Lightroom: give us more control !

[Dominique_R]

Hi all,

 

Behind the intentionally provocative title lies a genuine frustration of mine, which is the following:

 

I have a Nikon kit, and a Fuji X-Pro1-based kit. I use Lightroom (5.7) to develop my Fuji RAWs. Because of the whole Adobe extort subscription scheme, I had to quit using Camera RAW to develop my Nikon RAWs, and so I also use Lightroom for those.

 

Now, when I process a Nikon RAW, Lightroom gives me, in the Lens Corrections tab, the option to apply corrections based on the lens that was used to take the picture:

 

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This is true for Nikkor lenses, but also for compatible thirs-party lenses such as the MF Zeiss I use.

 

I can "Enable profile corrections" or not, or only some of them. For example, for a given photo, I may choose to leave vignetting correction alone because I find it nice to keep the vignetting, or some degree of it.

 

Now, when I process a Fuji RAW, I don't have that option. When I try to to to the same tab, this is what I see:

 

 

I understand that the lens corrections are "built into"... the Lightroom software itself? the RAW file? Well, they're built into something anyway, and applied automatically. Good. One less thing to do.

 

Yes, except that one of the reasons we guys use Fuji X bodies is because we like to retain as much control as possible, if and when we want to apply it, and the ability to do everything manually every once in a while if we feel like it. In fact, we don't mind being given more control. Right?

 

On another forum, I was told by very knowlegeable people that it was not Fuji's fault, but Adobe's choice, and that they do that for all mirrorless cameras. I wonder why, and I wonder if there are other X users like me, who'd like to simply have the choice:

 

. either to have corrections applied automatically "in the black box" to their photos,

 

. or to select manually which corrections should be applied, to what extent, with the ability to assess the effect in real time as the correction is applied and adjusted, just like what happens with DSLR RAWs.

 

This forum (and Patrick's great rumor site) is apparently listened to by Fuji, and if Fuji could be persuaded that the way Adobe are doing it doesn't make much sense compared to the way Lightroom handles DSLR RAWs, then maybe Fuji could help convince Adobe to change policy...

 

What do you think?

[Larry Bolch]

I wish that ACR/LR/PS would do the same for my D700 shots. There is nothing the least bit creative about fixing a lens in processing. Just an extra manual step.

[Dominique_R]

There is nothing the least bit creative about fixing a lens in processing. Just an extra manual step.

 

I beg to differ: unless you're systematically aiming for surgically-clean pictures, you might be interested in, for example (and tha's just one example), playing with vignetting, leaving some in, etc. If the software, within its black box, cleans it for you without your being able to do anything about it, then you have to add your little bit of vignetting afterwards, in post-, and now, that is, as you said, "just an extra manual step".

 

I'm not sure people who want software to do more for them are good customer targets for bodies and lenses of the X lineup. They'd probably be happier with point-and-shoots, as the camera itself then does everything and they don't even have to go to post-production.