LR and Monochrom issue?

[Ecar]

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I have noticed that the image preview in the Library module is substantially brighter in the dark zones than when viewed in the Develop module.

 

However, zooming in to 1:1 in the Develop module brightens up the dark zones of the image to a level similar to that of the Library module.

When exporting to JPEG, the brightness levels are also similar to those in the Library module.

 

Bottom line: I can't trust the standard preview in the Develop module to make global brightness/contrast adjustments.

This behavior seems to be more apparent when the original RAW file is (a) high-ISO, ( under-exposed and © with a healthy dose of shadow lifting applied.

 

Anyone else noticed this? Any idea as to what is going on?

[Ecar]

OK - answering my own post, in case someone is interested and assuming I got everything right.

 

After some research and a few calls, it would seem that the Develop module in Lightroom renders the image from linear 16-bit ProPhoto RGB, whereas the Library module renders from (compressed) 8-bit JPEG Adobe RGB previews.

In both cases, the images are converted in the monitor color space for viewing.

 

The difference in tonality appears only in some images (typically when exposure is pushed heavily and/or the shadows are lifted by a strong amount) and is the result of both posterization induced by the JPEG compression (in the Library module) and conversion to the monitor color space (in either module).

 

I still need to figure out why this seems to be more visible with MM images than with pictures taken with the M9 or M240, though...

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