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] <mailto:[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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