Hi Germano,
thanks for your considered replies. I concede your point when you
said "because for example I may want to just adjust the exposure and few
other things, by using the colours already generated by the camera".
I decided to do a test. I found an image of a kangaroo (I am Australian)
where I had both a JPG and NEF file. I opened the JPG in DT and did a
snapshot of the image to use as a comparison for working the RAW file. I
then opened the RAW file and activated the snapshot from the JPG. The RAW
file was a little darker and duller. I easily corrected this using the
exposure module and the white and black relative exposure sliders in
filmic. The image looked nearly identical to the jpg except for one patch
of fur on the kangaroo which didn't match perfectly in color. Initially I
was not sure how I could fix this because when I tried whitebalance the
global shift of colours just made it worse. Then I went to the color zones
module and used the eyedropper to identify the color of the patch of fur
that was giving me problems. In the saturation tab I started raising the
saturation of this region and the final result was as identical as I would
ever hope to achieve. So my conclusion is that yes I can achieve an all
but identical image from a RAW nef file and a JPG image rapidly in DT. I
feel the issue is that Nikon and other camera manufacturers apply unique
corrections to the JPG based upon many factors including what picture style
you have selected in the camera. For instance, if landscape is selected in
the camera then Nikon pumps the blues and greens up a bit. I actually have
made a preset in color zones module to enhance greens in landscapes. I also
have another to reduce excessive red in skin tones. I guess these are me
making my own picture styles in DT.
Take home message is try using the snapshot feature of darktable as a
reference for setting the RAW file if you want to match the camera JPG. I
admit when I edit images I do not care about the camera JPG, but feel one
of the biggest challenges when first learning to edit your own RAW files is
to get a result as good as the camera's JPG, let alone better. After all
Canon, Nikon, Olympus and all the other manufacturers have invested a lot
of resources and expertise into coming up with the 'secret recipes' to
produce these JPGs in an attempt to make their cameras the best on the
market.
On Sat, 26 Dec 2020 at 08:50, Germano Massullo <[email protected]>
wrote:
> I am replying hereunder to most of the answers I got. Thank you everybody
>
> David Vincent-Jones wrote:
>
> Your camera JPG is produced using Nikon's secret and special 'sauce' and
> achieving an identical result would be difficult. People who shoot RAW
> files generally believe that they can hand craft a result that is at least
> similar but probably better than that which the camera manufacturer can
> offer.
>
>
> Yes, unfortunately I think they give their special sauce only to big
> software companies, like "you know who" company. Indeed I tried to produce
> a JPEG (from NEF) from THAT software and I got an image that is ~identical
> to the camera JPEG.
>
> Martin Straeten wrote:
>
> You might use this:
> https://pixls.us/articles/profiling-a-camera-with-darktable-chart/
>
>
> Yes, luckily I have a X-Rite Colour Checker, I have to use it more often
>
> Terry Pinfold wrote:
>
> Not really answering the direct question here, but making an observation
> that many others have said before me. If you want your image to look like
> the cameras JPG then use the JPG. To me the whole idea of using RAW files
> and processing in DT is to hand-craft my own image how I as the
> photographer/artist want to render the scene.
>
>
> I don't agree because for example I may want to just adjust the exposure
> and few other things, by using the colours already generated by the camera
>
> I would also comment that Filmic V4 is giving me a very nice starting
> point for most of my images compared to the base curve options or Filmic
> V3.
>
>
> Nice suggestion, I am currently studying it with guide
> https://www.mauriziopaglia.it/filmic-faq/
>
> Archie Macintosh wrote:
>
> place Input Color Profile early in the pipe, as Aurélian Pierre does with the
> jpeg he's
> editing in this video at 14:22:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzACn3l49HM
>
>
> Thank you, I bookmarked the video
>
> Kees Stravers wrote:
>
> What version of Darktable are you using?
> In my experience, Darktable 2.6.x gets much closer to the Nikon colors in
> its defaults than 3.x does.
>
>
> 3.2.1
>
> Timur Irikovich Davletshin wrote:
>
> You're not gonna get precise color reproduction even if your camera has
> full support in dt (or you made custom profiling). Default basecurve
> module behavior has been changed since 3.0 release. Try changing color
> reproduction to 'none' instead of 'luminance'. This is the only way
> profiles work for me. Why it has been changed is another question. We
> discussed it already couple times. I looks like no one cares about
> matching in camera JPEGs but for some unknown reason dt still defaults
> to base curve module... which is profiled against in camera JPEGs!
> :)
> Timur.
>
>
> W-O-W Timur thank you so much, you solved 90% of my problems, switching
> from "luminance" to "none" I got almost all colours I need. I wonder why
> "luminance" is the default setting instead of "none"!!!!!
>
> Terry Pinfold wrote:
>
> Recently I was teaching a group of students to use DT 3.0. We opened the
> same image using base curve to get the initial starting point, we then
> opened the image with no base curve and just did our own tone curve, and
> finally we used Filmic V4 and adjusted the white and black exposure
> sliders. Every student thought Filmic gave the best result and was easy to
> use at this basic level. For me Filmic V4 is giving pleasing results with
> colour saturation where I found V3 too subdued.
>
>
> Yes, as I said in previous part of this message, Filmic V4 is really a
> thing to study / practice with
>
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