adaptive color How to get the "Adaptive Color" Profile to work in Lightroom Classic?

[malbooth]

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I am now travelling in Denmark and I am not able to get "Adaptive Color" to apply to any of the photos from my Q3 43. I can see it as an option but unlike all of the other Profile options in the Profile Browser, the two Adaptive options (Color and B&W) make no changes at all to the image. 

The photos have been uploaded and converted to DNG in my Lightroom Classic catalogue on an external SSD that I travel with. In that catalogue I also have some older SL3 and SL2 DNG files and I cannot apply it to them either. I am just trying to apply the profile to unedited DNG files, so no other presets or edits have been applied.

Adobe Creative Cloud tells me all of my apps are up-to-date.

I am using a 2020 MacBook Pro that has a 2GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 processor and Intel Iris Plus Graphics (1536 MB). I am also o the most recent operating system: Sequoia 15.6.

I'd appreciate any advice. Thanks.

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[mujk]

What happens after you select the adaptive profile? Do you see the slider for adjusting the amount of corrections? Are you connected to the Internet when doing this?

[malbooth]

Nothing happens after selecting Adaptive Color. I don't get the slider and nothing else happens, even after a few minutes.

Yes I am connected to the internet.

I also tried Updating AI settings (under Library>Photo>Develop Settings) but that too had no impact.

[evikne]

The same thing (nothing) happens to me, but I guess that in my case it's because my Mac is too old (2013 MB Pro) and can't run the latest version of LR Classic. Unfortunately, I don't know what the error could be in your case.

[mujk]

16 hours ago, malbooth said:

Nothing happens after selecting Adaptive Color. I don't get the slider and nothing else happens, even after a few minutes.

Yes I am connected to the internet.

I also tried Updating AI settings (under Library>Photo>Develop Settings) but that too had no impact.

Do the adaptive profiles work in ACR on the same computer?

Is the LR catalog on your SSD compatible with all features of the LR version you use? At some point when upgrading LR the catalog structure was changed to facilitate these.

[malbooth]

I don't know what you mean about the profiles working in ACR on this computer? Isn't ACR used to create the DNGs?

I have now optimised the LR catalog on my SSD (which took a few mins), but it seems to have had no impact re Adaptive Color profiles. How else should I ensure it is compatible with the LR version I am using?

What is strange is that the four sets of Adaptive presets do work, but they are very different to the Adaptive Profile.

[SrMi]

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On 8/11/2025 at 9:56 AM, malbooth said:

I am now travelling in Denmark and I am not able to get "Adaptive Color" to apply to any of the photos from my Q3 43. I can see it as an option but unlike all of the other Profile options in the Profile Browser, the two Adaptive options (Color and B&W) make no changes at all to the image. 

The photos have been uploaded and converted to DNG in my Lightroom Classic catalogue on an external SSD that I travel with. In that catalogue I also have some older SL3 and SL2 DNG files and I cannot apply it to them either. I am just trying to apply the profile to unedited DNG files, so no other presets or edits have been applied.

Adobe Creative Cloud tells me all of my apps are up-to-date.

I am using a 2020 MacBook Pro that has a 2GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 processor and Intel Iris Plus Graphics (1536 MB). I am also o the most recent operating system: Sequoia 15.6.

I'd appreciate any advice. Thanks.

What do you mean by "converted to DNG?" Q3 43 generates DNG files by itself. There is no need to convert them.

I have no issues with the Adaptive Color or the Adaptive B&W option.

When you choose "Adaptive Color" in the Profile Tab, do you see "Adaptive Color" as the selected profile?

Which version of LrC do you have? It should be 14.4.

ACR is a simplified Lightroom, primarily used in conjunction with Photoshop, and converts raw files to TIFF.

Selecting Adaptive Profile does not change any sliders.

 

[mujk]

On 8/12/2025 at 8:04 PM, malbooth said:

I don't know what you mean about the profiles working in ACR on this computer? Isn't ACR used to create the DNGs?

