Leica Looks and Lightroom Presets

[Kelly1957]

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I just got a Leica SL-3 and I also just decided to move from Apple Photos to Lightroom, so I’m trying to get a handle on what I believe are a couple related topics. As I understand it, the Leica Looks that I can apply on the camera or via Fotos only affect the JPG image and not the DNG image. But, a preset in Lightroom would allow me to modify any image, either JPG or DNG. So, if I wished to modify a DNG image to achieve one of the Leica Looks, that would require a Lightroom preset, which Leica does not supply. 
 

Am I following along correctly or am I missing something?  

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[jaapv]

A DNG file is a container file, not an image file. So there is no DNG image, only an image file (like TIFF) developed from the DNG. You can only manipulate the developed data extracted from  the DNG in postprocessing ( LR works f slightly differently in that it generates previews which show the effect of the changes you make and only converts the DNG on export) A Leica Look is nothing more than the interpretation of a camera generated JPG ( from the DNG) by a Leica technician and thus not more than a jpg preset from the factory  If you like it, fine, but if you want to do postprocessing to get the most from the camera, you need the complete data from the raw DNG  

Personally I regard Leica Looks as a smart marketing move and nothing more but other people seem to like them  

 

[BokehBeauty]

I would love to be able to apply Leica Looks onto the RAW file in the DNG container. Example, I like the Greg William B&W interpretation.

Irrespective of artistic presets, I always select a “suiting” Profile first in Lightroom Classic. But Leica, at least for my Q3 43, has no camera specific profiles. And the Adobe Profiles are not to my liking. The initial RAW file conversion has nothing to do with any Leica JPG. Even Embedded isn’t close. I had to make my own preset. This lack of Leica supporting their cameras in LrC is very unfortunate to me.

[elmars]

Since the M9, I have been urging Leica to provide presets or write profiles into the DNG so that you can have the look of the JPG (or now the Leica Looks) in LR for the DNG. They think it's a good idea, but haven't implemented it yet. The more people who contact Leica directly with this request, the sooner something will happen.

[LocalHero1953]

7 hours ago, Kelly1957 said:

Am I following along correctly or am I missing something?  

As is the way with this forum, no one has answered your actual questions: you are and you're not.

[jaapv]

2 hours ago, elmars said:

Since the M9, I have been urging Leica to provide presets or write profiles into the DNG so that you can have the look of the JPG (or now the Leica Looks) in LR for the DNG. They think it's a good idea, but haven't implemented it yet. The more people who contact Leica directly with this request, the sooner something will happen.

It should not be too hard to put them in a sidecar .xmp file. 

[PhotoCruiser]

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vor 8 Stunden schrieb Kelly1957:

As I understand it, the Leica Looks that I can apply on the camera or via Fotos only affect the JPG image and not the DNG image.

Yes, you understand correctly.

There are many many presets to download from specialized websites for free or to pay for, some of them have similar effects, but not the original Leica Looks.

Would exporting the photo after applying preset/s as a new DNG do the trick?

Chris

[LocalHero1953]

Just now, PhotoCruiser said:

 

Yes, you understand correctly.

There are many many presets to download from specialized websites for free or to pay for, some of them have similar effects, but not the original Leica Looks.

Would exporting the photo after applying preset/s as a new DNG do the trick?

Chris

Exporting as a DNG does not create new non-debayerised data - it creates an image file in a DNG wrapper. Since it started out as a JPG file, it will have been subject to lossy compression, and (normally) uses only 8 bits. So it's not a way to get a raw file with Leica Looks applied.

[PhotoCruiser]

Hmm, i just did a test using the BW preset before i wrote the above and exporting as DNG created a new 45.6 MB RAW file with the preset applied.
Yes, the preview file inside a DNG is low preset mode and the original DNG file can't be modified, but not sure if the DNG file contains the applied filter as description or similar as a sidecar file?

It depend what Kelly1957 exactly want to achieve, once the photo is edited and need to be published online exporting as high resolution jpg is just fine for online publishing.

Chris

[jaapv]

It cannot contain the original data once jpg lossy conversion has been applied. The larger size is probably created because a DNG needs to be in a TIFF-like format. A say 12MB Jpg would indeed be expanded  to something like 45MB TIFF. 

[PhotoCruiser]

Original file without any in-camera presets as Leica Looks don't work was 85MB and after applying SW preset and saved as new DNG it shrunk to 45MB.
So it probably was saved from TIFF to JPG in the exported DNG.

So, LR does not modify RAW data or include somehow the changes done by the preset, just change the embedded photo to the one with the preset applied when exporting to DNG?

Just to clarify:
i am writing about that OP does not apply any filter in her new SL3 and later apply a LR Preset in LR, i remember that there are some kind of Leica Look preset clones for Lightroom to be found online.

I understand also that LR is a non destructive editing program but not 100% sure where the applied changes are stored but guess in the corresponding LR library itself

Chris

 

Edited August 20 by PhotoCruiser

[Kelly1957]

6 hours ago, elmars said:

Since the M9, I have been urging Leica to provide presets or write profiles into the DNG so that you can have the look of the JPG (or now the Leica Looks) in LR for the DNG. They think it's a good idea, but haven't implemented it yet. The more people who contact Leica directly with this request, the sooner something will happen.

Might I ask what the most effective way would be to contact Leica with a request like this?  I see an email address on their website (software-support@leica-camera.com) - is sending a request to that address useful?

[jaapv]

It is useful, but don’t hold your breath. Leica got where they are by being headstrong and idiosyncratic. 

[elmars]

As already described, DNG is a container file. It contains the actual image file, which is similar to TIFF. It also contains a preview file. However, other files can also be embedded, including development settings from Lightroom or ACR. This is the difference to other RAW formats; development settings cannot be embedded in these, which is why LR creates its xmp sidecar file in these cases. Whether the development settings are written to the DNG depends on the settings in LR; the default setting is to create a sidecar file.

