Firming Up a Casual Interest

[topazhn]

I'm retired from the power generation utility of a large eastern city in the US. I was already rather reclusive before the pandemic, now I'm a virtual hermit because of my age and somewhat compromised respiratory system.

My current kit is composed of a Pentax KP. Lenses include a couple of current DA's, some recent FA's, several manual K mount FF lenses, and a grab bag of medium format lenses, mostly CZJ, from an older setup. An adapter serves for the mount, but I'm careful to manage the weight so as not to damage the mount on the camera. Old, quality workmanship in metal and glass.

Right now I'm coming up to speed on color calibration and equipment profiling. This is occurring within the open source community so personal research is required. I came across Cambridge in Colour while searching for a file: ColorCheckerPassport.cht.; recently purchased the X-Rite passport 2 as the basis of this foray into color standardization.

That's me up to now. Ta.

[DanK]

Welcome to CiC!

Can you please add your name and location to your profile? You'll find the profile at the top right. We use real names here, and locations can help people give useful advice.

What I have found is that there are only two aspects of calibration that are essential. One is calibrating your monitor so that it displays colors accuratedly. The other, if you print, is making sure that you have the correct ICC profile and paper media settings for any combination of a specific paper and the printer you use.

Other people here have created custom profiles for their cameras, but I haven't found any need. I shoot raw, and Adobe's default rendering of raw files is close enough for a good starting point with my cameras. With a single exception--my drone--I haven't had to make systematic adjustments to the colors produced by my cameras. Others here may have had different experiences, however, and they may chime in.