brafman wrote:
You must buy the base package for every camera. The base package has a few standard profiles tailored to the camera. They designed the profiles so that photos from any camera will look basically the same in terms of color. So if you process a Canon R5 shot and a Nikon D850 shot taken at the same time, both with their respective base cobalt profiles, they should look close to identical.
Then you can also buy their profiles that simulate other cameras or films. They work in conjunction with the camera-specific base profile. So you only need to buy the simulation profiles once, no matter how many cameras you have. If you get a new camera, you buy a new base profile, and the simulation profiles you have will then work with the new camera.
That said, the pricing can climb up rather quickly....Show more →
For C1 the pricing differs from LR pricing as you need to request it for each combination of camera and emulation. Take a look at the tailored service underneath the emulations overview.
One combination is 59£ and two are 99£. So it is more expensive if you want to use it for more than one camera as you pay for each of your cameras separately. If you buy it for only one camera it is cheaper as you don‘t need to buy the base pack for C1 to get the emulations working.
brafman wrote:
You must buy the base package for every camera. The base package has a few standard profiles tailored to the camera. They designed the profiles so that photos from any camera will look basically the same in terms of color. So if you process a Canon R5 shot and a Nikon D850 shot taken at the same time, both with their respective base cobalt profiles, they should look close to identical.
Then you can also buy their profiles that simulate other cameras or films. They work in conjunction with the camera-specific base profile. So you only need to buy the simulation profiles once, no matter how many cameras you have. If you get a new camera, you buy a new base profile, and the simulation profiles you have will then work with the new camera.
That said, the pricing can climb up rather quickly....Show more →
Thank you for providing the information. I kind of figured that is how it structured. Admit I have owned quite a few different cameras so buying the base for each itself is quite expensive. I have use Coluor Fidelity from Colin which I think has a similar concept but for many years his "camera" packages where $10 and $15. I was checking and recently that has gone up to $25 but 39 lbs per camera is quite a bit more. I may have to limit this to just the camera I have and use now and see how it goes if I jump in. Thanks for explaining the user model.
Tirpitz666 wrote:
If I'm not wrong, DXO Filmpack are presets, not color profiles, so they affect also the various sliders on the right hand side of the interface, while color profiles don't. Cobalt emulations are also matching some specific camera profiles rather than type of films only, apart from providing a different "starting base" to post process with their base pack.
I don't think DXO Filmpack works as a plug-in with C1 or other free RAW processors like Rawtheraphee either (at least it's not written on their website).
Thanks for the explanation. That makes sense. I guess, I'll have to take a closer look at the various color profiles to see which might be of interest to me.
Looking at the checkout process, it seems that a paypal account is mandatory. Or is there a way to pay via creditcard?
jigesh wrote:
No PayPal account is needed; the next screen at checkout is PayPal screen but you can pay via credit card without a PayPal account.
Thanks. I tried, but it didn't work for me. The site gave me only the option to sign in or create a paypal account after clicking checkout. What's worse, I can't use the discount code anymore.
We had samples for skin tones and accurate digital emulations of different cameras: ccd, cmos and some analog with Kodachrome.
something I would add now is what I do love as a landscape photographer, the Velvia 50 film emulation .
Strong, not easy to manage but powerful and perfect for many landscapes; so much to become part of my workflow in landscape photography.
On film emulation, the contrast curve has to be stronger and many times, on this emulation and in others you could have to lower the saturation or soften the Hue on green or purple. As said before the film is a different matter about emulation and color accuracy so we kept as the first position of importance the color mood.
I am the first customer to make happy and something even close to what would be perfect for feelings would not be enough.
That's why we are working hard on a long project, the Kodak film emulation pack (Portra,E100G,Ektar,Gold) , still WIP for fine optimizations.
PS. we changed the limit for the coupon to 10 uses until the end of July.
For any request please use the contact form.
