# Lens profile confusion



## process (Jun 26, 2013)

I'm trying to figure out the lens correction feature of LR3 and haven't found profiles for all my lenses, most notably the Canon 24-70 f/2.8L II.
I've installed the Adobe lens profile downloader, but all I could find was a profile for that lens with the Canon 5D Mk. III (I use a Canon 50D). So are lens profiles specific to a certain camera? I'm a little confused as another lens of mine (Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS II) was already installed in LR3 but there's no mention of a camera (unlike the 24-70 profile I found in the lens download software).
Searching the web for a 24-70 profile which is camera independant (or made for the 50D) has gotten me nowhere.


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## Jim Wilde (Jun 26, 2013)

IIRC, most of the lens profiles which are provided natively within LR are made using a full-frame sensor (e.g. for Canon profiles they seem to have been made with either the 5DII or the 1DsIII). Obviously the EF-S lens profiles are made using a crop sensor camera such as the 7D or 50D. If I switch lenses between my 5DIII and 7D, lens corrections still works even though using the same profile.

So I would think the profile that you've found using Adobe's downloader should be fine.

Interestingly, I just loaded up LR3 and I can see a profile for the 24-70 II is available, so I assume that's because I have LR4 and LR5 installed and LR4 (probably) would have installed that profile which LR3 now detects.


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## process (Jun 26, 2013)

So the pre-supplied profiles are just not _labelled_ as working with specific cameras then, although they are?
The 24-70 II profile I downloaded looks like this in LR3's "Lens correction" section in the Develop module:

*Make: Canon
Model: Canon EF-24-70mm f/2.8L II USM
Profile: Canon EOS 5D Mark III - EF-24-70mm f/2.8L II USM*

While the 70-200 looks like this (no mention of FF, Crop sensor or specific camera model):

*Make: Canon
Model: Canon EF-70-200mm f/2.8L II IS USM
Profile: Adobe (Canon EF-70-200mm f/2.8L II IS USM)*


I downloaded the LR4 demo about a month ago, but didn't check to see if  there was a 24-70 II profile there (unfortunately the trial period has  just expired so I can't check again), but I suppose the supplied lens  profiles are still installed on my Mac somewhere. Do you know where  they're located (in case I can move them over to my LR3 folders)? I  can't find any 24-70 II profiles in LR3 except the 24-70 II/5D Mk. III  one I downloaded myself and shown above. Is that the same one you have?


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## Jim Wilde (Jun 26, 2013)

My (limited) understanding is that the label merely informs you which camera model was used when the profile was made....in the profiles supplied by Adobe there is only ONE profile per lens (in some limited cases there is one profile for Raw files, another for Jpegs). There is NOT a profile for each specific camera model. Here's a screenshot of an extract of the actual lens profiles sub-folder on my Win7 system:




Note there is only one profile for the 70-200 f/4L IS. I have used that lens on a 5DII, 5DIII, and 7D. In each case the labelling in the Lens Profile section of the Lens Correction panel is the same, i.e:

*Make: Canon
Model: Canon EF-70-200mm f/4L IS USM
Profile: Adobe (Canon EF-70-200mm f/4L IS USM)
*
When you downloaded the LR4 demo, what dot version did you install? IIRC, the 24-70 II wasn't released until late last year, so a lens profile might not have appeared in Lightroom until maybe 4.3 or 4.4.


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## process (Jun 26, 2013)

I downloaded version 4.4 (for Mac).
Where on your Windows PC were those files located? Perhaps the Adobe file-structure would be similar on a Mac (although I haven't been able to locate the files in your list so far).


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## Jim Wilde (Jun 26, 2013)

The "locations" thing is a bit confusing. Up to LR3, Lightroom stored the built-in profiles as follows:

Win7: C:\ProgramData\Adobe\CameraRaw\LenProfiles
Mac:  Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CameraRaw/LensProfiles

From LR4 onwards, they are no longer stored there, instead they are stored and hidden within the actual program files. So on that basis the profile for the 24-70 II should be hidden from me as it was not released until well into the LR4 cycle, yet I see it in the default LR3 location....and it's also available to use within the LR3 Lens Correction panel.

So I'm afraid I can't explain why I can see it and why you can't. Maybe Victoria can solve the puzzle.


