# Difference Between Auto Settings and Auto Tone



## reidthaler (Apr 2, 2019)

I thought the built-in Classic General, Auto Settings  was the same as creating a preset with Auto Settings preset, but it's not.  Notice that first photo below that the Auto in basic panel is not engaged, but it is in the second.

So what does Classic General, Auto Settings actually do?  It's not doing what I expected.

It would be great if I could import with auto tone and then zero out the contrast, since Lightroom dials in negative contrast, and sometimes negative saturation which is stupid for a RAW file.  I can't thing of a workaround.  Can you?

Thanks,

Reid


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## RikkFlohr (Apr 2, 2019)

See Simon's recent post on this thread for an explanation: Lightroom Classic: Auto Tone of a batch of photos gives different results than if you do them one at a time | Photoshop Family Customer Community


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## reidthaler (Apr 2, 2019)

Thanks.

Good to know that I'm not the only one seeing this issue.  To get the auto settings I want, I think I need to import, select all, auto tone, then zero contrast.


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## David Gordon (May 10, 2019)

reidthaler said:


> To get the auto settings I want, I think I need to import, select all, auto tone, then zero contrast.



I do the same but I'm using Jeffrey’s “Bag-o-Goodies”  Plugin which includes  "Personalized Auto Tone".


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## Zenon (May 10, 2019)

reidthaler said:


> Thanks.
> 
> Good to know that I'm not the only one seeing this issue.  To get the auto settings I want, I think I need to import, select all, auto tone, then zero contrast.



Adobe is aware of this and will correct it some day. I created a preset called Contrast 0 to apply to multiple files. Then I found Jeffrey's Personalized Auto Tone and set it to only reduce contrast to 25% of what Auto thinks.


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## Zenon (May 10, 2019)

You can also import all your files and in the Develop module select all or some of them then toggle the Sync button to Auto Sync. Now when you choose Auto it will anaylyze each file separately and when done apply a 0 Contrast preset.


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## Zenon (May 10, 2019)

Zenon said:


> Adobe is aware of this and will correct it some day. I created a preset called Contrast 0 to apply to multiple files. Then I found Jeffrey's Personalized Auto Tone and set it to only reduce contrast to 25% of what Auto thinks.



I should have been more specific. Adobe is aware of the large contrast reduction.


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## Zenon (May 10, 2019)

Sorry for bumping again. Not sure what your workflow is but I discovered that Auto does not play nicely with Canon profiles. It tends to over-protect highlights and will underexpose quite a bit. I download using Adobe Color and then after using Auto switch to a Canon profile. Not sure about other manufacturer profiles. Profiles created using ColorChecker Passport do not seem to suffer this based on my tests.


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## reidthaler (May 10, 2019)

David Gordon said:


> I do the same but I'm using Jeffrey’s “Bag-o-Goodies”  Plugin which includes  "Personalized Auto Tone".



David,

Thanks so much for the suggestion of Jeffrey's bag of goodies. Interesting sense of timing, as I was just teaching a class last night on the use of plug-ins, so this will come in really handy for me and my classmates. Also interesting sense of timing because the next thing I ended up googling was "applying Lightroom plug-ins with keyboard shortcuts" and the first hit was your post on using keyboard tamer! Is that still working out for you or do you have a better option? 

Update: Keyboard Tamer not working on Windows 10 computer.  Just wrote the author.  Alternatives?

Thanks again!


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## reidthaler (May 10, 2019)

Never mind.  I was able to get Keyboard Tamer working—restarted, uninstalled, re-installed


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## reidthaler (May 10, 2019)

Another issue:  I’m on a PC.  Can I call up a plug in with Keyboard Tamer on a PC? Am I not accessing it correctly?  I see instructions for a Mac, but not PC. Any workarounds?


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## Zenon (May 10, 2019)

I use this one too.

http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-goodies/bulk-develop


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## Zenon (May 16, 2019)

I noticed a few improvements with 8.3. I wonder if they corrected the preset issue?

From 2018

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/community/threads/i-have-noticed-using-auto-tone-and-profiles.35678/
Today

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/community/threads/lr-classic-8-3-release.37631/post-1247862


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## reidthaler (May 16, 2019)

Yes they did!. I played around with it yesterday applying auto tone on import, and then comparing it to auto tone applied after import and rendering. There’s a negligible shift and some of the sliders, but overall it’s been fixed!

It’s still appears to apply a little negative saturation, but overall it’s still workable


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## SaraLH (May 16, 2019)

I also just noticed that after the 8.3 update I'm suddenly getting positive contrast with Auto Tone.


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## David Gordon (May 16, 2019)

SaraLH said:


> I also just noticed that after the 8.3 update I'm suddenly getting positive contrast with Auto Tone.



A quick look and I see the same. Need to check some older files to be sure though!


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## Zenon (May 16, 2019)

I did check some older files. Positive contrast when going back to import and re-applying Auto.


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## Jim Wilde (May 16, 2019)

Yes, in view of the many complaints about the usually large negative contrast being applied by the previous Auto Settings, Adobe have reworked the Auto function. Sometimes I find it better that before, sometimes not as good....but that'll usually be the case because what's good/not good is almost always subjective.


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## Zenon (May 16, 2019)

Jeff Schewe said he was working on it a few months ago at LL. I looked forward to the correction since then.  I know some don't like Auto anything but I find it a time saver in some areas. I guess I can stop using a plug-in that lets me control Auto.

Adobe basically had to do something. C1 put out a video a few years ago saying how much better their product looked out of the box.  Then Adobe Color came out and the sharpening default went to 40.  These days the first look can make or break it. Some aren't interested in creating color profiles, doing extensive editing, etc. Adobe Standard was/is a little flat which was by design.


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