> Is possible (is there any point) to profile a camera? > > I have set up an action for PCS for all my images once they come off my > 1Ds > >
Dear James. THis is an ongoing debate and I guess, a never ending one. The two schools of thought regarding this dilemma are the School of "Yes they can be profiled" and the school of " No we should not profile them". If you pick a scanner as reference, you can easily ascertain that the chip is always gathering info from the same source of light ( except of course , for the slight changes due to lamp wear, but that can be accounted for when re-profiling. THis would indicate that you might need a camera profile for each diferent lighting enviroment you currently use, this is, a profile for sunligt, another for cloudy , another for studio etc,etc. THis is the school of " No we we should not profile cameras". The opposite school says the chip will behave exactly the same way , regardless of the light conditions of the capture, and that includes every sort of sources, and then ,under this reasoning, the chip's behaviour can be characterised and this would be an equivalent of a profile, a single one, for all situations. For formal examples of both reasonings , please check the EyeOne position and the German response to it http://www.integrated-color.com/ In the FAQ's page can read this: > Don't I need to profile each scene? > Absolutely not. A camera profile is a measurement of what the camera >records > in general. If a camera records all reds as too yellow it will do >that under > any lighting circumstance. Profiling each scene will generate errors >in your > profile because of how the target is influenced by its surroundings. BUT, On the other side of the equation, Calibration seems to be the option offered by other software makers. Just read what it is found in the Help file of the Calibr8 Demo software to rapidly calibrate images using different target color tables > Camera manufacturers and color pundits claim that one profile should be > sufficient to characterize all images collected with a specific digital > device. This is similar in theory to claiming that a printer can be > calibrated > with a single profile that is sufficient for all ink and paper >combinations. > We believe this to be theoretically false. The motive-dependent >profiles that > Calibr8 produces provide a visual and mathematical confirmation of >our belief > and experience as photographers. If you ask me , what every one is saying is that their software is better for the task. While in NY , I asked the Canon reps about this issue and they simply stated that their cameras did not need any profiling at all and that, should some refined color capture should be required at some time, it would be achieved by involving color targets, like the kodak or Gretag cards as to further refine the color qualities , in Post Production. To me this is an insinuation as to not bother too much with profiling. I know others may think differently and I would like to have an update on this subject as well. Also, to my utmost surprise, I did some testings recently in Miami and I was impressed to find machines like the Agfa D2 Lab, a supposedly Professional but mostly consumer machine, being able to work comfortably well fully outside any Color Managed enviroment ,while providing full quality images from digicam files, straight from the CF card. The Info on the D2 is that it will not read any tagged/embedded profile and any modifications required should be run in PS before sending the files to print, due to its inability to read any of this data. Following my suggestions, We begun a process of profiling the Agfa printer via calibration targets specifically designed for the D2 unit ( by an independent profile maker www.drycreekphoto.com), and the lab will provide for free the resulting profile to photographers, so they can convert their files into this printing profile BEFORE sending them to the lab, and will just get WYSIWYG results if they obviously have a calibrated monitor to begin with. This practical evidence would also indicate little need ( if anything at all) of camera profiles. HTH Jorge Parra =============================================================== GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
