5D Mark iii RAW images muting in Lightroom 4

[sdphotography]

I have been shooting my 5D Mark iii in RAW but when I pull images into Lightroom, they all come in with the appropriate colors and then after a moment they mute and desaturate. Is there some sort of software patch I need to keep the RAW images true? It seems like for some reason the RAW data isn't translating correctly from the camera to the computer. Has anyone else either experienced this or have a suggestion?

 

[Rocketman1978]

Mine does this too, never figured out why. Curious to see what others say.

 

[Big Mike]

Raw images have an embedded jpeg (because raw images technically aren't images yet). The embedded jpeg has the in-camera settings applied to it. So for example, your 'picture style' settings will change how the embedded jpeg looks. And most likely, this jpeg will be more vibrant than the base level, raw preview.

When you import into Lightroom, it generates previews. And if it's set up this way (by default I think) then it will show these previews as a base level...with no adjustments to contrast, saturation, sharpness etc. So you can then start your editing/processing of the raw files, to get them how you want them to look.

You may find that a good first step, for your images in Lightroom, is to go down to the bottom (in the develop module) and try some of the options in the calibration panel. This will probably get your images looking closer to the initial jpeg preview...if that's what you want.

 

[TCampbell]

I have been shooting my 5D Mark iii in RAW but when I pull images into Lightroom, they all come in with the appropriate colors and then after a moment they mute and desaturate. Is there some sort of software patch I need to keep the RAW images true? It seems like for some reason the RAW data isn't translating correctly from the camera to the computer. Has anyone else either experienced this or have a suggestion?

I use Aperture (Mac) which does the same thing, but that change you see after a moment is your software applying it's default adjustment profile to the image. In other words... Lightroom is applying some automatic processing to your RAWs that it believes every image should need.

In Aperture, that automatic processing is based on a camera profile and lens profile built into the software. So it imports, looks at the EXIF to determine which camera & lens was used and also looks to see what settings were used on the camera and then automatically process a default profile based on that information.

In my software, I can edit that camera profile (though they don't recommend it... the profile is derived from careful testing) and I can also turn it off or just over-ride what it wants to do for any individual image -- I don't have to accept it's default.

I'm guessing that somewhere Lightroom has a way to allow you to over-ride it, or disable it.