How to get the correct Leica Q3 profile in Lightroom
It's always exciting to get a new camera and start to use it. But as we all know, the excitement can quickly turn into anger when we see the raw files imported into Lightroom. Then the search begins about the best raw converter, whether we should buy another software because it is better in handling certain camera's files. Over the years I've learned to handle the initial panic attack and get prepared for these situations. Honestly, today almost every raw converter software is very capable. We can have a huge discussion about which is the best for who, but Adobe Lightroom is a really great choice for many reasons. The caveat is that with its default settings, it might not do a great job handling your raw files. With the right settings though, you'll see how great it can be.
Confusion in terminology
Just take a quick look at profiles in Lightroom and you'll find it is somewhat confusing. There are plenty of options from Standard through Landscape to Monochrome, etc. But which one should we use? Obviously you can use any available one. But if you like to have an accurate representation of your camera's raw files, you need to change a few settings. It isn't complicated.
First, check the default settings. Probably it's Adobe color. It's a bit too saturated and not really accurate. While Adobe is not great at terminologies, they can make a decent or great camera profile. If you want the matching profile for your camera made by Adobe, use Adobe Standard. This is what Adobe did for the camera.
Adobe profiles
Be aware of that though, if your equipment is too new, let's say a few months old after the initial release, this Standard profile might not be that great. It does the job, but far from being perfect. On the positive side, this Standard profile is updated regularly by Adobe, so it getting better and better, until it become really great.
If you don't want to wait for Adobe to decipher the right settings for your camera, use Embedded profile. Embedded is basically your camera's profile. But it's not always present in the profiles menu.
How to find the Embedded profile
You have to be in Develop mode. Right above the White balance tool you can find the profiles section. Click on the right hand side to see the list. If Embedded is not there, click on the plus sign (see picture below) and make Legacy available on the list. There you can find the Embedded profile for your camera.
The current profile from Adobe for the Leica Q3 is Adobe standard v2. It is not bad, a little too desaturated compared to the Embedded profile but if that's your preference, it can work really well.
One quick bonus tip: If you would like to use a profile that matches your camera much better, head to the Lightroom classic menu/preferences/presets. In the global settings choose: Camera settings
If you already imported the files, you might have to hit the reset the settings on the raw file to get the it work
If you follow these steps, you'll have a much better experience with Lightroom as a raw processing software and it show that we don't always have to use multiple softwares to get the raw processing right. After you're really happy with the profile and the basic settings for your camera's raw file I suggest to save it as a custom profile so you can use it as an import profile anytime you need. This way you have to do the basic settings only once, then let the software work for you.