Strange LR behavior when working with NEF/RAW photos

[mike829]

Hello there,

Using LR6, I've noticed that when I go to "develop" that the initial load of a NEF/RAW photo the pic looks great, then a second later it seems all this noise is introduced into the image and degrades it. What's the deal? Anyone know what I'm talking about? This only happens as mentioned with NEF/RAW photos, not on JPGs.

Thanks!

[mike829]

Someone on a Nikon site pointed me in the right direction.. Said that Adobe has a standard profile that is applied almost like a filter.. There is a way to disable this from happening which has a degrading impact on the photo.

Vid for those interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi1cu59dZH8

[dj_paige]

Someone on a Nikon site pointed me in the right direction.. Said that Adobe has a standard profile that is applied almost like a filter.. There is a way to disable this from happening which has a degrading impact on the photo.

This is simply incorrect.

When you import a RAW, Lightroom temporarily shows you the JPG preview that is embedded in the file, and that is what you see first. Once Lightroom has time to render the actual RAW image, you see that next, and it certainly can show noise that you don't see in the JPG (because the JPG has had the noise removed). There is no way to turn it off.

[mike829]

Thanks for your reply! Okay I see... So if this is what I'm seeing, what do you recommend my first edits be to the picture if what I'm noticing is a lot of noise in the RAW variant of the photo? JPG compression does a pretty good job I guess at filtering through that huh?

[dj_paige · Accepted solution]

You can set up a develop preset(s) that are applied at import to meet your specific needs. This develop preset can include the camera calibration choice that you prefer. The develop preset can be specific to the ISO setting to reduce the noise.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 * Create and apply Develop presets

[mike829]

Really appreciate it! Thanks for your time in responding.