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## process (Jun 26, 2013)

Found it!
I right-clicked on the "Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4" application and  selected "Show package contents", the exact location being here:

* /Applications/Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.app/Contents/Resources/LensProfiles/*

The "LensProfiles" folder contained a sub-folder named "1.0" along with a  file named "Index.dat" and the "1.0" folder contained yet another  sub-folder named "Canon" which is where I found the mentioned 24-70 II  file, in other words:
*
/Applications/Adobe Photoshop Lightroom  4.app/Contents/Resources/LensProfiles/1.0/Canon/Canon EOS 5D Mark II  (Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8 L II USM) - RAW.lcp*


But I'm not sure where I should put it in my LR3 setup. 
For LR3 I found the following folder, as you pointed out:

*/Volumes/Files/Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CameraRaw/LensProfiles/*

As with LR4 that folder contained a sub-folder named "1.0" along with a  file named "Index.dat". However, "1.0" in LR3 only contained a folder  named "Downloaded" (which I assume refers to the profiles I downloaded  with the _Adobe lens profile downloader_ application):

*/Volumes/Files/Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CameraRaw/LensProfiles/1.0/Downloaded/*

So should I put the 24-70 II file (and other lens profiles from LR4 if needed) inside "_Downloaded_" in LR3 or in the root of the "_1.0_" folder?


EDIT: oops! I misread the file-path (mistakingly using my user-area library instead of the root-level system-wide library folder as you pointed out), the correct path being:
*/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CameraRaw/LensProfiles/1.0/Canon/*

So never mind the above question as I simply put the 24-70 II (5D Mk. III) lens profile file inside that folder and restarted LR3. I guess I could also put it inside my home area folder, but I don't know if the "Index.dat" file needs editing or whatever.


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## Jim Wilde (Jun 26, 2013)

The file location I gave you didn't include the "Volumes/Files/Users/Username...." part. Is there a "Library" folder in the root of the Macintosh HD drive?


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## process (Jun 26, 2013)

You beat me to it as you had posted before I added the "EDIT" part in my posting 
Yes, on a Mac there are actually three "Library" areas which can get a little confusing:

*/System/Library/* (this is what Mac OSX needs in order to work. You shouldn't touch this as far as I know.)
*/Library/*  (the files placed here are available to all users of the computer)
*/Users/USERNAME/Library/* (the files placed here are available only to the specific user ("USERNAME" being an example here of an actual username, could be "JohnDoe", "PeterJohnson" or whatever). If multiple users are assigned on the computer each of those users has their own "Library" folder within their "USERNAME").


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## Jim Wilde (Jun 26, 2013)

OK, so having put the profile in the right folder, is it now available to you in the Lens Corrections panel?


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## process (Jun 26, 2013)

Yes, it's available there now, and without the 5D Mk. III designation as before! :mrgreen:
I also experimented with my home Library folder and managed to put the 24-70 II profile there (I prefer to put all my user-configured files in that Library folder for backup purposes etc.)! First I deleted the "Downloaded" folder, then I created a "Canon" folder and put the abovemention LR4 lens profile there, the full path being:
*/Volumes/Files/Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CameraRaw/LensProfiles/1.0/Canon/Canon EOS 5D Mark II (Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8 L II USM) - RAW.lcp*

I didn't touch the "Index.dat" file though, so I don't know if that means everything is OK or I'll get trouble further along the way. Anyone know if this file needs updating or editing somehow?


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## Jim Wilde (Jun 26, 2013)

Not sure that last bit would work. My understanding is that Lightroom will look in the "normal" location, and also in the specific "Downloaded" sub-folder (where the Adobe Downloader will put them), i.e. I think "Downloaded" has to exist for any profiles in the user library area. I could be wrong though!


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## process (Jun 26, 2013)

You may be right.
The 24-70 II lens profile is indeed available in the drop-down menu in LR3, but it doesn't look like the lens is detected automatically. As I can't say I have a thorough understanding of LR but mostly learning things as I go along I may be doing it wrong, but while in the Develop module I used my left/right arrow keys to select a photo where the 24-70 II had been used, clicked on "Enable profile corrections" expecting LR to see the lens in question (reading the EXIF data I suppose), but a small exclamation mark at the bottom of the pane told me it was unable to detect a matching profile as shown here:

Am I using lens correction in the right way?


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## Jim Wilde (Jun 26, 2013)

It does sometimes happen for me that enabling profile corrections doesn't automatically find a profile, even though I know it's available. Can't recall seeing that message though.

Try this: click in the "Make" box and select Canon, that often then finds the profile. But if not, click in the "Model" box and select the 24-70 II profile (which should then auto-complete the "Profile" box). If that all looks good, click in the "Setup" box (which is now probably showing "Custom") and choose "Save New Lens Profile Defaults". That should do the trick.


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## process (Jun 27, 2013)

It appears that the problem appears whenever there is a (Photoshop edited) TIFF file selected. So far, the CR2 (Canon RAW) files have detected the correct lens (and this is with the lens profile placed in my home "Library" folder. 
Regarding the "Index.dat" file -do you think I should just leave it as it is, replace it with the one I got from the LR4 demo or should it run through some update process? What's it for anyway? It appears to be some sort of database index file from what I can see (opening it in a text editor).


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## Jim Wilde (Jun 27, 2013)

That profile is specifically made (as are most of them) for Raw files only....hence it's not going to be auto-detected for a rendered file such as Jpeg or Tiff.


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