dcpTool

dcpTool, an editor for DNG camera profiles, is another one of my open source projects. It is a command line utility for processing DNG Camera Profiles (.dcp files). DCP files are an open standard for defining the color rendition of digital cameras, and are used by various Adobe products including Lightroom and Photoshop/Camera Raw.

dcpTool can do five things:

1. Decompile binary format DCP files into a text based XML format. This XML file can then be studied and/or edited with a text editor or specialized XML tool.
2. Compile XML format DCP files into binary files that can be used with any DCP aware software.
3. Extract DCP profiles that are embedded into DNG files into a separate DCP file.
4. Make a profile Invariate. An invariate profile won’t cause changes tint when you make adjustments to exposure settings. More on this on the Hue Twists page.
5. Untwist a profile. An invariate profile won’t change color when you adjust exposure settings, but still has hue twists embedded within it. Untwisting a profile removes all hue twists completely. More on this on the Hue Twists page.

For more detail on dcpTool go here.

To download dcpTool, go here.

Health Warning

In order to be able to use dcpTool, you must be comfortable with using command line utilities on either the Mac or PC. In addition, if you want to make edits to a profile, you must be comfortable with XML, and understand version 1.2 of the Adobe DNG specification in detail.

dcpTool and Adobe’s DNG Profile Editor

Adobe provides the DNG Profile editor - this allows the creation of DCP profile in a user-friendly, visual “adjust the slider till you like what you see” fashion without requiring knowledge of the DNG specification. However, current versions do not allow the exact adjustment of individual DCP parameters, or allow you to effectively “adjust to the numbers”. dcpTool is complimentary to the Profile Editor, allowing advanced users to control individual parameters of a profile.