PSP X4 darkens (reduces exposure) when opening new RAW files

[jostafew]

Hey everyone, I'm a relatively new user to PSP X4 and I've seen a strange behaviour when it opens a new batch of DNG RAW files from my Pentax K-R; it seems to automatically take a stop or two of exposure out of all of the photos, regardless of whether or not they were under/overexposed. I can watch it going through them one by one and reducing the exposure of each photo in that batch. So far I don't think that it's lost any information (crushed the blacks beyond repair) but it's annoying that now I have to go back and bring all the photos back up a stop of two to return them to a correct exposure. The same behaviour is not present when I open the DNG files in the Pentax photo editor (Silky-Pix).

Is there some sort of auto-behaviour that is doing this? I've looked through all the options / preferences that I can find and haven't come across anything that seems to be related. Asside from this I've been very happy with X4 and I think it's a great value for what it does, but I'm holding off on editing my latest batch of pics until I figure this out. Thanks in advance!

[pdxrjt]

Smarter minds than mine will probably give you a better answer, but for now: There is no "correct" way to open a RAW photograph. Hence, many people think JPEGs are better because they often look better coming right out of the camera, they have been processed by the camera. So a RAW editor simply opens the photo.... data is never lost in a RAW photo. In part, that is because I know of no program which can write back to RAW format (when you resave a photo it is either a different format or saved with a small file which tells the processor how to open this particular RAW image.) Anyway, a RAW processor is just opening the file with some predetermined parameters. My guess is that the RAW editor in PSP just has a different set of parameters than the RAW editor you are used to.... and in fact the one you are used to may initially give you a more pleasing result. The flexibility of RAW is (mainly) a strength but can be a pain at times. I am not sure if there is an automated way to create a profile, camera specific profile or batch process that will change the exposure of your pics.