I was looking for a way to color calibrate my 1DS-mk3 in CS3, ver 4.4.1. Chomaholics was suggested. This is a script plug-in to be used with a McBeth Color chart.
So I downloaded the script, and ordered a color chart from Xrite (not cheap). The chart arrived today and I tried it to find out that the script does not support PS 4.4.1. I tried the users group only to find out this is an unsolved issue.
So here is the question. Does anyone know another way to calibrate a camera short of buying an entire calibration kit. I do have a Monaco Optix puck, and use NEC spectraview for my monitor. I use Red River profiles on my Epson 3800.
Is there a hard way to do this like for example using an eye dropper to sample colors in the image of the color chart and then finding out what value it should be?
I don't want to disillusion you but a 1DS-mk3 is probably more accurate than anything else in your flow, and calibrating cameras is beyond difficult even with $5K worth of Gretag Macbeth hardware and software. I spent several years chasing this pot'o'gold and finally sold the lot and bought a D3 which is the most color accurate camera I've ever used. The profiles I did get using the ColorChecker SG and ProfileMaker 5 made my colors match checker and my customers look like patients in need of an urgent blood transfusion. If you venture down this path be prepared for a lot of frustration.
Thanks for the reply. The reason this got started is when I asked about using DPP instead of CS3. I was getting better colors with DPP, but it lacks many features I want to use. Maybe the real thing that needs calibrating is ACR. I find I need to desaturate the reds a lot to get the right output.
As it is, I am already using custom camera settings that I got from another 1DS-mk3 user, I just wanted to do my own.
I have tried the chromaholics calibrator with my 5D but it created horrible colours. if you want accurate color then DPP set to faithful rendering is unbeatable IMO. I use it for product and copy work. Reds are always a problem with Canon DSLR's - especialy with skin tones which always seem to have a 'flushed' look to them. I just adjust the hue in the ACR calibration slider. Even if the Chromaholics script may not be ideal for everyone you can do some manual tweaking and this has been disscussed many times.
I have tried it this way, I miss the highlight recovery tool and several other features in ACR. I have been playing with my color chart image. I created a selective color action that corrects the colors to match the color chart by eyeball. It seems to do a pretty good job. The way I did this for the first pass was to start by correcting WB and then in selective color, adjusting the black level for each color until I got the best match. Red green and blue got the most adjustment, typically all needed darkening by about +10 in abslute mode.
This is mostly for landscapes and I don't like the way ACR does reds.
ACR is well known for it's propensity to make people look flushed (too red) but other than that it's too good a tool to not use for RAW processing. It's not really their fault either, it's the camera being too sensitive to IR, which is why you can't calibrate it out. I had this problem in droves as I do a lot of adult dances where people drink and get quite warm, the D2H needed hue correction on many shots. I never did find a better solution than what was mentioned already, but the D3 doesn't seem to have that problem - for whatever reason skin tones are far more accurate in ACR. This won't show up in the vendors tools because they go out of their way to 'fix' their own products, something Adobe doesn't do. Nikon in particular turn skin tones an awful yellow tint in an attempt to hide the IR sensitivity, something I really couldn't deal with especially when photographing Asian skin tones.
jrhoffman75 wrote:
You can convert the RAW in DPP for colors you want and then process the TIFF in PS or LR for the Adobe features.
Are you saying I can open a TIFF file in ACR and adjust highlights, add vibrance clarity etc while still in ACR and before I open Photo Shop? Hmm I just trued it and when you start in ACR and select a TIFF, it goes straight to Photo Shop.
ben egbert wrote:
Are you saying I can open a TIFF file in ACR and adjust highlights, add vibrance clarity etc while still in ACR and before I open Photo Shop? Hmm I just trued it and when you start in ACR and select a TIFF, it goes straight to Photo Shop.
Yes ... you can process TIFF and JPG images in ACR now. If you are starting in Bridge, just use the open in ACR command (or select thumbnail and do a ctrl-r).
