Color variation between browsers and editing software ?

<p>I'm wondering if anyone else has observed this or if I have screwed up my setup. Also wondering what the default display rendering intents are for different software. Yesterday I calibrated my laptop LCD (running 32bit Vista SP2) with Spyder 2 and Argyll (native white point, gamma and brightness. 4000 samples, Source profile AdobeRGB; as the LCD gamut seems to fall in between sRGB and AdobeRGB).</p>

<p>I set the final profile as default for my LCD and left settings on the Vista color management advanced tab at system defaults (device at sRGB, viewing conditions sRGB). Then loaded the LUT using Argyll (dispwin), which didn't change anything much on the screen (probably because of all native settings). The error values are rather high (with dispcal -r) and I'm guessing this is because only the LUT and not the icc profile is being used for the report. The test sample data vs profile (profcheck) shows errors mainly on the L axis.</p>

<p>Now the fun part. After setting the screen to the <a href="http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/viewing_angle.php">optimum viewing angle</a> (which also matched with <a href="http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/gamma_calibration.php">average gamma 2.2</a> at all colors and brightness), I downloaded and opened <a href="../photo/10482572">an image</a> on Photoshop CS2, Nikon Capture NX2, Olympus Viewer 2, Irfanview, Firefox (with cmm addon) and google chrome (with --enable-monitor-profile). Of these, only Irfanview showed thumbnails with the correct color profile, and only Olympus Viewer 2 honored the <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/color_blog/archive/2006/09/29/profile-utilization-test-image-and-profile.aspx">WCS profile</a>. The difference between brightness and colors between all of the programs is little, but distinguishable. Here's what I found:</p>

<p>Olympus Viewer 2, Irfanview and Google chrome produced the most pleasing (somewhat saturated where it counts) colors and brightness. Saturation was less and contrast more for both Capture NX2 and CS2 (where NX2 had higher saturation and lower contrast than CS2). Firefox showed a saturated and contrasty image (the blocked shadows and blown highlights were discernible). The difference between chrome and firefox was significant enough that I also checked the images <a href="http://www.photofriday.com/calibrate.php">here</a> and <a href="http://www.imaging-resource.com/ARTS/MONCAL/CALIBRATE.HTM">here</a>. Firefox did show the highlight difference better than chrome (and vice versa), but both managed to show the full range (with some effort on my part). Both firefox and chrome (more for firefox) also showed red and green tints close to (and in reference to) the brightest white, and I'm not sure if this is an artifact of the viewing angle.</p>

<p>Are these differences to be expected, and how do I figure out that my color profile is actually being used? I realize that a great image will be a great image irrespective of what minor (even major) color differences, but there may also be something to be said about pleasing colors when one submits images that will be viewed on a professionally calibrated display, is it not?</p>

<p>Many thanks for reading the above.</p>

<p>I have a similar problem and have not been able to fix it either:</p>

<p>My monitor is set to sRGB, mi camera is also sRGB, and Lightroom is also in sRGB. But if I open my images in Lightroom they look much warmer (so much warm that someone walking by would say "why is your image so yellow") than Photoshop (or the browser, or ACDSee).</p>

<p>I have not been able to figure out why Lightroom displays the same file much warmer (without any editing) than the other colors. Even after export, they look colder (less yellow) in every other program than on Lightroom.</p>

<p>However, I do not see any difference at all between Firefox, IE, or Chrome for color, brightness, or contrast.</p>

<p>Carlos,<br>

I might be wrong on this but I believe setting your monitor to sRGB is incorrect.</p>

<p>And I don't think it's even possible to set LR to sRGB. Check your LR settings and see if you have a default setting in the development panel that sets a really warm color balance.</p>

<p>Thank you Dan... I will check those settings when I get back home from work this evening.</p>