Why do my RAW photos look noisy or different in Lightroom/Photoshop than on my camera LCD?
Asked 9/21/2011
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2 answers
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I shoot RAW with a Canon camera. On my camera’s LCD the images look fine, but after importing them into Lightroom 3 and Photoshop on a new Windows laptop, the photos don’t look like a faithful match and appear much noisier than expected. The same files looked fine in my previous Linux/GIMP workflow. I also installed the latest Canon codec, but the issue remained. What should I check when RAW files look very different on the computer than they do on the camera screen?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
14y ago
2 Answers
5
The image you see on the LCD is not the Raw image: it is a JPEG preview of it. Therefore it has had noise reduction, sharpening, and colour adjustments applied to it by the camera, just like a JPEG would if you had the camera set to record the shots as JPEGs.
Only when you import the photos to your PC will you see the actual Raw file without any (or at least low level) noise reduction etc. applied. It is up to you to apply these settings in LR or ACR.
I suspect that the RAW editor in GIMP was automatically applying noise reduction settings you'd previously used, hence you weren't used to seeing it on your old system.
Originally by user3205. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user3205
14y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
First, remember that the camera LCD does not show the untouched RAW data. It shows an embedded JPEG preview, which usually has in-camera sharpening, noise reduction, contrast, and color adjustments applied. Lightroom, Photoshop, and GIMP may render the same RAW file differently because each uses its own RAW processing engine and default settings.
So some difference is normal, especially for noise and sharpening.
However, if exported JPEGs also look wrong only on one laptop, the problem may be the display rather than the RAW file. In the reported case, the cause was laptop display “enhancement” software altering the image. Disabling the Sony Vaio display enhancement settings fixed it.
What to check:
- Compare the same exported JPEG on another computer/monitor.
- Disable any vendor display enhancements or “vivid”/dynamic contrast modes.
- Update or check graphics/display drivers.
- In Lightroom/Photoshop, apply appropriate noise reduction and sharpening to the RAW file.
In short: some RAW-vs-LCD difference is expected, but dramatic artifacts on only one machine usually point to monitor or display software settings.
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