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Camera presets disappear after import to Lightroom.

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James Wonder

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Joined
Nov 4, 2019
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Lightroom Version Number
8.4.1
Operating System
  1. macOS 10.15 Catalina
So yeah. I have my presets on my canon 6d. That I usually use. But every time I import the raw file from camera to lightroom, the presets disappear, I can see them for a short while but when I go to picture the disappear. How come? And how can I change this?

Cheers
James Wonder
 
That's the way it works with raw files. The camera settings, except for white balance, are ignored by Lightroom when it creates an RGB image from the raw data. The image you see for a short while is the embedded preview created by the camera. In Lightroom, you can choose "camera-matching" profiles that come close to how the folks at Canon interpret the raw data.
 
So yeah. I have my presets on my canon 6d. That I usually use. But every time I import the raw file from camera to lightroom, the presets disappear, I can see them for a short while but when I go to picture the disappear. How come? And how can I change this?
In camera processing only applies to JPGs.
When you shoot JPG you choose the preset and when the camera creates the JPG it applies those settings.
When you shoot RAW the camera saves the RAW data to the card. It does create a JPG preview using your preset (this is what you see on the rear LCD) and embeds this in the RAW file but this preset is NOT applied to the RAW file itself because RAW files aren't images, they are raw sensor data.

So, when you open a RAW file in Lightroom it initially displays the JPG preview files that was embedded in the RAW data but then reads the RAW data and creates a new preview image using the default settings in LR. As soon as it creates this preview it shows you this instead of the embedded JPG which is why the image suddenly switches.
 
Hi,
Does this include not importing the camera lens correction settings?
 
Does this include not importing the camera lens correction settings?
Not sure I understand your question. An in camera JPG would already have lens correction applied by the camera. A RAW file would be unprocessed but should include lens etc details in the meta data which would be read by Lightroom.
 
Not sure I understand your question. An in camera JPG would already have lens correction applied by the camera. A RAW file would be unprocessed but should include lens etc details in the meta data which would be read by Lightroom.
Not sure about this, but isn't there a tendency for mirrorless cameras to bake the lens corrections into the RAW files too? Thus LR is not able to apply lens corrections, they have already been applied (ie, sort of in effect, the lens corrections get imported along with the RAW). LR can still read the metadata and thus will report which lens etc. Happy to be corrected.
 
Like Dan said, mirrorless cameras don't bake the lens corrections into the raw files, but they include some data in the files that let programs like Lightroom apply the corrections automatically on import.
 
Yeees.

Ok, so I'm on 6.14. I got hold of a mirrorless dng. LR does not appear to allow me to switch off the corrections. I can tick and untick the 'apply corrections' box, however it makes no difference and LR has a little informational message saying that the corrections are 'built-in' and 'applied automatically'. So, how do I take off the corrections?
TIA.
 
Ok. I accept that 'the profile has been added automatically to this image' doesn't mean what I thought, which was that it had been applied by the camera (as opposed to LR), but it seems that this is a distinction without a difference. The profile corrections are, for all practical purposes, baked in, as far as LR is concerned.
 
I completely switched off my D-Lighting preset in-camera, but those camera presets aren't the only issue, it seems to be the general exposure, In my camera I have my screen on average brightness, so I think I get what I see. But when I import into Lightroom, I see that beautiful exposure for 1 second before the image suddenly snaps to about 3 stops below what I exposed them at. This is heartbreaking, not to mention time-consuming to fix them all ... imagine the average wedding I do I start with usually over 2,000 images, and whittle those down to about 700 ... but to see them correctly before comparing and culling, I have to brighten ALL of them first. I have heard the explanation why LR does this, but is Adobe working to improve this situation? It's about the only fault I can find with LightRoom ... but it's a big one.
 
I completely switched off my D-Lighting preset in-camera, but those camera presets aren't the only issue, it seems to be the general exposure, In my camera I have my screen on average brightness, so I think I get what I see. But when I import into Lightroom, I see that beautiful exposure for 1 second before the image suddenly snaps to about 3 stops below what I exposed them at. This is heartbreaking, not to mention time-consuming to fix them all ... imagine the average wedding I do I start with usually over 2,000 images, and whittle those down to about 700 ... but to see them correctly before comparing and culling, I have to brighten ALL of them first. I have heard the explanation why LR does this, but is Adobe working to improve this situation? It's about the only fault I can find with LightRoom ... but it's a big one.

This is normal for importing RAW images. The initial image is from the embedded JPEG that was developed and processed by your camera. When you shoot RAW you need to apply those corrections yourself in Lightroom While LR does a pretty good job band guessing what an optimum exposure setting will work for your image, RAW images still need tweaking in Lightroom OR any other RAW processor except the one that your camera manufacturer licensed and tweaked to use with your camera.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
I completely switched off my D-Lighting preset in-camera, but those camera presets aren't the only issue, it seems to be the general exposure, In my camera I have my screen on average brightness, so I think I get what I see. But when I import into Lightroom, I see that beautiful exposure for 1 second before the image suddenly snaps to about 3 stops below what I exposed them at. This is heartbreaking, not to mention time-consuming to fix them all ... imagine the average wedding I do I start with usually over 2,000 images, and whittle those down to about 700 ... but to see them correctly before comparing and culling, I have to brighten ALL of them first. I have heard the explanation why LR does this, but is Adobe working to improve this situation? It's about the only fault I can find with LightRoom ... but it's a big one.