I own a GM Photos SG calibration system capable of calibrating a camera, but agree with others that it is very difficult to get quality results.
A simple question, are you shooting RAW and using a white balance reference to set your white balance? If not, I would recommend this as a first step in trying to address the color issue.
UCSB wrote:
Yes ... you can process TIFF and JPG images in ACR now. If you are starting in Bridge, just use the open in ACR command (or select thumbnail and do a ctrl-r).
I own a GM Photos SG calibration system capable of calibrating a camera, but agree with others that it is very difficult to get quality results.
A simple question, are you shooting RAW and using a white balance reference to set your white balance? If not, I would recommend this as a first step in trying to address the color issue.
I used to shoot a Gray card and making a custom WC setting with my 20D, but stopped with the 5D because it seemed pretty accurate. I have thought about just shooting my Color checker for reference in tough color scenes.
Color accuracy is an area I find interesting. The in-camera white balance settings (not talking about the custom setting) virtually always introduce a color error into your images. The only question is how large. I own two ColorChecker references. The ColorChecker SG and ColorChecker Mini. The SG is my most accurate reference, but the ColorChecker Mini is my least accurate (but, still good). Using ColorCheckers for white balance reference work is pretty inconvenient and they are are really not manufactured for that type of use. I would recommend a system designed for field use. Of the five systems that I own, by far the most convenient is this system: http://precisioncaps.com/canon.html. I have it on all nine of my Canon lenses. It is always available without any work on my part.
Well you have inspired me to do some white balances shots tomorrow with my old Kodaq Card. I have a black and whiite and a solid gray. I am going to need to get out the manual as I have forgotten how to even do a custom WB. But it will come back to me.
My color card was bought from Xrite and is a mini, it actually says Munsell Color on the case. Very handy size.
With my 1DsMK3, I've found the most accurate color results I've seen from any of my digital cameras over the years is from CaptureOne v4. The input profiles that Phase has for the Mk3 are the best I've seen. Just a single gray balance click and the colors are amazingly neutral and accurate, even on complicated paintings with very subtle colorings.
Simon Tindemans' "ACR Calibrator L" script is based on Thomas Fors script and supports v. 4.4.1. I haven't tried it yet but it seems to have a good reputation.
allanm wrote:
Simon Tindemans' "ACR Calibrator L" script is based on Thomas Fors script and supports v. 4.4.1. I haven't tried it yet but it seems to have a good reputation.
Thanks I downloaded it (stange way to download) but it did work and I got it installed and running now. In fact it has been running for about 30 minutes. I suspect it is in a loop just like the other script. By the way, I did delete the old script and I made sure this is the L script and latest version which is supposed to work on 4.4.1. Easy to see because it starts with a pop-up window where you set stuff.
I left for a couple of hours and when I returned, it was finished and I have a calibration profile. For the record,
tint -5
red hue -11
red sat 2
green hue -16
green sat -11
blue hue 0
Blue sat -26
I think it had a hard time getting past the grey color correction, and might be that I need a better exposure and wb. I wil do it again tomorrow with a better image.
Edited by ben egbert on Jul 10, 2008 at 03:06 PM GMT
UCSB wrote:
Yes ... you can process TIFF and JPG images in ACR now. If you are starting in Bridge, just use the open in ACR command (or select thumbnail and do a ctrl-r).
I own a GM Photos SG calibration system capable of calibrating a camera, but agree with others that it is very difficult to get quality results.
A simple question, are you shooting RAW and using a white balance reference to set your white balance? If not, I would recommend this as a first step in trying to address the color issue.
Tried opening a tiff in ACR by your steps, never works, I have open with Adobe Photoshop as defalt. I looked in preferences and could not find a way to change this to ACR or to enable ACR. ctrl-r does nothing
^^^ In Bridge CS3, select a TIFF or JPG thumbnail. Then click on FILE (menu). The seventh item on the menu is "Open in Camera RAW ... " plus a shortcut of CTRL+R. To the best of my knowledge, I have not loaded any custom keystrokes in that area of my system, but I use Bridge/ACR/Photoshop extensively and this shortcut is one I use all of the time. It is possible that I set it up at some point in the past (it is on both of my graphics workstations). Sorry if the way I wrote CTRL+R (ctrl-r) in my original message caused any confusion.
