Darker (cooler) color in lightroom?

[javaperl]

When I use lightroom to import photos (canon raw1, cr2)?after preview?each photo is displayed darker than it should be.

- I did not apply any preset to it. looks like LR automatically does some processing after importing.

- Even after I installed a new LR 3 beta on a new computer, i still experience the same issue.

- When i use Canon's native "Digital Photo Professional" application, i don't see this issue at all, as all photos are as bright and vivid as the original.

- I didn't believe it originally, but it looks obvious when i compare the same photo side by side with LR and Canon's "Digital Photo Professional".

- I even tried to apply Canon 5D mark II presets (found from here: http://blog.widen.com/blog/prepress...ightroom-canon-5d-mark-ii-nikon-d3-nikon-d3'' ) afterward, but still get darker images.

 

[b_gossweiler]

Javaperl,

Welcome to the forum.

Are you aware of any (off standard) in camera settings active (e.g. Auto Lighting Optimizer, ALO) active at the time of the shot?

Could you you upload the .CR2 file to somewhere and post a link to it here? (I assume they are from a 5D MkII)

Beat

 

[javaperl]

Hi Beat,

Thanks so much for your kind help! Yes, photos were shot with Canon 5D Mark II.

I've just uploaded one photo, with three formats:

1. .CR2, the original Canon SRAW1 file.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/83261/IMG_3262.CR2

2. _lr.jpg generated from LR 3 beta.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/83261/IMG_3262_lr.jpg

3. _dpp.jpg generated from Canon Photo Professional.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/83261/IMG_3262_dpp.jpg

You can see the difference between 2 and 3.

Thanks!

-- javaperl

[quote author=b_gossweiler link=topic=8836.msg59392#msg59392 date=1262729849]
Javaperl,

Welcome to the forum.

Are you aware of any (off standard) in camera settings active (e.g. Auto Lighting Optimizer, ALO) active at the time of the shot?

Could you you upload the .CR2 file to somewhere and post a link to it here? (I assume they are from a 5D MkII)

Beat
[/quote]

 

[Brad Snyder]

Read this: http://www.lightroomqueen.com/community/index.php?topic=15''.'

 

[b_gossweiler]

Javaperl,

Besides of what you can read and learn from Brads excellent article (which is important to understand), your main problem with brightness is ALO.

You have set ALO (Auto Lighting Optimizer) to Standard in your 5D MkII, which automatically changes the brightness of the camera rendered JPG and also writes this information into the Makernotes of the .CR2.

DPP now takes this ALO information into account when rendering your RAW image, while LR doesn't (cannot). This is the reason for the brightness difference between the DPP and the LR RAW rendering.

To see the difference, switch ALO off in DPP (under the Tab NR/Lens/ALO in the Tools window) and DPP will show you the image with a brightness very close to what you see in LR.

For this reason, I have ALO always switched off in my 5D MkII, because it also affects the JPG and histogram you see on your camera display, so you're not actually looking at the picture you shot when ALO is set to standard.

The rest of the difference you see is due to the Adobe Standard camera profile not being 1''% equal to what DPP uses in rendering the image (which is normal, see Brads article).

Beat

 

[javaperl]

Wow, this is pretty comprehensive and useful! I thought there got to have many others who are facing exactly the same issue ...

I will miss what Canon's ALO does for me (better quality of the picture after the proprietary processing). However, looks like it is unfortunate that the current LR can't match 1''% with what Canon does.

Let me digest the info first and if there are any new questions, I will post them here.

Again, thanks so much for the help from you and Brad!

-- javaperl

[quote author=b_gossweiler link=topic=8836.msg59398#msg59398 date=1262736225]
Javaperl,

Besides of what you can read and learn from Brads excellent article (which is important to understand), your main problem with brightness is ALO.

You have set ALO (Auto Lighting Optimizer) to Standard in your 5D MkII, which automatically changes the brightness of the camera rendered JPG and also writes this information into the Makernotes of the .CR2.

DPP now takes this ALO information into account when rendering your RAW image, while LR doesn't (cannot). This is the reason for the brightness difference between the DPP and the LR RAW rendering.

To see the difference, switch ALO off in DPP (under the Tab NR/Lens/ALO in the Tools window) and DPP will show you the image with a brightness very close to what you see in LR.

For this reason, I have ALO always switched off in my 5D MkII, because it also affects the JPG and histogram you see on your camera display, so you're not actually looking at the picture you shot when ALO is set to standard.

The rest of the difference you see is due to the Adobe Standard camera profile not being 1''% equal to what DPP uses in rendering the image (which is normal, see Brads article).

Beat
[/quote]

 

[b_gossweiler]

Javaperl,

[quote author=javaperl link=topic=8836.msg59399#msg59399 date=1262736847]
I will miss what Canon's ALO does for me (better quality of the picture after the proprietary processing).
[/quote]
Let me put it this way:
I personally don't like these tweaking features anyway, because they only fool you and prevent you from chosing the correct exposure in the first place. I have to make sure the photo I shot is correctly exposed, and, if it's not, I still can correct it in post processing (the same as DPP does automatically). If the camera is automatically correcting what I'm doing wrong, I can never see my own errors in the camera display/histogram and act accordingly.

[quote author=javaperl link=topic=8836.msg59399#msg59399 date=1262736847]
However, looks like it is unfortunate that the current LR can't match 1''% with what Canon does.
[/quote]
If Canon would make their RAW format completely public, LR might have a chance of doing the same. But as long as these pieces of information are in a proprietary format, LR does not want to touch them.

Beat