Nikon D7000 LR4 Camera Raw color issues

[Dan Rothstein]

I just upgraded my camera from a Nikon D70 to a D7000.

Problem: When I process the RAW /NEF files with Adobe Lightroom 4 the color is terrible. By that I mean, the images look dull, dark and have no pop. The coloring is not even close to what is displayed on the Nikon camera screen.

When I use Nikon View NX: The software which is pakaged with the camera produces an image which is, or almost identical to the image on the camera after the photo is taken.

I like the funcionality of lightroom better than ViewNX, so what I have been doing is processing with ViewNX and then exporting to a TIFF.  Opening up LR4 and then importing and cataloging.  This process is a pain and time consuming. 

I also have found LR3 does a better job than LR4 at processing the images.

Is there a way I can tweak or download corrected ACR settings to match my Nikon D7000.

[Lee_Jay]

Use the Camera Matching profiles.  You already have them.

[Guest · Accepted solution]

well you have worked with raw before?

if not i suggest you get some basic information about raw developing and if it is for you.

what you see on your cameras LCD screen are "in camera" processed JPG previews.

your nikon software knows exactly what the camera is doing internally and can therefore reproduce the camera-engine-looks much better then third party software.

but when you want the JPG look you can take JPG´s not?

RAW is for people who WANT to develop their own images.

i don´t want that a engineer in japan decides how my images look.

sure that means i have to put my own work into developing the images.

adobe does offers some presets (for some cameras) beside the standard profile.

but i have to say most of them look not as good as what you get from nikon or canons raw software.

so you have to make your own profil.

[Dan Rothstein]

Agfaclack, I understand your point.

Do you have a nikon d7000

[Guest]

CameraMan2012 wrote:

Agfaclack, I understand your point.

Do you have a nikon d7000

nope im a canon guy. but the "problem" is the same for us all.

adobe has problems to get the exact or same look because it does not know how the camera or the software from the manufacturer is processing the images.

and even if they would know.. LR would still not have the same engine to process the RAW files.

adobe has to reverse engineer the look and try to copy it with the LR engine.

in case of my canon cameras.. they have done no great job.
the adobe presets are often awfull off.

but i have made my own profiles.

and i shoot raw because i tweak every shooting or every individual images separately.

[Dan Rothstein]

Agfaclack, So I need to make a profile from a processed RAW ViewNX image that I am happy with within  Adobe LR.  This profile would act as a good starting point for the images to be processed using LR.

Is there a way to create an adobe profile from a processed image?

[Guest]

you can use the adobe DNG profil editor (don´t mind the name, you can use the profiles for native raw files too).

personally i use the x-rite colorchecker passport to create profiles.

[cjs007]

Agfaclack - can you please point to some resources (web pages, manuals, etc) that describe how to use the DNG profile editor for native raw files? I've always been under the impression that this only worked if you converted your native raw files to DNG (or, is it just that the image you use for calibration requires conversion to DNG, but the profile can be used for native raw files)?

[Guest]

yes, as i wrote the PROFILES work for native raw files.

to create the profiles you need DNG as input format.

[Dan Rothstein]

Thank you Lee Jay, are you referring to Camera Standard vs. Adobe Standard. If so, I have been using Camera Standard.

The color with this setup is still off. 

[Lee_Jay]

Use which ever one you use in the camera (portrait, landscape, standard, whatever).

Read this too:

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/358016?tstart=30

[Jao vdL]

CameraMan2012 wrote:

Thank you Lee Jay, are you referring to Camera Standard vs. Adobe Standard. If so, I have been using Camera Standard.

The color with this setup is still off. 

The biggest cause of issues with too dark rendering of Nikon files is that people enabled Nikon's dynamic range reduction stuff in camera. You should turn that off. Nikon calls their single shot HDR processing Active D-lighting and it sits in the "shooting" menu (the little green camera. Whenyou have ADL enabled, the camera underexposes by a certain amount determined by the scene to protect highlights. It writes this in the file. Only Nikon software can read this info and compensate for it. So simply disable it and when you shoot your camera in standard, neutral, landscape, vivid, etc, the Lightroom rendering will be identical to that in camera when using the same profile as your set picture style. My files all come out very close to the on camera back image when I do this. Note that you don't really need the ADL if you go through raw. Just expose correctly and you'll get higher quality as ADL tends to induce shadow noise.

[Dan Rothstein]

Thanks Jao vdL I will check my settings today.

