New Nikon D3, D300, and D700 "Camera" v3 beta profiles

[MadManChan2000]

Hi everyone,

I have posted a zip file containing updated "Camera" color profiles (Camera Standard, Camera Neutral, etc.) for the Nikon D3, Nikon D300, and Nikon D700. The zip file contains a copy of the readme, but I'll post it here for convenience, too:

For lack of a better name, I am calling these "v3" beta profiles.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BETA RELEASE NOTES

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Overview

These updated Camera v3 beta profiles for the Nikon D3, Nikon D300, and Nikon D700 are designed to reduce banding and highlight color artifacts. They also address the "too bright" tone curve issues with the previous "v2" version of the D3 and D700 profiles.

IMPORTANT NOTE: When using these v3 beta profiles, if you wish to match the default tonality of Nikon's Picture Controls (e.g., match View NX / Capture NX), you must set the Exposure slider in Camera Raw / Lightroom to -0.5.

Of course, feel free to adjust Exposure to make your image brighter or darker as you like. But in terms of matching Nikon's default tonality, you must set the Exposure slider to -0.5, or the default will be too bright.

For workflow convenience, you can use presets in Camera Raw / Lightroom to take care of both (e.g., simultaneously set the profile to "Camera Standard" and set Exposure to -0.5).

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Installation

If you are on Mac OS X, drag the "Camera v3 beta" folder to:

    /Library/Application Support/Adobe/CameraRaw/CameraProfiles

If you are on Windows XP, drag the "Camera v3 beta" folder to:

    C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\CameraRaw\CameraProfiles

If you are on Windows Vista or Windows 7, drag the "Camera v3 beta" folder to:

    C:\ProgramData\Adobe\CameraRaw\CameraProfiles

Note that the above path on Windows Vista and Windows 7 may be hidden by default. Check your folder settings.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Feedback

The profiles are currently in beta status. Please provide feedback via the online Adobe user-to-user forums here:

http://forums.adobe.com/community/cameraraw
http://forums.adobe.com/community/lightroom

Thank you!

[MadManChan2000]

Yes, but you may need some (manual) tuning.

Eric

[b2martin_a]

Thanks Eric.  Any forecast when the new DNG Profile Editor will be avaialble?

[NewBobolix]

Hi all...I just finished reading the discussion..it seems that all the links for the D90 are dead due to illegal activities (megaupload)

Can someone help me please ? I use LR 4.1

Thank you

Roberto

[b2martin_a]

Is it possible to get the v4 profiles and use them with ACR 6.5?

[MadManChan2000]

For best matching, the v4 profiles require the use of ACR 6.6 and higher (due to changes not only in the profile data, but also due to logic changes in the renderer).

Eric

[Guest]

Ok, here is v4 for D90, but Standard profile only. Since I didn't have much time, you'll have to test it.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RS1NRQHV

To avoid confusion with names, it is named NX2 Standard aRGB v4

Unlike my previous profiles, this one is using the same defaults as profiles made by Adobe. And, as Eric said, ACR 6.6 (or higher) needed to work correctly

[Hudechrome]

Thanks, Vit.

I have NX2 Standard T02 in my profiles. Is that yours? I assume the link is to a different version.

So, along with that I'll also need the new R.C.

[Guest]

This profile is "v4", while that one was "v3", if I use version naming from Adobe

Difference is in changed rendering workflow, which improves precision in shadows and reduces banding issues that I think affect older profiles for all Nikon cameras. Problem is that Nikon is using quite aggressive rendering, which is causing an amount of numerical error in ACR rendering process that can be visible on some colors. It seems that with most other cameras this error is quite small (at least it is in case of profiles for Canon cameras), as other users didn't report similar issues

[Hudechrome]

Thanks for the heads up, Vit.

[Hudechrome]

Ooops. Site unavailable.

[Guest]

Yes, wild Nikon users overloaded the server 

Try later or tomorrow. It will eventually become available again

[Hudechrome]

Doesn't that give you a feeling of POWER! ?

[Guest]

I was just kidding. It happens from time to time with that site ...

[Hudechrome]

So was I!

[Cristiano_Palazzini]

Hi Guys,

I guess no chance to have this new profiles also for a D7000 and D3X....or yes?

Thanks

Cristiano

[b2martin_a]

I downloaded Camera Raw 6.6 Release Candidate and installed it on CS5.  I compared D700 Camera Portrait v4 to Capture NX2 Portrait and they appear lower in contrast - don't match as good as Camera Portrait v2 with Camera Raw 6.5.  Camera Portrait v2 dosen't match as good with Camera Raw 6.6 as it did with Camera Raw 6.5.  It appears contrast is lower with Camera Raw 6.6 than 6.5.  Anybody else notice this?

