E-P2 RAW and Lightroom

[januaryman]

New to RAW files in general, and spotted this in LR when I reviewed the import. The RAW files were (I think I remember this right) set to sharpen 50% and brighten 50% - It was my understanding that RAW files were just that, untouched raw captures. Even pressing the reset button on LR in the develop module, these setting are default.

Am I setting something up wrong in either LR or the camera to cause this? Has anyone else experienced this?

 

[Mcary]

New to RAW files in general, and spotted this in LR when I reviewed the import. The RAW files were (I think I remember this right) set to sharpen 50% and brighten 50% - It was my understanding that RAW files were just that, untouched raw captures. Even pressing the reset button on LR in the develop module, these setting are default.

Am I setting something up wrong in either LR or the camera to cause this? Has anyone else experienced this?

Jim

What you're seeing is normal for Raw files in LR.
The following are a few suggestions for getting started with RAW files in LR.
#1 Forget about the Brightness slider! yup just leave at what ever default setting its at
#2 Go down to the Tone Curve and enter the following setting
Highlights 0
Lights +25-30
Darks -10-15
Shadows -30-40
This should give a fairly nice tone curve but far from perfect so you'll need to tweak it depending on the image.
#3 If the shadow areas are two dark try reducing the black slider from the default 5 if the blacks are deep enough increase them.
#4 If you have partially blown high light first try using the recovery tool before resorting to the exposure tool.
#5 Once you've dialed in an image create a preset so that you can apply it to other images shoot under similar conditions. You may still need to tweak them a bit but you won't have to start from scratch.

Mike

 

[david.elliott]

Just a few additional comments

As mentioned above, those are the defaults. You are not doing anything wrong.

I occasionally use the brightness slider. I wouldn't ignore it altogether. The majority of the time, I never touch it though.

You can drag on the tone curve directly rather than using the sliders. For example, drag to create an S curve.

In the exposure / blacks / etc section, if you hold down the alt (or option if you are on a mac) you will be able to see where you are clipping highlights or shadows. Very useful trick in my opinion.

 

[semilog]

One more point: the LR3 beta has better Olympus RAW conversion than LR2: superior noise management, nicer color, and (perhaps) more subtle and natural sharpening.

 

[januaryman]

Thanks to you all for the tips and trying to educate me. I'll give it all a try, then store the settings as a preset.

If only I could import my LR2 catalog into LR3 Beta, I'd be working solely in that. Frustrated that I can't.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

I have two separate catalogs going, and will combine them when LR3 is finally released. They have promised this capability.

The settings for RAW in LR are just suggested defaults...RAW images look like crap without any processing at all--dark, and practically monochrome. Open one up in dcraw, you'll see what I mean! These settings are just what somebody at Adobe thinks is a good starting point for processing your images...and I agree, the LR3 preset is really quite nice!

 

[semilog]

Thanks to you all for the tips and trying to educate me. I'll give it all a try, then store the settings as a preset.

If only I could import my LR2 catalog into LR3 Beta, I'd be working solely in that. Frustrated that I can't.

Me, too. I'll be first in line for the 3.0 release.

 

[JoeV]

You can't actually see a raw file, on either a PC or a Mac.

What you see in the preview screen of the raw processing software is a JPEG rendering.

Some programs use their own default settings for this rendering, while others use the in-camera settings for the in-camera JPEG.

~Joe

 

[M4streetshooter]

Thanks to you all for the tips and trying to educate me. I'll give it all a try, then store the settings as a preset.

If only I could import my LR2 catalog into LR3 Beta, I'd be working solely in that. Frustrated that I can't.

Ya got me puzzled. I have my LR2 catalog running in LR3.2.
Did you import your files from your hard drive? I'm not understanding why you can't get the catalog in the new Beta.....

 

[fotomik]

Ya got me puzzled. I have my LR2 catalog running in LR3.2.
Did you import your files from your hard drive? I'm not understanding why you can't get the catalog in the new Beta.....

Re-importing your files does not the same catalog make... Or does it preserve your edits, keywords etc?

 

[januaryman]

The current Beta does not permit opening a catalog from LR2. I could import, but all my work would be absent from the earlier one. 😡

So yes, I could import, but what good would that do me?

UPDATE-

Went back to make sure I was right. Now it won't even let you import from an earlier catalog. Double 😡!

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Like I said, they have promised that you will be able to merge with your LR2 catalog, including all your processing work, when the new version is finally released.

 

[januaryman]

As Yogi Berra once said, "I'll believe it when I believe." Not ready to invest time working on images for that promise. I'm just skeptical at best, paranoid at worst. 😉