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Re: [OM] IMG: Sidewalk Cafe

Subject: Re: [OM] IMG: Sidewalk Cafe
From: Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 15:44:47 -0700
On 6/26/2014 5:33 PM, Tina Manley wrote:
The Auto-White balance should have no effect at all since I only shoot RAW.

Is it possible you misunderstand how RAW conversion in general and ACR and LR, 
specifically, work?

RAW files are color balance agnostic. In the process of conversion to PSD, TIFF, JPEG, whatever, some sort of assumptions must be made about how to convert/present color.

By default, ACR and LR use the settings from the camera. So, unless you have changed the defaults, say to always Daylight, or go to the trouble of selecting a WB each time you convert, you get what the Auto WB in the camera has chosen.

Here's a practical example. 
<http://www.moosemystic.net/Gallery/tech/AutoWB_ACR-LR/ACR-LR_WB.htm>

All but one version are the same, shot with a GX7 set to Auto WB. You can see 
the Temperature and Tint settings.

1. What you get in ACR or LR with the Adobe default conversion.

2. What you get in ACR or LR with the Adobe Daylight setting.

3. GX7 set to Daylight WB, Adobe default conversion.

4. What you get in ACR or LR with the Adobe Tungsten Setting.

5. What you get in ACR or LR with temp/tint set per a gray scale reference set 
on top of the subject.

6. What you get in ACR or LR if you choose their Auto WB. Identical to Tungsten, which probably means it has interpreted the overall reddish cast as tungsten lighting - which it isn't.

7. None of them are quite what I see when I schlepp the book out in sunlight. The one corrected with a WhiBal and WB dropper is pretty good, but has a slight greenish cast that isn't quite right.

The light is a daylight-ish, multiple LED desk lamp. I intentionally chose a subject with an overall color cast and a light not like any standard settings and lit unevenly to show a range of brightness.

Thoughts/conclusions:

1. Both the camera and ACR/LR Daylight settings are pretty good.

2. ACR/LR Auto WB would be pretty good, if the subject were color neutral to 
start with. :-)

3. The Panny Auto WB is neither fish nor fowl, going part way toward neutral, 
while retaining an unlovely pink cast.

4. Unless one has a custom conversion set-up, it is safest when shooting RAW to 
set the camera to Daylight WB.

Obviously, I don't have Leica RAW files to play with. But looking at the Auto WB results from GX7 and Adobe, and knowing what Canon and Oly do, I'd stick with Daylight on Leicas too, absent careful testing and custom work flow settings.

Raw Moose

--
What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
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