As Cletus has put, what you are seeing is normal and 100% deliberate, it is not a bug. LR has switched from displaying the embedded jpeg to applying its own version. After all, that is what LR is for.

BUT. Three stops? Really? What is the histogram (on the back of the camera)? Looking at the rear view monitor is only so good. The histogram is of the embedded jpeg (not the RAW), so presumably is fine (you are exposing to the right?). If the correction is always three stops, you can add that back on in a single command in LR (to all 2,000 images) in about two steps (select all, apply correction). You also have synchronise options, or you apply a chosen set of corrections to a whole bunch of images. That three stops suggests to me that you have some preset or something set up in LR which is applying a correction before you get started, eg on import.

All I can say is that from my experience w LR, it doesn't cause the image to be three stops under-exposed compared to the embedded jpeg for what I would call 'conventional' pictures. I'm assuming your wedding pictures are conventional, in the sense of how they are exposed. I would look for a cause in the way that you are using LR. Maybe others have different experiences.

Could somebody who knows more about this: does LR have its own version of D-Lighting? Some Adobe preset?

If you are deliberately under-exposing three stops (and some wedding photographers do, to hold blowing out the highlights of say a white dress), you might want to explore how to use an incident light meter. Incident light meters exist to get you out of that sort of problem. LR is still your friend by the way (if you are under-exposing by three stops), you will just have to get used to how it is helping you.

HTHs
 
Could somebody who knows more about this: does LR have its own version of D-Lighting? Some Adobe preset?

D-lighting is a light balancing factor applied by the camera as a kinda multiplier for low light areas and a negative multiplier for high light areas of the RAW image They are stored in the Makers reserved area of the EXIF. Lightroom does not read or parse this field of the EXIF and does not apply any D-Lighting correction to the RAW photo site data values.
In Develop, LR uses the algorithms behind the Highlights and Shadows sliders to evaluate how these lighted areas should be processed in LR.
If You Shoot RAW and do not use Nikons processing, you are best served by turning off D-Lighting in your camera settings. The Same function in a Canon Camera is called ALO and something else whose acronym I forget.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
This is normal for importing RAW images. The initial image is from the embedded JPEG that was developed and processed by your camera. When you shoot RAW you need to apply those corrections yourself in Lightroom While LR does a pretty good job band guessing what an optimum exposure setting will work for your image, RAW images still need tweaking in Lightroom OR any other RAW processor except the one that your camera manufacturer licensed and tweaked to use with your camera.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Thankyou, and yes I turned off the D-Lighting a few months ago. Learning slowly!
 
As Cletus has put, what you are seeing is normal and 100% deliberate, it is not a bug. LR has switched from displaying the embedded jpeg to applying its own version. After all, that is what LR is for.

BUT. Three stops? Really? What is the histogram (on the back of the camera)? Looking at the rear view monitor is only so good. The histogram is of the embedded jpeg (not the RAW), so presumably is fine (you are exposing to the right?). If the correction is always three stops, you can add that back on in a single command in LR (to all 2,000 images) in about two steps (select all, apply correction). You also have synchronise options, or you apply a chosen set of corrections to a whole bunch of images. That three stops suggests to me that you have some preset or something set up in LR which is applying a correction before you get started, eg on import.

All I can say is that from my experience w LR, it doesn't cause the image to be three stops under-exposed compared to the embedded jpeg for what I would call 'conventional' pictures. I'm assuming your wedding pictures are conventional, in the sense of how they are exposed. I would look for a cause in the way that you are using LR. Maybe others have different experiences.

Could somebody who knows more about this: does LR have its own version of D-Lighting? Some Adobe preset?

If you are deliberately under-exposing three stops (and some wedding photographers do, to hold blowing out the highlights of say a white dress), you might want to explore how to use an incident light meter. Incident light meters exist to get you out of that sort of problem. LR is still your friend by the way (if you are under-exposing by three stops), you will just have to get used to how it is helping you.

HTHs
Thankyou for all that! Good food for thought ... I need to learn some more LR.
 
D-lighting is a light balancing factor applied by the camera as a kinda multiplier for low light areas and a negative multiplier for high light areas of the RAW image They are stored in the Makers reserved area of the EXIF. Lightroom does not read or parse this field of the EXIF and does not apply any D-Lighting correction to the RAW photo site data values.
In Develop, LR uses the algorithms behind the Highlights and Shadows sliders to evaluate how these lighted areas should be processed in LR.
If You Shoot RAW and do not use Nikons processing, you are best served by turning off D-Lighting in your camera settings. The Same function in a Canon Camera is called ALO and something else whose acronym I forget.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Thanks for your reply too! It's all good food for thought ... i need to go to the next level in LR.
 
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