Why does my Lightroom/Photoshop preview change after loading?

Question

Everybody who is using Lightroom probably has seen this. After importing RAW files, Lightroom shows a preview, but contrast and color of the preview change after a few short seconds to a slightly different view.For some users the change is small, for others the change is huge. Colors are different (read: wrong), contrast is off.Rumor says this is happening only (more?) for Nikon users.What is Lightroom doing here?I'd guess that for the first preview, LR is showing the JPG preview file, which is embedded in the RAW file. Then after a moment, LR renders the RAW file itself to show it's own interpretation.But why is this interpretation so different from the embedded JPG?

Answer 1

You have the right answer with the right follow on question, why is it so different? It depends on your jpeg settings in camera. Mine are set to 0,0,0,0. Which means when I capture I add no contrast, saturation etc.. to the preview. If you have editing in camera for jpegs then your review will be more different.

You will always see a change though. JPEGS by their nature due to compression lose some of the color values, and look more contrasty. RAW images with more colors to choose from, and that have not been edited, just are not as contrasty. That also means they are not as sharp appearing or as saturated. Once you've worked with troubled images long enough you'll see how valuable the RAWs are. The appearance of their short comings are easily fixed. When I used to do events I used to set my import preset to add contrast (which also aids in the appearance of sharpness) and to lower the blacks and raise the whites (which a different kind of contrast). Now that I'm a studio shooter I use a Color Checker Passport to do a type of modification that has a similar effect, but more accurate.