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michaelr49053166
Participating Frequently
January 10, 2019
Answered

Camera Raw / Lightroom Settings embedded in Nikon Z6/Z7 Nef-Files?

  • January 10, 2019
  • 2 replies
  • 9778 views

When downloading Nikon Z6-Raw Files from here: Nikon Z6 sample gallery: Digital Photography Review

and importing them in Lightroom (without Preset) I realized that it was not like usual with all settings on standard values and camera profile on Adobe Standard but that the development settings were somehow imported also.

As I never experienced this behaviour before with Nikon NEFs I checked the file and searched for "Adobe", realizing that the development settings were embedded in the file as follows:


"<crd:Exposure2012>0.00</crd:Exposure2012><crd:Highlight2012>-7</crd:Highlight2012><crd:Shadows2012>10</crd:Shadows2012><crd:LuminanceSmoothing>36</crd:LuminanceSmoothing><crd:LuminanceNoiseReductionDetail>75</crd:LuminanceNoiseReductionDetail>"
(Part of the embedded settings)


Same with the Nefs of the Z7-Sample Gallery.

I'm quite confused, how is this possible, I always thought metadata incl. development settings is just embedded in DNG-Files?

      This topic has been closed for replies.
      Correct answer Per Berntsen

      Sorry, but as mentioned before, that's not possible. How a camera can write Exposure Compensation of +0.33 to a Raw File? It will instead adjust the exposure during the photo, and as mentioned before these settings don't show in Nikons own Raw Converter Capture NX-D! I checked this photo also with Capture NX-D, and Exposure Compensation is on Zero!

      The embedded Settings start like this:

      <?xpacket begin="" id="W5M0MpCehiHzreSzNTczkc9d"?><x:xmpmeta xmlns:x="adobe:ns:meta/"><rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"><rdf:Description rdf:about="" xmlns:xmp="http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/">

      So these are Adobe Metadata but not Nikon Makernotes.


      The normal procedure for camera manufacturers is to include camera settings in a proprietary format that only their own raw converters can understand. I don't use any Nikon software, but maybe Capture NX-D hasn't been updated to be able to read XMP settings.

      If you open a NEF from the camera in Capture NX-D before importing it to Lightroom, you should still see the XMP settings – they are not created by Lightroom. See also Are Adobe and Nikon Cooperating? | Sans Mirror | Thom Hogan

      2 replies

      J
      Community Expert
      Jao vdLCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      March 23, 2019

      While I think it is great that Nikon shows fledgling signs of glasnost and finally acknowledges people use other software than NX-D, it's annoying that the cameras do this by using crd tags. It should be using crs (settings instead of default). Using crd makes the reset button in Lightroom always go back to the camera-written settings instead of a real zeroed state. Also annoying that it uses the insane sharpening radius of 2.0 which creates ugly haloes. Like others here I simply created a preset to apply at import.

      G
      Gerbil42
      Participant
      December 12, 2021

      Just rented a Z6ii to try it out.  was very disappointed with RAW files and gave it back.

      Then I realised the over exposure was due to every shot having +0.33 on exposure and +10 on shadows and what looked like random Luminance settings.  When I corrected these, things looked much better.  

      Apologies for being a LR newbie - but how do I set up the presets to zero on import?  Is there a weblink / youtube someone can post for me?  I am having trouble working out what exactly I need to do?

      johnrellis
      johnrellis
      Legend
      December 13, 2021

      See this help article for how to set your own default settings for that camera model:

      https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/help/raw-defaults.html#Setrawdefaultsspecifictocameramodel

        GoldingD
        GoldingD
        Legend
        January 10, 2019

        New, unadvertised feature for those two Nikons. So far only for those two cameras.

        Many are not happy.

        I do not have that camera, so I can not test. I would assume, that upon import you can apply the Lightroom Classic-General Preset "zeroed" to eliminate those mods.

        Follw-up, downloaded a couple of samples, works well in LR, I see no new option to not accept this, can use zeroed on it.

        M
        michaelr49053166Author
        Participating Frequently
        January 10, 2019

        I definitely prefer XMP-Files as my Raw-Files are synced with my dropbox, which would mean that with every change the NEF would have to be uploaded, instead of the much smaller XMP-File.

        GoldingD
        GoldingD
        Legend
        January 10, 2019

        This is not a problem. Lightroom is just reading the metadata in the files, and applying settings that were made in camera. You can change all of that by editing the various sliders. Or if you really really hate it, just apply the preset during import (zeroed), Then the image will show up in Lightroom with Adobe Standard Profile applied, what ever WB is as shot, and nothing else.

        If you do want some mods that LR makes, either those it would make to non Z6/7 (like sharpening) , or some you want to come along (like Chromatic abberiation, Profiles, sharpening, etc) then set a sample image up, and crete a preset of your own to apply during import.

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