- just suffice to say that one chart is not appropriate for all
situations.
So if CR is doing justice for you, then by all means use the product.
But if you wish to preserve your artistic intent or need to process batches
of images agnostically, use a camera profile instead.
--
Dan B. Reid
RENAISSANCE PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGING
http://www.rpimaging.com | email@hidden
Toll Free: (866) RGB-CMYK
_______________________________________________
colorsync-users mailing list | email@hidden
Help/Unsubscribe/Archives:
http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/colorsync-users
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.