RAW files are not on full resolution on compare mode?!

Question

When I compared a RAW file (CR3) with a DNG denoised photo I noticed that the RAW file quickly loses resolution as I was zooming in, and it appeared as bad quality JPEG when the DNG files remained on full resolution.

That is probably because the compare mode uses the library's previews on my RAW files, but I think this is wrong, the compare mode should use the originals.

JohanElzenga · Answer

You always look at a preview when you look at a photo (any photo!) in Lightroom. That is inevitable because Lightroom is a non-destructive editor. The originals are never changed, so if you could look at the original you would by definition look at the unedited photo. Original raw files would look even stranger, because a raw file is not (yet) a normally viewable photo. You would be very surprised at the strange B&W image you would see if you could look at the raw data! One explanation could indeed be that the CR3 preview was generated from a smart preview, because the original is offline. Was the denoised photo generated from the same CR3 you are comparing it with? If not, then another explanation could be that the CR3 is a small version (sRAW) so you are comparing apples and oranges.

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