User Profiles - Are They Worthwhile? (2021)
18th July 2021
Imagine this scenario: you are visiting a local market in a foreign country and venture indoors, where it is cooler and busier and vibrant with colour and scents. It is almost claustrophobic, but your curiosity is aroused, and you reset your camera ISO to compensate for the relative gloomy light, maybe to ISO 6,500 or even higher. It is challenging, but there is the promise of some fine images. Eventually you emerge into bright sunlit streets, and you carry on shooting. Later, in your hotel room, you are checking your pictures captured during the day. It is at that point you discover that you forgot to reset your camera ISO. Disaster; or is it. Surely, Lightroom will come to your rescue. It might, but your images, possibly, will be worse than you might wish.
The situation could have been even worse had you been shooting in automatic mode with a film camera, with errors unrecognized until after processing. Fortunately, you are not, so you have a little more latitude to make corrections in post-processing, albeit with some degradation in quality. Or consider shooting JPEG files with artificial light set for white balance. Later, you try some portraiture outdoors, forgetting your previous settings. Because you did not shoot Raw, remedial action in processing will not be able to correct the white balance error. However, each of these situations could have been avoided. By adopting User Profiles, as an essential part of your routine, such mistakes should not happen. So what are User Profiles and do you use them?
User Profiles
For any shooting situation, you set your camera accordingly. For long periods, those fundamental settings change very little, from day-to-day. So why not save them as a User Profile for your everyday shooting? One could become your personal default. Give it your name.
Or another example. Perhaps you enjoy reliving the days of black and white photography, by setting your digital camera to view and capturing your scenes in monochrome. To save delving into complex menus every time to reset the parameters, you could simply save a User Profile, call it ‘Mono’, specifically for that purpose.
Introducing such a practice into your everyday photographic work, calls for a little self-discipline. User Profiles are worthless if you do not remember to select them and check them, from time to time, just to make sure that your chosen profile is still valid. It is very easy to make operational changes during the day and, in so doing, depart from the chosen profile. One change, and the profile is no longer what you think it is. To safeguard against this eventuality, I make a habit of reselecting my profile at the end of every session. Just in case I forget to do so. I also select a profile at the beginning of a photographic session. Those procedures become an ingrained habit, and make a big difference to the consistency of my work.
How to manage User Profiles
There are two aspects to the management of User Profiles. First, is setting them up and changing the contents. Second, is the operational use of individual profiles.
Cameras differ in the way User or Custom Profiles are managed. A search through the relevant menus should reveal the methods used. In some cases, the operational function is actuated via an exposed dial or function button. For example, Panasonic Lumix cameras have a ‘C’ (for Custom) setting, or two. (See first picture) With Leica, it is necessary to view the Favourites menu or main menu screen. Where function buttons can be customized, I include User Profiles so that it is quick and easy to select them. However, the latest menu screens have greatly simplified profile selection.
My old Leica X1 has provision for four (unnamed) profiles, which I call Fast, Fine, Mono and HDR, names suggesting their function, although they are only shown as numbers. Those are my choices; call yours what you wish. Later models, like the Leica Q and Leica CL, have the ability for profiles to be named, which simplifies identification and usage.
On some cameras, there is the option to save a set of profiles to the in-use memory card. This is good practice on two counts. First, you have a backup of these important small files, which have taken time to set up. Second, if and when you upgrade your camera’s firmware, you risk losing your User Profiles unless you save them to your memory card. Usually, this precautionary measure is prompted by the incoming firmware upgrade. When you reactivate the camera, you need to reload, or import, your User Profiles.
A common question is “How can I delete a profile?” At present, that is not possible without invoking a Factory Reset, which would remove much customization. However, profiles can be renamed or over-written if you wish to modify the contents and have no spares to use. I seem to find a use for all of mine; however, they do change over time.
The easiest way to select the User Profile in the Leica CL is via the main menu. Identify the ‘little man’ symbol, (see next illustration), tap and select the required profile. The chosen profile will show as in the final picture.
