Camera Profiles Vs Presets and Filters
What makes them so different?
I often see confusion pop up online whenever people start talking about JPEG vs RAW, or when the usual Nikon vs Fuji vs Sony debates roll around.
Someone inevitably chimes in with something like, “You can just recreate those camera colors with presets in post.” Or, “Just shoot RAW and apply whatever look you want later.”
The thing is—that’s not entirely true.
Sure, you can build LUTs, enhanced profiles in Lightroom, adaptive presets, all that good stuff. And yes, most of those, minus the adaptive presets, can in a lot of cases work at the same step in the process. But doing it right means understanding how camera profiles actually work—what part of the RAW processing pipeline they slot into, and how your software handles (or maybe doesn’t handle) that step. We need to understand the difference between camera profiles, which can use some very in-depth color science, vs your standard filter or preset in software like Lightroom, Capture One, whatever you use.
If none of this is clicking or you’re thinking, “Why does this matter?” then you probably won’t give a shit about the PDF. But if you’re curious about how sensor data gets turned into an image, how profiles shape color and tone, and why Fujifilm X-trans sensors are actually different than your standard sensor—you’ll probably get something out of it. For those unfamiliar with this, and looking to learn, I also included a vocabulary at the end of the document to help with some of the terms along the way.
If none of this interests you, at least take these key points away:
Presets and filters work over an image within an already transformed/converted color space, such as sRGB.
Profiles work at the RAW level (the RAW data) of an image, before any color space conversion is completed. They alter colors conditionally per image through a bit more of a technical process.
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If you’re interested, go ahead and download the PDF.
I also want to make it clear that I’m not sitting here trying to promote Fujifilm, but find it interesting how different their color science is vs many other brands. I still love my Nikon Z8, and am honestly conflicted between whether I will pick up a Fuji X-t5 or a Nikon Zf. With the Zf and Z6iii, you’re now able to create some very customizable profiles to load into your camera, and I already have quite a lot of Nikon glass, so no need to get additional lenses…I’ll probably mess around with the Nikon, though the Fuji has been tempting. So yeah, don’t think I’m trying to persuade towards one brand or the other. I think every brand has their own things that make them fun to shoot. I don’t like Canon.