Canon 70-300L at f8 on Sony A7r3 - color: Cobalt Fuji film Velvia 50
Canon 24-70 2.8L ii at f8 on Sony A7r3 - color: Cobalt Fuji film Velvia 50
Canon 100 f2 at f8 on Sony A7r3 - color: Cobalt Fuji film Velvia 50
Panasonic LX100 - color: Cobalt Fuji film Velvia 50
Chris_88 wrote:
I hope you don't mind me asking, but does Cobalt offer some (serious) advantages over similar profile collections such as DXO's Film Pack?
Hi Chris,
I use DXO's Filmpack as well and they are great. They offer some film looks not available at Cobalt.
However, I think the main difference between DXO and Cobalt is that the former is based on standard profiles and that's not great for accuracy and depth of colors.
Cobalt goes an extra step and creates DNG profiles for each camera model, which in my opinion, it's good and bad:
Good because this allows them to develop high-end color profiles, better than color checker SG calibrated profiles, and to build over this accurate base our emulations. The bad is that it requires a base set for each camera you own. Aside from better colors and control, the differential for Cobalt is that when using their profiles, RAW images will look the same between camera brands and models.
Chris_88 wrote:
Thanks. I tried, but it didn't work for me. The site gave me only the option to sign in or create a paypal account after clicking checkout. What's worse, I can't use the discount code anymore.
That's different than what I see. In my case, I chose the encircled option of the attached screenshot.
Regarding, inability to use coupon code, I suggest sending a PM to user "Ulysseita" as it seems since the coupon is one-time use, cookies and/or your e-mail address wrongly tell their check-out process that the coupon was already used even if you may not have completed the checkout.
Fred Miranda wrote:
Hi Chris,
I use DXO's Filmpack as well and they are great. They offer some film looks not available at Cobalt.
However, I think the main difference between DXO and Cobalt is that the former is based on standard profiles and that's not great for accuracy and depth of colors.
Cobalt goes an extra step and creates DNG profiles for each camera model, which in my opinion, it's good and bad:
Good because this allows them to develop high-end color profiles, better than color checker SG calibrated profiles, and to build over this accurate base our emulations. The bad is that it requires a base set for each camera you own. Aside from better colors and control, the differential for Cobalt is that when using their profiles, RAW images will look the same between camera brands and models....Show more →
Thanks for the explanation, Fred. Very helpful. Some of the film emulations included in DXO Filmpack provide very nice effects, but you're right, color accuracy isn't ideal. I have only one camera right now, but I certainly see the benefits of Cobalt's more sophisticated approach.
jigesh wrote:
Regarding, inability to use coupon code, I suggest sending a PM to user "Ulysseita" as it seems since the coupon is one-time use, cookies and/or your e-mail address wrongly tell their check-out process that the coupon was already used even if you may not have completed the checkout.
Thanks. Indeed, I didn't see the check out with debit card button. May be this is specific to the US? Guiseppe and I exchanged a couple of PM's. He told me that currently paypal was the only payment option.
Woah, really love the Fujifilm Digital Classic Neg and Nostalgia Neg in Fred's post with the Chevelle. The Nostalgia Neg was one of the features that really piqued my interest in the GX100s (among other things, of course), but there's no way I'm ever getting it short of winning a lottery.
I have always struggled with all LR profiles for my Sony cams, even on a calibrated monitor. Nothing ever looks "right," especially not the Sony profiles. I think I'm going to give these a shot.
@Ulysseita if I am shooting with both an A7RIII and A7RIV, will I need two base packs or would the A7RIII pack work for both?
Does the profile you choose have a big impact on the look of the preset? So in the Velvia landscape examples above, if you applied that preset to the Repro profile, would there be softer highlights/shadows?
Also, are the presets optimized for a specific profile?
I have been using LR as well as C1 in my workflow and am not happy with the skin tones both are providing. For LR I have purchased profiles from another vendor which are working out quite well. Due to all of your great reviews here I am now evaluating getting the base profiles for my A7III for C1. Before pushing the button I was wondering whether there is a chance to get a demo beforehand? Would love to see in advance how the profiles are working out. Is there a way to get a preview?
Archive 2021 · Cobalt Profiles
