Black in Illustrator = Grey in Photoshop (same CMYK color profile)

[glencandle]

I've searched, I've used Chat-GPT, none of the reasons I've found apply in my case because I have confirmed that all my settings from one document to the next are identical. 

But when I File>Place Linked my Illustrator file into Photoshop the black background of my illustrator file appears grey in Photoshop.  

If I add a Curves or Levels adjustment layer the 'black' end of the curve/levels (at 0-black) is grey.  I cannot make it turn black with an adjustment layer, in other words.

Any ideas/suggestions?

[Stephen_A_Marsh · Accepted solution]

There are additional controls in Illustrator:

[glencandle]

Oh my God you'd think I didn't have over 20 years experience with Adobe software!  Thank you so much, this was really messing with me 😉

[D Fosse]

Lots of people trip over this, so don't feel too bad.

The default setting in Illustrator (and InDesign) is "display all blacks as rich black". But Photoshop doesn't have that option at all, it will always display blacks accurately. And for 100K black, that's more like a charcoal gray.

To be honest, I find the choice of default in Ai/Id surprising. If you're doing work for offset print, you really need to see (and take into consideration) how overprinting 100K black actually looks on paper.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

In Illustrator the Separations Preview Panel’s »Overprint Preview« should help visualize the issue regardless of the Preferences »Appearance of Black«-settings. 

[D Fosse]

Correct. That's a bit like proofing in Photoshop - but still something you need to turn on and off. It's more convenient to see it correctly the whole time, as you work.