Update to the latest Imago, then select the photo and choose Photo > Reload from Disk. Colour handling for raw files changed a lot between 0.4.0 and 0.7.1, and several flat-looking Sony and Fujifilm cases are fixed. Some Leica DNGs and dark, muted scenes still look dull.
Symptoms
- A raw photo looks flat, grey or desaturated as soon as you open it.
- The preview or thumbnail looks right, but the opened photo does not.
- Blacks look lifted, and the shadows look grey.
Fix
- Check your version in Help > About Imago (on macOS, Imago > About Imago). If it is older than 0.7.1, install the latest release. See Install Imago.
- Select the raw photo and choose Photo > Reload from Disk.
- If it still looks dull, adjust it by hand in the Edit panel. See Edit a photo.
- If you think the starting look is wrong for your camera, report it with the original raw file. See Get help with a problem.
Why this happens
Imago develops a raw from the sensor data and tries to match the look of the camera's own JPEG. How well it matches depends on the camera model.
- Sony ARW: on 0.5.0 and older, some Lossless Compressed M-size files had lifted blacks, and an A7 II file lost most of its colour. Both are fixed since 0.6.0. Some files still fall short on in-camera Dynamic Range Optimizer shots.
- Dark, muted scenes: Imago applies only part of the camera look to them, so they can start duller than the camera JPEG. This is not fixed in 0.7.1 (issue 865).
- Fujifilm X-Pro1 and Sony A7 IV: reported dull on 0.4.0 and fine on 0.6.0.
- Leica DNG: these files carry a colour matrix but no tone curve, so Imago shows them darker and flatter than the camera JPEG. This is not fixed in 0.7.1 (pull request 807).
- wide-gamut RGB: if the camera was set to wide-gamut RGB, 0.6.0 and older read the embedded JPEG as sRGB and matched to a too-dull target. Fixed in 0.7.1: Imago reads the JPEG in the colour space the raw file states.
- Black-and-white picture style: a raw shot in a monochrome picture style started about 1.3 EV darker than the same camera's colour shots. Since 0.7.1, Imago takes the tone from the camera's black-and-white JPEG.
A soft picture after zooming in
If a large raw looks soft right after you zoom in, wait a few seconds. Imago first shows the fit-size picture enlarged, then renders the zoomed area from the full-resolution raw and swaps it in. On a 61 MP file this can take a few seconds. If it stays soft at Zoom 100% (View > Zoom 100%), report it.