What are your export settings, are you resizing? are you applying sharpening in the export dialog?

Post a screen capture of the export dialog if possible.

I have the same setup as you, Windows 7 64bit, LR 3.4.1, and Canon 600D with same sensor as 7D. Here is an export to JPEG with sRGB, 91% Quality, Screen Low sharpening, and resized to 1296 x 864 (1:4 image size). This is a screen shot of the images in LR with 1:4 view for Original and 1:1 for the JPEG Export. The JPEG export file is slightly sharper and slightly higher contrast/saturation. The latter I attribute to gamut and contrast compression from the sRGB profile and 8bit output. I tried Export to TIF file format with ProPhoto RGB profile and 16bit, and the colors and contrast are identical - Try it with one of your images. If they still look different as you have described you have either a monitor profile or graphics driver issue. I use i1 Display 2 in 'Advanced mode' with ICC v2 profile setting (default) and latest Nvidia drivers installed for my graphics card.

Double-Click the image to see full size:

Reposting the same pictures here isn't going to help us resolve your problem. They still look nearly the same to me as posted here. I suggest uploading the actual original CR2 file and full-size sRGB JPEG export file using a free yousendit or other file sharing site. Then we can see your actual images on our systems to determine if the problem is your system, or an actual LR JPEG export issue.

Also, please try to answer all questions others are asking you: What kind of monitor are you using? Is it a wide gamut monitor? Did you try an export to TIF file format with 16bit and ProPhot RGB profile selections as I suggested? You are going to see some color differences when exporting to sRGB color space!

Thanks Mike that was the comparison I was going to ask for. I see the color change you are talking about and of course also saw it in the original images you posted. But interestingly, the histogram is the same for both images. No exposure change visible in the histogram which suggests it is a display problem. What happens when you shift the jpeg into Develop mode? Do the colors shift? What you are seeing can have two causes. The first is the display profile perhaps being icc v4. In that case, you WILL get different results in Develop and Library because rendering with perceptual intent into the display profile will result in different colors if you come from prophotoRGB (i.e. the space (only linear gamma) used in the Develop panel) instead of from sRGB or adobeRGB. You can fix that by setting up the calibration software to generate a v2 profile. In the Spyder software this is done in the preferences in Advanced settings -> ICC settings. A second option is that you have a display that significantly deviates from sRGB in gamut, which is why we asked what display you have. In that case, you can sometimes see colorshifts for only certain colors that are again due to the rendering in Develop coming from a different color space than when you export to sRGB and then display or simply switch to Library where a rendering is done from a preview jpeg. This is the cause behind a typical shift that occurs with blue and orange colors and has to do that the colorspace conversion is done in xyz or lab space which is not entirely perceptually uniform. This is explained by Bruce Lindbloom here: http://brucelindbloom.com/index.html?MunsellCalcHelp.html In that respect it might be nice to have a look at your display profile.

Please realize that we are only trying to help. Please tell us what monitor you are using. What the settings are in your calibration and any other parameter you can think of. Seeing the actual raw file would be good too, but yo might be reluctant to share that.

I've been using Lightroom since version 1 and well before that. I'm well versed in graphics displays, calibration, etc. I've never had this problem until 3.4. I've just presented the issue in a way that nullifies any issue with an external viewing of the photo because the comparison is entirely contained with Lightroom. This excludes any issue of wide gamut or not, or monitor brand, etc. The export photo is different than the what the Develop module is indicating. I did not have this problem prior to 3.4.

If you can't see an exposure difference and more orange in the first shot, I'd look into an eye exam.

I said, "They still look nearly the same to me as posted here." What a meant was the second set of pictures still looks nearly the same as the first set of pictures you posted. I see the same slight differences in hue, contrast and brightness as I described in my first reply on Sept. 16th.

From your description in the above reply to Jao there is clearly something wrong with your LR 3.4.1 installation, monitor profile, or graphics driver.

Your responsse throughout this thread take the position of disproving most information from others, rather than try some of the suggestions provided.

1) You haven't confirmed that your Spyder 3 software preferences are set for ICC v2 profile, and NOT v4. You might also check to see if there is a later version of the Spyder 3 software available on Datacolor's website.

2) You haven't confirmed that you have updated your graphics driver to the latest version. I had a similar issue (sharpness issue), which was corrected by installing the latest NVidia graphics driver.

3) You haven't confirmed trying an export to 16bit ProPhoto RGB TIF to see how that compares to the CR2 image in LR. As was already mentioned you will see differences in some images with 'out-of-gamut' colors when using sRGB profile, for the reasons given to you. If the full size 16bit ProPhoto RGB TIF export looks different (color and contrast) than the CR2 image in LR, then this clearly indicates a monitor profile and/or graphics driver problems.

