"Duplicate to Profile" from ACEScg to sRGB shifts colors

Question

I am compositing a Redshift Render EXR in Photoshop. The compositing itself works fine, thanks to the OCIO implementation and the image looks as expected.

However, when finishing the image for 8bit export, there is a problem with the "Duplicate to Profile" functionality: it shifts my colors. What's worse, adding an extra Step to the conversion process seems to fix this, so I think it's a bug.

What's happening:

I have my composited 32 bit ACEScg file. I press Edit > Duplicate to Profile and choose "sRGB 32 bit" as "Target Settings". This way, the colors change / desaturate, especially the blues / cyans.

At first I though that this is expected behaviour due to sRGB having the smaller gamut, but then I realized that OCIO is supposed to preview the ACEScg file how it looks in sRGB, so it should NOT change when converting. After some more research, I confirmed this.

Now the part why I think this is a bug, or jank:

If you take that same 32 bit ACEScg file and use Duplicate to Profile again, but set it to "AdobeRGB 32 bit" as "Target Settings", you get no perceptible color change, at least for my test image. So far so good, but I need sRGB. I then simply use Edit > Convert to Profile and set it to "RGB: sRGB". And voila, the image looks identical to the original 32bit ACEScg file.

tl;dr:

ACEScg 32 bit file -> "Duplicate to Profile" set to "sRGB 32 bit" shifts colors. The final image does not look correct compared to the original ACEScg file.
ACEScg 32 bit file -> "Duplicate to Profile" set to "AdobeRGB 32bit" does NOT shift colors. Using "Convert to Profile" set to "RGB: sRGB" on the resulting image does NOT shift colors either. The final image looks identical to the ACEScg original, just that it's in sRGB.

Example Images

ACEScg file

Duplicate to Profile -> sRGB 32 bit

Duplicate to Profile -> AdobeRGB 32 bit -> Convert to Profile -> sRGB

The difference is subtle, but it's there, and frankly unnacceptable. Especially when working with CD colors.

Preferably, I'd like to avoid this extra step. So what's causing this?

Photoshop 26.10

Windows 11 Enterprise 24H2

cody_cuellar · Accepted Answer

The duplicate to profile dialog has been reworked in the latest Beta, please try it out and let us know if it solves your issues.

Lars Gerstenmaier · Answer

Hi ​@rené_5508,unfortunately I have no answer for you - we always go the extra step: First converting to AdobeRGB 32 bit and then to 8 bit eciRGB.But since you follow the same workflow as we do, allow me to ask a question: Do you know how we can convert an ACES PSD file—containing three layers and transparency—into the Adobe RGB color space without losing the layers and transparency?Thanks in advance for any tips.Best

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