Originally posted by interested_observer Morning,
Are you shooting in RAW? If so, making internal adjustments to the settings will only be used if you are shooting in JPG. RAW images is just the data read from the sensor - then stored to the SD card, and you need to apply post processing to finish the images. JPG images on the other hand, the data is pulled from the sensor, and the various adjustments are applied by the JPG engine during the conversion to JPG and stored to the SD card. You have less latitude in post processing with JPG images since the JPG format itself looses some information in the conversion. So, usually its best to shoot in RAW.
I think several points here need clarification so the OP can better cope with the issue and describe his particular issue.
First of all, depending on software some RAW processors use the JPEG meta data to adjust contrast and saturation upon opening the file, so even with a RAW adjustment of JPEG parameters and settings can make a difference. It is software dependant.
Secondly, the "loss of data" with maximum resolution JPEG is really the following
-application of the camera WB, saturation and contrast settings
-down sampling the image from either 12 or 14 bit color depth to 8 bits
-application of the sharpening
It is not really loss of data in the conversion to JPEG but the down sampling of the color depth. When you go for lower quality JPEG there is additional loss of detail due to the compression techniques used.
The result of the above is that while minor errors such as contrast adjustments and color balance can still be corrected in JPEG, gross errors cannot because the loss of resolution results in color banding if you attempt to correct too far.