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Dana Mill
Known Participant
February 7, 2018
Answered

Import parameters to zero

  • February 7, 2018
  • 5 replies
  • 1334 views
When I import from a camera, I would like LR to take no action AT ALL on my files. So I choose one of the 2 options: import parameters to zero or no import parameters. However, a few seconds after previews are displayed in the catalog, LR modifies their contrast anyway, and the contrast settings used are wrong. Previews in the cameras have far more natural contrast. I don't know what to do. It's been years that I noticed this issue. A proof that LR applies some contrast just after importations is that when I open the photos with Photoshop directly from the camera they look better and the histogram is different. Thanks.


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Correct answer F. McLion

You are mixing things up a bit.

For RAW it does not matter what you set in your camera, not for the profiles (styles like natural, landscape ...) nor for the color space (sRGB, AdobeRGB). Also, please note that these are completely separate things and have nothing to do with each other.

LR is using another working color-space, but you do not have to care about this.

The camera profiles you have available in LR are not coming from your camera. They are supplied with LR and you can create and add additional ones if you like. The supplied profiles are created by Adobe to simulate the style you know from the camera when you shoot jpg.

Again:

First, it shows the preview your camera has stored to the file.

Second, LR then renders it's own preview from the image data and shows this - and this where the camera profile selected in LR comes in. Change the style to your liking and set this as new standard.

5 replies

elie_dinur
elie_dinur
Participating Frequently
February 8, 2018
I would like LR to take no action AT ALL on my files.

....my goal is to get raw files untouched so the LR settings called "zero" (on my version in French) is best for me.

If you know what a Raw file is, you will understand that this is impossible. A Raw is data file containing a digital representation of the analog output from the camera's sensor (voltages caused by incoming light intensities). It contains a single channel, a number for each pixel, and therefore an image built directly from Raw data would be only tones of grey. The color image with three channels per pixel is created by the Raw converter, either the one in your camera or Lightroom, through a process called "Demosaicing". The Raw image would also be dark and flat because the data is linear. Another part of the processing for color involves the application of a correction curve that makes it brighter and contrastier. So some processing has to be done by every Raw converter to every Raw file even to get to the "minimum". Even when the sliders are at zero LR's processing is fairly strong, because "zero" does not mean "none". Michael Frye, in his book "Landscapes in Lightroom", says that since the introduction of Process Version 3 in 2012, minimal processing would be Exposure -1.0 and Contrast -33. An additional factor is that Lightroom does another automatic correction to Raw images that is based on the camera model and the shooting ISO, called the Baseline Exposure. For instance, for my Canon 80D the BLE is ISO 100 - 0, ISO 200 - +0.28 and ISO 400 and up - +0.32.

In the photos below, on the left is the Raw image as seen in Raw Digger; the middle is a minimally processed RGB rendering by Raw Digger; and on the right is Lightroom with all sliders zeroed.

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Dana MillAuthor
Known Participant
February 8, 2018

Thanks for the technical info. What I understand now is that there is no such thing as the "real original photo", even when shot in RAW. It's not like a slide was. A RAW has to be interpreted - Demosaiced - to become an actual image. But after all, every screen is already an interpretation so what matters, from my point of view, is to get the most faithful image to the souvenir we keep of what we saw when we shot it.

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bob frost
Inspiring
February 8, 2018

I would just correct your last line to "what I saw when I saw it". No two people see things the same way. Our eyes and brains do the equivalent of raw rendering using each of our own built-in programs. So an image that you think is 'faithful' to the original may not look as faithful to someone else!

Bob Frost

    Just Shoot Me
    Just Shoot Me
    Legend
    February 7, 2018

    If you want LR to take no action at all the you have to modify the Default Settings in that way.

    Display a RAW image in the Develop module.

    Go to each section in the right hand panel and make all change you want, IE set everything to Zero.

    Go to the Develop menu item and select Set Default Settings.

    In the dialog box that comes up select "Update to Current settings".

    This will set all settings to what you selected for all new imports.

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    Dana MillAuthor
    Known Participant
    February 8, 2018

    Yes, one can do that but my goal is to get raw files untouched so the LR settings called "zero" (on my version in French) is best for me.

    john beardsworth
    Community Expert
    john beardsworthCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 7, 2018

    In the Import dialog, select Embedded and Sidecar in the preview options (top right). In Library, you will then see the camera's embedded previews, not Adobe's. In Develop, Adobe's raw conversion takes over.

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    Dana MillAuthor
    Known Participant
    February 7, 2018

    Thanks for the tip. I read the help.

    The problem is I shoot only RAWs.

    Camera profiles like landscape, portrait, natural and so on are not embedded to the photos in that case.

    Only SRGB or Adobe RGB keep embedded to RAW files after the import in LR.

    I use Adobe RGB in my camera as LR does (at least I believe so).

    So in theory, LR should not change the profile after import.

    When I go to camera calibration in LR, no profiles are available for any cameras I use as soon as shots are in RAW.

    So what kind of automatic change LR does during the import process?

    Photos look really different from the previews initially shown in the import windows.

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    Dana MillAuthor
    Known Participant
    February 7, 2018

    Actually my camera profiles don't show in LR because Panasonic is not on the list. My mistake.

    Nikon camera profiles are displayed in LR even for RAW files, and the profile shown match the one in my camera (Adobe Standard).

    However the previews (and the photos) are modified during the import. They don't look the same a few seconds after they showed inside the import window.

    F. McLion
    Community Expert
    F. McLionCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 7, 2018

    That is absolutely normal.

    First, it shows the preview your camera has stored to the file. LR then renders it's own preview from the image data and shows this.

    If you don't like its rendering as a start point, change the camera profile.

    Read here: How to Use Your Camera's Color Profiles in Lightroom

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