Help with Lightroom and Adobe profiles for R-D1

kalex

kalex

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I'm a bit confused. currently I'm running Adobe Lightroom 2.5 with camera RAW 5.5. when I open my erf files in Lightroom they look like crap 🙂.
So i tried searching and found few posts that mention using Beta 2 profiles.
Part that I'm confused about is whether beta2 profiles are better and newer than profiles that come included with Lightroom?

Profiles that I'm talking about are here:
http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/DNG_Profiles

They are listed as beta 2 profiles.

Pictures look good in Epson RAW but I kind of want to keep using lightroom since i'm use to it. do pictures process better in Lightroom 3 than in 2.5? when I open erf files in Lightroom they get darker and loose contrast and color. Previews that show up for few seconds when pictures are imported look fine. It is very annoying as I'm sure I'm missing something. Any help is appreciated.


thanks

Alex
 
I think the beta2 profiles are from before LR2.5, so you should already have the latest ones. I've considered using the profile editor to create a profile that would allow me to match the tone curves and colors to the Epson converter, but it's very time-consuming and would probably require at least a color chart.

An easier solution is to find some film presets that you like from sites like LifeInDigitalFilm and use those as a starting point for your raw conversions. This is pretty much what I do now.
 
I agree, Adobe's profile for the R-D1 really stinks. I have made my own preset that increases contrast and (a little bit) saturation, and still have to tweak the ERFs a fair amount.

It's rather depressing to watch the embedded jpeg previews get replaced by the actual files as they import.
 
Back Alley - profile is a starting point that is appiled to a raw file. When you open erf file in Epson RAW it applies a profile that pretty much makes it look like picture on the screen of R-D1. This also happens during few seconds in Lightroom while lightroom is working of embedded jpg file in the erf file. as soon as lightroom generates its own jpg file, all colors and characteristics of a picture change to default lightroom settings which look like crap.
 
By the way I hope everyone (who uses ACR) is converting their .ERF files to .DNG. You can embed full-sized previews (very helpful for browsing through them in a regular image viewer like FastStone, Irfan, etc. without loading up the whole file) and the files are still MUCH smaller (6mb vs 10mb) without any data loss.
 
Sam N said:
By the way I hope everyone (who uses ACR) is converting their .ERF files to .DNG. You can embed full-sized previews (very helpful for browsing through them in a regular image viewer like FastStone, Irfan, etc. without loading up the whole file) and the files are still MUCH smaller (6mb vs 10mb) without any data loss.
Click to expand...

No, I haven't been, actually--thanks for the tip!

I never calibrated my monitor but have gotten it to a pretty good place by selective tweaking, eyeballing, etc. Files from my other, current and former, digicams look excellent...but I don't think Adobe ever really put much energy into the R-D1's files. To them it's just a long-obsolete camera. Though I'm glad they support it.

Joe, you should be able to find articles and tutorials on Adobe's web site...I find that it really is worth it to shoot RAW with the R-D1, especially at higher ISO's. You'll have more to work with.
 
kalex said:
Back Alley - profile is a starting point that is appiled to a raw file. When you open erf file in Epson RAW it applies a profile that pretty much makes it look like picture on the screen of R-D1. This also happens during few seconds in Lightroom while lightroom is working of embedded jpg file in the erf file. as soon as lightroom generates its own jpg file, all colors and characteristics of a picture change to default lightroom settings which look like crap.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, I find that Epson PhotoRAW does not[/] apply a profile that looks like the camera-produced embedded JPEG. Is it possible my EPR has been set to a different initial profile?

Ari
 
It's not that big a deal, ultimately--esp. if you enjoy spending a minute or two tweaking each photo, as I do. But it would be nice for Adobe to give us a nicely balanced image right off the bat.
 
I also use Mac with Elements, LR & CS3. I would like to understand better as I have yet to receive my new to me RD1. Normally my workflow for scanned B&W is LR minor tweaks like exposure and shadow/highlight then final edit in CS3 for file conversion, curve, levels and some sharpening using unsharp mask. I also do this when I still use DSLR. The RD1 profile I assume at this point does not match with either of the PS softwares thus the crappy images when opened. Photo Raw does not work with Mac as I hear. Back Alley does not have any noticeable problem using Elements. I have seen many great images using the RD1/s here and in Flickr, Back Alley is an example. The OP question which is of great interest to many of us has not been met with a concrete answer and I wonder if PS is the right software for Raw with Mac/RD1 users. Anyone tried Aperture or any other 3rd party Mac compatible softwares like Bible' or DXO with success?
 
RAW has been a very hard topic for me to grasp and I'm still working on it. From what I understand and please correct me if I'm wrong but each manufacturer creates their own raw format. If you open a file in Epson RAW (i have it working without any problems on my Mac Pro with Leopard) version 1.30, files look same way as they do on my camera's LCD because Epson can read camera settings. When I was shooting with Nikon DSLR Capture NX did the samething. Basically Capture NX and Epson RAW can fully decode raw files and that's why Pictures look pretty much as they do on the camera LCD. Problem with all after market raw converters is that they can't fully decode the raw file and thats why files look like crap when I open them in lightroom.
Thats why Adobe released custom profiles where they try to match those files as close as possible.

I never used Elements, maybe I should give it a try.


P.S i just made 2 screen shots. first one is LR25 image and second one is same image from Epson raw. No changes were made in either program. All I did was enter Development module in lightroom and took a screenshot and opened same exact file in Epson RAW and took a screen shot.

see the difference? that's what I'm trying to show.

Lightroom 2.5

lr25.jpg


Epson RAW
epson.jpg


Alex
 
Sam - what is the advantage of converting to DNG? as oppose to keeping it in ERF format?

kermaier - if you click on basic and choose as shot that should give you same file as the file you see on your camera LCD
 
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