In Bridge preferences, under the Thumbnails tab I do have prefer editting JPG and TIFF in ACR checked. Don't know if this is in any way affecting the operation of the system. But, my workflow almost always starts with opening a ACR smart object on the base layer of my Photoshop file so I have the option of going back to ACR to make any adjustments that I feel are necessary to my original starting point.
Under Camera Raw preferences, I have open JPG and TIFF files with setting in ACR checked.
UCSB wrote:
^^^ In Bridge CS3, select a TIFF or JPG thumbnail. Then click on FILE (menu). The seventh item on the menu is "Open in Camera RAW ... " plus a shortcut of CTRL+R. To the best of my knowledge, I have not loaded any custom keystrokes in that area of my system, but I use Bridge/ACR/Photoshop extensively and this shortcut is one I use all of the time. It is possible that I set it up at some point in the past (it is on both of my graphics workstations). Sorry if the way I wrote CTRL+R (ctrl-r) in my original message caused any confusion.
In Bridge preferences, under the Thumbnails tab I do have prefer editting JPG and TIFF in ACR checked. Don't know if this is in any way affecting the operation of the system. But, my workflow almost always starts with opening a ACR smart object on the base layer of my Photoshop file so I have the option of going back to ACR to make any adjustments that I feel are necessary to my original starting point.
Under Camera Raw preferences, I have open JPG and TIFF files with setting in ACR checked. ...Show more →
Ok, I get it, I was double clicking which just opens it. A single click selects the file and waits for an action. Ctrl+r does work as well as the drop down. Thanks, this allows me the option of using DPP for the raw conversion.
I looked in preferences to change open in Photo shop to open in ACR and was not able to see where this is done. Is it in the file association menu under preferences? I tried that and you must browse to the program type to open the file. ACR does not show up as a distinct program so far as I can see.
Sometime I want to know more about smart objects, but I probably need more seasoning on the basics.
You certainly -can- manually set ACR calibration, although it's time-consuming. It will, though, give you the knowledge to then use the cali sliders in very useful ways.
I started by printing very saturated color blocks on my inkjet, then photographing it lit by a Solux lamp at my workstation. I then compared the live print to the ACR image on-screen.
I then further tweaked the settings using sunlit flowers, and a very red Audi.
I now have a calibration that's almost always spot-on to what I saw, using the in-camera WB that ACR pulls from EXIF.
I found/find the DPP results to be horribly blue for my old 1Ds, BTW.
skid00skid00 wrote:
You certainly -can- manually set ACR calibration, although it's time-consuming. It will, though, give you the knowledge to then use the cali sliders in very useful ways.
I started by printing very saturated color blocks on my inkjet, then photographing it lit by a Solux lamp at my workstation. I then compared the live print to the ACR image on-screen.
I then further tweaked the settings using sunlit flowers, and a very red Audi.
I now have a calibration that's almost always spot-on to what I saw, using the in-camera WB that ACR pulls from EXIF.
I found/find the DPP results to be horribly blue for my old 1Ds, BTW....Show more →
If you read my post a fee places above, I have a color checker and a script file that automatically creates a color calibration file. I posted my numbers and I have checked it and it is as spot on I could possible detect, my wife also thinks so.
So I now have a way to get accurate color, but need to fine tune a bit to get that Velvia look for landscapes. It appears that when I set the calibration values in ACR, then add 30 sat, and 30 vibrance, I get a very pleasing landscape color.
Or conversly, if I just open with the color calibration values and process normally followed by a Velvia action, it also looks good. More work is in order however for fine tuning.
This all started when I arrived home from Bryce and Capital Reef and had lots of trouble with reds.
