Camera Labs

I'm a new Lightroom user and have a few questions about how it handles files.

1. When saving both JPG and NEF files to the same directory (imported into the catalog), the file name says Dxxx.jpg + nef when in the editor. Which file are the changes being made to? Both?

2. I tried having the JPG files and NEF files in separate directories. When editing the NEF file versus the JPG file, it seems they're identical, and the same "range" of adjustments are available for both files. I thought NEF files are supposed to have a much wider range of adjustments available? So far I haven't seen the benefit of NEF files I guess.

3. Are the changes made directly to the files, or only within the program until exported? If the photos are moved from within explorer to a different directory, then re-imported, will Lightroom remember the edited changes?

4. When initially loading a pic in Lightroom, it shows up on the screen, then after a second the camera settings are loaded? Am I correct? It even does it for NEF files, which I thought were supposed to have no adjustments by default. Is there a way to shut that feature off?

1) I don't shoot RAW + JPEG, so I'll let someone else who does answer.

2) All lightroom adjustments are available to both JPEG and RAW files. The difference is in how extreme those adjustments can be before you start to see quality deteriorations. As an experiment, try adding +2.0 EV exposure compensation to both JPEG and RAW files. You should see that the RAW file will handle the edit better than the JPEG file (i.e. the JPEG will start exhibiting unnatural colours while the RAW should still be fairly usable).

3) The original files are not touched. The changes are stored in a database and if you want your Lightroom edits to be visible in an external application, you'll have to export the file.

4) As you're loading a RAW file in Lightroom, you're seeing the preview image that's embedded within the file. This preview image is a JPEG that's been processed by the camera. After the file has been loaded, Lightroom processes the RAW file and updates what's shown on your screen with it's own interpretation of how that RAW file will look. The difference between the embedded preview and Lightroom's rendering can be minimized by choosing the correct camera profile (see http://blogs.oreilly.com/lightroom/2008 ... -ligh.html) but in my experience there will always be a slight difference.

Hope that helps, and welcome to the forums

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PhilipGoh.com