Adobe Lightroom Question

[W00DY]

For all the Lightroom users out there this might be hard to explain...

You know when you shoot RAW and you see the thumbnail in the Library module it looks great, but then when you move to the develop module you see this nice image for a second until Lightroom renders the image and then you get the very flat looking RAW file... I believe this is because the thumbnail is generated by JPEG image in your camera.

My question is about in camera settings. I setup a preset in the D300 to increase contrast and saturation slightly, the images look great on the LCD, they look great as a thumbnail in the Library module but then when I go to Develop them all the in camera tweaking I have done seems to be lost because Lightroom applies default settings to the RAW flat files.

There does not seem to be a workaround for this (other than trying to make a develop preset for Lightroom which looks similar to the JPEG, but then this would not work if you change the settings in camera)

So do you all just keep the settings in camera default? So much for trying to "get it right" in camera.

[beej]

As hard as that was to explain, it is a very common question posed by Lightroom users.... and there is no solution.

It's actually one of Scott Kelby's Version 2.0 Wish List items: http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2008/archives/932 Under the heading "The JPEG Processed Look"

beej

[michael_]

from my limited knowledge of RAW files no presets will be saved once the file is dumped and ready for pocessing, like you said the thumbnails are jpeg files which have been processed with the presets, RAW will always revert to 0 0 0 0 then you have to process accordingly.

[Matt. K]

I've been trialing a version of Lightroom for a few weeks and I don't like it. It seems slow, memory hungry, takes ages to download from the card, and the image quality seems to be lacking when compared to Photoshop or NIKON NX. Not everything that is new, big and bright is better and I think for me that's the case with Lightroom. I will continue using Adobe bridge, CS3 and Imatch for DAM purposes until someone convinces me, by demonstration, that Lightroom is worthwhile.

[W00DY]

I've been trialing a version of Lightroom for a few weeks and I don't like it. It seems slow, memory hungry, takes ages to download from the card, and the image quality seems to be lacking when compared to Photoshop or NIKON NX. Not everything that is new, big and bright is better and I think for me that's the case with Lightroom. I will continue using Adobe bridge, CS3 and Imatch for DAM purposes until someone convinces me, by demonstration, that Lightroom is worthwhile.

I am surprised you find Lightroom slower than Bridge... Bridge runs verrrrrrrry slow on both the Macbook Pro and the iMac (with 4gig of RAM) whilst Lightroom loads up and runs very quickly

I also thought the develop mode in lightroom was the same as Adobe Camera RAW so the results should be the same. I personally find the reults in Lightroom the same as CS3. There are a few things I don't like about Lightroom (240ppi, Pro Photo Colourspace, printing) but it is nice to have 95% of things you need in one applicatin, rather than using up to 3 different applications.

In saying that though I still don't think I have my workflow sorted as much as I would like to, I don't think there is a perfect workflow for every occasion

[Yi-P]

Make sure you have ticked 'render standard sized previews' on importing the photos.

Light room might not seem to read custom curves from camera nor of any other nikon special image settings (sharpness, contrasts, etc) It loads up its own default value upon importing a photo.

The work around with this is to create your own custom developer setting (curves, shaprness, contrast) but NOT WB nor exposure that changes from image to image.

Once you have this done, you can simply assign lightroom to apply your custom developer setting to every single photo. By then you will have all photos to be most likely similar to whats been applied to custom curves and tones in NX.

And yes, make sure you have ticked 'render standard size preview' in order to get your previews right to what it supposed to be in Lightroom.

[olrac]

You can calibrate Lightroom closer to what you see in camera See here

You can also set up presets (or Download them) and on import develop to that preset.

I find Lightroom to be fantastic for 90% of what I do and the other 10 is well catered for by Photoshop, Capture NX, Noise Ninja and Photomatix

[sydney1965]

Gday All,
I just downloaded the free version of Lightroom 1.4. I figured out how to use the basics of it. The photo looked great on the screen but when i printed it,it turned out very flat looking. Not bright and vibrant as on the screen. I changed a few things in my printer programe (epson R800) but still no change.
Any suggestions?
Cheers Mick

[mickeyjuice]

First question - is your monitor properly calibrated? (i.e. using hardware to ensure it is correct?)

Second: Are you running the correct printer/paper profile?

Third: does it print OK out of other apps, such as PS?

They're all the questions I can think of for now...

[photohiker]

Gday All,
I just downloaded the free version of Lightroom 1.4.

There is a free version?

To answer your question, if you want what you see on screen to match what you see on print, there are methods of calibrating the screen and the printer so that they both give as accurate colour as possible. Usually, not free though. An example here

Michael

[mickeyjuice]

Gday All,
I just downloaded the free version of Lightroom 1.4.

There is a free version?

Nope, but there's a 30-day trial.

[sydney1965]

Thanks for your help gents.
Mickeyjuice, Screen is not calibrated, paper/printer profile, ok, colour is ok with photoshop.
Where can i get the 30 day free trial?
Cheers Mick

[mickeyjuice]

LR Trial: http://www.adobe.com/downloads/

I really think that without a calibrated screen, it's almost impossible to get a consistent result across systems.

[Hybrid]

This bothered me for ages and kept me using Nikon Capture even though it is painfully slow... There is an answer though. First of all, see this from Adobe: http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.3bc3d55a

Next, get yourself some presets that match the Nikon standard look: http://www.onethirdstop.com/ (D200 presets with D300 ones coming soon). You can adjust the presets to your tastes if you like extra sharpening, saturation etc...

I was never happy with the colours from ACR/Lightroom but since using the above presets, I've been very pleased with the results I've been getting and the speed/workflow is really great. Be sure to check out the Lightroom 2.0 beta that was just released - some very nice improvements like localised editing...

Good luck,

Stephen