Canon Reds.

oakfieldphotography.com

Hi all
i havent been around for a while but i am considering sending my 5d2 amd 24-70 f2.8 in for calibration and possible for another problem i am having. The colour red is not what i see when i am on a shoot. Is it possible with the 5d2 to go into the incamera settings and make an adjustment instead of continually doing it in post?
Kind regards
Patrick.:dunno

ziggy53

Unless and until you fully color manage your acquisition, processing and output (which includes color managed monitor display and color managed printing), you should not blame the camera. Modern Canon dSLR bodies do a remarkable job with reds, when the entire workflow is properly color managed.

The first thing I recommend to do is to shoot to RAW files, using proper color technique; i.e. than means proper exposure (as improper exposure can lead to a color shift in subsequent processing) and proper white balance. (If you shoot to RAW files then you have the option of selecting a white balance and tint offset, but, by default, ACR uses the camera's white balance settings to start with.) Ideally, and while you are learning your camera's color properties, you should include a calibrated color target in the scene. A calibrated color target gives you some color standards, which you should aspire to reproduce in your workflow.

Some popular color calibration targets and systems:

http://www.amazon.com/X-Rite-MSCCPP-ColorChecker-Passport-Software/dp/B002NU5UW8/ref=sr_1_fed1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1355405258&sr=8-2&keywords=xrite+colorchecker

http://www.amazon.com/X-Rite-MSCCC-ColorChecker-Chart/dp/B000JLO31C/ref=sr_1_fed1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1355405258&sr=8-3&keywords=xrite+colorchecker

http://www.amazon.com/CameraTrax-24ColorCard-3x5-OneSnapColor-Balance-Guidebook/dp/B005IUBU2O/ref=pd_cp_p_2

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/817209-REG/DGK_Color_Tools_DKCPRO_DKC_Pro_Multifunction_Color_Chart.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/740518-REG/Datacolor_DC_SCK100_SpyderCheckr_Color_Calibration_Tool.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/286652-REG/QP_Card_GQP201.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/813250-REG/Kodak_1277144_Gray_Card_Plus_9x12.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/465295-REG/X_Rite_MSDCCSG_Digital_ColorChecker_SG_Card.html

White balance and exposure aids (note that sopme of the above can also be used for white balance and exposure):

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/788272-REG/Vello_WB_CS_White_Balance_Card_Set.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/231564-REG/Delta_98705C_Gray_Card_4.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/27715-REG/Kodak_1903061_Gray_Cards.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/529526-REG/Digital_Image_Flow_DGK_1_Digital_Grey_Kard_Standard.html

(Note that the above is just a sampling of the available tools for color and WB.)

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Now you need to pay attention to your computer and printer systems, to gain control over color management of your system. Ideally, you should use a color calibration system to adjust your monitor, so that the colors approximate, as closely as possible, color standards. If you don't calibrate your monitor, at least manually calibrate the monitor using calibrated monitor targets and verify the system accuracy by printing the targets to compare with the originals. If what you see on the monitor and what you print is reasonably close, (they will never be the same because monitors and prints use different technologies) you can expect similar results with camera acquired images (eventually).

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Now you should test both Adobe's ACR and Canon's DPP against each other, assuming that the Canon DPP software should be more accurate by default. This is a reasonable assumption because:

Canon should know their own equipment better than anyone else, and their RAW translation may be more accurate than third party RAW translations. (That is also my experience, that Canon DPP is more accurate by default.)

If you see a more accurate color rendition using DPP than ACR, you know for sure that the camera is not at fault. It is my experience that Canon's DPP is greatly superior to Adobe ACR default settings.

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Now that your system is properly adjusted for acquisition and display, and you see the difference in color rendition between DPP and ACR, you can start to adjust the camera profile of ACR to match DPP and/or your intent for, and/or memory of, the particular scene. Ultimately, you may wish to produce multiple profiles (different profiles for different lighting conditions, white balance conditions, or intent), or you may wish to simply control each major change in lighting as a separate situation, saving the settings to reuse per each similar situation (which is what I do).

http://dpbestflow.org/color/camera-profiling

http://pskiss.com/blog/create-your-own-cross-camera-acr-preset/

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Ultimately, I doubt that there is anything wrong with your camera. If you don't get the colors you expect or desire, it's generally a result of system setup and color workflow. Those are things that you can, and should, desire to learn how to control.