I have now optimised the LR catalog on my SSD (which took a few mins), but it seems to have had no impact re Adaptive Color profiles. How else should I ensure it is compatible with the LR version I am using?

What is strange is that the four sets of Adaptive presets do work, but they are very different to the Adaptive Profile.

Adobe first implemented adaptive profiles in ACR and then in LR. ACR is the component that launches when opening a raw file, e.g. a DNG, in Photoshop. You can select the the color profile in the ACR window.

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I was just wondering if the adaptive profile works in ACR on your computer. If that is the case, the problem is definitely in LR. A possible problem with the catalog was just a guess, based on the need to update the catalog at some point when I last did a major upgrade to Lightroom. This was a lengthy process and it created a whole new catalog with additional fields to support new features.

 

[jaapv]

1 hour ago, SrMi said:

What do you mean by "converted to DNG?" Q3 43 generates DNG files by itself. There is no need to convert them.

I have no issues with the Adaptive Color or the Adaptive B&W option.

When you choose "Adaptive Color" in the Profile Tab, do you see "Adaptive Color" as the selected profile?

Which version of LrC do you have? It should be 14.4.

ACR is a simplified Lightroom, primarily used in conjunction with Photoshop, and converts raw files to TIFF.

Selecting Adaptive Profile does not change any sliders.

 

If JPGs are used in the DNG converter to create DNG files the information needed for Adobe's profiles simply is not there - you need out of camera DNGs. I guess the OP uploaded only JPGs through the app and then converted them, losing half the data.

 

1 hour ago, SrMi said:

The photos have been uploaded and converted to DNG

 

[mujk]

27 minutes ago, jaapv said:

If JPGs are used in the DNG converter to create DNG files the information needed for Adobe's profiles simply is not there - you need out of camera DNGs. I guess the OP uploaded only JPGs through the app and then converted them, losing half the data.

 

 

I was wondering about the same thing. Usually JPGs are never converted to DNGs, because nothing actually happens to the image data in that conversion and there are no other benefits either. Camera/vendor-specific, proprietary raw format images may be converted to DNG e.g. for archival purposes to ensure compatibility with future image processing software. But the Q3 43 does not have a proprietary raw format - it uses DNG directly so no conversion is needed. Maybe the camera is set up to produce both JPGs and DNGs and this creates some confusion?

Anyway, a DNG file has an embedded profile that can be used when rendering the image. A profile is a sort of static conversion table for the image data in the DNG. In addition, the image processing software can have one or several, usually camera-specific profiles that can be used instead of the embedded profile. Adobe adaptive profiles are quite different because they are dynamic and calculated by AI on a per-image basis, but otherwise they work mostly like other profiles. 

[jaapv]

JPG, being an in-camera conversion, is missing the embedded conversion data. ( amongst other things). Converting to DNG won’t bring them back. 

[malbooth]

I don't really understand much about ACR and I am not using it at all. I just read something about it doing something to files during Import. 

I am shooting ONLY in Raw. I never shoot jpgs. And I am not shooting Raw+JPG.

I am now on LR Classic v14.5 after an update yesterday.

[SrMi]

1 hour ago, malbooth said:

I don't really understand much about ACR and I am not using it at all. I just read something about it doing something to files during Import. 

I am shooting ONLY in Raw. I never shoot jpgs. And I am not shooting Raw+JPG.

I am now on LR Classic v14.5 after an update yesterday.

What did you mean by "converted" in your post: "... uploaded and converted to DNG in my Lightroom Classic catalogue?"

The only reason that Adaptive Profile doesn't work is that your DNGs are not the original ones, created by Q3.

[mujk]

18 hours ago, malbooth said:

I don't really understand much about ACR and I am not using it at all. I just read something about it doing something to files during Import. 

I am shooting ONLY in Raw. I never shoot jpgs. And I am not shooting Raw+JPG.

I am now on LR Classic v14.5 after an update yesterday.

Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) is the raw image import dialogue plug-in of Adobe Photoshop. It has much in common with the raw processing in Lightroom, including the possibility to use adaptive profiles. However, Lightroom never launches the ACR program as such.

The reason I asked about ACR was to possibly narrow down the problem. If Adaptive Color works when opening a DNG in Photoshop (which launches ACR for this purpose), then that indicates that a) the DNG is ok and b) the adaptive profiles "AI engine" is ok on the computer. So in that case the problem would likely be in the configuration of Lightroom. Otherwise it could be either a problem with the DNG or something disabling or blocking the adaptive profile mechanism in both LR and ACR.

[malbooth]

Thanks, I'd never really heard of ACR before asking for help here.

I shoot L-DNG on all of my Leica Cameras. I've not tried to use Photoshop. I don't have it on my laptop that I am travelling with.

The DNGs seems to be able to do everything else OK. All other features of LR that I use work. I was just wondering why the new Adaptive Color profiles do not work for me.

This laptop had an issue with wifi internet at home recently. Apple tried to fix it over the phone but then asked me to take it to an Apple store and eventually they said they needed to do a complete software re-installation. That seems to have fixed the wifi internet dropping out issue, but I did not want to reinstall from a back-up (& put the same bug back on it) so I've had to instal programs one-by-one as needed. I had Adobe Creative Cloud on this laptop previously, but once I was overseas I realised I would need it again, so I just downloaded what I use and needed, i.e. LR Classic. I am wondering whether when I reinstalled Adobe CC and LR, I said no to too many cookies, one of which may have been related to Adaptive Color connecting to some AI entity?

[zeitz]

4 hours ago, malbooth said:

I'd never really heard of ACR before asking for help here.

The Lighroom Develop module is ACR, which existed in earlier forms long before Lightroom.  Remember a raw file does not contain an image.  You need a raw converter to show an image.  What you see on the camera's screen is a converter raw file for a profile that you selected in the camera's menu; what you see on the screen is not the raw file.

 

On 8/13/2025 at 12:32 PM, mujk said:

sn't ACR used to create the DNGs?

ACR is a raw converter.  It works with raw files; it does not create raw files.  DNG is a raw file format developed by Adobe for camera manufacturers who don't want to develop their own raw format.

Adobe now has an interface for jpegs and ACR so you can use some of the ACR tools on jpegs.  But all tools can't be used because the information needed simply doesn't exist in a jpeg file.

[SrMi]

On 8/11/2025 at 9:56 AM, malbooth said:

I am now travelling in Denmark and I am not able to get "Adaptive Color" to apply to any of the photos from my Q3 43. I can see it as an option but unlike all of the other Profile options in the Profile Browser, the two Adaptive options (Color and B&W) make no changes at all to the image. 

The photos have been uploaded and converted to DNG in my Lightroom Classic catalogue on an external SSD that I travel with. In that catalogue I also have some older SL3 and SL2 DNG files and I cannot apply it to them either. I am just trying to apply the profile to unedited DNG files, so no other presets or edits have been applied.

Adobe Creative Cloud tells me all of my apps are up-to-date.

I am using a 2020 MacBook Pro that has a 2GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 processor and Intel Iris Plus Graphics (1536 MB). I am also o the most recent operating system: Sequoia 15.6.

I'd appreciate any advice. Thanks.

Your GPU may not be adequate for the Adaptive Color profile to work.

[malbooth]

I am travelling with the MBP now, but will check if the AC Profiles work when I get home in a bit over a week on a more powerful iMac.

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[bill_murray]

Mal, have you checked in LR preferences, performance tab, that "Use Graphics Processor" fields are set to Auto or On?

[malbooth]

8 hours ago, bill_murray said:

Mal, have you checked in LR preferences, performance tab, that "Use Graphics Processor" fields are set to Auto or On?

No! Will do so on arrival in NYC. Currently somewhere over the Atlantic. I didn't know about that Bill, thanks:)