Participant

Question

Lightroom Classic raw imports far worse than original photos

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
March 16, 2023
4 replies
5546 views

Hi, I would really appreciate some help with this problem as it is driving my mad! I think it must be something obvious but I just can't see it.

I have been using lightroom classic for a few years now and this has been an ongoing problem.

I have a macOS Monterey version 12.6, although this, the memory and the graphics are not the problem, as will be explained later.

When my photos are imported from my camera to lightoom, the images always look more worse.

I am importing them raw, I have tried all different options anyway, so nothing there is the problem.

Once in lighroom on develop mode they automatically sharpened, but made to look much more grainy. I can then remove the grain with luminance, this is still annoying though, as original photos are so much clearer.

I have previously been through the Lightroom preference menu and have tried all the different advice on all these settings, tried everything nothing worked.

Now this is where things get really confusing! I recently thought I had finally solved the problem. I bought a canon r5, and when the images were transferred, everything was great.

The images on the import page were blurry, the images on library weren’t so good, but on develop they were the same as the camera, I was delighted! I came to the conclusion that the canon r5 was the solution, it must have been my old canon dx mark ii that wasn't compatible.

Unfortunately my joy didn’t last long. Now the same pattern has emerged. On import and on library mode my photos look clear, not sharp, not as good as original, on develop they are sharper but grainy. Once I have corrected them on Lightroom they are enhanced from a colour and cropping perspective, but they are not as sharp or as smooth as my original photos.

The strange thing about this is, it was working, for a few weeks with my new camera, what the earth has caused it to change again? This has now made me realise that it must be Lightroom which is to blame, as all the photos that were fine on import from my canon r5 a few weeks back, have now reverted to grain?!

My lightroom classic is always updated.

Does anybody know what the earth is going on & if there is something simple i am overlooking?

macOS

A

adamb79485916

Participant

I am struggling with the same problem, and the difference between you and me is... I bought R6, but the grainy / crocodile texture is everywhere on RAW file

K

kvnagomAuthor

Participant

Hi, I haven’t been using lightroom too much of late, been having a bit of a break from photography, but I do recall this problem!

I think my original conclusion was that the problem was not with lightroom settings, I tried everything, nothing impacted. I kind of accepted that’s just the way it is, that was the opinion of a few other people who replied, if I recall.

If you look closely at the images on lightroom, with zoom, only then would it be clearly apparent to most viewers. Maybe too much perfectionism on my part. Although it annoyed me all the same!

But at some things improved a little, I believed at the time this was possibly due to altering my settings on my R5, something that I liked to do.

I often altered configurations on the menu, also used three back button focus presets. Always trying to get the best shot!

One thing I recall noticing was that with the af point display enabled, which you can find somewhere in the camera menu. (You’ll know if it’s enabled, as you can still see the focus points on the photo after taking your shots.)

This setting change seemed to coincide with an improvement in my raw photos on lightroom develop, they now looked better than they did on the preview screen.

I can’t be sure if this was just a coincidence though. There were many Lightroom upgrades, MacBook upgrades, also canon R5 firmware improvements during and around this time.

If doesn’t fix, I would recommend software like dxo raw 4, which works well alongside Lightroom.

quite a cheap product that reduces grain and noise very well, much faster than the Lightroom filter, too.

Anyway, I hope this helps you in some way.

Sent from Outlook for iOS<>

alexwhelan

Participant

Did you ever find a solution for these problems?

Ian Lyons

Community Expert

You haven't mentioned what you're comparing the raw files in LrC to. If it's the image on back of camera, then what you see is expected. The image displayed on the back of your camera is a JPEG preview that has already undergone 'in camera' processing. This processing is based on the 'Picture Style' you selected in camera. The default for the R5 being 'Standard'. Fortunately, Adobe has provided a set of profiles (Camera Matching) with similar characteristics to each of the R5 'Picture Styles', but you need to apply these as a Preset on import, changing the default settings or on an image by image basis in LrC to match your camera. I've provided a link below explaining how to change LrC's default setttings.

In meantime, you can apply the Adobe Camera Matching profiles that match the Canon Picture Systles via the 'Profiles' button as shown in attached screenshot

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

K

kvnagomAuthor

Participant

Thanks for advice, appreciated.

I can see that I didn't really explain myself too clearly but I will certainly try some of those preference presets again, although I have a feeling I may have already exhausted them.

When I bought the R5, the photos looked great on develop in lightoom before I'd even touched them, better than they did on the camera screen. On lightroom, I still enhanced them from an artistic point of view, but the original images were coming out so much clearer and cleaner than those from the DX.

After I had recently exported folders to a backup disk, I was unable to restart Lightroom Classic unless it was from a saved catalog on Finder. Since then, all the R5 images I had previously worked on had become slighly grainy, like the old DX images. Of course I can apply some luminance and detail etc... & this is something only a trained eye would notice, zoom 300/400%, but being a perfectionist with a ef 600mm f/4L is 11usm and various other seriously useful bits of kit, I find it infuriating as that is what those lenses are for, absolute clarity.

Sorry if sounds naive, I've transferred 100,000+ photos to lightroom and edit to a good standard, extremely knowledgable about photography & settings, I'm just a little bit of a computer technophobe in general, so I can be a bit disorderly with files and organisation, so any advice is really helpful.

Thanks again & I'll try a few of these things later.

TheDigitalDog

Inspiring

When I bought the R5, the photos looked great on develop in lightoom before I'd even touched them, better than they did on the camera screen. On lightroom, I still enhanced them from an artistic point of view, but the original images were coming out so much clearer and cleaner than those from the DX.

By @kvnagom

So 'better' using the defaults (or whatever you had) for the proprietary LR previews (NOT the JPEGs from the camera). Then you edited them, and they look worse, right?

DX uses proprietary and unique processing. So is Lightroom Classic. It's really difficult to compare two defaults (let alone your edits on them). Think of the raw as a color negative, and you are handing two photo labs that negative and expecting a printer to produce the same or equally desirable prints.

If the R5 photos looked great on develop in LR before you even touched them, maybe that says something about how you're processing the negative?

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"

dj_paige

Legend

You don't really say what is wrong with the RAW images. You say "the images always look more worse" doesn't really explain what is worse, and compared to what?

RAW images in Lightroom Classic have no develop settings, whereas the in-camera view (which is a JPG) has been developed by whatever algorithm is in your camera. This is expected, this is how LrC works, and if this is what you are seeing, there is nothing wrong. You then need to apply your own edits in LrC to get the RAW to appear whatever way you want it to appear.

If you are seeing grain that shouldn't be there, then please check to see if you are applying import presets, or if the photo was shot at high ISO.

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