Canon R6mk2, Lens aberration correction, should I switch this feature off?

[adam461]

I've recently received my R6mk2 and I'm slowly going through all the settings and what not, importing a few test RAW images into Lightroom and surprisingly, Lightroom has applied the 'Lens Corrections' feature as standard, both the 'Remove Chromatic Aberration' and 'Enable Profile Corrections' are ticked, even though these aren't selected in my custom preset I've made and apply on import. After Googling this issue, it seems Lightroom recognises the lens (RF24-105F4) and applies it as standard if you want it to or not, some say it might even be a bug which will work itself out in an updated version. People have asked if it's worth allowing Lightroom to apply these settings, some say yes, some say no, I haven't used them before so I'm within the no camp. 

I then checked all the settings on the camera and most options I have switched off because I know it'll only work/register with the Canon DPP software, not with Lightroom (bear in mind I shoot in RAW), so I've switched off 'Auto Lighting Optimizer' and 'Highlight tone priority', then I came to the setting of 'Lens aberration correction' and I decided to switch all the options within to off, thinking that might solve the Lightroom issue, it didn't, I took a few more test pictures, imported them into Lightroom but it was still the same, the lens corrections were applied as standard, no big deal, I can untick those if I want.

My question is, should the 'Lens aberration corrections' be switched on in camera? Obviously I want to get the best out of my new camera, have I done the wrong thing by turning them off? Or will Lightroom simply ignore those settings anyway? TIA.

[justadude]

Turn it off in camera since you are using Lightroom.  It's just one more thing "on" that drains the battery a little faster.  Most of us shoot RAW, and the options work perfectly with Lightroom.

I've used Lightroom since the original pre-release beta days in 2006.  It does an excellent job on lens correction, and has a ridiculously huge selection of lens options you can pick and choose.  The older versions of Lightroom used to have a selection to disable lens corrections on import, but this has improved so much over the years that the developers decided to have it set to "on" during import.  You can easily uncheck the box if it isn't to your liking.  

DPP4 is a good program as far as features, but it is painfully slow... especially compared to something was fast as Lightroom.  I use it occasionally on my infrared photography for the first edit step because the white balance feature on DPP4 can adjust Infrared just a little better.  But it's pretty much that I do a few clicks, then grab my book and read a couple pages.  I look at that piece of software as an occasional necessary evil.  

[adam461]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. There doesn't seem to be a way of importing the RAW files into Lightroom and switching the 'Lens Correction' to off, I've disabled it in my Preset but it still applies the correction, it is bizzare. The only way around it is to import images, select them all and then untick the 'Lens Correction' options, press enter and apply to all files. I've read online there might be a bug within Lightroom and it might be fixed with a future update and some say it's only occurring with the 24-105F4.

So just to be sure, you wouldn't recommend that I apply the lens profiles in Lightroom? And I simply process the images without? I never used any profiles with my older Canon cameras, just seems strange now that it's automatically applied those settings.

[p4pictures]

A couple of points...

Highlight tone priority affects the RAW image. In simple terms the camera uses a different tone curve when highlight tone priority is set to the D+ or D2+ than it normally does for the disabled setting. This curve is applied by the camera when converting the signal in to digital data. When set to D+ or D2+ there are more levels of tone used for highlights, but since the number of levels doesn't change it means there is a corresponding reduction in the gradation of shadows and for underexposed or dark images. This can lead to more visible noise and sometime blocking up of shadows when D+ or D2+ is selected. In general the standard setting is fine for general photography, but if you primarily photograph white textures like fur, snow, fabric then it does show more details in the pictures. 

Secondly many of the lenses for R-series cameras do make use of the digital lens corrections as part of their design. Depending on the lens, you may see vignetting in the camera if lens corrections are disabled in-camera. These corrections really don't have a measurable impact on battery life so it's up to you if you use them or not. Lightroom applies the corrections by default as you have seen since the lenses were designed with expected corrections to be applied in camera or the RAW processing software.

Other settings you didn't mention are Picture Style and High ISO noise reduction. Picture styles are applied in camera and the default is AUTO picture style. AUTO means that the camera will apply standard, portrait or landscape picture styles based on the camera's "understanding" of what is in the picture. Other styles such as Fine Detail, Neutral and Faithfull have a different look on the camera screen and in the EVF. Neutral style is the flattest look, while Faithfull is intended to produce colorimetrically accurate colours assuming the subject is lit with 5200K lighting. The style you select on the camera will influence the on-camera histogram either before the shot, or in playback. Styles such as standard, portrait, landscape and fine detail will show highlight clipping (and the highlight warnings) than the same scene captured with neutral or faithful picture styles. Adobe has developed the camera matching profiles similar to the Canon camera ones, but there is no fine detail equivalent. 

[adam461]

Thanks for replying, after more Googling, indeed it seems that Canon's mirrorless lens's do benefit from 'lens correction' so I may stick with it. Regarding 'Highlight tone priority' that is something that would be beneficial to me, however I'm under the impression that it only works when the ISO is set to 200 and higher, it won't work with ISO 100, which might be a deal breaker for me, unless the feature so so excellent it's worth putting with ISO 200. Will Lightroom know that the feature has been used? Bearing in mind I'm shooting RAW.

[p4pictures]

Lightroom won't know, but the data in the RAW will be different with each of the highlight tone priority settings for the same image. Ideally I would test side by side on the subjects you want to photograph to work out if highlight tone priority is beneficial for your photos. The reality is that it is not the default setting on the camera, and that is because disabling highlight tone priority is best for a wide range of general photography. If you specialise in white egrets in the snow then I'd say it's best to enable highlight tone priority.