What's new
Luminar Forum

This is an independent community forum for the photo editing software "Luminar/ Luminar Neo" (Skylum). Register for a free account and reserve you preferred username before someone else takes it.

  • Did you not get the confirmation email?

    If you registered, but did not get the confirmation email within 2 minutes, please check first your spam folder. If it is not there, please use the contact form at the bottom of the forum and inform us. We will find a solution.

Beginner Q: Compare cam jpg vs. raw, figure out what edits applied by cam

D

doron

New Member
Hi folks,

New to Neo and this forum (just joined), so be gentle...

I have a seemingly odd question. I've set my cam to record both raw and jpeg; I usually edit the raw with Neo, and I do sometimes use the jpeg as reference.
There are times when the jpeg, as created by the camera, looks better than my edits on raw, - which made me curious: is there a way (tool) in which I can compare the jpeg and the raw of the same photo, to understand what were the "edits" applied by the camera to get the jpeg? Obviously I can use my eyes and figure it out, but as I said, sometimes I don't get it right.

Thanks in advance for any pointers.
 
doron said:
is there a way (tool) in which I can compare the jpeg and the raw of the same photo, to understand what were the "edits" applied by the camera to get the jpeg?
Click to expand...

No.

The differences between RAW and Jpeg ooc depend also on your camera model (brand, entry level or not etc.), the subject of your photo, your metering while taking the photo and your know-how in editing. Many, many variables. On top of that, Luminar is not perfect. No software is. Some software has strenght in different areas like in RAW converting, noise reduction or shadow lifting, depending on the brand.
 
Thanks @dirk for responding!
Understood re jpeg editing by camera differs among cameras (and, I might add, even among firmware versions of same camera).
This is why I was hoping for a tool that can look at both files and say "to get from here (raw file x.cr3) to there (jpeg file x.jpg), apply the following edits:...".

Thanks for taking the time.
 
I started my digital photo career much as you describe. For a long time, I just accepted the jpg images. After a while, I reconsidered, and became concerned about the loss of information that the camera programmers forced on me.
As I became more familiar with digital photo processing, I learned that I have my own style, my own preferences, my own goals. Starting with camera RAW gave me the maximum amount of digital information that I could use to develop images that satisfied me.
As I became more confident of my personal vision, I stopped recording my images in jpg and only use raw.
A quick Internet search will yield many systems to develop RAW images. The only way to know what YOU want is to experiment. I think NEO is a good choice, and a fast one
Best wishes on your photo adventure.
 
In my particular case (EOS 5D Mk 4), I shoot RAW ONLY. There's a lot more information in the file, hence its much larger size. Yes, some processing may be needed but the end result is always better - IMHO. With Neo's RAW processing capabilities, it makes more sense, to me, to shoot RAW ONLY.
I am new to Neo as well having been a Photoshop user for years.
 
Thanks @James Orr and @dcsmith .
I do get all that, and indeed I record both jpeg and raw. As I said I usually do my thing on the raw and like the results. In some cases, the jpeg from the camera looked better than my result, and I couldn't figure out what edits I need to apply unto my raw to get "that" (the coloring of the camera jpeg). For these cases, I asked the question. I thought there must be a "photo_diff" tool to which I can feed a jpeg and a raw file and it will output "to get this jpeg, take the raw file and apply edits (a) (b) (c)... in this order". Oh well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top