WHAT is camera calibration

[redfordxx]

When I calibrate camera in ACR, the primary colors, I was wondering what is the meaning of that.

I quess,
calibration of camera is corecting some camera hardware error.
But what error?
The lense is little colored? Bayes filter is off-color? Or what?

Thanx for explanation...

[DigitalSpecialist]

Camera Calibration is meaning ICC profiling your camera. You will need a Light Meter and some other color targets. There was a big article in Digital Photo Pro about a year and a half back. Send me a PM and I will do my best to find if for you!

JIM

[bacchanal]

When I calibrate camera in ACR, the primary colors, I was wondering what is the meaning of that.

I quess,
calibration of camera is corecting some camera hardware error.
But what error?
The lense is little colored? Bayes filter is off-color? Or what?

Thanx for explanation...

It's not for correcting hardware error so much as it is for correcting ACR's interpretation of the manufacturer's RAW file. ACR tends to be a little off, and it's actually not that great at rendering certain colors and lighting situations. Calibration can help, and there are camera specific profiles out there, but they aren't gauranteed to correct ACR for your camera. The HSL tab helps as well, but at times it is just easier to revert to DPP.

[davidcrebelxt]

Going along with what JIM said, many people calibrate using a script called the "fors script" googling it will give you many links... there are other similar scripts.

Alot of discussion over this lately led to some hints from insiders (read: adobe LR and ACR team members) over at the Adobe LR2 beta forums that they were taking steps to address color complaint in the near future... when, or HOW that is going to be addressed we'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, if you have CS2, and color checker, those scripts may help.

[blinded]

It's not for correcting hardware error so much as it is for correcting ACR's interpretation of the manufacturer's RAW file. ACR tends to be a little off, and it's actually not that great at rendering certain colors and lighting situations. Calibration can help, and there are camera specific profiles out there, but they aren't gauranteed to correct ACR for your camera. The HSL tab helps as well, but at times it is just easier to revert to DPP.

ACR is usually a lot off if you're working with the color red or skin tones. Get ready for orange reds or green tinted skin (magenta if you try to correct it). You can't have saturated reds and nice skin tones too. This is a known problem. Read more about the problem:

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/webforums/forum/messageview.cfm?forumid=72&catid=678&threadid=1353749&highlight_key=y&keyword1=calibration%20

[redfordxx]

I don't get it.
1. You are saying: It is not correcting hardware error.
2. That implies: we assume the camera makes no hardware error in colors.
3. That means: the RAW output of color-error-free cameras should be same in color (not speaking about sharpness, contrast, CA and other qualities...speaking about quality of the breaking the incoming light correctly proportionally in the primary colors)
4. I assume that same process is used for all cameras in ACR/LR. So when the colors in RAW are same, after demosaicing sould be also same.
5. Why the colors are off?

R*

[davidcrebelxt]

Good questions... and I'm not sure exactly. But it could partially be due to the fact that Adobe isn't using the SDK given by Canon.... they say the agreement they'd have to accept to use the SDK would limit them in the amount of control they could give us in ACR (meaning bye bye to the powerful tools it gives.)

So whatever they are doing with the RAW is being done without any assistance from interpreting the data from Canon ( including interpretation of colors.) That's the way I understand it at least.

If you read that link that blinded provided, you'll see alot of argument about this issue, I'm just hoping Adobe really does something spectatcular to resolve it when the ACR update comes out... and don't just leave the "ability" for 3rd parties to create profiles that we'll pay for.