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Brightness adjusts the midpoint after fixing the brightest highlights and blacks. Exposure adjusts the entire histogram and so can blow your highlights.
Got it. John, any idea why the default Brightness setting would be 5'? Seems after setting the exposure, then Blacks and Fill if needed, my default should be around 2'-25...and this pretty consistent.
I have already created an ingestion preset that I apply but curious about the logic of such a high setting..
I think that's just what they decided to call it, maybe indicating the middle. I didn't think it means anything.
If you want a different brightness default, consider changing LR's default for your cameras rather than applying a preset upon import. Get the settings how you want in Develop, then Alt click the Reset button.