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Adobe camera raw settings

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Tom Bergman

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Since this is where the PS experts live, it seemed like a good forum for this discussion.

I have a Canon 20D. When I shoot raw and convert in CS, there are a variety of default settings that appear when I open an image in camera raw. I know I can change these defaults but I'm wondering where these setting came from in the first place, and should I change them.

Here are the settings I typically see when first opening a raw image.

White Balance: As Shot (this makes sense)
Tint: +12 (why?)
Exposure: 0 (OK)
Shadows: 5 (why?)
Brightness: 50
Contrast: +25
Saturation: 0
Sharpness: 25
Liminence Smoothing: 0
Color Noise Reduction: 25

These settings do seem to work fairly well to deliver results similar to what the camera does if I shoot JPEG. Is this their intent? Are these settings defaults assigned by Adobe or are they being picked up from the camera based upon my current parameter settings?

Last, but certainly not least, what do others use for settings? I'm particularly wondering about the Sharpness and Color Noise reduction settings.

Thanks,

Tom
 
Tom

Adobe has set defaults foe each camera it supports. You can change these and save your own settings as defaults for your use. If you want to go back to the Adobe settings there is a a reset button. These buttons are accessed by the settings menu the little triangle right of the settings pull-down.
--
JJMack
 
Tom,

I believe ACR uses defaults based on your incamera settings. As to what settings to use, this is one of the most asked questions of someone new to RAW. There are no correct settings as each image has to be adjusted on its own merits. You are in control of the RAW data and so you have to make the decision about what is right.

ACR or any of the other RAW convertors are basically giving you a similar power to developing your own film. You aren't locked into a generic output based on averages. The caveat to RAW processing is that you should have a good overall knowledge of your workflow from beginning to end. RAW convertors aren't meant to be solutions to improper image acquisition although they can pull you outta the fire on occasion. You must have a good understanding of light/color interaction to get the most out of any RAW conversion.
HTH,
VG
Tom Bergman said:
Since this is where the PS experts live, it seemed like a good
forum for this discussion.

I have a Canon 20D. When I shoot raw and convert in CS, there are a
variety of default settings that appear when I open an image in
camera raw. I know I can change these defaults but I'm wondering
where these setting came from in the first place, and should I
change them.

Here are the settings I typically see when first opening a raw image.

White Balance: As Shot (this makes sense)
Tint: +12 (why?)
Exposure: 0 (OK)
Shadows: 5 (why?)
Brightness: 50
Contrast: +25
Saturation: 0
Sharpness: 25
Liminence Smoothing: 0
Color Noise Reduction: 25

These settings do seem to work fairly well to deliver results
similar to what the camera does if I shoot JPEG. Is this their
intent? Are these settings defaults assigned by Adobe or are they
being picked up from the camera based upon my current parameter
settings?

Last, but certainly not least, what do others use for settings? I'm
particularly wondering about the Sharpness and Color Noise
reduction settings.

Thanks,

Tom
Click to expand...
 
VG said:
Tom Bergman said:
Since this is where the PS experts live, it seemed like a good
forum for this discussion.

I have a Canon 20D. When I shoot raw and convert in CS, there are a
variety of default settings that appear when I open an image in
camera raw. I know I can change these defaults but I'm wondering
where these setting came from in the first place, and should I
change them.

Here are the settings I typically see when first opening a raw image.

White Balance: As Shot (this makes sense)
Tint: +12 (why?)
Exposure: 0 (OK)
Shadows: 5 (why?)
Brightness: 50
Contrast: +25
Saturation: 0
Sharpness: 25
Liminence Smoothing: 0
Color Noise Reduction: 25

These settings do seem to work fairly well to deliver results
similar to what the camera does if I shoot JPEG. Is this their
intent? Are these settings defaults assigned by Adobe or are they
being picked up from the camera based upon my current parameter
settings?

Last, but certainly not least, what do others use for settings? I'm
particularly wondering about the Sharpness and Color Noise
reduction settings.

Thanks,

Tom
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Bruce Fraiser has written an excellent book called "Real World Camera RAW for Photoshop CS". He also has an excellant article on how to calibrate the raw plugin to your particular camera (see link below). Thomas Fors has created a script using the specifications used in the article and book to help you calibrate your camera faster (see link below). Hope I was able to help.

http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/21351-3.html
http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/[email protected]@.3bb5bcf7

--
Becky
 
Tom Bergman said:
Since this is where the PS experts live, it seemed like a good
forum for this discussion.

I have a Canon 20D. When I shoot raw and convert in CS, there are a
variety of default settings that appear when I open an image in
camera raw. I know I can change these defaults but I'm wondering
where these setting came from in the first place, and should I
change them.

Here are the settings I typically see when first opening a raw image.

