# LR3: Which camera profile?



## Galad (Dec 26, 2010)

Another Lightroom 3 setting I don't quite understand: In Develop, under Camera Calibration there's a "Profile" setting. If it's a PEF RAW file (Pentax) there are two choices: Adobe Standard and Camera Standard. If it's a DNG file there's also Embedded.

They clearly give different results. Embedded looks quite bleak and cold, Adobe Standard much warmer but still a little "subdued", while Camera Standard looks brighter, and to my eyes (and on my screen) maybe has the best red and blue tones, but the greens tend to be perhaps overly sharp and bright instead.

Before you tell me to, yes I have tried to search and check the Adobe LR help, but haven't found much more than that the setting exists and that there are differences.  (Well, duh, I sort of already figured that out. )

So, even though I know I can calibrate and tweak things to my liking, I'm still a little puzzled. What is the real purpose of this setting, and why are they so different? Is one expected to be more "correct", and in that case which one?


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## DVC Mike (Dec 26, 2010)

Camera Standard is Adobe's attempt to emulate, as close as possible, the default in-camera processing of a photo.

In any event, these are all just slightly different _starting points_. Pick the one that looks best to you.


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## Garbz (Dec 27, 2010)

Pick the one that looks best, and maybe one day when you become an advanced Lightroom user you can edit and fine tune the camera profiles, or buy a camera calibration kit / chart like the ColourChecker Passport from X-Rite and generate your own camera profile.


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