LR3.6 removes NEX-7 info from images while loading . .photos look flat and dull

[suziroks]

Hi all . .

I'm new here . . great forum! Been using a new Sony NEX-7 instead of my 5D Mark ii lately.

I see the images change before my eyes after I download the images from my cards to LR 3.6 while opening them. The quality is fine when I download them first into LR but the detail of the image info is lost when I actually try to open it to work on the image . . . I don't see my "NEX-7 camera info choice in the Lens module . . just Sony [h=1]Sony AF DT 18-200 F3.5-6.3. I use a Sony E 18-200 F3.5-6.3 OSS
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I just downloaded 4000 images and Im very frustrated. I t does not do this with the images taken from the 5D Mark ii.

Please help . .thank you,
Sue

 

[tzalman]

Why did Lr 'ruin' my picture?

 

[JimHess43]

This is a question that gets asked quite often. First of all, all raw images have an embedded JPEG preview image. This image is used by many low-end image viewers/editors. Lightroom first displays this image while it builds its preview. JPEG images will include all of the in-camera settings such as sharpness, saturation, etc.. Lightroom does not read those settings, and as the Lightroom previews are generated you will see the image change to reflect more of a basic rendering of the raw image data. If you haven't modified your camera defaults then that change could be quite dramatic. What I have done is take a photograph that is representative of what I normally shoot, and what I would like Lightroom to use to make adjustments. Then I adjust that photo until it looks the way I want. Then I save those settings as my default settings for that camera. From that point onward, every time I download images from that camera those settings will be applied. Obviously, those settings won't be appropriate in all situations. And for those situations you can create presets when necessary, or simply adjust the individual images.

As far as identifying the lens is concerned, not all lenses have profiles. You have two alternatives. Adobe provides a free Lens Profile Creator that will enable you to create your own profile. Adobe also provides a free Lens Profile Downloader that will link you to a web site where other users have posted profiles that they have created. Both of these programs are available for your use and can be downloaded from Adobe Labs. I have downloaded profiles for one of my lenses. Even on that web site you may not find exactly what you are looking for. Also, take note that lens profiles are file format specific. A profile created for raw images will not work or be recognized for JPEG images and vice versa.

 

[suziroks]

Thanks so much! . .I understand now and a bit disappointed . . no use trying different setting for raw images in my camera . . .waste of time . . .I'll continue to just shoot all manual. Wish camera manufacturers and LR would consider this when designing their products.

Suzi

 

[donoreo]

Adobe has tried to get manufacturers on board with the DNG RAW format. Have a standard that they all follow. So far only Pentax and someone else (I cannot remember) have done it with in camera support.

 

[JimHess43]

What we really need is a common file format. Arguably, that could be DNG. But the challenge is to get all the camera makers to buy in to such a concept. And until that happens this confusion is going to remain. Like I have said before, we have had raw processing now for six versions of Photoshop and all versions of Lightroom and we are still trying to help people understand the concepts. A universal file format would really go a long way towards solving that confusion.

And don't be disappointed because that is how Lightroom works. I think after you become accustomed to the workflow you will appreciate the flexibility that it affords. You don't need to worry about making all those adjustments while you're shooting. Just be concerned about the exposure and composition, and you can do anything else you want later. If you shoot JPEG and decide you want a different effect, you're stuck. I have found myself in that situation a couple of times. I forget and as I'm working on the images I will automatically go to switch the profile. It's only then that I'm reminded and ask myself why I didn't shoot the image in raw.

 

[clee01l]

Adobe has tried to get manufacturers on board with the DNG RAW format. Have a standard that they all follow. So far only Pentax and someone else (I cannot remember) have done it with in camera support.

Actually at least 12 "Someone elses". Samsung, Leica, Hasselbald are three that I can think of without looking up a list.

 

[clee01l]

Thanks so much! . .I understand now and a bit disappointed . . no use trying different setting for raw images in my camera . . .waste of time . . .I'll continue to just shoot all manual. Wish camera manufacturers and LR would consider this when designing their products.

Suzi

Two things are important to know. There is a tiny little computer in your camera, It processes RAW image that the sensor records. The settings that you choose in the camera are the processing parameters that you supply to the in camera computer to produce a JPEG. You ought to be able to produce a far superior image from the same RAW data using your 64 bit Windows machine that has more horsepower than large mainframe computers of the 70s & 80s.

If you only output an 8 bit JPEG from the camera, you are using the cameras computer to produce it from the RAW data and then you tell the camera to throwaway the 12-14bit RAW data. You get only one chance to get it right. And then you are stuck forever with the camera processed JPEG. With LR and a RAW data file, you can reproduce at least what the camera computer can do and probably better, You also get an unlimited opportunity to improve this with this version lof LR and the LR version with technology advanced 10 years into the future.

What you see on the camera back screen is the JPEG that the camera produced. A thumbnail version of that JEPG is included in the RAW data file when you tell the camera to save the RAW format. It is this thumbnail that you first see before LR applies some defaults parameters to the RAW data. You can choose other defaults for your first LR look at the image if you like. Or you can apply no (well almost not) processing to the data and see as close as you can to what the camera actually recorded.

 

[donoreo]

Actually at least 12 "Someone elses". Samsung, Leica, Hasselbald are three that I can think of without looking up a list.

I did not know it was so many. That is good news. However not until the big guys decide to it will stay non-standard. Of course Sony would never do it either, they almost always do their own format for....just about anything!