Changed Calibration Settings, Big Problems Now with sRGB

Question

I use Lightroom 1.3.1 on a PC with Windows. I've been using Lightroom for about a year for the same workflow (creating images for web primarily). I use a Canon 5D.
Today I changed the Camera Calibration Settings in the Develop module. I downloaded the "CAL ACR Calibrated" Settings and imported them. I may have downloaded settings for the 30D if that matters. With the new calibration settings, my reds looked MUCH better and I was very pleased.
Then I went to Library module. In that module the colors were washed out as before. Hmmm. Anyway, I exported to Photoshop using ProPhoto RGB (as always). The photos looked fine in Photoshop with the same great colors.
THEN I tried to convert the photos to sRGB. The nice reds went back to the washed out, orangish color they were before. I tried all the different conversion options with the same result. My work flow hasn't changed otherwise, and I have never had this problem. (My Photoshop color settings should be correct and my monitor is profiled, etc). For the record, photos that I exported previously (before making the calibration changes) still look the same and render to sRGB the same as always.
Can anyone please help!? Is this a bug in Lightroom?

Answer 1

>he more I think my issue is related to the difference between my monitor's color gamut and sRGB
It is definitely possible but would be very suprising as your monitor is supposed to be wider than sRGB in red. What happens when you take the saturated sRGB red image in Photoshop and soft proof for your monitor profile? You should NOT check preserve RGB numbers. Now also check "Show gamut warning." If sRGB red is really outside your monitor's gamut, the image should turn solid gray. Even if the red is outside the gamut the shift in color should be small though and you should not get the described huge shift to orange, which makes me think the calibrator must be off a bit.
>The point people were making in that forum discussion is that most web browsers (like Firefox notably) don't render using sRGB at all, but they send ALL the color information in the image to the monitor. That means some images may appear much more saturated in Firefox than they do in color managed environments (like Photoshop or, actually, Safari I think).
The first part is true, but the second part is only true on wide gamut monitors. Your monitor is almost equal to sRGB (according to the manufacturer at least) and Firefox should look almost exactly the same as Photoshop if you use sRGB and have it correctly calibrated. On most people's monitors, colors will be less saturated than what you are seeing as almost every laptop LCD screen out there is narrower in gamut than sRGB.
>Now I'm suspecting that the reason Lightroom at default settings renders red with an orange cast (as many people report) is because they want to keep output files compatible with sRGB. Otherwise, most people would assume a red color shift means either Lightroom or Photoshop is broken.
I don't think any thought went into that. The rendering Lightroom and ACR use is based on calibration that Thomas Knoll did using reference charts. They are supposed to make ACR render colors as correctly as possible into the reference space (much wider than sRGB) under the reference conditions. No attempt is made to compress the color into sRGB or so. There is unfortunately quite a bit of variation between cameras causing the oranges that people report.
>The discussion in that forum (can't find the link unfortunately) was basically about how difficult it is for SmugMug to display and print photos in a consistent way given the lack of a real standard, because more and more people buy monitors that display more than the sRGB gamut, and browsers don't display sRGB by default.
As always smugmug (and I love them BTW) is trying to solve the wrong problem. You cannot fix people's screens and browsers. If people do not calibrate their monitor and do not use color managed browsers (i.e. Safari and Firefox 3.0 beta) there is nothing you can do to help them but tell them to ... calibrate their monitors and to use color managed browsers. If people buy wide gamut monitor and do not calibrate and color manage they are asking for trouble. Luckily they are still out of reach for most consumers.
>- see if there are updates for the monitor and/or video card
- see if there is an update for the Eye-One device
- try creating a new profile from scratch just to see
- if all else fails, buy a new calibrator
- if that fails, then try switching to my older monitor...hope not
These are great steps. You definitely should try recreating the profile from scratch. Also, the Huey Pro or Colorvision Spyder calibrators can be had for <$70 if you want to check your calibrator. Both give great results. Your calibrator should do a good job, but it is always possible that you have a dud. Again, your monitor should give a response very close to sRGB in unmanaged apps, making images appear the same or very close in managed and unmanaged apps if the screen is calibrated.