Many digital camera manufacturers offer custom image effects that are sometimes quite compelling. The Canon 5D, for example, offers you a choice of electronic filters and toning effects to create a specific black and white look. But if you are using Lightroom and shooting RAW, don’t waste your time fiddling with these settings; they won’t be recognized.

It MAY look like the settings are recognized when you first import a RAW file into Lightroom.

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But it will only take a moment and the effect will be gone. That’s because Lightroom momentarily displays the image preview generated by your digital camera, which of course reflects the special settings. But then Lightroom generates a new preview; one based on your Lightroom preview settings. The image will quickly appear in color, reflecting the default Lightroom RAW conversion settings.

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If you want to have these camera-generated settings apply to your RAW image you’ll need to use the proprietary software that came with your camera. Sometimes this software is free, other times it is extra. Or, you can shoot JPEG, in which case you lose all the advantages of shooting RAW.

Of course, by now you’ve learned all the awesome things you can do with Lightroom’s Develop module, so custom camera settings aren’t that important. Just don’t waste your time.