Lightroom 2.4 Development Preset for E-620

[elias_roustom]

<p>Spent some time finding a preset for lightroom so my raw images match what I see on the camera's screen - as a starting point.<br /> I'm sure this will be different for each of you, but I thought I'd share, and maybe it'll help someone.</p><div></div>

[elias_roustom]

<p>more of the settings</p>

[elias_roustom]

<p>hard to post more than one image...</p><div></div>

[elias_roustom]

<p>no. 3</p><div></div>

[elias_roustom]

<p>last one</p><div></div>

[elias_roustom]

<p>I went about this task in two ways. I compared the JPEG files that I recorded with my RAW images, and I also inspected the camera's screen. Then I adjust a bit more to my liking, and what I thought was natural. I did this because when I shoot, I depend on the screen to tell me how to adjust exposure and white balance. I'm curious what other E-620 users think about this. </p>

[Greg M]

<p>I actually do the exact opposite and prefer to have my E620 RAW files open in Adobe Camera RAW with everything tuned to zero and follow a set of basic adjustments I pretty much do all the time.</p>

<p>1. Make an exposure compensation adjustment</p>

<p>2. Set my contrast using the parametric curves window, mainly using the brights and darks sliders.</p>

<p>3. make sure the white balance is set where I want it.</p>

<p>4. Retrieve any clipped highlights if necessary using the recovery slider.</p>

<p>5. Add clarity to taste by using that slider. If I want a soft or softer-focus image, going into the negative range with this slider is what I will do.</p>

<p>6. I also sharpen most of my images in ACR as well because of the masking option that allows one to reduce or even eliminate any sharpening to certain areas of an image by simply turning the masking up until only areas I want sharpened are touched.</p>

<p>I'll often use other options depending on what additionally needs to be adjusted, but I process many files only doing the above six steps and often save the first conversion in a series and apply it across several like-images to speed the process.</p>

<p>The E620 produces excellent in-camera JPEG files, but if I'm going to to the effort of shooting RAW I often do not want the same steep tone curve that, while it does produce very nice contrasty and colorful images, also can limit the ultimate dynamic range.</p>

[elias_roustom]

<p>I started there too. I found my "zeroed" raw files are dead flat, usually with plugged up shadows.<br>

I found I was making pretty much the same adjustments all the time, so I saved them a dev preset.<br>

Either there's something wrong with the exposure, or the way Lightroom reads Oly Raw files is just like that.<br>

If I can't relate what I capture to what I see on-screen when I grab the shot, it pretty much defeats the purpose of the preview don't you think? How do you deal with it?<br>

The raw files as I modify them are similar to the JPEGs but they have much more information in them. And oddly enough, even though I tried for a very long time, I could not manage to maintain the dynamic range of one my JPEGs in its RAW version. I had to choose between my shadow and midtone detail. There's some magic in how the E-620 makes its JPEGs, and yet there's a roughness to them that the RAW files doesn't have.</p>

[Greg M]

<p>I don't think either method, what I use or you choose to use, is incorrect. Just depends what you are comfortable using. Both ways, all the information is there and the files can be tweeked in any direction you choose to go since nothing has been thrown out. Adobe tries to do the same thing with their "auto" settings, but those have nothing to do with the in-camera parameters that were used when the image was captured. the Brightness slider as one example is often turned way up when ACR is allowed to use its' default auto settings and that is a slider I often never touch in converting RAW files.</p>

<p>RAW files open up in Adobe Camera RAW in Photoshop or Lightroom with no in-camera parameters applied. Adobe chooses to truly leave it up to the user to do everything to RAW files in ACR, which is why they look so different/bland from the previews you see on the back LCD of the camera where in-camera parameters are applied or in Olympus Master or Studio programs, which also applies in-camera parameters as shot in the RAW converter and you have to go in and adjust anything you want handled differently or the default conversion is pretty much the same as shooting an in-camera JPEG, except the Olympus Studio program does not seem to render JPEG files, even using the highest quality option, with the same minimal compression rate you get when shooting SHQ in-camera.</p>

[elias_roustom]

<p>Thanks for the feedback Greg.</p>

[godfrey]

<p>If you want to have Lightroom open up your image files in a rendering that more precisely matches in-camera image processing settings, the best thing to do is to use the <strong>Adobe DNG Profile Editor</strong> to create and install a <em>camera calibration profile</em>. You can create these profiles to match your most used settings and then set Lightroom to use them as its default for that camera. That leaves you the full range of Lightroom's adjustment controls to modify a rendering further. </p>