Color profile question for Camera Raw/Bridge

[coolseattledude]

Hi guys, got a question I ought to know the answer to but it's got me beat. When I put my camera memory card into my computer and open the folders in Bridge, for about 1 second they look correct, as I saw them in the camera. Then suddenly they all go about 2-3 stops darker and a lot more saturated, as if an unwanted color profile is being applied. They stay this way when I open them in Camera Raw, requiring a lot of unnecessary tweaking to get them back where they should be. I use the Fuji "Eterna" profile in camera, and it appears correctly in the PS box. I have my color settings in Bridge and Camera raw as "camera settings." It didn't used to do this and I can't figure out what has changed. Any suggestions? Many thanks! : )

[D Fosse]

I use the Fuji "Eterna" profile in camera

By @coolseattledude

Not a Fuji user and I have no idea what this profile does, but this is camera processing that  ACR most likely doesn't try to emulate. Generally, ACR just uses the raw sensor data. Try to turn off all these profiles and see if you get a better match.

The 1-second delay is the camera-processed jpeg being replaced by the ACR rendering at default settings.

When shooting raw, it's important to understand that it's the same underlying sensor data. It's not really darker, it's just different processing of the very same data. Because of this, I always avoid any special camera settings. No special profiles. If you're after a special look, it's much better to make a new set of ACR defaults.

Camera manufacturers obviously have an incentive to make the image as immediately appealing as possible. To achieve that, they tend to push the sensor data as far as possible. ACR doesn't do that, it leaves it up to you.

[coolseattledude]

Hi D, many thanks for this informative response. I understand all of that; the only thing is, that it didn't used to do this. Up until recently all of my photos showed up in ACR exactly as they looked in camera. Now suddenly in Bridge and ACR they look radically different, far darker and with a lot of orange color, and it is quite difficult to get them back to where they ought to be. It look like the default RAW settings are being overridden and a super contrasty profile is being applied. Are you hearing anything like this from others?