Windows Laptop Edits Photos Automatically

[beau edwards]

I purchased a new laptop recently. It is a Dell Inspiron if that helps. It has the SD slot like I wanted. The problem that I have with it, however, is that when I put a photo on the laptop it edits it automatically. So, for one second I am looking at a fine picture, then about 3 seconds later it gets dark and unrecognizable. It tends to happen more to photos in the woods of birds and wildlife. It has the original photo editing software on it. I am putting older pictures on my laptop that I have already downloaded on my IPad that are much darker on my laptop. Is there something going on that is an easy fix, maybe an auto enhancing feature that needs to be shut off.
Thanks

 

[snowbear]

What format photos? Is it possibly a setting? I have a Dell Inspiron laptop and have never had that happen to photos from either of the Nikons, nor the phones.

 

[beau edwards]

I assumed it was jpeg, but the letters after the photo say cr2

 

[snowbear]

I think cr2 is a Canon raw file, basically raw data with an embedded jpg rendering. Try setting the camera to capture jpg and see if there is a difference.

 

[wfooshee]

Yeah, if you're opening CR2 files, you're opening the RAW image data, and whatever viewer the computer is using will have a set of default settings it will open that with. The CR2 file is just a starting point for you to use, and may not be representative of the image you end up with after post-processing. I shoot Nikon, and while I have added a utility that can view .NEF files (Nikon's RAW format) in Windows, it's not used to actually save or display images, but just to see what the image actually is.

My actual workflow starts with Photoshop and Camera Raw, and I almost never have a need to look at a RAW file from Windows unless I've misfiled and image or lost track of a folder name when uploading the images; I'll look at it real quick just to remind myself of the session, or I'll just right-click the file for properties and look at the date and time.

The CR2 files aren't actually images that you can pass around to friends or post to social media or wherever, so being able to view them in Windows is a convenience, but not part of actually using the images.

 

[Original katomi]

Canon do supply a quite decent raw editing prog for free. Depending on which version you can just down load or for later ver you will need the Sn from your camera
Digital photo pro..

 

[Strodav]

Nikon raw files are .nef . When I open them in Win 10 they initially appear a bit flat, like they should for a raw image, then after a few seconds the color becomes saturated. I'm guessing that Win Photos understands the file format and applies the camera's jpg settings, but the images I see are actually pretty good. It doesn't bother me because I apply my own enhancements in LrC then export as jpg.