A short while ago, Adobe released Camera RAW and DNG converter 5.2. These freebie updates herald an upcoming update to Lightroom - 2.2 which I am looking forward to for several reasons. In the mean time, DNG converter can be used to provide support for new cameras such as the G10, the 5D mkII and others that Lightroom 2.1 does not yet support. This feat is achieved by converting your RAW files to dng before importing.

What is of most interest to me in this update is the inclusion of the final release of the camera-matching profiles. These are included with both the ACR install and the DNG converter install. Much have been written about the beta versions of these profiles that were released at the time of the LR 2.0 release and they have undergone some refinement culminating in the current final release. Caution: if you have PS CS3 you should NOT install ACR 5.2, but only get the DNG converter download, which also contains the profiles. These profiles will work perfectly in LR 2.1.

The new profiles address an often-heard complaint about Lightroom and ACR that the colors are not quite right at the start. Typically what you will hear is things like "bad lifeless oranges and yellows", "flat skintones", and more. Of course, you can use Lightroom to get you basically any color that you like by using the plethora of available color and tone controls, but a good starting point can be desirable and might save you considerable time.

The camera-matching profiles address the issue of dull colors by mimicking the color you would get when shooting jpeg, but giving you all the advantages of shooting RAW. Adobe provides matching profiles for most Canons (the DSLRs and the G9 and G10), basically all Nikon DSLRs, a few Pentaxes (the K10D, K20D, and the K200D), and the Leica M8. Even if you are not in this list, and if you own or can borrow a colorchecker chart you can still use the dng profile mechanism to calibrate your specific camera to give very good (but not necessarily pleasing) color rendition using the free DNG profile editor. Unfortunately there is no mechanism to match the RAW rendering directly to a in-camera jpeg which would allow you to create your own matching profiles for cameras not on the list.

I will show two examples of the use of these profiles. One landscape example, showing how the color rendition can differ radically from the default rendering and a skintone example. I showed a skintone example a while ago on my personal blog using the then beta profiles. First is the skintone example.

On the left, default Lightroom rendering, on the right, using the camera standard profile. No other changes were made. It is certainly possible to make the left image look better, but it takes some amount of effort. This guy should be looking a little rosy after a several mile snowshoe, not like a greenish Martian.

Another example of a landscape image is given below. This was shot on a multiday biking trip of the White Rim trail in Canyonlands National Park. This rock is called Moses and Zeus and is at the end of a side canyon beautifully lit by the setting sun. It should be glowing orange, not looking dirty brownish. These are default settings in Lightroom. Only difference is the profile in the calibration section.

Of course you should see these profiles as a starting point. Otherwise, what is the point of shooting RAW? The renders using the camera default profile are almost identical to the in-camera jpegs. The landscape image for example can benefit from a little exposure and curve works as well as some fine tuning of the color. A graduated ND filter might work great to brighten the foreground a little and it should be rotated slightly.

Whether you will get very different rendering depends very strongly on your camera. For example, on my D300, the difference is subtle and it is hard to say which I prefer. On my old D50 that I often pack when weight is key, the difference is radical and I very much prefer the camera-matching profiles. In any case, the new profiles are certainly worth checking out whatever camera you use.

Small update: I created another example of the huge difference the profiles can make in this link.