Readers of Computer-Darkroom
will already be aware of my liking for inCamera
Professional. I have received numerous emails since publishing
my original inCamera
review and
many readers have since purchased their own copy. Judging by their
comments many are now successfully producing their own digital camera
profiles.
inCamera Plug-in includes the
digital camera ICC profiling technology previously
included with inCamera
Professional 3.1 an supports both GregtagMacbeth
ColorChecker charts plus a scanner ICC profiling facility supporting
various IT8 targets. The scanner profiling component of the Plug-in is
based upon the module found in ColorSynergy 4.5.
PictoColor
provide a wealth of guidance on using inCamera
Plug-in along with various tips and FAQ's so I won't go into
the how's and wherefores of using it.
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ColorChecker Chart |
DC ColorChecker Chart |
IT8 7/x |
At 3.1 the version number is the same since the technology and
features as inCamera Professional
remain unchanged from the standalone version. That said the algorithms
used within inCamera Plug-in result
in profiles that have been improved compared to those produced by
the inCamera module bundled with
ColorSynergy 4.5 (inCamera 3.0). The changes made relative to
inCamera Professional are minor and
effect only specular highlights. inCamera
Plug-in is compatible with Photoshop 5 and higher ineaither:
Win 98SE, ME, 2000, XP, Mac OS 9.2 or OSX.
inCamera Plug-in has a fairly
clean and simple interface with options to select the appropriate
Chart Type and associated Data Reference File. The ability to
maximise the plug-in window to the maximum size (Use Largest Window)
of the desktop is a useful touch and should ensure that users don't get
into a tangle trying to align the grid. Even greater selection accuracy
can be achieved by using the Zoom feature. The checkbox labelled
Brighter is provided as a visual aid for those users who prefer to
build profiles for their digital camera in linear mode. It brightens the
preview image but has no effect on the actual ICC profile. Ignore
Glossy allows the user to prevent inCamera from measuring the
8 glossy patches on the DC ColorChecker chart since these can
sometimes result in poor profiles.
Building an ICC Profile for a
Digital camera
As noted earlier inCamera Plug-in
can also be used to build ICC profiles for film and reflective type
scanners. The process involved is relatively simple involving little more
than the user scanning the IT8 type target into Photoshop and then
activating the inCamera Plug-in via
the Filter menu. Once the profile is built it can be assigned to all
future images using the Photoshop Assign Profile command. Alternatively,
if your scanning software supports ICC profiles you can assign the new
profile directly within it. Either way your images will benefit from much
greater colour accuracy.
Building an ICC Profile for a
Film Scanner
inCamera Plug-in also includes a
unique option for building profiles for colour negative films. To build
such a profile the user photographs the ColorChecker chart and
then makes a scan of the negative. I have not tried this feature so
cannot comment upon its accuracy.
All ICC profiles built by inCamera Plug-in
have a resolution of 16bits which ensures greater accuracy than the more
conventional 8bit profiles. It's also worth noting that
inCamera Plug-in still remains one of
the very few profilers capable of building accurate linear raw mode
profiles for the Canon D30. I'm not quite sure why this should be,
but I'm very glad that it does since the D30 is particularly sensitive to
overexposure and this forces me (and many other users) to use linear raw
mode rather than the more conventional output formats.
By providing inCamera Plug-in PictoColor
certainly seem keen to capitalise on the success of
inCamera Professional, but they've done so at a price point
that should prove irresistible for those who have been yearning for a low
cost alternative to the various standalone options. However, in
delivering inCamera Plug-in for $134.95
PictoColor
have omitted the monitor calibration and profile editing modules found as
standard in inCamera Professional.
I'm not privy to future product lines from PictoColor
but it could be worth their while creating a plug-in version of the
profile editor.
Pictographics must have been
reading my review because no sooner that it was published they notified
me of an upgrade to iCorrect EditLab
plug-in which now includes the ability to edit ICC input profiles. A
review of iCorrect EditLab 4 can be
found here.
The quality of the profiles created for my digital cameras and
scanners match those obtained from the standalone application, and are
better than those from ColorSynergy.
Now that inCamera is available for
Mac OS X I will have one less reason to boot my Mac into OS9 - that in
itself is worth a smile.
