What's your ACR Calibration Levels?

[lextalionis]

Hey gang,

I'm in the process of switching-up my work-flow. I used to use a combination of Bibble and Photoshop and now I want to entirely use ACR 5 and CS4. My first few passes with ACR 5 with my Canon 30D RAWs have been dismal to say the least...color is horrible...mostly very dull, too green and lacks punch/pizzazz.

Now after about 4 nights of reading, I'm in the process of using a GretagMacbeth 124 swatch color checker and most likely what Jeff Kohn said in post #2 in this thread: http://www.texasphotoforum.com/forum...aw+calibration

Now before I run off and spend the next few days calibrating, I would love to see what some ACR users [ACR version, Camera, and Selected color space (aka Adobe1998, ProCamera, sRBG etc)] have set in their Calibration Tab. Here's the format I would like to see and if anyone suggest additional info, then please speak up and I'll add it to this OP. Just Copy and paste the numbered section below with your values.

1. Camera Used:
2. ACR version:
3. Color Space used (what you use most commonly or used to calibrate):

4. Primary scenes captured (aka studio portrait, landscape, macro, etc.):

5. Calibration TAB Settings:
- Shadow Tint Value=
- Red Hue Value=
- Red Sat Value=
- Green Hue Value=
- Green Sat Value=
- Blue Hue Value=
- Blue Sat Value=


I hope to use this data (if it starts rolling in this thread) as a place to see patterns and baselines.

Thanks,
Roy

[DigitalScape]

Roy, I am using a profile developed by E.J. Peiker (based on the GretagMacbeth color checker). he has profiles for various cameras - mostly Canon and a couple of Nikons. His web site is: http://www.ejphoto.com/acr_order_page.htm.

[lextalionis]

Thanks John,

I'm using the typical "DIY" approach as in taking a RAW of a grey-card balanced shot of a 124patch GretaMacbeth color checker and manually tweaking. I'll post mine finding here for my 30D. I think others using ACR would enjoy seeing some of these stats.

-Roy

[iCe]

Interesting. I use ACR with settings that are almost right out of the box. ProPhoto color space. Factory defaults for Calibration tab. Sharpening OFF. Point curve set to medium contrast.

I do set some defaults for the primary settings.

White Balance: As Shot
Exposure: 0
Recovery: 0
Fill: 0
Blacks: 0
Brightness: 0
Contrast: 40
Clarity: 25
Vibrance: 15
Saturation: 10

I do this for each camera and save it so that when I open a new RAW file in ACR it defaults to the above settings. Obviously they don't stay there but I had to start somewhere. I should probably tweak the calibration tab settings to save a little time...

[blssdwlf]

Use the DNG profiles from Adobe.

http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/DNG_Profiles

I had a huge problem with getting the color right from my 400D with ACR and did the GretagMacbeth color calibration profile with ACR, But I find these new DNG profiles provided by Adobe more than sufficient and more of a time-saver. After you install these profiles, you can start with "Camera Standard Beta" and you should notice the colors improve and look as if they came out of Canon's DPP.

I suggest for the ACR settings to start at these defaults:
Exposure: 0 (white point)
Recovery: 0
Fill: 0
Blacks: 5 (black point)
Brightness: 50
Contrast: 25
Clarity: 0
Vibrance: 0
Saturation: 0

and adjust to taste.

The above defaults would produce the same result as if Canon's DPP was set to
Brightness: 0
Contrast: 0
Saturation: 0

Good luck!

[Techie309]

Roy, I'm not much help here, but I can tell you what is working nicely in my workflow. Lightroom/Photoshop now has the camera profiles available and it really adds life and punch to my RAW images from my 30d and gives me a much better "Starting point" when developing my RAW images.

http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php...Profile_Editor

[jeffkohn]

The new DNG Camera Profiles are worth checking out if you want to replicate the in-camera JPEG results, but I still prefer using the CC24 to create a custom profile. I don't recommend using the calibration tab any more, however. Adobe has released the DNG Profile Editor, and its chart wizard is faster, easier, and produces better profiles than the old calibration scripts.

[srwatters]

Originally Posted by jeffkohn

The new DNG Camera Profiles are worth checking out if you want to replicate the in-camera JPEG results, but I still prefer using the CC24 to create a custom profile. I don't recommend using the calibration tab any more, however. Adobe has released the DNG Profile Editor, and its chart wizard is faster, easier, and produces better profiles than the old calibration scripts.

One of the two main reasons I'm upgrading to CS4.

[jeffkohn]

Originally Posted by srwatters

One of the two main reasons I'm upgrading to CS4.

You can use the new profiles and profile editor with ACR 4.5 or later I believe, no need to upgrade to CS4 just for that

(although there are a lot of other imrpovements to ACR/Bridge in CS4).