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Leica color: Lightroom or Aperture?

jeffnesh

Member
Just moved to the Leica M9. I've mostly used Aperture in the past but now have Lightroom (obviously). I'm not asking about function: I know both do most things equally well and it's a matter of preference.

I am colorblind though and need to trust the initial color rendering of the RAW tool. Question: does one app versus the other do a 'better' job with rendering the color of Leica lenses? Does LR have an advantage as it ships with the M9?

I know color, too, is subjective, but in your opinion, do you like the color rendering of one over the other application better?

Thanks for any insight,
Jeff
 

archiM44

Member
Jeff
My main program has been Lightroom and still is because I like its catalog system.
However, I have often used Aperture (and Capture One 6 Pro) because I prefer the color rendering of both, especially for skin tones as well as their better local adjustments.
Noise reduction in Lightroom however is unsurpassed for M9 high iso files.
regards, maurice
 

jeffnesh

Member
Maurice,

Thanks for the thoughts on color. I resonate with the flow of Aperture more than LR, but if one thing would pull me away it would be the noise reduction in LR...very nice.

Mostly, though, just wanting to know if I'm missing something with the color rendition that I can't see. Comforting to know you find Aperture (and C1) acceptable (or even preferable).

Thanks,
Jeff
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Well, IMO there's no such thing as "Leica color" or "Olympus color", particularly if you're capturing raw exposure files. What color you see in a digital capture photograph is entirely the result of camera calibration, the image processing that renders the raw image to a finished image, and the eye of the beholder as to what's pleasing.

In the absence of color vision (or with the skewed color vision that color-blindness often brings), you have to take "the eye of the beholder" out of the loop and go to a more objective criteria.

This is where a color calibration system like the Xrite Passport can lend a hand. If you base color accuracy on a calibration test system that allows you to measure a reference target and produce accurate and consistently repeatable color values by using a customized camera calibration, you'll get the most consistent and repeatable results.

I don't use Aperture for image rendering, I use Lightroom ... and with Lightroom, using the Passport system to produce a repeatable, consistent camera calibration is a piece of cake. It allows me to faithfully and accurately reproduce colors in the subject made with any camera to an objective and consistent standard.
 

archiM44

Member
Godfrey,
You are absolutely correct and I was remiss in not thinking of it.
Color Checker Passport is certainly the way to go.
maurice
 

jeffnesh

Member
Godfrey,

Thanks...I'll look at the color checker. I tend to avoid color correction/adjustment all together. When I tweak, apparently I get green people.

I'd assumed that all the good tools (Ap3, LR, etc.) are fairly (beyond my ability, at least) *accurate*, so I'm not worried about that. Some tools interpret things "flatter" than others (for lack of a better word) and the paranoid me worries I might be missing some sort of "auto-pop" (i.e. better interpretation of accurate colors). I usually throw on a slight s-curve by default, as I've read it helps with this but I've also been told I tend to "over-pop" this way, which I assume is a function of just trying to see some color.

Perhaps a color checker profile would help with that?

Maybe I should just stick with black and white, which in reality is about 75% of my work anyway.

BTW, Godfrey, I'm a big fan of your work here!

Thanks again,
Jeff
 

jonoslack

Active member
Godfrey,

Thanks...I'll look at the color checker. I tend to avoid color correction/adjustment all together. When I tweak, apparently I get green people.
I agree - stay where you are . . . and I think Aperture does a better job with the M9 files than Lightroom . . . but I also recognise that it's a matter of taste.

all the best
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Thanks...I'll look at the color checker. I tend to avoid color correction/adjustment all together. When I tweak, apparently I get green people.

I'd assumed that all the good tools (Ap3, LR, etc.) are fairly (beyond my ability, at least) *accurate*, so I'm not worried about that. Some tools interpret things "flatter" than others (for lack of a better word) and the paranoid me worries I might be missing some sort of "auto-pop" (i.e. better interpretation of accurate colors). I usually throw on a slight s-curve by default, as I've read it helps with this but I've also been told I tend to "over-pop" this way, which I assume is a function of just trying to see some color.

Perhaps a color checker profile would help with that?

Maybe I should just stick with black and white, which in reality is about 75% of my work anyway.

BTW, Godfrey, I'm a big fan of your work here!
Jeff,

Thank you for the compliment! :)

With a meter calibration check so you can obtain best exposure and a Color Checker/Passport profile for the light you're working in, processing color photos through Lightroom will produce repeatable and consistent, excellent color pretty much hands off. Then a very tiny tweak here or there to push or pull the 'pop' is a piece of cake.

Note that you don't need to buy the Passport package if you already own a Color Checker. The Passport software is a free download. It just requires a color checker chart to use which is about $60-70 by itself. I like the standard Color Checker because it's nice and big.

(A triple target for exposure calibration like this one ... the three-tone one in this page:
http://xritephoto.com/ph_product_overview.aspx?id=943&catid=28&action=overview
... is what I use for metering calibration. Fill the screen with the camera centered on it, make an exposure and you should see three spikes on the histogram in Lightroom. Center them and that's the right EV offset for getting bang on exposure on an average scene.)

Jono,

What Aperture does with M9 color by default and what Lightroom does by default are two different things ... and irrelevant. If you use colormetrics like the Passport software in either, the color will be identical. This is why it's a good solution for a person with color-blindness issues.
 
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