The comparison photos show what a significant effect a profile can have on the final look of an image. No surprise there, I guess, except the magnitude of the difference is more than I might have expected and covers other pictorial aspects than, say, colour balance. In some comparisons the same photo looks like it was taken with two different cameras, or at least with two different lenses. The cases show differences we would normally be discussing when discussing how different lenses render. If you have not come across the article, I recommend spending 10 minutes and taking a look.
Disclosure: I do use Cobalt profiles on all the Sony cameras I have owned, but not their Leica emulations (yet!)
I don't know the website and I am not sure where to post the link. I thought perhaps on a preset thread or on the current 'pop' thread. It is relevant for both. In the end I decided to post it here. Please move it if you think necessary.
p.1 #2 · The Leica Look on a Sony Camera: A Cobalt Image Emulation Review
I prefer the standard Sony Adobe examples. I don't like the increased contrast. I'd bet there are Leica users who would spend good money on profiles that make their M10 images look like those from the Sony. Of course, the name Sony shouldn't appear anywhere in the description, and instead you'd have to use terms like character, iconic, classic, and vintage.
p.1 #3 · The Leica Look on a Sony Camera: A Cobalt Image Emulation Review
As always, it's a matter of taste I guess.
To me it's not increased contrast but improved gradation and therefore definition, along with other benefits. I have never liked the Adobe treatment of Sony colours and was pleased when I found the Cobalt profiles. For me it is not to do with Sony vs Leica, it's about a good profile maximising the sensor performance in either case. It just happens the example was with a Leica emulation.
p.1 #4 · The Leica Look on a Sony Camera: A Cobalt Image Emulation Review
I started using Cobalt profiles maybe a year and a half, two years ago, with my Sony and Ricoh GR cameras. I love the Ricoh Positive Film emulation, and now find it much easier to get images I'm happy with.
rob_ww wrote:
As always, it's a matter of taste I guess.
To me it's not increased contrast but improved gradation and therefore definition, along with other benefits. I have never liked the Adobe treatment of Sony colours and was pleased when I found the Cobalt profiles. For me it is not to do with Sony vs Leica, it's about a good profile maximising the sensor performance in either case. It just happens the example was with a Leica emulation.
p.1 #5 · The Leica Look on a Sony Camera: A Cobalt Image Emulation Review
rob_ww wrote:
As always, it's a matter of taste I guess.
To me it's not increased contrast but improved gradation and therefore definition, along with other benefits. I have never liked the Adobe treatment of Sony colours and was pleased when I found the Cobalt profiles. For me it is not to do with Sony vs Leica, it's about a good profile maximising the sensor performance in either case. It just happens the example was with a Leica emulation.
I completely agree. I was referring to the examples in the article because you asked for opinions after linking.
rob_ww wrote:
Which profiles do you use with your Sony?
I don't have a set workflow and usually start with color, landscape, standard, Sony NT, Sony ST, or even Adaptive Color and then continue on foot. But I'll happily admit that I'm more or less bungling. I also exclusively use LR Mobile on my tablet because I hate looking at or editing images on a monitor. I sit at the computer all day at work, and that's enough. (BTW: I miss my darkroom). Be that as it may. I just found it funny that everyone is always talking about the supposed Leica look, which in my opinion doesn't exist, CAN'T exist, simply because Leica photos can turn out quite differently depending on the model, and there are very different preferences there too. While some people practically adore the colors of the M9's CCD sensor, for others the magenta cast practically makes them nauseous. And in the German Leica forum, people are currently racking their brains for pages about how to give the color-poor photos from the Q3 the familiar "M look," even though the majority of users rave about the Q3's typical Leica look. It's no different with Sony. There's also a raging argument about whether the 7Rv produces more beautiful colors than the 7IV or not. For me, the user's image processing skills ultimately make the difference, as they can easily conjure breathtaking moods from RAW images from any camera. Unfortunately, I'm not an expert at image editing. My world was the darkroom, and that's something completely different.
However, that doesn't mean that good profiles can't be very helpful. Personally, I find Capture One's copy function quite interesting, allowing you to transfer the look and feel of any photo to another. I'd love to see something like that in LR.
p.1 #6 · The Leica Look on a Sony Camera: A Cobalt Image Emulation Review
I don't see any 'improved graduation' in the compared samples. I see some differences. The most notable one is the colors on the shirt of the tennis player: shifted from orangish red to more red. Of course, the question is what was the actual color of the shirt: more like the Adobe profile image or more like the cobalt profile image? The colors on the scarf of the African has also notably changed. Again we don't know what were like the colors in real. However, in this case, I find the Adobe colors more natural. The whole image has shifted to a somewhat warmer tone. In this particular case, I prefer the Adobe treatment. In the case of the temple, I prefer the cobalt output because the sky is real blue while in the Adobe profile, the sky is purplish. This could be a mistake because, I don't remember such purplish sky in a midday photo from my Sony camera. Tgis purplish cast is also present in the 'Adobe' treatment of the shore.
In any case, I always adjust the color according to my own preference and would rather do this per picture. I do not trust a fixed precooked profile cure that works for all photos.
rob_ww wrote:
As always, it's a matter of taste I guess.
To me it's not increased contrast but improved gradation and therefore definition, along with other benefits. I have never liked the Adobe treatment of Sony colours and was pleased when I found the Cobalt profiles. For me it is not to do with Sony vs Leica, it's about a good profile maximising the sensor performance in either case. It just happens the example was with a Leica emulation.
p.1 #7 · The Leica Look on a Sony Camera: A Cobalt Image Emulation Review
Wow, I couldn't force myself to read the article completely.
The author is trying to pull something out of thin air with some beautiful words to make the profiles seem better, when they are actually worse in terms of color reproduction.
It sounds like an advertisement.
The only example where skin tones have a pleasant look is with the African woman, they have a clear stylistic look, whereas the Sony looks completely neutral and close to real life.
But the color of the scarf is clearly wrong, and you can see the same thing with the sunset photo.
Where have you seen a magenta sun in real life? Sony standard profile clearly has more color gradation too.
As for purple sky in Sony photos - if you apply "Camera Standard" look instead of "Adobe Color", you get a prominent shift in blues toward magenta, but you never get it with any Adobe profile.
I use Cobalt Standard, for some of my photos, but 90% of the time Adobe colors look simply better in terms of skintones and contrast.
p.1 #8 · The Leica Look on a Sony Camera: A Cobalt Image Emulation Review
Thanks everyone, that is an interesting set of replies -- and not what I expected!
It makes me realise, if it were needed, that we all have very different tastes. A set of photos I think are a great improvement in every case, as does the author, and others prefer the originals. If we were discussing a lens which produced those improvements, some would rush to praise it and others would decry it, with no obvious reason other than subjective judgement or preference, mine and others.