Presets are basically development settings. Leica also knows how to write presets from the camera to a DNG. This has been happening for a long time with Perspective Control and with the M11 Monochrom with its black-and-white tones. These are presets that you can activate, change, or deactivate in LR in DNG.

Therefore, I assume that it is technically no problem to store the Leica looks as presets in the DNG. However, it takes a lot of work to achieve the same result as with a JPG generated in the camera. Anyone who has ever tried to recreate the Leica black-and-white look of the JPG, which is really good, as a preset for the DNG knows this.

However, Adobe may also impose restrictions on such embedding. This would need to be checked in the DNG specifications.

[elmars]

vor 53 Minuten schrieb Kelly1957:

Might I ask what the most effective way would be to contact Leica with a request like this?  I see an email address on their website (software-support@leica-camera.com) - is sending a request to that address useful?

Yes, that makes sense. They collect such requests and then weigh their priorities accordingly.

[BernardC]

2 hours ago, PhotoCruiser said:

Original file without any in-camera presets as Leica Looks don't work was 85MB and after applying SW preset and saved as new DNG it shrunk to 45MB.

LR probably applied non-lossy compression to the DNG. Leica doesn't do this in-camera (except for the S-006), probably because the time saved in I/O is less than the extra CPU time used for compression. As the name implies, non-lossy compression does not discard any image data, unlike JPEG.

[Jean-Michel]

13 hours ago, Kelly1957 said:

I just got a Leica SL-3 and I also just decided to move from Apple Photos to Lightroom, so I’m trying to get a handle on what I believe are a couple related topics. As I understand it, the Leica Looks that I can apply on the camera or via Fotos only affect the JPG image and not the DNG image. But, a preset in Lightroom would allow me to modify any image, either JPG or DNG. So, if I wished to modify a DNG image to achieve one of the Leica Looks, that would require a Lightroom preset, which Leica does not supply. 
 

Am I following along correctly or am I missing something?  

Hi,

You understand correctly: the Fotos "Leica Looks" apply to the jpg file only. 

Leica chose —wisely in my opinion — to use Adobe's open standard DNG for their RAW file. All the metadata and whatever adjustments you make to the DNG in your favourite RAW processor are written to the DNG. Other RAW files such as those from Canon, Nikon, etc are proprietary and need a sidecar file to store the metadata and any adjustments you make to those files.

You can set your camera to save your files as either 'DNG only' or 'DNG + jpg' or just 'jpg'

If you choose DNG + jpg, the jpg image will import with whatever jpg settings you set in the camera. My M-P(240) is set with a jpg setting of black and white. That way whenever I use the EVF2 I see black and white image for easier focussing, and when imported I see both a colour and a black and white image side by side — the b&w jpg is just for a preview, if I want a b&w print, I make the changes in the DNG.

There are a gazillion presets to manipulate your DNG file, a bunch come with Lightroom for free and you can buy a whole stack of presets from God knows who. None of which are necessarily any better than those that you create yourself.

First thing to realize is that when you develop your DNG, the first thing that is applied to your file is the "Profile" in LR, the choices as of now are: Adobe Color, Adobe Standard, etc, and a new Adaptive Color. Pick one to get started developing; you can change the profiles at will.

One of the great features of Lightroom is that you can create any number of virtual copies of your DNG. You can develop a colour image, a black and white image, a cropped image, etc. and never lose the original file. 

I suppose the someone could write an LR preset that is similar to one of the FOTOS looks. Or, you can import your DNG and your FOTOS looks jpg into LR and go about developing your DNG to look the same as your "FOTOS' image and then save the DNG settings as a new User preset.

Oh! Make sure that your screen is calibrated. Soft-proof your image and print it.

 

 

[Bernd-B]

Mostly I shoot DNG only and use DNG+JPG only when I need some of pictures quickly - e.g. moving JPGs via the FOTOS App to my iPhone and sending them to friends. In this case, I use the Leica Looks sometimes. If I process the DNGs afterwards, I have exactly the same topic. Leica does not provide corresponding Lightroom Presets or Capture One Styles for their Leica Looks.. Being a Capture One user, my solution is to use the "Match Look" function of Capture One. I use the out-of-cam JPG with the Leica Look applied as reference and "Match Look" the DNG. That works quite well and gives a 90% solution. The remaining 10% is handwork in Capture One.

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[Kelly1957]

Thank you all for your input.  Per elmar's suggestion, I sent a note to Leica to ask about this.  From their reply:

"The Leica Looks are only available for JPGs via the Leica FOTOS app.
As you rightly point out, these image looks are currently not available for third-party applications. Customer wishes are important to us.
We are already in contact with the usual image processing providers to offer a solution that meets your requirements.
Please understand that we are unable to provide you with any information about the status and potential publication."

So, hopeful, but noncommittal.  Like most of my relationships.  🙃

[Photoworks]

On 8/19/2025 at 8:25 PM, Kelly1957 said:

I just got a Leica SL-3 and I also just decided to move from Apple Photos to Lightroom, so I’m trying to get a handle on what I believe are a couple related topics. As I understand it, the Leica Looks that I can apply on the camera or via Fotos only affect the JPG image and not the DNG image. But, a preset in Lightroom would allow me to modify any image, either JPG or DNG. So, if I wished to modify a DNG image to achieve one of the Leica Looks, that would require a Lightroom preset, which Leica does not supply. 
 

Am I following along correctly or am I missing something?  

You can shoot some samples in JPG and RAW and recreate the look in Lightroom and save it as a setting.

Personally i have done it for Capture one, but i don't think they are so useful.