Default Camera Raw settings question

Question

For a long time, I did not understand why do photos in Bridge that were shot in RAW appear satureted for a second and then become dull...as I understand, the first thumbnail isn't made from actual Raw with no settings, but the second one is, so it's not as "pretty".
My question is - is there a way to set the default RAW settings so that images shot in RAW would look like the ones shot in JPG? Because i mostly shoot in RAW+JPG and I'd like the RAW duplicates to look as pretty as JPG ones by default. Is the only option manually setting RAW settings and applying it as a default?
Thanks

Answer 1

The short answer is No.
The longer answer is Nearly, it depends.
The full answer is:
The initial image you see is the integrated thumbnail in the raw file, which is created at capture by the camera using its picture settings. This is not the "correct" version of the image (as there is no right or wrong way to convert raw to jpeg, just different ways). It is the version provided by the camera manufacturer using the chosen picture settings. Some may say it's the correct version, some will disagree. I say that, if you have chosen to shoot raw, you must be disagreeing to an extent.
Adobe's default conversion will not look like the camera's conversion. Adobe has its own idea of how your picture should convert, but it sees it only as a starting point. If you'd rather have a different starting point, closer to the camera's version, you can. Adobe provides Camera profiles designed to approximate the different camera picture settings, like Camera Standard, Camera Neutral, Camera Portrait, etc., and you can use those intead. They are nearer, but not exactly. Find them on the Camera Calibration tab in Camera Raw.
You can make these different settings default by opening a new photo in Camera Raw, changing the camera profile, tweaking any basic exposure settings, and then clicking on the little menu icon on the far right, and select Save New Camera Raw Defaults.
But, again, I suggest that you shouldn't be trying to duplicate the jpeg, otherwise why shoot raw in the first place? Just try to get the default how you think it should look.