4) You haven't confirmed trying the most obvious fix, which is to uninstall LR 3.4.1, delete your preferences file, and try reinstalling LR 3.4.1. Trying LR 3.5 RC is also a good idea, but will take longer since you will need to import files and setup the same conditions you have in LR 3.4.1. I suggest trying the 3.4.1 reinstall procedure first, and then try LR 3.5 RC if the issue persists.

3. Tested and completed on a range of monitors. This issue has nothing to do with wide gamut.

I didn't say it did! I said, "you will see differences in some images with 'out-of-gamut' colors when using sRGB profile." I see it on my standard gamut monitor, which obviously has come coverage outside the sRGB gamut. Some of my exported JPEGs with sRGB profile have colors that don't match the original RAW image when viewed in LR. It's usually very slight and seems to be most pronounced in yellow and orange color areas. I would imagine it is more pronounced when viewed on a wide gamut monitor, similar to what you are describing.

I'm not saying this is the sole cause for the color differences you are seeing, but it is probably contributing to it. Do yourself a favor and try comparing a full-size sRGB JPEG export with one of your color shifted images, and compare it to a ProPhoto RGB 16bit TIF export image in LR with your wide gamut monitor. I'm betting the TIF looks exactly like the original CR2 file when viewed in LR!

Since these are full-size exports with no additional sharpening applied (or required), the image detail should look remarkably close to the original RAW CR2 image file in LR. These do not! Also the ProPhoto RGB 16 bit full-size export should like "identical" in color and contrast, since its color profile is the same as LR's. It does not! It appears something is going wrong during the export process.

I agree with Jao's suggestion to post one of your image files that exhibits this issue. It does not have to be this image if you have rights issues. Just shoot anything that will exhibit the problem and post the CR2 RAW file to yousendit or other posting site for download. Yousendit has a 50MB file size limit for a free account. The 7D CR2s should be under 30MB. I suggest also posting a full-size sRGB JPEG export file created from this CR2 for comparison.

As I mentioned previously I am working with the same LR 3.4.1 version, Windows 7 64bit OS, and Canon 600D CR2 RAW files, which has the same exact image sensor as the Canon 7D. I have no problems even remotely close to this and my system has an NVidia graphics card with updated graphics driver, same as the OP.

One other suggestion no one has mentioned is to  temporarily try changing you monitor profile to the Windows generic sRGB profile. See if that corrects the differences you are in color and contrast between the original CR2 file and export image files. That doesn't explain the lack of sharpening you are seeing, but is helpful to eliminate the Spyder monitor profile as a possible source of the color and contrast differences. A failing calibration puck could suddenly start creating corrupt monitor profiles after many years of otherwise faithful service.

Downloaded the CR2 file and made some adjustments in the Develop module using Adobe Standard profile. Some observations: The image is underexposed and not particularly a sharp rendering, with the shallow depth of field making not too much in sharp focus. I used +1.5 Exposure, 35 Fill, and 5 Black. I made no attempt to do any other adjusting other than 25 Vibrance, Sharpness with 60 Amount, 1.0 Radius, and 50 Detail, and Noise Reduction at 15 for both Luminance and Color. White Balance was left 'As Shot' at 5200 and 12. Here are Fit and 1:1 views f the CR2 and a full size JPEG export with sRGB and 90% quality using LR Compare function. They look very close to each other in color and sharpness when viewed in LR on my non-wide gamut monitor.

Double-click on each image to see full-size.

Since 2.5, the Library mode has been soft for me, and I have to go into Develop to see if the image was in focus. I think this image has a slight front focus issue, and yes it s underexposed, but it's a good image to test for export issues because it does need adjustments.

You are now talking about two separate issues!

1) LR Library vs Develop module view differences.

2) LR Export file rendering  (regardless of where viewed!).

Also, I'm seeing the same unwanted changes in this image between Library and Develop.

Are you saying the two JPEG images I just posted look different when viewed in LR's Library module versus how they look in the Develop module? JPEGs when imported into LR should NOT have any processing applied to them by default. Both of these image files should look identical when viewed in LR's Library OR Develop modules, providing you haven't applied any adjustments in the Develop module (default 0 settings).

This is without a doubt a "corrupt monitor profile" issue! Please try testing by changing your monitor profile to Windows sRGB.icm file to rule out the Spyder profile as the source. See if that clears up the differences you are seeing with JPEG files when viewed in the Library and Develop modules.

http://www.lightroomqueen.com/2008/12/28/corrupted-monitor-profile/

Library was super sharp and Develop was dull. Now it's the opposite. All of my Library photos now look dull and I need to go into Develop to see if they're in focus.So yes, the issue is a difference in exported Jpeg, and between the preview modes.

I do see differences between Library and Develop module views in the exported JPEG with your IMG1258.CR2 RAW file, using the below extreme LR settings. Interestingly none of my exported JPEG files exhibit these differences, but then I never use these extreme Develop settings either!

