color differences btw PS and ACR

[tadzio]

hello

on a calibrated pro screen how come i get color differences between PhotoShop and Camera Raw ?

see photo attached

(i already tried to re-install evereything)

thanks

[D Fosse]

Either the monitor profile is defective/corrupt, or one of the apps is using the wrong profile (that can happen in a dual display setup).

A defective profile can affect applications differently.

Try to replace the current profile with a known good one. If the monitor is a wide gamut model try Adobe RGB, otherwise sRGB. This is done in Windows Control Panel > Color Management. Relaunch Photoshop when done.

If the difference persists (and you have a dual display setup), try to switch primary and secondary displays.

[tadzio]

Thanks.

the right profile is set to the right screen ; i don't think it is corrpupted (i tried with 2 softwares).

Remaining is the color management ; are yu talking about this window (it's in french sorry ..) ? what should be the setup ?

thanks

[D Fosse]

Don't change anything in the "Advanced" tab, leave everything there at defaults.

The display profile is set up in the "Devices" tab. It looks like this. Make sure the correct profile is assigned - marked default - for display 1 and 2 as the OS sees them. That's the profile Photoshop and ACR should use:

And again, you need to relaunch Photoshop if you make any changes, so that it can load the new profile at startup. This is important!

Either way, this is a problem in the conversion from source profile and into the monitor profile. The profile itself is always the first suspect, next whether it's actually the right one, and finally it could also be the conversion process if it is performed by the GPU. To test this last possibility, try to uncheck "use graphics processor" from both apps' preferences.

[tadzio]

thanks !

i'm pretty sure that the correct profile is set to the correct screen. i'll try the GPU issue and let you know.

actually i'm using 2 differents profiles for the 2 screens (each one is calibrated) : is it a problem ?

isn't there a place i can see which profile is loaded by each software ?

best

[D Fosse]

tadzio wrote:

isn't there a place i can see which profile is loaded by each software ?

Not really. The Photoshop listing for Monitor RGB just lists the profile for the main display. But separate profiles for each display is certainly not a problem; that's how it's done.

I'd try replacing the profile(s) first. You say you don't "think" there's a problem, but there's no way you can know that. Don't make assumptions.

Your screenshot shows heavy channel clipping in the ACR part. That's an indication of a broken profile.

[tadzio]

how can i "repair" a profile ? i don't get it...

here is the screen setting showing that the correct profile is set to the correct screen :

thanks.

[D Fosse]

Not "repair" - replace.

The display profile needs to be an accurate description of the display's actual response. I assume "SV241" means NEC Spectraview 241 - so that means you should try to replace that profile with Adobe RGB, which is the one that comes closest for this wide gamut model.

This doesn't fix anything, but will unambiguously confirm or reject whether it is in fact a broken profile. If the difference disappears, you need to take a closer look at the Spectraview software (if that's what you use).

Look at the screenshot above again. If you have Adobe RGB listed, just click to select it and then click "set as default". This is now the profile that PS/ACR will use. If Adobe RGB is not listed, click "add" and navigate to it.

PS and ACR use the profile set as system default, for each display, whichever that might be. The profiles are loaded when the application starts, and then those profiles are used until next startup. The OS has no role in this other than to make the profiles available. So while the app needs to be restarted, a full reboot is not necessary.

[tadzio]

thans again for your help.

your're right ! setting up Adobe RGB as the default profile makes the color accuuracy much better (although not perfect).

yes i'm using Spectraview for a long time. it used to be OK, what is wrong now i don't know (i tried different settings)...

what is the use calibrating a screen if i can use the standard Adobe RGB ?

[D Fosse]

I have only used the US Spectraview II software, and I'm not familiar with the EU edition of Spectraview which is in fact made by BasICColor of Germany.

But the first thing to check is profile policy. I see from your screenshot that SV is set to make LUT-based profiles (as opposed to matrix-based). LUT profiles are supposedly more accurate, but also heavier, more complex, and prone to errors. Matrix-based profiles should always be the safer option, so try that instead.

Another thing is that profiles can be made according to the version 2 specification from the icc, or the version 4 specification. The latter has also been reported to cause problems for some, and v2 should always be safer.

I currently use Eizo ColorNavigator, and LUT profiles can be slightly tricky in some applications and configurations. I consistently stick to matrix profiles for this reason. But I have never seen problems with v4.

Other than that I don't have any immediate suggestions, except maybe update the software. At any rate, the sensor you're using, the i1Display Pro, is generally regarded as the best on the market (perhaps aside from the much more expensive BasICColor Discus).

[tadzio]

hi

sorry for late answer i've been far away from a computer.

none of your solutions does work ;-( could it be (one more) bug into Photoshop or more probably ACR not loading any profile ?

thanks

[tadzio]

hi

for your information i finally resolved my problem by unplugging my secondary screen ! this forced Bridge and ACR to use the profile of my calibrated screen (they both were using the profile of my secondary screen even if displayed on my main screen).

we can conclude it's another Adobe's bug.