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Autel Nano+ Adobe Camera RAW profile for Lightroom, Photoshop

The Autel Nano+ is a remarkable drone for its photographic capabilities in a tiny 249g package — a key consideration for easy flying in many countries.

There’s just one problem for photographers: the default camera RAW profile in Adobe products does a very poor job with the colors of the Nano+’s DNG (raw) files. To fix this, I shot a calibrated color chart with my Nano+ and used it to generate a custom camera profile for Adobe Camera Raw. You can install this onto your Mac or PC, restart any open Adobe applications, and then choose the new profile from the Profile Browser in Camera Raw, Photoshop or Lightroom.

Here’s the Autel Nano+ Adobe Camera RAW Profile download

How to install a custom Adobe Camera RAW profile

You need to copy the file to an Adobe settings directory that is under your home directory.

On a PC, it goes into C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CameraRaw\CameraProfiles

Remember to replace Username with your actual user name!

On a Mac, it goes into /Users/Username/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CameraRaw/CameraProfiles

There’s an additional twist for Mac users — by default the Library directory is hidden, so you won’t see it in the Finder. But there’s a way to get there easily

  1. Switch to the Finder
  2. Hold down the Option key
  3. Move your mouse pointer up to the “Go” menu on the menu bar
  4. Select “Library” from the list that appears

From there you can double-click on Application Support and then navigate your way down to the CameraProfiles folder.

Why you need this Adobe Camera Raw profile for the Nano+

The camera sensor in the Nano+ is unusual: it’s an RYYB (Red Yellow Yellow Blue) color mosaic. Nearly all digital camera sensors use RGGB (Red Green Green Blue) color mosaic. The advantage of RYYB is that it lets in more light. The downside is that Adobe applications were built around the assumption of a sensor with RGB colors. The color profile I made helps Adobe Camera Raw do a far better job of rendering colors than the default, but it’s not perfect. In particular, white balance controls are completely wrong for the RYYB sensor — I strongly recommend starting with “As shot” white balance, and then making any (gentle) adjustments from there.

6 Responses

  1. Thanks for the link. I just recently came across this after struggling with the bizarre color and vignetting in Nano+ DNG files. I have downloaded your file as instructed. But is there another step in order for Lightroom to recognize it? I’m not seeing the effect with either LR or LRC. Thanks.

    1. You need to select the camera profile in Lightroom when editing the image. Go to a DNG image taken by the drone. Then, in the Develop module, under the “Basic” tab at the top, it says “Profile”. Click on that and select the new camera profile.

  2. Hi Matthew!
    I tried your profile and, unfortunately, I found it works improperly in the most cases, especially with pictures taken in unusual lighting conditions. The colors coming out distorted, often turning in the plain green. Feel free to contact me krakozavr (at) gmail – I will provide you with more info and source files for testing if you would like.

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