Photoshop Camera Raw Suddenly Making Photos Darker

[Thunder_Dan]

I know there are several posts through the years on this topic. I have researched them and tried all the tips and tricks, to no avail. Here is the rub - this JUST started happening for no known reason. There wasn't an update on windows or PS that affected this. I actually updated to PS 22 with the hopes it would fix, but no such luck. Here is side by side of the photo in window photo viewer and the preview in Camera Raw: 

As you can see the ACR preview (image on right) is significantly darker/higher contrast than the windows photo (image on left). The thing to note is that this is the FIRST time this behavior is observed, with no known changes to software or settings. I even went back to older PSD files from past projects and do not see this phenomenon. Here is an example from earlier this year on a project I did, windows on left, ACR on right: 

I should note this is same lens and camera as the above image. In this example below the photos and ACR preview are identical (perceptually), so why is it now behaving differently? As mentioned no settings have been updated or changed in windows or PS, same with my Nikon D750 camera. So that is where I am stumped, the last time I was in PS the image imported into camera raw matched what I saw in photo viewer. Now it doesn't. Would really like to understand what is going on, why it happened and what the solution is.

Here are the color profiles for reference: 

Nikon shoots with sRGB not Adobe RGB

Windows Color: 

Adobe Color Profile Matches: 

Camera Raw Settings turning graphics processor off work around didn't help (tried all variants of this setting to no avail)

[D Fosse]

Normally you can't use Windows Photos as reference for anything, since it isn't color managed.

Disregarding Photos, how does it look when opened into Photoshop?

[Thunder_Dan]

That was the first attached image. It looks significantly darker/higher
contrast.

[D Fosse]

No, it wasn't. Both screenshots show Windows "Photos" vs. the Camera Raw plugin (ACR).

I want to see how it looks when you open from ACR into Photoshop.

Windows "Photos" is not interesting at all. It isn't color managed and never displays correctly under any circumstances.  It is irrelevant.

[Thunder_Dan]

Ah yes, my mistake here is the photo opened in Photoshop, it matches what is displayed in camera Raw (see below). I understand to disregard photos as it isn't color managed. However the question I need answered is why is it just now showing a difference? I have had numerous photo sessions where I load the photos and they match ACR & photoshop to what I saw when I browsed in windows photo. Only after yesterdays shoots did they begin to appear differently, despite no known changes in equipment, settings or process. That is what I am trying to figure out, why is it only now starting to do this...that is the question that I can't seem to find an answer for. 

The original file is a .NEF (Nikon Raw)

[D Fosse]

One thing I forgot to say is that Windows Photos does not show you the raw data at all. So even if it was color managed it wouldn't show the same thing.

What you see in Windows Photos is the camera-generated jpeg preview embedded in the file. If you have some special setting in camera it will show here - but not in the raw file. ACR ignores all that. There are many camera settings to lift shadows, I can't even remember what they are all called.

So for now, try the eyedropper in Photoshop and see if the values seem to check out. The histogram looks correct. If you had a ColorChecker card (sold in good photo stores), you'd have a solid reference.

All in all, I don't think there's anything wrong here. Just check your camera settings.

[Thunder_Dan]

So I get that the programs are behaving as expected from a technical perspective, the problem is this behavior started completely out of the blue. 

I have not adjusted camera settings (I have had my camera dialed in for over a year). I haven't changed any windows or adobe settings. That said, why is the bahvior just now being observed? Or conversly, why wasn't it observed beforehand? That is the question no one can answer in all the posts on this topic. 

[D Fosse]

But it could still be that in these particular images, the camera version and the ACR version just happen to be particularly diverging.

Again, Windows "Photos" is useless as reference for anything.

I'd concentrate on checking whether the actual RGB values in ACR and Photoshop seem right. Measure pixel values. Look at the histogram. Does it all check out, does it seem credible?

Get a colorchecker, it's a good investment in any case (it's not that expensive). Each patch has standardized Lab values, so you should be able to see if something's horribly off.