Rendering previous images in a new CMS workflow

Question

As an alternative process photographer, I have never bothered much with monitor calibration. However, with today's instruments being as inexpensive as they are now, I see no reason not to.
However, I am concerned that by doing so all of my, pre-color managed "correct" images will appear  different and "incorrect" on a properly calibrated monitor.
Is there any way to use the old monitor profile to convert my catalog of images to render as they had before the monitor was properly calibrated?

Answer 1

Hmmm, not as easy as it sounds, but it should be possible at least with flattened files. It seems to me you could create an action to:
1. Convert the file to a Smart Object. This is necessary to "wrap" and protect the original, so that clipped (out of gamut) colors can be regained, and also to minimize the degradation from multiple conversions.
2. Convert from original document space to the old monitor profile. You'll want to change the RGB numbers in the original file, and the change should be equal to the difference between new and old monitor profile. But you can't do that directly in the original color space because the numbers will have a different meaning there.
3. Assign the new monitor profile. This will change the appearance to what it should be.
4. Convert back to the original document space.
5. Rasterize the Smart Object.
No guarantees and I may have missed something or messed up the sequence. I'd recommend saving duplicates until you're confident that it works. Then you can run the action in a batch or use the Image Processor.
EDITED because I see no way to do this with layered files (adjustment layers are color space specific).