White Balance: As Shot (this makes sense)
Tint: +12 (why?)
Exposure: 0 (OK)
Shadows: 5 (why?)
Brightness: 50
Contrast: +25
Saturation: 0
Sharpness: 25
Liminence Smoothing: 0
Color Noise Reduction: 25

These settings do seem to work fairly well to deliver results
similar to what the camera does if I shoot JPEG. Is this their
intent? Are these settings defaults assigned by Adobe or are they
being picked up from the camera based upon my current parameter
settings?

Last, but certainly not least, what do others use for settings? I'm
particularly wondering about the Sharpness and Color Noise
reduction settings.
Click to expand...
Go to the source :-) May not answer all your questions but it is a good start. I know from comments at a seminar Knoll thinks that 'shadows' is often overlooked in favor of using other sliders and I think he moved it off 0 to point to this fact; and unlike in PS regular 'contrast and brightness' Should be used in the converter. (In PS, curves or levels is the preferred way to handle contrast and brightness).

Knoll on CS RAW

http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/[email protected]@.2ccd9521/0
hit ‘next’ at the bottom of the posts a few times for the other parameters

http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/[email protected]@.2ccd9521/4

May have to sign in.

--
Kent
http://www.pbase.com/kentc
 
Kent C said:
Tom Bergman said:
Since this is where the PS experts live, it seemed like a good
forum for this discussion.

I have a Canon 20D. When I shoot raw and convert in CS, there are a
variety of default settings that appear when I open an image in
camera raw. I know I can change these defaults but I'm wondering
where these setting came from in the first place, and should I
change them.

Here are the settings I typically see when first opening a raw image.

White Balance: As Shot (this makes sense)
Tint: +12 (why?)
Exposure: 0 (OK)
Shadows: 5 (why?)
Brightness: 50
Contrast: +25
Saturation: 0
Sharpness: 25
Liminence Smoothing: 0
Color Noise Reduction: 25

These settings do seem to work fairly well to deliver results
similar to what the camera does if I shoot JPEG. Is this their
intent? Are these settings defaults assigned by Adobe or are they
being picked up from the camera based upon my current parameter
settings?

Last, but certainly not least, what do others use for settings? I'm
particularly wondering about the Sharpness and Color Noise
reduction settings.
Click to expand...
Go to the source :-) May not answer all your questions but it is a
good start. I know from comments at a seminar Knoll thinks that
'shadows' is often overlooked in favor of using other sliders and I
think he moved it off 0 to point to this fact; and unlike in PS
regular 'contrast and brightness' Should be used in the converter.
(In PS, curves or levels is the preferred way to handle contrast
and brightness).

Knoll on CS RAW

http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/[email protected]@.2ccd9521/0
hit ‘next’ at the bottom of the posts a few times for the other
parameters

http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/[email protected]@.2ccd9521/4

May have to sign in.

--
Kent
http://www.pbase.com/kentc
Click to expand...
--
Please check me out and leave a comment.

http://www.darwinonline.org/index.php?cat=10639
 
--
JCase

'We must remember that a photograph can hold just as much as we put into it, and no one has ever approached the full possibilities of the medium.' Ansel Adams
 
Just the sort of thread I have been looking for. I am trying to "set" all my sliders for generally good results - I might tweak a little either side.

I've just read JJMack's post (below) where I can reset my Adobe RAW settings. I have anbother question though:

If I click on the "settings" down arrow I get a drop down box from which I can choose "Camera Default". Is this Camera Default specific to my make and model (Nikon D70) or is it just a generic default setting?

If it is specific to my D70 can I download settings from somewhere?

Any help gratefully received,

Darrell.
JJMacks said:
Tom
Adobe has set defaults foe each camera it supports. You can change
these and save your own settings as defaults for your use. If you
want to go back to the Adobe settings there is a a reset button.
These buttons are accessed by the settings menu the little triangle
right of the settings pull-down.
--
JJMack
Click to expand...
 
Darrell Payne said:
Just the sort of thread I have been looking for. I am trying to
"set" all my sliders for generally good results - I might tweak a
little either side.

I've just read JJMack's post (below) where I can reset my Adobe RAW
settings. I have anbother question though:

If I click on the "settings" down arrow I get a drop down box from
which I can choose "Camera Default". Is this Camera Default
specific to my make and model (Nikon D70) or is it just a generic
default setting?

If it is specific to my D70 can I download settings from somewhere?

Any help gratefully received,

Darrell.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure this is what you are looking for. Surely there is a lot to learn in the following thread as well as your settings download.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=12241566

Ronny
Darrell Payne said:
JJMacks said:
Tom
Adobe has set defaults foe each camera it supports. You can change
these and save your own settings as defaults for your use. If you
want to go back to the Adobe settings there is a a reset button.
These buttons are accessed by the settings menu the little triangle
right of the settings pull-down.
--
JJMack
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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