sleepyhead
Well-known
Hi, I hope this is the right form to ask this question. And thanks in advance for your help.
I often use a Leica digital rangefinder with a Canon 35mm lens alongside a Panasonic digital point-and-shoot, say on a trip. When I come home and import the RAW pictures into Lightroom, it’s clear that the two cameras differ in how they represent colours, even if I select Adobe camera-specific profiles for each on import (such as Adobe Standard).
Ideally, I would like all the pictures from the trip to look like they came from the same camera.
My solution to this so far has been to take at least a few pictures of the same subject with each camera and to tweak the Camera Calibration of one of them so they roughly match. (They don’t need to be professionally matched for my needs.) This solution works ok, but is obviously not perfect. I find in particular that how greens are rendered by the 2 cameras is very noticeable if not tweaked.
I know that there are better ways to do this sort of matching and have read and watched lots of stuff (e.g., Xrite Color checker passport), and quite frankly my head is spinning. It’s also not clear to me how much of the difference between the cameras has to do with the different sensors and lenses, and how much due to differences in Auto White Balance of the two cameras (which I always use).
Any tips or tricks would be appreciated. I would like to avoid spending the money on a Color Checker passport if I can. But I would also happily invest some time and money if I can avoid ad hoc tweaks all the time. I would also like to avoid using a White Balance card because on trips I just want to be free and not take pics of the card with each camera under different lighting conditions. (The Color tweaking using Camera Calibration can be done before or after the trip.)
Thanks again for your help.
I often use a Leica digital rangefinder with a Canon 35mm lens alongside a Panasonic digital point-and-shoot, say on a trip. When I come home and import the RAW pictures into Lightroom, it’s clear that the two cameras differ in how they represent colours, even if I select Adobe camera-specific profiles for each on import (such as Adobe Standard).
Ideally, I would like all the pictures from the trip to look like they came from the same camera.
My solution to this so far has been to take at least a few pictures of the same subject with each camera and to tweak the Camera Calibration of one of them so they roughly match. (They don’t need to be professionally matched for my needs.) This solution works ok, but is obviously not perfect. I find in particular that how greens are rendered by the 2 cameras is very noticeable if not tweaked.
I know that there are better ways to do this sort of matching and have read and watched lots of stuff (e.g., Xrite Color checker passport), and quite frankly my head is spinning. It’s also not clear to me how much of the difference between the cameras has to do with the different sensors and lenses, and how much due to differences in Auto White Balance of the two cameras (which I always use).
Any tips or tricks would be appreciated. I would like to avoid spending the money on a Color Checker passport if I can. But I would also happily invest some time and money if I can avoid ad hoc tweaks all the time. I would also like to avoid using a White Balance card because on trips I just want to be free and not take pics of the card with each camera under different lighting conditions. (The Color tweaking using Camera Calibration can be done before or after the trip.)
Thanks again for your help.
Larry H-L
Well-known
It will be difficult to get two different cameras to look exactly alike, but you can get them fairly close.
You have the correct solution, a color checker card with custom profiles, and abandoning auto white balance. If you don’t want to go that route, your current method is probably as good as it will get.
You have the correct solution, a color checker card with custom profiles, and abandoning auto white balance. If you don’t want to go that route, your current method is probably as good as it will get.
willie_901
Mentor
As Larry H-L points out, there is no easy way to get consistent colors with 2 different digital cameras... but it is possible.
Using a ColorChecker Passport Photo 2 (or another similar product) with a 24-patch color target, you can create your own camera profiles. ColorChecker supports the Lightroom, Photoshop and CaptureOne post-production platforms.
Using any 24-patch color target and free software is another option. Adobe offers free software: the Adobe DNG Profile Editor. Here is some information. Free software platforms for working with raw files is summarized here.
Using a ColorChecker Passport Photo 2 (or another similar product) with a 24-patch color target, you can create your own camera profiles. ColorChecker supports the Lightroom, Photoshop and CaptureOne post-production platforms.
Using any 24-patch color target and free software is another option. Adobe offers free software: the Adobe DNG Profile Editor. Here is some information. Free software platforms for working with raw files is summarized here.
ptpdprinter
Mentor
Another reason not to have too many digital cameras. You are just creating problems for yourself.
Ko.Fe.
Lenses 35/21 Gears 46/20
This is why I like Canon and Leica and Olympus, but don't like Nikon and Sony.
Try to over-process in something like DXO film packs.
Try to over-process in something like DXO film packs.
Nitroplait
Well-known
It is a bit like making two different film brands/sesitivities look the same, uphill.
Easier to embrace the differences.
Easier to embrace the differences.