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masai91
Inspiring
August 30, 2017
Answered

Misinterpretation of Sony picture profiles on raw .AWR files

  • August 30, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 8923 views

I shoot both video and stills with my Sony a6300 and I recently started to use picture profile 3 (PP3) with cine4 gamma for my videos, which is a nice compromise between the standard and the log.

When I shot a still I usually remember to change the picture profile back, but sometimes on the run and gun I forget. While on the go, I edited some pictures on my old MacBook Pro and I realized Lightroom applies some sort of LUT to the pictures shot with PP3 (it loads a bit sluggish, that's why I can see the "LUT" being applied).

I've read something about this and I know this is not Lightroom fault because it can't really interpret Sony profiles and applies this sort of correction.

Now I'm back at my office and I'm editing the pictures on my desktop PC, a Windows machine. At first I was still noticing this correction being applied, but now that I went through about 600 pictures it looks like it's skipping this on a bunch of them. I'm sure on the pictures that have the PP3 because they are shot at ISO 200 (which is the limit) while the others are ISO 100 since it was mid day, very bright situation.

This is all very strange to me, is there something different between the way Mac and PC render raw files in Lightroom?

Also, as a side note, for stills I usually use PP2 with color mode Stills. It's a very light difference between this and the PP off but to me it looks like it's rendering the green colors a bit better. In this case I can't really see a correction being applied by Lightroom, one because the difference is very mild, two because there is no gamma change in this profile, just a light color adjustment.

I hope someone can share some knowledge on this topic.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer johnrellis

    When I go in Lightroom though I see that it's applying a correction onto the images after they are loaded, at the time time it's applying the lens correction.

    When LR first imports a raw, the thumbnail initially shows the JPEG preview the camera embedded in the raw. In background, LR then starts computing a LR preview from the raw, and as soon as that preview is computed, it updates the thumbnail in Library.

    As Jim explained, the JPEG preview incorporates the PP3 camera setting, whereas LR doesn't know anything about that setting and computes a preview from the raw as if there were no PP3 setting applied.  That's why you see the LR Library preview change soon after the raw is imported.  (Technically, there is no LUT involved in this process, by the way.)

    You could try using Sony's Image Data Converter to convert such raws to TIFFs before importing them into LR. I believe that the converted TIFF should look similar to the embedded JPEG preview.  I've tried this with PP7 (S-Log2) but not PP3.  See this thread for more details: Re: Sony RX100 Mark V slog 2 picture profile ruined in Lightrom and ARC

    2 replies

    S
    Shubham23526156ss2t
    Participant
    January 6, 2023

    This is because As it may seem that Picture profile doesn't affect RAW files on ssony, It DOES affect the RAW files when GAMMA is changed. As you said, you are using PP# right? Check the Gamma setting in that PP.

    This issue is explained in detail by Gerald in this video:-
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GGDkf4wMWg

    So as long as you are using Creative style, you are safe. but when you use Picture profile, you affect the curves of RAW files as well due to change in gamma curve.

    JP Hess
    JP Hess
    Inspiring
    August 30, 2017

    If you are shooting raw images with your camera it doesn't make any difference which one of those picture styles you are trying to apply because Lightroom isn't going to read that information. Those are proprietary settings and Lightroom doesn't read those. If you're shooting JPEG images then that information is baked in to the image when the image is created in the camera and Lightroom can't change that. So please clarify your shooting process and your question.

      M
      masai91Author
      Inspiring
      August 30, 2017

      Yes I know that. I'm shooting RAW but I actually see the picture profile on the RAW images both browsing the images on the computer and in Lightroom. When I go in Lightroom though I see that it's applying a correction onto the images after they are loaded, at the time time it's applying the lens correction. If I look at the same image inside Lighrtoom after it's been loaded (both in Library and Develop) and then look at the image opening it from the file explorer, I can clearly see a difference in colors.

        JP Hess
        JP Hess
        Inspiring
        August 30, 2017

        Of course you can. File Explorer is not a raw converter, it is showing you the embedded JPEG preview that is part of every raw image. It's the same JPEG preview that is displayed in the camera. It's showing all of the in-camera adjustments that Lightroom ignores. You can't expect to compare the File Explorer display with what you are doing in Lightroom. Assuming that your monitor is properly calibrated or that you have a good monitor profile, edit one of your raw images to your satisfaction and export a JPEG, TIF or PSD image using the sRGB color space. Then open that image in File Explorer and compare it with the raw image.

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