In newer lenses such as the Nikon Z 14-30 F4 automatic lens corrections are applied. Pros like myself would like to retain the option to manually apply corrections (or not) on lenses. I don't like this trend of reducing choices.
Which camera are you using? The built-in lens profiles can be disabled in many newer cameras released since 2020. Manufacturers decide which combinations of lens and camera will allow the built-in lens profiles to be disabled, and LR and Camera Raw obey the manufacturer's wishes. For example, the Nikon Z 7 doesn't allow the built-in profiles to be disabled, while the Z 7II does (for most lenses).
Unfortunately, Adobe has never bothered to update its documentation about this, and it's woefully out-of-date:
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I don't have any sample Z 8 images with the Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S lens, but I've got sample Z 8 images with four other lenses, one of which automatically applies the built-in lens profile and the other three which allow you to disable the lens profile (see screenshots below).
I assume you're seeing "Built-in Lens Profile applied" at the bottom of the Lens Corrections panel? If so, then you should complain to Nikon, asking them to allow LR to disable it. (Adobe obeys the manufacturer's instructions about which camera/lens combinations can be disabled.)
Adobe doesn't have to kowtow to Nikon. They can and should allow override of lens correction on all lenses. This makes Lightroom steps consistent and reliable. They cannot allow manufacturers to dictate their process.
It's probably because normal/wide zoom lenses tend to have very much barrel<>pincushion distortion, to the point where you really need to correct it if the lens is going to be useful.
I have a Sony Zeiss 24-70 where you can disable the manufacturer profile, but, trust me, you really don't want to 😉
Adobe doesn't have to kowtow to Nikon. They can and should allow override of lens correction on all lenses. This makes Lightroom steps consistent and reliable. They cannot allow manufacturers to dictate their process.
If Adobe wants to have a good professional relationship with camera manufacturers. If they want to be able to work with them in collaboration, for example, to receive information, specifications, etc., as to how to prepare for new cameras, to understand how a new cameras RAW code, a new cameras processor, work, and how any new camera profiles work, then they do need to with Nikon etc.
Otherwise they would have to wait for the camera to be available, then reverse engineer it. Even if it only involved a bit of code to that the new camera just like another with the same sensor and processor.
Some think Adobe must have pissed of Canon, could be urban folklore, and upgrades took longer.
"Adobe doesn't have to kowtow to Nikon. They can and should allow override of lens correction on all lenses. This makes Lightroom steps consistent and reliable. They cannot allow manufacturers to dictate their process."
I understand your opinion, and many (perhaps most) users feel the same way.
Some more background: Adobe likely has contractual business partnerships with major camera manufacturers that include Adobe products reading the non-standard proprietary fields in the manufacturer's raw files. Based on posts by Adobe employees some years ago, it appears that Adobe's legal department has a unique view (compared to other software developers) about such fields: Adobe products won't access them without explicit agreements with the manufacturer. (For example, the LR team couldn't read the capture-date time zone that Apple records in a non-standard XMP field in videos, a trivial software change, without first getting legal permission from Apple.)
Of course these agreements would be confidential and we can't know their terms, but I think it's a safe bet they provide information sharing about the manufacturer's raw formats, so that Adobe doesn't have to reverse engineer them (which their lawyers would object to). And part of those agreements probably include the handling of embedded lens profiles.
If Adobe went against Nikon's wishes with respect to lens profiles, they could be violating the terms of the contract, and it could endanger the business relationship and Adobe's access to the raw-format information, increasing the costs of the LR development team. Adobe and Nikon have not always played well in the same sandbox -- e.g. in 2005, Nikon started encrypting white-balance settings in its raw files, and Nikon and Adobe got into a kerfuffle and then started "talking",which probably resulted in a formal business agreement.
So Adobe is not solely to blame here, and users should complain at least as much about Nikon and other camera manufacturers as about Adobe.
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