Default settings when importing?

[hilo]

Hi All,

Previously with my LR 1.4, when importing RAW files and choosing "Develop setting" to "None", most of the setting stay at "'" as their default.

Now I just upgraded to LR 2.'. When importing RAW files, "Develop setting" is still as "none", some settings change. For instance, "black" is 5, "brightness" is 5', "contrast" is 25 and some values for the noise reduction.

Are these values LR 2.' default settings? I mean they are the "actual" or "real" values from the picture. Or are they changed already by LR?

Thanks in advance for your answers and discussions.

 

[Mark Sirota]

Welcome to Lightroom Forums!

Yes, those are the LR 2.x defaults. But those were also the LR 1.x defaults, so that doesn't explain the difference.

Perhaps you had changed Lightroom's defaults in 1.x to zero everything, or you were applying the "Zeroed" preset on import?

Two other things:
(1) You should upgrade from 2.' to 2.3. It's a free upgrade, and fixes many bugs and makes numerous other improvements.

(2) Your question about "actual" or "real" values doesn't make sense. I once wrote up a brief explanation -- read that, and let us know whether there are still questions.

 

[hilo]

Thank Mark for your quick and useful reply.

I just upgraded to LR 2.3. Curious to see what's new!

About the values, I would like to have them as what they were recorded by the sensor, non-processed.

Should I change them back to zero? Or does LR decide that the recorded values have been interpreted exactly from the sensor data?

 

[Denis de Gannes]

Thank Mark for your quick and useful reply.

I just upgraded to LR 2.3. Curious to see what's new!

About the values, I would like to have them as what they were recorded by the sensor, non-processed.

Should I change them back to zero? Or does LR decide that the recorded values have been interpreted exactly from the sensor data?

Have a look at this site which will give some help in understanding the process. The sensor provides raw data which is processed by the camera firmware (instructed by the settings you choose in the camera) or the raw processor you may choose to use. Each has its own default settings to apply to the raw data and create a viewable image, to their own interpretation. Then there are tools for you to make adjustments to your taste. There is no absolute correct rendition.
http://www.isl.co.jp/SILKYPIX/english/raw/

This is Adobe's take on the issue.
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/358'16?tstart='

 

[Mark Sirota]

About the values, I would like to have them as what they were recorded by the sensor, non-processed.

Should I change them back to zero? Or does LR decide that the recorded values have been interpreted exactly from the sensor data?

You have a fundamental misunderstanding of how raw conversion works.

The raw file includes exactly what was recorded by the sensor. The JPEG conversion done by any raw converter uses that raw data, and applies some processing to it. There is no one right way to do that; each raw converter does it differently. You can tune raw converters by adjusting their various settings (contrast, saturation, sharpness, etc.) but there is no "right" answer.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Ignore the numbers - 25 and 5' could have just as easily been called ', 1'' or Fred. They are the defaults because those settings give you approximately the same exposure you originally intended, as much as you can with a raw file. To check that they should be 25/5' and not ', shoot a file RAW+Jpeg, and set the camera profile to match the camera style used in camera - and you'll note the sliders need to be at 25/5' to match the camera jpeg.