Quality of Defaults

Old Jim · Post by **Old Jim** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:30 am

I have made my defaults using the calibration target. Some are only 82 quality. My best is 92. Are these good or should I strive to get better levels. If I am processing a picture and use its image for the profile, and
its quality is higher than my default, can I just delete the default and substitute the new profile as the new default?
Old Jim

Post by **NITeam** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 9:42 am

82 is good already. Do not delete profiles built using the calibration target, they are generally more accurate than profiles built using regular working images. It is okay to use a profile built using a working image to process this working image, but I do not recommend to replace the one built with the target.

Vlad

Old Jim · Post by **Old Jim** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 1:23 pm

Thanks Vlad. I will continue to use the profiles created with the calibration target. I would not mind doing another set if I knew how to improve them. Are there any tips other than those in the help pages for shooting really good profiles using the calibration target. I used a tripod - taped the printed color version of the target on a wall - filled the frame with the picture set the focus blurred then uploaded the pictures and created the profiles. Shot all ISO versions with same settings. I did not use flash and the ambient lighting was not great but I thought that would help bring out the noise? What else do you recommend if anything?
Old Jim

Post by **NITeam** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 1:37 pm

My main recommendation is to shoot the target and actual images using the same shooting conditions. For example, if you normally shoot without flash then the target should be shot without it as well. There is no need to artificially make the noise stronger or something like that. It is important to make the noise the same as in actual working images, which is the key to accurate filtration of working image with profiles built with these target shots.

Vlad

Old Jim · Post by **Old Jim** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 1:51 pm

Thank you Vlad. I made my profiles without flash. Should I make another set with flash as I do indeed shoot with flash frequently. Would I then have two sets of profiles for this same camera with the same ISO setting - one set with flash and one set without? Would that be good?
Old Jim

Post by **NITeam** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 1:59 pm

I think it makes sense to try using these profiles first, they may be sufficient to cover both flash and no-flash cases. Just make sure you use Auto Fine-Tune after you load a pre-built profile to process every working image. This will adjust the profile to this specific image and make filtration more accurate. In many cases, this is sufficient to achieve good filtration results even if the shooting condititions for the target shots and actual working shots are somewhat different.

Vlad

Old Jim · Post by **Old Jim** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:07 pm

Thanks again for your professional and courteous help Vlad. I'll probably be back when I move to the advanced mode. For now I'm delighted to be using standard with great improvement in my images!
Old Jim