So I'm not crazy after all! Thanks for the really thorough explanation - I had a rough idea of the principles but no understanding of the logic behind them. I'm not sure how familiar you are with the Sony a7riii (and their .ARW files) but the challenge I've been having is that the picture profile I've been using is as flat as possible (low contrast and low saturation) and in camera, the exposure looks correct and the histogram reflects it. But then once I import the photos into Lightroom, the Adobe version of RAW conversion seems to completely change my image. In a case (as seen in the screenshot and comparison to my camera above) where exposure was acceptable, after import it showed that the image was clipping in the shadow. It feels like the difference is too large to be normal. I have not applied any import presets, my profiles within the develop module have been set to Adobe colour or Adobe neutral. JohanEl54​ has suggested that I reset my camera to factory default settings which is a good suggestion and perhaps there is some sort of calibration issue? Do you have any thoughts on the issue? That said, I think the software you suggested will do a great job of showing me which RAW exposure is actually accurate. I'll do some tests in the morning. Thank you for the help!  ... View more

I didn't think about that... Maybe there could be some sort of calibration issue. I'll do a few more tests and do a factory reset and see if that helps. Thanks Johan! ... View more

Yes, completely agreed and I suppose that is what I am finding frustrating. Picture profiles should be irrelevant but I thought I was exposing correctly when taking the image in camera and bringing it into LR - it looks to be clipping in the shadows. Does it mean that I just need to overexpose more to compensate, as I've heard one should do for Sony? Here is a screenshot of the same shot, no import presets were applied. ... View more

One question on that - The exposure on my camera is acceptable (if a little underexposed) but when I import it, the image is clipping quite badly. How do I go about exposing for stills then? Do you have a picture profile you recommend to use? ... View more

Sorry for my ignorance but what are you referring to as the profiles in LR? Do you mean the Quick Develop settings in library (mine as set to default)? Or do you mean the import presets? ... View more

Sorry man - I'm just struggling to articulate what my issue actually is. Thanks for all of the help - I won't create multiple threads again. I've made sure that DRO/HDR is off on my camera (only available when you have no PP enabled anyway). ... View more

I've tried it with no profile vs. PP7/PP8 which I use most of the time. Compared to no PP, there is quite a big difference on the import - but I've been shooting on PP8 because that allows me to shoot in s-log 3 for video. My idea would be to use Picture Profiles for video (where it actually matters) and to try to get as neutral an image as possible to give me a fair representation of a RAW file that I can then work on in LR. ... View more

I'm just starting to understand that - thanks for the help Everything is set to zero - I guess it's just the fact that the change is so dramatic that it makes it feel like there is so much contrast and saturation that has been added. So when I'm doing a Milky Way shot edit, I'm having to bump up exposure by 2 stops which doesn't feel right. Anyway, it sounds like the best thing to do is to create my own import preset that gives me a good base to start from for my camera. Any other suggestions? ... View more

Thanks Matt, that makes sense. Here is where I find it challenging: I recently took a Milky Way timelapse at f2, 25s, 3200 ISO which showed a well exposed image in camera. When I import the image after the conversion, all I see is a black image. I have to push the exposure by 4 stops before I see anything which ruins the image when I know that all of the information is actually there to process the image well. Am I understanding that correctly? ... View more

Here is the exact same photo on the camera and after the import into Lightroom. There have been no import presets applied and no editing has been done. Why are the histograms so different? ... View more

Do you mean on Lightroom or on the camera itself? Would the camera default settings apply if they are RAW photos? I haven't been shooting RAW + JPEG. When I look at the photos in camera, they look perfect and for a moment when I import them, I see the RAW files as they should look but then an edit is applied to them. But the settings say that nothing has been applied. ... View more