[Leica] VSCO Film - and Replichrome as well

[mitcha at mac.com]

Tina - despite the price, I think that the VSCO presets deserve more discussion and consideration than they have been given in this thread. In addition to VSCO, there are good presets from Replichrome as well. I’ve had an opportunity to try both the the VSCO and Replichrome presets for the M9 on a friend’s computer - - and both sets have profiles for the M9 and M240. 

My conclusion is that the VSCO and Replichrome presets can be very good, and whether they are good at all for a particular file depends on the characteristics of file itself, which involves a process of trial and error. While one can easily say that anything that these presets accomplish can be done in Lightroom itself, but that is a facile statement: some of the presets make a large number of adjustments - - such as 
adjusting each of the 24 individual sliders in the HSL panel: this  can result in subtle differences in look that can be difficult for almost any user to accomplish using LR itself, at least without an extensive effort on a file. In trying the VSCO and Replichrome preset, I was less interested simulating a particular film than in achieving the look that I wanted for a particular file. Indeed, that is the advantage that I see in using these presets: by trying a few different presets on a file, one can easily achieve the look one prefers for that file and then make a few additional  adjustment using that preset and quickly completely that processing for that picture.

As for VSCO vs Replichrome, it’s very difficult to chose between them because either one can turn out to be somewhat better than the other, depending on the file that they are applied to. For color, I ended up using mostly the Ektar 100 (VSCO 5) and Fujicolor Pro 400H (VSCO 1)  presets. 

For B&W, the Replichrome presets, particularly the Plus-X are often very good for many files.  These presets are in the Replichrome I: Icon package, which also includes Kodak Color Films (Ektar and Portra) as well Fuji Color Films (Fuji Pro and Reala). However, I also like the Neopan 1600 preset, which is in the VSCO 2 package; and the Tri-X 400 preset in the VSCO 1 package often gives better sky rendition than the Replichrome Tri-X preset. 

It’s difficult to decide what to buy, but if your taste is similar to mine, the choice would be the Replichrome I: Icon and the VSCO 1 and VSCO 2 packages, with a possible later purchase of VSCO 5.

Now, you may also find that for some files trying a few particular preset may show you the general direction in which you want to take a particular file; and you may end up not using the presets but making your own adjustment in LR. Thus, the advantage of the preset is such cases is that you get to where you want to be more quickly. Also, I found that for the nightshots that linked in another thread (http://bit.ly/1i93new), my LR processing was more to my liking than where the VSCO or Replichrome presets took me — the same thing for the skin tones in most of the portraits that I tried out.

- - Mitch


Subject: [Leica] VSCO Films
From: tmanley at gmail.com (Tina Manley)
Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 18:17:51 -0400
References: <6E8440DA-92F4-44D5-AE63-D7D04EAF084B at verizon.net> <CA+yJO1DGPzzVtF_hpiGYvc10Vs3n7CBfXO44vvf9SnwtnW8gtA at mail.gmail.com> <D04C870D.4B3EA%chris at chriscrawfordphoto.com>
Thanks, Chris, but the price is way too much for me, too!  I'll stick with
the converters I already have.

Tina

On Sat, Sep 27, 2014 at 3:24 PM, Chris Crawford <
chris at chriscrawfordphoto.com> wrote:

> Tina,
>
> Go to VSCO's website and you'll find that these presets do, in fact,
> include profiles for several Leica digital cameras, including the M9 and
> M240.
>
> --
> Chris Crawford
> Fine Art Photography
> Fort Wayne, Indiana
> 260-437-8990
>
> http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com  My portfolio
>
> http://www.facebook.com/pages/Christopher-Crawford/48229272798
> Become a fan on Facebook
>
>
>
> On 9/27/14 1:31 PM, "Tina Manley" <tmanley at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >Camera profiles for Canon, Nikon and Fuji?  "It will not work nearly as
> >well without the camera profile, which is basically the main reason why
> >these presets so accurately resemble real photographic film."
> >
> >Not for me, I guess.
> >
> >Tina
> >
> >
> >On Sat, Sep 27, 2014 at 1:19 PM, Frank Filippone <red735i at verizon.net>
> >wrote:
> >
> >> You want your Nikon D4s to generate images as if made with TMax3200?
> >>
> >> http://photographylife.com/reviews/vsco-film-01
> >>
> >> Anyone have experience with this line of LR presets ?
> >>
> >> Frank Filippone
> >> Red735i at verizon.net
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Leica Users Group.
> >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >--
> >Tina Manley
> >www.tinamanley.com
> >tina-manley.artistwebsites.com
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >Leica Users Group.
> >See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>



-- 
Tina Manley
www.tinamanley.com
tina-manley.artistwebsites.com