Which camera-matching profile to use for Nikon Flat Picture Control?

[L-dopa]

There seems to be a matching profile for every Nikon Picture Control setting except Flat, but Nikon pushes Flat​ as the best choice for RAW editing.

I've used Camera Neutral to reasonably good effect, but are there other ways?  Is a Flat matching profile coming?

Or does it even matter?  Is the same information getting into LR regardless?

[Per Berntsen · Accepted solution]

Or does it even matter?  Is the same information getting into LR regardless?

It doesn't really matter, and the same information in the raw file is available to LR regardless.

The profiles are starting points that can save you a bit of editing, but it should be possible to get the exact same results whether you start out with Adobe Neutral or Adobe Vivid. But the numbers will be different, because the sliders don't change when you change the profile.

[JP Hess]

I think it's a matter of personal taste or choice. I use a Nikon D7100. I have had a D40 in the past as well as a D90. Right now I'm working with some old photos from about 10 years ago taken with my D40, and finding that the new Adobe Color profile works very well for them. I have also chosen it as the default profile for my D7100. But like I said, that's just my personal choice.

[bhousto90]

For what Nikon camera are you missing the Camera Flat profile?

I see "Camera Flat" available for NEF files from each of the Nikon cameras I own (D750 & D500) and it is available for other Nikon test files I just tried too.

Make sure you are looking for it in the 'Camera matching' section and not the 'Favorites' section within the LR7.3/7.3.1 profile browser.

Also checked in LR CC and it is available there too.

-bh

[JP Hess]

That might depend on the camera model. For the models that I have had, I think the closest to a "Camera Flat" I have in the camera matching profiles would be the Camera Neutral profile. I have never seen a Camera Flat profile for the Cameras that I have had.

Added later: I just looked at a NEF file taken with my granddaughter's D750, and there is a Flat profile for that camera in Lightroom classic CC 7.3.1. So it would depend on the profiles provided for each camera model. Apparently, the Flat profile is only available for the more current or maybe the more professional models. All the models I have owned or do own are quite old. Then I downloaded a sample NEF file from a D7500. There is a Flat profile for that camera. So I'm thinking that profile is probably something that is for the newer models. Either it will be there for your model are it won't.

[L-dopa]

This camera is the D5500--a crop sensor--but it definitely has the Flat Picture Control and was released maybe a year after the D810.  Camera Flat seems to be missing from the D5500 profile for LR CC.

[martin-s]

I have been using Camera Neutral in LR for all our Nikons for many years. Comparing Flat and Camera Neutral in LR you would probably find that Camera Neutral is a much better starting point for development. Flat is lacking in contrast and saturation, so you would always need to bump those up to start with.

Flat makes sense for the capture process when set as the camera profile. While it doesn't change the data in your RAW file, it directly controls the rendering of the JPEG preview embedded in the RAW. This preview is what the highlight warnings and the histogram are based upon, so it makes sense to use a profile that has the least contrast and saturation. It still isn't an entirely accurate preview of what's in your RAW file but it's as close as you can possibly get.

[JP Hess]

I just downloaded a sample NEF file from the D5500. I don't have the camera, so I can't check to see what the camera has. But I can verify that there is no Flat profile available from Adobe. If you want to ask why, the best forum to do that in would be the one where the developers monitor more closely.

Photoshop Family Customer Community