Default camera picture settings - question??

I'm sorry if this has been asked before but I did a search and couldn't seem to come up with an answer to my question with pages and pages with the search word "picture" in it so I figured I'd ask

When selecting a default picture setting ie: landscape, portrait, neutral, faithful, monocrhome..... What is the ideal setting to choose if you plan on post processing them after and why? If I'm shooting a landscape should I have it on "landscape" or one of the neutral settings as I do like to edit my pictures a bit afterwards. Thanks!!

What software are you using for editing? I think only Digital Photo Professional uses the picture styles that were set in camera.

I use Lightroom 4 and shoot in RAW.

Je5ter wrote in post #15084175
I use Lightroom 4 and shoot in RAW.

The picture styles don't affect the raw file. They do affect the jpg preview on the back of the camera though. I leave mine on neutral.

OK so basically it doesn't do anything once you have inported the RAW files to the computer, the only thing it effects is the preview on the camera's screen??

Je5ter wrote in post #15084209
OK so basically it doesn't do anything once you have inported the RAW files to the computer, the only thing it effects is the preview on the camera's screen??

Pretty much. If you were shooting jpgs out of the camera, then the picture style would definitely affect those. But the great thing about raw files is that you get all the data before any processing is done.

Also, since it affects the preview on the camera's LCD, it also affects the RGB histograms which can give you misleading information. For example, when I shot with my friend's camera, I kept getting a spike in the red channel. Then I figured out he had it set to portrait.

I shoot raw as well. I keep mine zeroed out (faithful or neutral) unless I know the result will be a final edit in B&W, then I will use the monochrome setting to make sure there is enough definition in all the colors.

mike_d wrote in post #15084218
Pretty much. If you were shooting jpgs out of the camera, then the picture style would definitely affect those. But the great thing about raw files is that you get all the data before any processing is done.

Also, since it affects the preview on the camera's LCD, it also affects the RGB histograms which can give you misleading information. For example, when I shot with my friend's camera, I kept getting a spike in the red channel. Then I figured out he had it set to portrait.

Cool thanks man, appreciate it!

Mark1 wrote in post #15084256
I shoot raw as well. I keep mine zeroed out (faithful or neutral) unless I know the result will be a final edit in B&W, then I will use the monochrome setting to make sure there is enough definition in all the colors.

+1 faithful as a golden retriever and then just use the jpegs for quick culling and focus checks and bring home the raws

You must remember that the Canon Picture Styles do not carry forwards to the Adobe RAW converter be it ACR or LR. Adobe do though have equivilant settings that in LR4 ACR7 change the way the initial zeroed settings look for a conversion. Some of the choices for Canon include Adobe Std, Camera Std, Camera Faithful etc. The styles that have "camera" in the title vary settings by manufacturer and model.

Alan

What does work is assigning a picture style on import to Lightroom. I shoot raw and at import I apply a modified landscape picture style. This is then a starting point for my pp. I still get all the raw info and I get a start on the pp. The majority of my pics suit this as a starting point for pp.

BigAl007 wrote in post #15087941
You must remember that the Canon Picture Styles do not carry forwards to the Adobe RAW converter be it ACR or LR. Adobe do though have equivilant settings that in LR4 ACR7 change the way the initial zeroed settings look for a conversion. Some of the choices for Canon include Adobe Std, Camera Std, Camera Faithful etc. The styles that have "camera" in the title vary settings by manufacturer and model.

Alan

that's how I think it works, but you have to be aware of the initial settings in camera RAW

BigAl007 wrote in post #15087941
You must remember that the Canon Picture Styles do not carry forwards to the Adobe RAW converter be it ACR or LR. Adobe do though have equivilant settings that in LR4 ACR7 change the way the initial zeroed settings look for a conversion. Some of the choices for Canon include Adobe Std, Camera Std, Camera Faithful etc. The styles that have "camera" in the title vary settings by manufacturer and model.

Alan

The "Camera ...." profiles have the same names as the Canon Picture Styles, but there is a difference. The Picture Styles are not only profiles, they are also presets for contrast, saturation and sharpening - not extreme, but also not inconsiderable amounts of each. The LR/ACR settings are only profiles, they do not affect the settings in any of the other sections of the module, which are, by default, fairly mild.

By the way, Alan, you write "The styles that have "camera" in the title vary settings by manufacturer and model," but it is also the case that the Adobe Standard profile is customized and unique to each model.

Thanks Eile I did not know that Adobe Standard changed across different models. I have been using Adobe Standard as it seems to be the most consistent across both my 300D and 20D for initial "look". I do occasionally try the different styles and they do have differences which are sometimes useful if I'm not sure where to go with the look of a conversion.

Alan

Eric Chan, who is like the main honcho for LR/ACR, recently did a video interview for The Luminous Landscape and one of the things he said surprised me. I had always figured that the profiles were prepared by testing several units of each camera and averaging the results, but he revealed that only one unit is used. That puts Adobe's profiles at the level of the canned profiles supplied by makers of monitors - at best. Your own camera could be pretty far along the bell curve from the Adobe profile. This makes profiling your camera, especially for non-standard light sources, using the Color Checker or QP Card methods, a more attractive proposition.