Conclusions
User Profiles are an important part of my way of working. They are easy to set up and use. I miss them when using an older camera which lacks the facility. They are thoroughly recommended. Why not give them a try?
[Update: A new paragraph on saving profiles has been added on 19th July 2021]
The situation could have been even worse had you been shooting in automatic mode with a film camera, with errors unrecognized until after processing. Fortunately, you are not, so you have a little more latitude to make corrections in post-processing, albeit with some degradation in quality. Or consider shooting JPEG files with artificial light set for white balance. Later, you try some portraiture outdoors, forgetting your previous settings. Because you did not shoot Raw, remedial action in processing will not be able to correct the white balance error. However, each of these situations could have been avoided. By adopting User Profiles, as an essential part of your routine, such mistakes should not happen. So what are User Profiles and do you use them?
Mode selector dial on Leica V Lux Typ.114 showing two custom settings for quick selection of established User Profiles. In fact, C2 has three additional profiles, accessible in the main Menu.
User Profiles
For any shooting situation, you set your camera accordingly. For long periods, those fundamental settings change very little, from day-to-day. So why not save them as a User Profile for your everyday shooting? One could become your personal default. Give it your name.
Or another example. Perhaps you enjoy reliving the days of black and white photography, by setting your digital camera to view and capturing your scenes in monochrome. To save delving into complex menus every time to reset the parameters, you could simply save a User Profile, call it ‘Mono’, specifically for that purpose.
Introducing such a practice into your everyday photographic work, calls for a little self-discipline. User Profiles are worthless if you do not remember to select them and check them, from time to time, just to make sure that your chosen profile is still valid. It is very easy to make operational changes during the day and, in so doing, depart from the chosen profile. One change, and the profile is no longer what you think it is. To safeguard against this eventuality, I make a habit of reselecting my profile at the end of every session. Just in case I forget to do so. I also select a profile at the beginning of a photographic session. Those procedures become an ingrained habit, and make a big difference to the consistency of my work.
Menu showing User Profile operational menu for Leica CL. Each profile bears a name for identification. At the top, there is the Factory Default settings. At the bottom, is where you manage your User Profiles. The sub-menu is shown in the next picture
How to manage User Profiles
There are two aspects to the management of User Profiles. First, is setting them up and changing the contents. Second, is the operational use of individual profiles.
Cameras differ in the way User or Custom Profiles are managed. A search through the relevant menus should reveal the methods used. In some cases, the operational function is actuated via an exposed dial or function button. For example, Panasonic Lumix cameras have a ‘C’ (for Custom) setting, or two. (See first picture) With Leica, it is necessary to view the Favourites menu or main menu screen. Where function buttons can be customized, I include User Profiles so that it is quick and easy to select them. However, the latest menu screens have greatly simplified profile selection.
My old Leica X1 has provision for four (unnamed) profiles, which I call Fast, Fine, Mono and HDR, names suggesting their function, although they are only shown as numbers. Those are my choices; call yours what you wish. Later models, like the Leica Q and Leica CL, have the ability for profiles to be named, which simplifies identification and usage.
On some cameras, there is the option to save a set of profiles to the in-use memory card. This is good practice on two counts. First, you have a backup of these important small files, which have taken time to set up. Second, if and when you upgrade your camera’s firmware, you risk losing your User Profiles unless you save them to your memory card. Usually, this precautionary measure is prompted by the incoming firmware upgrade. When you reactivate the camera, you need to reload, or import, your User Profiles.
A common question is “How can I delete a profile?” At present, that is not possible without invoking a Factory Reset, which would remove much customization. However, profiles can be renamed or over-written if you wish to modify the contents and have no spares to use. I seem to find a use for all of mine; however, they do change over time.
The easiest way to select the User Profile in the Leica CL is via the main menu. Identify the ‘little man’ symbol, (see next illustration), tap and select the required profile. The chosen profile will show as in the final picture.
Conclusions
User Profiles are an important part of my way of working. They are easy to set up and use. I miss them when using an older camera which lacks the facility. They are thoroughly recommended. Why not give them a try?
[Update: A new paragraph on saving profiles has been added on 19th July 2021]