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Answered

Sony A7riii raw files darken in lightroom

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
December 30, 2017
3 replies
7163 views

Hi everyone, I just switched from Canon to the new Sony A7riii. I love it, but I'm having a problem when I import my ARW files into lightroom. Whenever I import the raw files, they look beautiful. However, when I click on one to 'develop,' the photo darkens up and a lot of contrast is lost. I have no idea why this happens and I'm looking for answers. Hope someone can help, thanks! I've also attached a sample image of the file when I upload it, and when I click on it to develop. BEFOREAFTER

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Correct answer JP Hess

About the only thing I can say about that is that it depends on the image and the quality of the light and how it affects the sensor in the camera. After all, that's why I shoot in raw, and that's why I have Lightroom. I don't expect every image to import perfectly so that I don't have to make any adjustments. It also depends on what settings you have made in the camera and how those settings are affecting the JPEG preview. Those in-camera settings will not have any bearing at all on the raw image data.

J

josen4188392

Participant

The same happens on my Sony a7r III including the histogram after the import is not the same as the camera, it´s more darker and in situations where light is very low is very complicated!!

any explanation to solved this?

Thank you!

ssprengel

Inspiring

Adobe rendering and Camera rendering won't be the same.

Adobe and Sony (or any other camera manufacturer) start with the same raw sensor data, but each does something reasonable but different when creating a visible image from the raw data. Being separate companies, neither can know what the other is doing, as the algorithms are proprietary trade secrets.

Enabling some sort of Auto-Fix setting in the camera is a common way that the camera rendering and Adobe rendering will be significantly different. Extreme lighting, such as the original poster's images, is another situation. It also depends on what camera profile you choose in Adobe software.

Just Shoot Me

Legend

What you are seeing initially is the embedded JPG file that is included in every RAW file (It is there mainly so you can view the image on the cameras LCD screen).

That embedded JPG carries all the JPG settings you have set on the camera. The RAW files does not use or include any of the In Camera settings.

So Initially you are seeing the JPG and then when you go to the develop module, or even do a 1:1 zoom in the Library module, LR is building a Preview of the actual RAW Data. Which may look darker, duller and less sharp that the JPG.

All of this is normal. As stated above you can create an import preset or you can change the settings in the develop module to an average of what you want images to look like and save it as a Camera Default. In the Develop module go to the Develop menu item then "Set Default Settings".

I do this for each camera I have.

Also look at the Camera calibration section and try different profiles to see which one suits you the best. That will get set as the Default when changing the setting I talked about above.

chris_15Author

Participant

Thank you I’m going to look into these things!

JP Hess

Inspiring

On my monitor, I don't see that big of a difference. But I think what is happening is the develop module is dropping any in-camera settings that are part of the JPG preview. You'll either have to adjust your camera defaults or create a preset to apply during import. I use a Nikon camera, and I had to create my own camera defaults to help cut down on initial adjustments. I've had to do that with every camera I have purchased.

chris_15Author

Participant

That makes total sense! Ok thanks I’ll do some research on how to do this. Any other tips?? Also, I noticed that this doesn’t happen to all the ARW files I import into Lightroom. It happens with most of them, but not quite all. What’s that about?

JP HessCorrect answer

Inspiring

About the only thing I can say about that is that it depends on the image and the quality of the light and how it affects the sensor in the camera. After all, that's why I shoot in raw, and that's why I have Lightroom. I don't expect every image to import perfectly so that I don't have to make any adjustments. It also depends on what settings you have made in the camera and how those settings are affecting the JPEG preview. Those in-camera settings will not have any bearing at all on the raw image data.

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