Nikon Z6 III: Darktable style and lense correction

Software darktable
1

He everyone,

for a long time I haven’t done any photo related stuff so that’s makes me somehow a newbie. :wink:

I’ve got a Nikon Z6 III and wanted to do some basic editing with Darktable 5. The first thing I’ve noticed after importing some photos is, that they look absolutely different compared to Nikon NX studio and the output on the camera. Since the Z6iii is officially supported I’m wondering if I missed some thing? I’ve noticed, that there is currently no built in dark table style for the Z6iii. Could it be that? (Applying the Z6ii style helps a bit.)

EDIT: I have found the style. It was named with another naming convention and sorted at the end of the Nikon list of cameras.

And another thing: I can’t select the Z6iii as the camera model for the lense correction (while the lens is detected). How handle other Z6iii owners this “situation”?

EDIT 2: The lens correction module of the Darktable Windows version has the camera option for the Z6iii (as well as the Z50ii). I initially tested with Fedora 41. Both darktable versions are 5.0.1. Can there be differences between the Windows and de Linux version?

Any help is appreciated :smiling_face: - also links to where I can find further information.

Greetings
Peter

2

Hi and welcome to the forum!

This comes up so often that we documented it in the manual: darktable 4.6 user manual - process

No. The built in styles was just someone trying to match the camera jpeg. You’ll be able to approximate that yourself soon.

You can use the Z6 ii, the camera in lenses correction only determines the sensor size.

Read the manual, watch some Bruce Williams on YouTube. Stay curious.

1 Like
3

Hi,

@paperdigits: Thanks for the warm welcome and the Bruce Williams tip. :slight_smile:

Your response was quicker then my edit. :-/ So again: the darktable Windows version knows the camera Z6iii within the lens correction module. Just the fedora version (booth 5.0.1) does not. Is this something I should look into and (if necessary) file a bug report?

4

You just need to update the lensfun database, from the terminal run lensfun‑update‑data … you might need sudo – I’m not sure.

1 Like
5

Yep, Nikon themselves changed the convention recently, dt is just following suit. :wink:

1 Like
6

Hi Peter,
welcome to the forum. When I edit I want to exceed the camera’s style for the look and detail of the final image. However, I have found replicating the look of the camera’s JPG as a good starting point for my canon R7. I plan to do the same with my other cameras as well. I created a style by opening the JPG and taking a snapshot. I then opened the RAW. I set exposure to match the JPG, I set contrast, color saturation, shadow and highlights, and other modules to give a very similar look to the camera’s JPG. It is not a perfect match but then it doesn’t need to be since it is only a starting point. I saved this as a style and it has helped to speedup my workflow. Someone created a darktable style for a Canon R7 but that was based on filmic and I use Sigmoid for the default tone mapper. Good luck creating your own style and the Darktable style for your camera is a good starting point.

The style will need tweaking over a number of shots. The initial shot I chose to setup had skin tone, neutral tones and distinct areas of red green and blue and other bold colors. This really helped me to tweak my settings.

1 Like
7

Thanks everyone for all your help and suggestions and for sharing your experiences. That’s very kind. :smiling_face:

@paperdigits : Thanks for the tip with updating the lensfun database. I would never have thought that this was possible since the Z6iii support came with a darktable release.

@Terry: Thanks for that work flow tip. It might take some days until I find time, but i will definitely do that.