Comments on: Camera Calibration panel tips

By: Martin Evening

Martin Evening — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 06:55:31 +0000

The last Tom Fors update was in 2008 before CS4 was launched. I gather that there is another script out there that can be used with CS4, but I don’t have the link to hand right now. Maybe someone else can provide a quick answer. I hear it also runs quicker.

By: Zach Stern

Zach Stern — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 01:49:10 +0000

Do you have any alternate calibration suggestions now that the script is wildly out of date?

Thanks again!

-Zach

By: andyptak

andyptak — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 15:41:36 +0000

I just found this thread so I’m coming in a bit late and don’t know if it’s still considered to be active.

I found the piece to be so informative that I decided to calibrate my cameras on CS3. I emailed Tom Fors about the CS3 patch/version and haven’t heard back. Am I being impatient or is this whole thread now considered to be finished up? Thanks.

By: Martin Evening

Martin Evening — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 10:10:38 +0000

Baxter,

You may want to consider tweaking the results you are getting to find what works for you best. I would not say that the script created setting is the one that is absolutely correct in every case. For example, skin tones can look too red when using a calibration setting and I will sometimes tweak the exact settings.

Bear in mind that under the hood, ACR is using a profile calibration method to work out the correct calibration for each camera. It has been done by measuring profile readings under two different luminance conditions and then extrapolates from this data the correct calibration for different ACR white balance settings. The data used in ACR has been collated sometimes from a mixed sample of cameras. In some cases just one camera model has been used. The default settings should therefore provide a reasonably good calibration for your camera as well,but the default calibration can only be as good as the difference between the charcteristics of your camera compared to the one that was used to create the default calibration. Some camera models may vary a lot in colour consistency between one camera and another. This is where the camera calibration process comes in. It is designed to provide the facility to fine-tune the camera profile calibration used in ACR.

Martin

By: baxterbradford

baxterbradford — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 17:50:05 +0000

I am relatively new to digital capture and am trying to ease my workflow. Thomas Fors’ script enabled me to generate several Develop camera calibration settings for different lighting conditions. They are an improvement over the ‘straight’ image, but the greens seem too strong and some yellows are overly acidic.

As a result of this, I tried the Rags Gardner scripts on the same DNG files and obtained very different settings which puzzled me since they operate in same manner. One setting varied by over 30 units! The results seem more in line with what I am looking for, but am not entirely happy just yet. I haven’t worked out how to post attachments to illustrate how much the settings vary.

Is there a more accurate way of generating camera profiles? Surely the big players in Colour Management are losing out since their calibrators are not being used to make ICC profiles as more photographers turn to Lightroom.

It seems right that I am having to make several settings as I am using a Leica M8 with the Leica IR cut filters and expect it to be susceptible to changes in the nature of the lighting.

Many thanks

Baxter

By: David Hillock

David Hillock — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 14:11:58 +0000

Hi Martin:

I just ran the script on my MAC Pro, in CS3 and it took 18:12. After 47 minutes, it’s still running on my PC! :-)

David

By: Martin Evening

Martin Evening — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 10:15:44 +0000

Thomas’s profile calculation cleverly calculates the appropriate colour interpretation across a wide range of white balance shooting conditions. The camera calibration enables you to finesse the colour control with greater precision. From my expereince, the camera calibration can be most important in the studio where I am using the same strobe flash units and therefore a calbration for that one source of lighting will prove useable for almost everything I shoot in the studio. Some people have claimed that the camera calibration for a strobe light source will be reliable enough to use for other lighting conditions as well. And I would say that a camera calibration applied in this way is bound to get you more precise colour than to not use it. But on the other hand, there can be variables in certain light sources that could easily throw the calculation. For example, in my CS2 Photoshop book I describe how to camera calibrate for flourescent tube lighting. I would say that for this type of lighting situation it would be a very good idea to custom calibrate.

As I await my new Mac Pro I eagerly hope that the calibration process will be amade a lot quicker!

Martin

By: Calvillo

Calvillo — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 22:38:51 +0000

“Basically, for each camera raw format that is supported, Thomas made two profiles which measure the camera sensor’s color response under controlled daylight and tungsten lighting conditions. Using this data, it has been possible to extrapolate what the color response will be for all white balance lighting conditions that fall between these two setups and beyond.”

How does one get calibrated for different white balances? Does the Color Checker need to be shot under each type of light/WB, or just Daylight & Tungsten?

By: andreleon

andreleon — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 20:49:23 +0000

According to Thomas Fors and Lee Varis , you need a different calibration for daylight, studio and tungsten lighting .

By: pixel_pusher05

pixel_pusher05 — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 05:45:49 +0000

When it comes to Camera Calibration, does the light source dictate how you calibrate. Do you need a Custom Calibration for each lighting source for example, Daylight, Tungsten, Strobe (Studio lights) and what about mixed sources?

I’m an Architectural Photographer and I shoot in many different light sources, sometimes mixed sources, sometimes I gel my lights with CTO gels to warm things up or to match the ambient light source.

How will Camera Calibration fair with what I do?

I tried Color Eyes a couple years ago but I was not satisfied with the results and did not think it was worth the effort at the time.

Thanks
Mark