Lightroom NEF issue

[andrew_levine]

<p>Hi.<br>

I'm using lightroom 2 and have installed the Adobe Camera RAW Profiles. I am shooting using a Nikon D300 and I usually have the color profile set to Neutral. <br>

I shoot RAW + JPEG and whereas in Nikon Capture NX the JPEG and the RAW (with the Neutral profile applied) look identical, in Lightroom the NEF still fails to match the camera's output. The NEF image still looks a lot punchier and contrasty and more saturated than the JPEG, even using the D300 Neutral Camera Profile.<br>

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong, or is there simply no way to get Lightroom to render the Neutral profile correctly?<br>

Thanks for any help, </p>

<p>Andrew</p>

[kfoster70]

<p>Andrew,</p>

<p>you arent doing anything wrong. Only Nikon software can truly read camera settings when shooting in NEF. Adobe software does its own interpretation of the file. Camera settings will not be retained in the NEF when using Camera Raw to read it. However, the jpeg will retain camera settings.</p>

<p>the good news is that you can change the default settings for Camera Raw to the particular camera you are using. I had to do this with my D200.</p>

[andrew_levine]

<p>Hi Kevin, </p>

<p>Thanks a lot for your reply.<br>

You're right and I'm aware that camera settings can't be retained by lightroom. However, Adobe has made available camera raw profiles and I thought I was using them appropriately, but maybe not. I think this is what you are referring to.<br>

How do you select your camera model? I have installed the profiles but it seems to be a general profile and I cannot find a reference to specific camera models anywhere...<br>

Thanks for your help, <br>

Andrew</p>

[alan_goldhammer]

<p>Camera raw only has "generic" Nikon profiles. For your D300 you would need to get a Gretag color chart and prepare a profile using the scripting tool in Photoshop. I have never bothered to do this as I find it's easier to go through and make the appropriate changes using all the Lightroom tools to get the image I want. I don't pay much attention to the camera settings and use the Adobe default.</p>

[godfrey]

<p>You can also use the DNG Profile Editor to create custom camera calibrations based on your use of in-camera profile settings, and install them so that Lightroom will produce the results you are after with more fidelity to the in-camera settings, to whatever level of fussiness you want to hold them to. Lightroom will also allow you to set any of those customized camera calibrations to be used as a default for a given camera. </p>

<p>Lots of flexibility. </p>

[robert_martin5]

<p>Adobe Camera Profiles are camera specific and you will only see profiles that are for your camera as choices. The profiles are designed to give results that you would get from the camera if all in camera settings are at normal. I get good agreement under these conditions. Check your in camera settings to see if you have something different than normal. </p>

[john_newell2]

<p>The LR camera profiles for a specific camera don't say "D200" or whatever - they just come up as "Camera Standard," "Camera Vivid," "Camera Landscape," etc. IIRC. LR detects the camera and won't allow you to use, say, a D300 setting on a D700 file. The exception is that you can download the D2X Mode settings and those _will_ show up as such and can be applied to any NEF.</p>