On import the CR2 looks different

Question

hello,
have a question that might be obvious to many, but i don't yet understand.
i work almost 95% with canon raw files.
i don't convert to DNG.
LR4, allthough what i'm reffering to appears with all versions.
when i open the import dialog box, and going to the location of the CR2 files i would like to import, i see on screen a different version/look of the image than after import.
meaning, i see what i interpet as a "Jpeg" version of the CR2 file when i'm in the import dialog box.
but when everything is imported into my catalog, when i look on the same file it looks much different. (both in library and develop)
i'm not applying any develop settings upon import.
only my metadata and maybe a few keywords.
can someone explain to me what am i seeing exactly?
tnx

Answer 1

but from time to time i think that i would like to have that "hidden camera" thumbnail as a start point to my process rather than the contrast/reddish start point that i get from the basic CR2 right off the camera.
It is a good idea to find different processing that you want your images to start out with, automatically, when they open in LR. This is no different in principle, than when we set the camera so that it automatically gives us JPG pictures with the look that we want. The camera processes JPGs, and LR processes Raws. We do not have to use the camera the way it was set in the factory, and we do not have to use LR with the Adobe default processing that was installed.
If you want to see a camera rendition and a LR rendition side-by-side, in order to get to LR processing visually similar to the camera's processing, you can go to LR preferences / General tab / import options and check "Treat JPEG files next to Raw files as separate photos". Then set the camera to Raw+JPG and take a picture and import that. You will then see what the camera has done, and what LR has done, next to each other.
After changing the Raw image suitably - remembering this is about the starting point you want to see, not about the full processing of this particular photo - you can either save this revised treatment into a Develop preset (which you can include at import time or later), or else update LR's default processing for this camera using Develop menu / "Set Default Settings".
You may then want to un-check "Treat JPEG ... as separate" and/or perhaps, set the camera (back?) on Raw only.
IMO, one can properly set aside "what the camera would have done" when shooting Raw. Analogy: we usually don't regard a stage performer as a better interpreter of the play, if able to do that as a precise imitation of how some other admired actor might have delivered it, for example in a movie. That may make him or her a better mimic , but not necessarily a better actor  for the performance actually at hand - which has to be judged in its own terms.