Missing Nikon Z camera and lens profiles

I have had the same issue forever and I am coming back looking for answers because I just tested a few lenses at a local shop and when I brought  the images into lightroom, the lens profiles for the Z lenses are all available and automatically selected when viewing the images.

The only difference is that i tested the lenses using one of their Z6ii whereas I shoot with a first edition Z6. 

So either lightroom is not recognizing lenses shot  on my Z6 but it does on a Z6ii, or I am missing some magical settings in body??  Can anyone advise? Seems like all of the responses in this thread are not helpful.

I found two additional older threads about Z cameras with similar symptoms. Try these steps, which resolved the issue for a number of others (several years ago):

1. Reset LR's preferences: 

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/articles-page/how-do-i-reset-lightrooms-preferences/

LR sometimes soils its preferences file, and resetting it can fix all sorts of wonky behavior. That article explains how to restore the old preferences if resetting doesn't help.

2. In the Lens Corrections panel, make sure Enable Profile Corrections is unchecked.

Do you now see "Built-in Lens Profile applied" at the bottom of the panel?

https://feedback-readonly.photoshop.com/conversations/lightroom-classic/lightoom-builtin-lens-profile-applied-doesnt-appear-for-nikon-z-lenses/5f5f46074b561a3d426f4827#reply_20154914 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/z7-lens-correction-profile-failure/m-p/10559035#M152667 

"Did you observe anything quirky about this raw image?"

No, it behaved as expected in my LR, with the Lens Correction panel showing "Built-in Lens Profile applied":

Your LR installation is misbehaving.  I recall a couple of other posts about this over the years in addition to the one you found.  I'll do some more research.

I see discussion of this here:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/strange-issue-with-nikon-z6-raw-files-and-lens-correction/m-p/10844666

Perhaps I am seeing the same thing. Since this was a year ago, what did you determine from the file in question? The discussion ends right when it gets interesting! 🙂

johnrellis, thank you for your response. Following your steps exactly, here's what I see.

1. Yes, it is already set to Global: Adobe Default.

2. OK, did this.

3. OK, did this.

4. No, Setup says "Default" and Make says "None".

5. OK, I changed Setup to Auto.

6. No, Make still says "None".

7. No, Built-In is not a choice. The topmost choice says "None".

I am new to LR. Other than importing a mega-huge picture library, I haven't modified the base installation. Also, this is a new Windows 11 computer, and other than installing Office, LR, and PS, it's freshy fresh.

Regarding your response above, am I to understand that the Z6 *should* be embedding a profile? The Lens Correction panel suggests the camera is not embedding the profile. In the Develop module, enabling profile corrections gives the message (at the bottom of the panel) "Unable to locate a matching profile automatically", which suggests that there is no built-in profile and that Adobe is attempting to match one, but there's isn't one (which you confirmed above).

I updated the firmware of the camera before taking the test shot which I placed on dropbox (at your request). Did you observe anything quirky about this raw image? The Metadata panel in the Library module seems to be exactly correct...does this indicate the lens profile is present in the RAW image?

Here's the metadata panel:

I'm at a loss to explain what is happening...

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Here's what my LR 11.2 shows for that test photo:

To troubleshoot what's going wrong with your LR, do these precise steps and provide the step numbers in your feedback:

1. Go to Preferences > Presets and make sure Raw Defaults is set to Global: Adobe Default.

2. In Develop, click Reset to reset the test photo's settings.

3. In the Lens Corrections panel, Check Enable Profile Corrections.

4. Does Setup show Default and Make show Built-in?

5. If not, change Setup to Auto.

6. Does Make show Built-in?

7. If not, click the Make Built-in drop-down menu.  Is Built-in at the top of the menu?  If so, select it:

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"By the way, if Adobe doesn't provide lens profiles for the Z lenses, why does your image show a lens profile for a Z lens? I'm confused..."

As I wrote above, "With most mirrorless cameras, including the Z line, the camera embeds the lens profile in the raw file.  ... In general, LR doesn't provide separate profiles for these lenses, since the manufacturer embeds them in the raws." (Emphasis added.)

For the Z 6, you can tell the applied profile was embedded in the raw because the Lens Correction panel shows "Built-in Lens Profile applied"

For the Z 6 II, you can tell the profile was embedded because the Lens Correction panel shows "Profile: Camera Settings":

If a profile provided by Adobe has been selected, it will show its name in the Profile field, e.g. 

By the way, if Adobe doesn't provide lens profiles for the Z lenses, why does your image show a lens profile for a Z lens? I'm confused...

Yes, this is a Nikon Z6, not the Z6II.

Link to the test NEF taken with this camera:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vrep8rbdfbsvrn0/DSC_0176.NEF?dl=0

This is a Z 6, and not a Z 6 II, correct?

I don't know why you're seeing that. (You won't see any matching lens profiles in the dropdown list, since Adobe doesn't provide them for Z lenses.)

Upload one of the problem raws to Dropbox or similar and post the sharing link here. That will let us determine whether the issue is with the image or your LR installation.