Do you have a d7000? If so, what are your suggested settings.  I know there are a lot of settings to possibly adjust.

[Jao vdL]

Not yet. I borrowed one for a day (that was set up "wrong" indeed) to see

whether I should buy it (definitely). I currently shoot a D300. The D7000

is much better in the shadows. On my D300 I had the same issue that LR was

rendering dark until I discovered the ADL was turned on.

[endoverend.com]

"In camera" (color management) is too saturated (and dark) in my D3s - try a more neutral setting IN the camera

no noise reduct or D lighting or ADR turned on shooting NEF/RAW

lightroom is all about presets and you almost never have it come into LR and look ready to go -kinda sad actually.

google ken rockwells opinion on this, his tips helped me a bit

[Guest]

ken rockwell? really?

[endoverend.com]

did you google him before asking me ?

[Guest]

well i don´t have to google ken "oh the colors" rockwell ... i laugh about him and most of his opinions for years.

[endoverend.com]

advice is not always bad from sources that are hit and miss....this exact scenario was helped by Kens words in tht he brought attention to the fact that the Nikon oversaturates in the color management mode that it is shipped in

and yes i have my own opinions ...

[Guest]

that is what suprises me. he is well known for pushing the saturation slider to the max.

that he says something is TOO saturated... wow.

beside that he changes his opinions faster then paris hilton her bed toys.

[endoverend.com]

BTW Kens rant was listed in the D3 category of his site and i did not the follow the advice to turn the D-lighting ON - it is better OFF for me

[endoverend.com]

I am not here to bash on Ken: that said, try the settings i suggested - turn color management to more neutral settings and push Vibrance in LR if you need Saturation later

this is only a small help for me as I HATE the way LR renders my DNG files. Its like half of the camera information is lost...or all of it ... who knows .. they wont say..

[tonionboard]

It's pretty amazing how so many threads about photography finish on a debate about the great ken...

Well, I just want to notice and confirm that even with the provided profiles of lightroom, the images can look awful (especially: dull, flat...) compared to in-camera RAW processing. I have just compared photos from my D700 that I actually still don't like after RAW processing in LR, and they are way better (though not perfect) on the jpeg created by the camera.

I of course put off D-lightning, and my in-camera settings are default and the picture control used is the standard one (with just a bit of sharpening).

I would thus be really interested in any good website/tutorial/material on how to create profiles to counter this problem. Or where to download some ?

Profiles for raw, not presets 🙂

Thanks,

Antoine

[dtNikon0001]

I have figured out myself the profile correction problem for my Nikon D7000 NEF Problem. It almost match to the one in NX2 or even on camera LCD.  the following is what I have adjusted in my LR4

Brightness +1.00

Contrasts +28~33

Shadow +40~55

Black -25

Don't Forget change the Profile setting on Camera Calibration under the Develop mode to match the what you set on your camera. I always shot on Standard mode, therefore I set the Profile to Camera Standard.

-------------------------------------------------

The following is the way I figure it out.

1.  I imported the photo under "Zeroed" at Import page under Develop setting > Lightroom Genaral Present > Zeroed

2.  Open one of the imported picture on Develop mode

3.  Scroll down to Camera Calibration change the profile setting to match they one you set on your camera, in this case I choose Camera standard.

4. Under the Camera Calibration>Process you will see 2012(Present), changed it to 2010, and change it back to 2012 (present again)

5. You will notice that the develop setting automaticly change to the following (Brightness -1.00, contrasts -33 and black +25) Let say this is what lightroom did to your picture( from Nikon D7000 NEF)

6. and then Change everything back to " 0 " will you find your picture nearly close to the one you saw on NX2.0 or Nikon LCD

------------------------------------------------

If your found the step above is hard to follow, please just change the Brightness +1.00, Contrasts +33 and Black -25, and dont forget adjust a bit of shadow as well.

for the people who dont know what Nikon done to Nikon D7000, please dont be expert to say "you dont know RAW".  please read more reviews first before helping people who are new to RAW or even stuck on RAW.  This forum is helping people with our knowledge, is not to make people need help to get more confuse.

For Nikon D7000 user.... Remember turn D-Lightning off.... this is one of the problem will cause LR4 change your tone to more darker, especially on portrait photoshot. Hopefully Adobe will realease the new update soon to match the new system inside Nikon camera.

Please note that the step above only Apply for Nikon D7000 and Lightroom 4 only. And it is not 100% correct to what you seen on your camera, at least is 80~90% Match!!