7 Replies Latest reply: Dec 4, 2009 11:56 AM by Pete Marshall RSS

    Odd color correction on raw import

    harry teasley Community Member

      I have a Canon G9 that I've had converted to shoot IR. I'm having trouble with Lightroom on the CR2 files the camera is putting out. Example here:

       

      http://gallery.me.com/hteasley#100119

       

      The first one is what I expect: what I see in the camera, what the JPEG looks like, what the CR2 file looks like when I import it into iPhoto, and interestingly enough, what the CR2 thumbnail looks like in Lightroom on first import. But when I use the Lightroom loupe on the file to look at it, it gets rendered to look like the second image in that gallery, which is terrible.

       

      To be clear, I'm not talking about having done any in-camera editing of the raw files, and I'm not talking about the JPEGs. I'm talking about iPhoto bringing the file in how I would say "correctly", and Lightroom always adjusting it to be "hideous". I've changed camera profiles, and can't find one that looks like the iPhoto version. I've worked through various Hue/Sat adjustments within Lightroom and can't recover the image to look like the correct version.

       

      What is Lightroom doing? I can't find any setting that results in Lightroom keeping the file looking like it does in the import preview, how it looks in the thumbnail before I view it with the loupe. Any help would be much appreciated.

        • 1. Re: Odd color correction on raw import
          Pete Marshall Community Member

          The image you see in iPhoto is not the rendered RAW file it is the jpg preview file embedded in the RAW file you see on the back of the camera (iPhoto does not render RAW files). This is the same as the initial image you see for a moment in LR when you import the file, until LR renders the RAW file. LR doesn't make any "changes" to the file, but imports it and renders it acording to any settings you may have made in LR. The colour settings will be found in the calibration box in the develop mode and there may be different settings availble according to the camera you are using.

          See number 6 in the top ten gotchas here. .
          As you have made a conversion to your camera none of the existing camera calibrations will apply and you will need to use Adobes DNG editor to create a new one

          • 2. Re: Odd color correction on raw import
            harry teasley Community Member

            It is not the JPEG that I import into iPhoto, it is the CR2 file: I specifically removed the raw files from the card (leaving the JPEGs), ejected the card, and dragged the raw files by themselves into iPhoto. iPhoto uses the raw capabilities of the OS, just like Aperture.

            • 3. Re: Odd color correction on raw import
              Hal P Anderson Community Member

              Harry

               

              There is a JPEG image embedded by the camera inside the RAW file so that software can quickly show a preview without having to render the RAW. The previous poster wasn't implying that you had imported JPEGs. Now reread his post with that in mind.

               

              Hal

              • 4. Re: Odd color correction on raw import
                harry teasley Community Member

                But he's saying that iPhoto is showing me JPEG info, that iPhoto does not handle RAW. iPhoto handles many raw formats without problem. It is not giving me just the JPEG.

                 

                I understand if there is a JPEG embedded in the CR2, that that's the initial thumbnail (although it's odd that there's a JPEG embedded in the CR2, but also a separately saved JPEG as well...)

                • 5. Re: Odd color correction on raw import
                  DdeGannes Community Member

                  Yes there is always a JPEG file included in the RAW file, its a thumbnail not a full size file. I am not fimilar with iPhoto so I am  not sure if it renders the raw data or uses the thumbnail for viewing.

                  • 6. Re: Odd color correction on raw import
                    Jao vdL Community Member

                    iPhoto renders from the RAW just like Lightroom. It's default rendering is simply closer to the camera (when every setting is at default) than Lightroom. This will not be the case if you change any camera setting (such as a different picture style). To get rendering closer in Lightrom (but not perfect) to the in-camera jpeg, simply use the camera standard profile in the calibration section of Develop. This should fix 90% of the difference and should get you as close as iPhoto's. Why the rendering is different when you use RAW regardless of the RAW converter (except Canon's of course) is explained in the FAQ of this forum. No rendering is correct. They are simply different starting points. If you shoot RAW, you WILL have to tweak. Of course that is the point of shooting RAW, otherwise you should just shoot jpeg and forget about it.

                    • 7. Re: Odd color correction on raw import
                      Pete Marshall Community Member
                      iPhoto renders from the RAW just like Lightroom

                      My bad...iPhoot does indeed render the RAW file, but whilst it is showing the thumbnails to browse I presume it uses the jpg previews. I haven't used it for so long it may well have changes, but my recollection was that it didn't actually render the images until you zoom in on them...I may be wrong, but the point is still that a RAW image will look different in different applications whether rendered or not. If it looks like the picture on the back of the camera, and you arn't using the camera specific software then it is most likely using the jpg preview file. Only the camera specific software will render a RAW file according to the camera process settings. Lightroom, Aperture et al all do their own thing.