[Digikam-users] Color Management and RAW/NEF files

[Mark Greenwood]

On Saturday 12 Dec 2009 21:09:09 Goose wrote:
> As far as i know, a RAW picture is the camera sensor information "as is".
> Usually cameras apply some adjustments to RAW picture (brightness, contrast,
> saturation, white balance, sharpness, etc) to convert those raw bytes into
> the JPEG preview or JPEG version of your photo.
> If you open a RAW picture with software made by the camera's manufacturer,
> same adjustments are done, so you see the "same" picture when you compare
> the RAW and the JPEG.
> Some other softwares handle a little database of raw formats and "default
> adjustments" for them, trying to obtain the same result, but sometimes they
> can't and is all left to you :).
> It's like analog photography... the negative development can give you a
> really cool photo or a "washedoutburnedcolorness" one... but the negative is
> the same!.
> You could tweak some params in "raw import tool" trying to get the best of
> one RAW, and then use those settings as default when opening every other
> raw.
> 
> Remember that almost every raw development software gives you slightly
> different pictures from the same RAW file... some of them with HUGE
> differences...
> 
OK, thanks, but I understand that. The problem I'm having with Digikam is that I cannot, no matter what I try, get Digikam to produce anything that looks even remotely like how it should. Everything is much too dark and either oversaturated or understaurated. Small differences I could understand but the results I'm getting by loading NEF files into Digikam are not useable for any purpose.

Mark