I concur with Jao concerning Sharpening and Fill adjustments. I have never used higher than 50 Fill (due to halo artifact) and Sharpening Amount 25-35, Radius .8-1.0, and Detail 25-50 is adequate for most of my images. You should always use 100% (1:1) view when making Sharpening and Noise Reduction adjustments. This (or any other) image will look horrible at 150 sharpening amount setting at 1:1 view. I tried the downloaded IMG1258.CR2 file with the below settings and can clearly see the same results as posted originally, including the lighter fur color and appearance of less sharpness in the exported JPEG.

I also tried exporting with a wide-gamut ProPhoto RGB profile – The color and sharpness differences remain the same! It does beg the question that perhaps Adobe could improve the viewing and/or export rendering engines so they better correlate. Regardless, this problem can be minimzed using more conservative settings in the Develop module as we have discussed here.

White Balance (As Shot): 5200 12

Exposure: +1.5

Fill Light: 60

Blacks: 5

Blue Luminance: -18

Sharpening

Amount = 150

Radius: 1.0

Detail: 50

Masking: 0

Noise Reduction

Luminance 15

Detail: 50

Color: 15

Detail: 50

Profile: Adobe Standard

Develop Module Views of Original CR2 and Exported JPEG

Double-click the image to see full-size.

The processing I applied is OK for screen resizing, about 900-1000 wide. At this level the artifacts from the fill level aren't as apparent. I've found that increasing the sharpening radius is more destructive than maxing out 1.0.

Sharpening applied in the Develop module has minimal impact to a "resized" (reduced) export image. I think we have proved here that "maxing out" the sharpening amount (i.e. 150) does some prettty bad things to image quality (color shift & blurring). You should be applying only slight "capture" sharpening to the RAW image file at 100% view size (1:1), and no more! Use different Export 'Output Sharpening' settings until you obtain the desired sharpening of your resized image file.

The processing I applied is OK for screen resizing, about 900-1000 wide. At this level the artifacts from the fill level aren't as apparent. I've found that increasing the sharpening radius is more destructive than maxing out 1.0.

The problem is that you are adjusting parameters meant to deal with unsharpness in the capture process (the Bayer mosaic, lens blur etc) and expect those to apply to the output. This is not what they are meant to do. What happens is that you actually amplify noise in the image and this masquerades as detail in the Develop preview and that is behind the apparent (but not real) color shifts. The radfius slider has to be slightly larger than 1 here as clearly the lens blur is more than one pixel. You also create a 1-pixel artifact by the fill light setting around the nose that appears as a sharpening halo in the scaled down image. Both not good. What you should do is to optimize the sharpening and noise reduction at the 1:1 level using the detail sliders. Do NOT touch the detail sliders while zoomed out. The output sharpening settings in the export panel are what are supposed to deal with that. You simply cannot use the zoomed out view to judge your final image sharpness. This is not an issue with Lightroom but simply with the fact that your display is very low resolution and your computer does not have the power yet to on the fly render the entire image, scale down, apply output sharpening and display that. So you have to deal with the mockup that Lightroom presents you in the Develop zoomed out view where since LR 3 it now tries to present you with an approximation of what your final image might look like after output sharpening at the screen size. Note "approximate". This cannot be perfect without rendering the entire image, which is still too costly processorwise.

You will see that using my settings and using appropriate output sharpening (either medium screen or high) in the export dialog (when scaling down to 800 pixels or so), you will get a better final image than using your settings and not doing output sharpening.  I give an example below. Click for 100% view. You'll see that my settings with apprpriate output sharpening actually look much better than your settings even scaled down to 800 pixels. The philosophy behind this sharpening workflow comes from the late Bruce Fraser and is described in the book that he co-wrote with Jeff Schewe "Real World Camera Raw". It is also described here. Basically, you want to optimize the capture sharpening first at the native resolution of the image without any downscaling (which is why you have to go 1:1 or higher magnification). Then you apply some judicious local sharpening (called creative sharpening) and local contrast enhancements (the detail slider and the built in HDR tools such as fill light/recovery as well as local adjustments using the paint tools). Only then do you scale down and apply output sharpening that is specific to the media that the image will be displayed on. So you separate the sharpening meant to deal with the lens blur and such from the sharpening needed to deal with the downscaling and the specifics of the output medium. These are very different things with very different characteristics.

There is no way to use a zoomed out view in any panel in Lightroom to judge the sharpness of the final image. Develop tries to give you an approximate preview of what happens after output sharpening but that is not perfect. Note that there is no product on the market that can do that for you while being nondestructive to the raw file. It simply is impossible to do this without scaling down and applying the sharpening. In the future with much faster processors this might be possible on the fly. Of course at that time we'll be looking at far higher MP cameras, so the advances in CPU power might not help.