Skip to main content

⚠️ Please note that this topic or post has been archived. The information contained here may no longer be accurate or up-to-date. ⚠️

Automatic

NN636047075042723405UL
I am using the trial and testing the software.
I have problems to understand the automatic button in the menu.

If I click on it then it is adjusting the raw file. (thats okay)
But if I click a second time then it is adjusting the file again. (here I have a problem to understand)
Automatic is automatic - shouldn't be there any changes when I let C1 process the file a second time (automatically)?
0

Comments

4 comments

Date Votes
  • Ian Wilson
    Moderator
    Top Commenter
    If you click on the A button on the toolbar, C1 will adjust certain things to what it thinks might be good amounts. If you click and hold the button you can see what things it will adjust. Mine is set to adjust Exposure, HDR and Levels. You can select or deselect various options (the others being White Balance, Rotation and Keystone.)

    I have to say that I hardly ever use the A function. I am more likely to use the little A against some of the individual tools (such as Levels). You'd find it quite rewarding to get to know what all the tools do, and experiment with seeing what you can do to the image for yourself. However one approach is to use the A button, see whether you like the result and then use that as a starting point for tweaking it a bit more.

    If you click the A, and do nothing else, you should not find that clicking it again changes anything. For instance, if C1 thinks that the image is a bit under-exposed and adds 0.5 to exposure, it won't by itself add any more if you click it again. But if you change the exposure yourself and then click A again, it will change it again to the 0.5 it thought was needed.

    By the way, clicking the A does not "process" the file, which would mean creating output in some format such as JPG, TIFF, etc. Also C1 never makes any changes to your raw file. It stores details of the adjustments you make in a separate file and applies them to produce the preview you see on screen, and the output file if you process it. But it never messes with your raw file. One of the advantages of that is that you can try adjusting the file in more than one way (perhaps one with a high contrast, fairly saturated look, and another with a more subtle look, or one colour and one black-and-white, or several different crops) and you always have the same raw file available as a starting point. You cannot wreck you raw file.

    Ian
    0
  • SFA
    [quote="NN636047075042723405UL" wrote:
    I am using the trial and testing the software.
    I have problems to understand the automatic button in the menu.

    If I click on it then it is adjusting the raw file. (thats okay)
    But if I click a second time then it is adjusting the file again. (here I have a problem to understand)
    Automatic is automatic - shouldn't be there any changes when I let C1 process the file a second time (automatically)?


    Why not change again?

    In some situations there may be no logical different choice to make.

    In others there may be several possible options and at each stage, based on the assumption you were not entirely satisfied with the first attempt, a different result may be obtained.

    I have no idea whether this is what you are seeing but I think you may want to consider whether your assumption that there can only be one "automatic" solution is entirely appropriate to what is on offer.

    A second click might imply that you are not entirely convinced by the first attempt.

    As Ian3 writes - the full auto adjustment is something I rarely use - however it may be useful from time to time depending on what you are trying to achieve.

    A batch of challenging images that need to be sent to the client in a hurry as proofs? Auto might be just the way to go.

    Your personal tweaking of an frame for presentation in a photography club contest .... Auto may not be the result you seek.


    HTH.

    Grant
    0
  • RichardT
    I've just been experimenting on a few images and I've not seen the settings change when I click the auto button a second time, unless I change something else (such as clarity, saturation or setting a crop) in between the two clicks.

    Edit: I normally have the Auto button configured to only apply Exposure, High Dynamic Range and Levels. I just tried it including White Balance as well and that did make another change the second time I pressed the button.

    Richard
    0
  • NN636047075042723405UL
    I had WB, Exposure, HDR & Levels configured. But exposure & HDR has nothing to do with it. It's all about WB & levels.
    I realised the chances mainly via the exposure warning since the areas with the exposure warning were changing.


    Why not change again?

    In some situations there may be no logical different choice to make.

    I expect normally that with 'automatic' I always get the same results. It should not differ and depend whether there is Summer or Winter or whether the picture was already processed.
    Perhaps I am wrong - thats why I said that I have problems to understand.

    With the first click 'WB, Exposure, HDR & Levels' are automatically set to 'optimum' (in the opinion of the program).
    With the next click the program suddenly overthinks its first decision. (why THIS cannot be done already in the first step?)

    And it doesn't matter whether it is better to set all manually or not. It is just a strange behaviour (IMHO).
    0

Post is closed for comments.