I also notice the recovery slider issue with v4 profiles, but not with v2 or v0 profiles. 

How can you return to Camera Raw 6.5 after you install Camera Raw 6.6 Release Candidate?

[Guest]

Hmmmm...

You are talking about 2 things

About using v2 profile with ACR 6.5 and 6.6, there shouldn't be any difference - it's the same profile and same workflow. However, I tried D700 Camera standard v2 with both versions and indeed there are VERY SMALL differences if I do a file compare of output tiff files, but so small that they shouldn't be visible

About dng v4 profile versus NX2 - I already did some tests and sent Eric the results - although v4 workflow is better in shadows, their calibrating procedure didn't seem to be (yet) improved in that region as it could be and bottom part of tone curve is raised compared to NX2 output. That can be visible as slightly lower contrast - if it's the same thing as you noted and not something else of course ... I already have my version of Standard v4 for D700, so if you want, I can post it so you can try and check if you can see any differences. Didn't make Portrait profile though.

[Guest]

In the meantime, here is corrected v4 version of Standard profile for Nikon D90

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GS31EK0P

It has the same name as profile I posted previously, so if anybody downloaded it, just overwrite it with this file

[Andrew_Hart]

Yes, Vit. Can you please post a link. I'm sure I'm only one of many who would like to have your D700 Camera Standard v4 profile in addition to the Adobe v4 profile.

[b2martin_a]

Vit, I agree that images converted using ACR6.5 and ACR6.6 with the same Camera profile should match, but that is not what I see.  I used Camera Portrait v2.  I also get better match between ACR6.5 with Camera Portrait v2 than ACR6.6 with Camera Portrait v4 to Nikon Capture NX2 Portrait conversions.  All of these are using D700 NEF files. 

I sent you images by e-mail that show the issue. 

[b2martin_a]

I get a much better match between Camera Portrait v4 processed with ACR 6.6 to Nikon Capture NX2 Portrait if I set black to 9 instead of 5 in ACR 6.6.  This also give good match between Camera Portrait v2 processed with ACR 6.5 (black = 5) and ACR 6.6 (black = 9). 

Anyone else see this characteristic of ACR 6.6?

[Guest]

Are you sure you used all "default" settings in ACR, in particular did you use linear tone curve in ACR (tab Tone curve, subtab Point) instead of Medium-contrast ? Setting needed to match NX2 is "medium-contrast"

[b2martin_a]

I am positive I used "default" settings in ACR including tone curve (tab Tone curve, subtab Point) - I checked them after your above post.  Do you have a D700 NEF file you can check yourself?  Convert it using Camera Portrait v2 with ACR 6.5 (black =5) and ACR 6.6 (black = 5) and they are not the same.  Change the black to 9 in ACR 6.6 and the conversions are very close. 

When I do conversions of D700 NEF files using ACR 6.6 with black level = 9 and Camera Portrait v4 they are very close to NX2 conversions using Portrait. 

It appears the black slider of ACR 6.6 has a problem relative to ACR 6.5.

[Guest]

Hm ..... not sure about that ....

>exiftool -tonecurvename "201*.jpg"

======== 20101220-075-ACR6.5-Portrait v2.jpg

Tone Curve Name                 : Medium Contrast

======== 20101220-075-ACR6.6-Portrait v2.jpg

Tone Curve Name                 : Linear

======== 20101220-075-ACR6.6-Portrait v4.jpg

Tone Curve Name                 : Linear

======== 20101220-075-NX2-Portrait.jpg

======== 20110120-047-ACR6.5-Portrait v2.jpg

Tone Curve Name                 : Medium Contrast

======== 20110120-047-ACR6.6-Portrait v2.jpg

Tone Curve Name                 : Linear

======== 20110120-047-ACR6.6-Portrait v4.jpg

Tone Curve Name                 : Linear

======== 20110120-047-NX2-Portrait.jpg

    8 image files read

[Guest]

However, observation regarding v2 vs. v4 is still valid - tone curve in v2 is actually more precise in shadows region (I tried Standard profiles only, but I believe it's the same with Portrait)

As I'm a bit tired of this stuff, for those who want to experiment, here is my attempt to make proper v4 profile for D700

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=73WYTZ1E

It's only a standard profile. ACR version >= 6.6 needed. Use the same default settings as for profiles v2 or v4

Name is NX2 Standard aRGB v4, to avoid naming confusion with Camera profiles from Adobe

Note that this ACR prerelease version has a bug with recovery slider