Hi - long term user of DXO from OP6 through to PL4. However I’ve never used the <Color rendering - camera body> menu. I’ve recently noticed a measurable difference in color rendering between my current three Canon bodies - EOS R, 5D4, and 90D. I only shoot RAW, with neutral picture style selected (I know DXO PL doesn’t use the picture style). I find the 90D images, converted in DXO PL4, have more muted colors and less contrast on the same subjects with the same lens. This isn’t a major problem as I process to taste, but if for example I select the 1DXmk2/5Dmk4 profile, it “improves”. All the other profiles are also available for selection, some “better”, some “worse” - for example the Leica ones are more contrasty, the Nikon ones less so.
Is this just something to be used subjectively, or is there an objective reason for choosing a specific camera body rendering? If I create a preset with a chosen rendering, will all the images using that preset look similar, or will the sensor differences have a greater influence? In an ideal world I would like to have very similar rendering from all my Canon bodies (edit: I also have an M5). There is no answer in the User Guide.
PhotoLab uses its own rendering in the presets that come with the product. I consider the other renderings as something that can be used rather than should be used. I found that other renderings just shift the “starting point” from where you customise an image. Others select e.g. a Leica rendering to improve skin tones in Nikon images.
As far as i know the camerabody renderings are emulations of the neutral oocjpeg rendering of the camera in the selection name. It’s DxO’s take of what would be a copy of what the camera would create making a ooc-jpeg.
It’s a preset. Like one you could make your self and name it “my favorite 5D4 preset”.
OK, I see there is no objective way of deciding which to use. I’ve always been surprised by people who talk about “I prefer Canon’s colour science over Sony (or Nikon, or whatever)”. Perhaps they are jpeg shooters. Working from RAW you can choose how your colours look. But - why so many different versions for the various Canon bodies?
My very limited understanding of this feature is that it allows matching of color rendering from different camera bodies. For example if you are shooting with a mix of cameras at an event (e.g., a wedding), you can use this to ensure that all images are rendered the same.
Aside from this, it’s just another way of altering/customizing your images.
Sensors and internal processing change from time to time and with camera generations. These changes imply that other profiles must be used in order to get the output on target.
Checking Adobe’s CameraRaw profile folder, I see more than 2000 model- and settings-specific profiles as well as roughly 1000 Adobe standard profiles, which are automatically selected unless you instruct Lightroom (or other apps) to use a different profile.
CameraRaw’s profiles can be used by PhotoLab, if the built-in selection should not be large enough or not to one’s liking
This is what the PhotoLab user guide says. In my experience, PhotoLab’s Color Rendering adjustment is completely useless for this purpose and always has been.
I’ve used various Olympus and Panasonic cameras. There are only renderings for a couple of the Olympus OM-D bodies in PhotoLab. The Olympus camera renderings are way off when compared with the corresponding out-of-camera JPEG color renderings. This is even when using the same camera body that the rendering matches. Selecting an Olympus rendering for a Panasonic RAW image or even a different Olympus RAW file produces results that deviate even further from the authentic out-of-camera JPEG colors, to the point that they look awful. I’ve played with these settings extensively for fun, but IMO this might be PhotoLab’s worst feature. I’ve never seen it do what it’s advertised to do.
I find I can always get closer to the camera rendering I want with manual adjustments, especially since the new HSL tool was introduced. Even then there can be inconsistency from one photo to another - so I now simply start with a generic rendering and make minor color tweaks as needed. I use the camera JPEG for reference, but don’t try to match its colors exactly.
Now my positive feedback: I find that DxO’s generic renderings can produce truer-to-life colors than the out-of-camera JPEGs. I think this is the strength of DxO’s rendering engine. Also, I’ve come to the conclusion that, while Adobe’s presets are much more diverse, they aren’t more accurate in my use cases and are also less malleable than PhotoLab’s generic color renderings.
Maybe others have had different experiences than I. I don’t know.
It would be nice if you can add your own camera.
As in not only as a gererated colorprofile but also as a preset which you now place in the preset editor.
So you can tweak the camera renderings profiles to your liking
Pretty much; yes. For example, you may prefer another camera’s colour rendering in preference to that produced by your model (which is what you see with Generic / Camera default rendering)
In my case, I have various Sony and Olympus bodies, and I quite like the Camera Body / DxO One rendering … so, I have that assigned in my standard preset (as applied automatically to all newly encountered RAW files).
