Lightroom Thumbnails too Bright

Forgive me is this has been answered before. I can't seem to find the answer on this forum.

My problem is that the thumbnails in Lightroom and Photoshop are way too bright. Looking at the thumbs, both raw and jpgs, they look overexposed by at least two-three stops. However, when I click on the thumbs to open the pictures, the pictures open up just fine. My monitor is calibrated with Spyder 3 and I'm using Windows 7, 64-bit, Lightroom 2.4, Photoshop CS4.

Can anyone tell me possibly why the thumbnails are brighter than the actual pictures? How do I fix this? Thanks in advance for your replies.

Not sure if I've heard this particular problem. After opening double-clicking thumbnail, then going back to grid mode, is that thumbnail fixed? Do you have it generate standard previews upon import?

Reason I ask is that until LR renders out its own preview it uses the one embedded into the RAW file by your camera. Usually LR renders its own previews after import (this could take a few minutes for a large import... and you'd see the thumbnails change as its working.) But if you've somehow told it NOT to render previews, it would use the embedded ones until you actually open each image.

When Lightroom imports the pictures they look fine initially, then as Lightroom renders its own previews, one by one they get very bright. I think the culprit was a portrait session I did with dark clothing and a dark blue background - it overcompensated the exposure. How do I tell Lightroom to to use the exposure in my camera and not an "auto" exposure upon import?

Check in preferences - it sounds like you've go 'apply auto adjustments' checked.

Victoria, are the thumbnails color managed?

tzalman wrote in post #8924320
Victoria, are the thumbnails color managed?

Yes

Thanks Victoria. I've noticed that it does the same thing in Photoshop Bridge as well. Is there a box I need to un-check in Photshop (or Bridge) preferences as well?

Thumbnails and the initial view of your RAW images in Lightroom are based on the Preview Jpg image that is embedded inside the RAW image. For Canon (I don't know about others) this will reflect your Picture Style settings. That is why images that are taken with the Monochrome Picture Style in camera will initially look B&W in Lightroom until the photo is actually rendered.

My guess is you are witnessing the difference between your embedded jpg preview and the actual photo.

John, if that's fixed it, there's an equivalent checkbox in the Camera Raw preferences in Bridge.

It fixed it! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Hallelujah!!!