RAW images look darker

Question

When I open an image in Adobe Camera Raw the image looks darker than when I open it in different programms.

I uploaded the same image once screenshotted from Canon Photo Professionals 4 and one from Camera raw.

Why do they not look the same? I changed my raw standards to the camera settings. Before that some pictures just look a lot more bland. Now it is better but still darker than usual.

D Fosse · Accepted Answer

Remember that it's exactly the same sensor data. The image isn't really "darker". For camera manufacturers it's a selling point to push the default rendering as much as possible. The brighter image always wins in the store. And then they design their software to match the in-camera rendering. ACR's default settings are conservative. But nothing stops you from increasing the exposure slider to the same level. It's the same data! Nothing bad happens. It's a very common misunderstanding that there is such a thing as an "original" raw image. There isn't; the sensor data always have to be processed and interpreted to produce a recognizable image. Interpretations vary, but Adobe don't need to impress anyone with an immediately "appealing" image. That part is up to you.

TheDigitalDog · Answer

What other raw converters?Not at all unexpected that different raw converters render the same raw differently.

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