Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
5K light bleed (and lag)
- Thread starter BJB Productions
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
All these various problems here discourage me from pulling the trigger....
I wouldn't be put off. When you've gone through numerous systems in the past, you tend to just accept that nothing is perfect. You'll find that at any normal brightness the light bleed isn't at all detectable, and only really is if you're looking for it in dark scenes in movies with the lights off and the screen brightness cranked.
I'm pretty thrilled with the RiMac. And I'm a bit of a tech perfectionist, so for me to be enjoying this out of the box is... pretty rare. Using my old 2012 iMac is PAINFUL now.
All these various problems here discourage me from pulling the trigger....
I feel your hesitance as well...I accept DOA items and faulty equipment I just don't want to wait 2 weeks for delivery just to send it back and wait another fortnight. Especially on something over $4K CDN
Well, I wanted (I mean still want) this to be my first iMac but for ~3.200 euros these problems should be taken into account. Nothing is perfect, that's for sure, but these problems are hardly minor, no? Some I expect to be ironed in the OSX update.. others I am not sure at all..
Hey guys ! Just a question for you riMac owners. Can you see the typical discoloration : Warm / yellowish from middle to bottom / cold / blue from middle to top. ??? How strong is it on a clear white background ? How strong is it here on board topic lines ?
That's so heavily over-exposed. I don't deny there's light leakage (they all have it), but it's hard to tell what's a realistic result with such over-exposures, especially since the black levels on these Retina iMacs is SO much better than previous years.
It is not over-exposed. But it is true that the camera exaggerates the contrast. Yet, it is clearly noticeable even at half brightness while watching a movie in cinemascope: you can see the bleeding in the black bars. It is also distracting while editing dark photographs.
It is true that some people won't even notice it. However, my 300 27" LG TV set does not show this, neither does my more than 8 years old Apple cinema display 30".
Fortunately, Apple's service is next to none, and I hope the replacement unit will be better.
I know an over-exposed image when I see one.
I don't deny there's light-bleed, - don't get me wrong. But that's definitely over-exposed.FYI, here's mine at half brightness and full brightness. I can easily over-expose it to look like yours, but it's not a big deal at all, and this is in a dark room when these pictures are taken.
Not the best pictures (they're pretty bad, but I'm kind of busy right now), but there's definitely light leakage, and with the exposure up it looks VERY similar to yours.
I'll say this:
A calibrated display is about 120cdm/2. That's a pretty darn low brightness level where you won't see any light leakage in a photograph-editing environment.
But, if, for whatever reason, you edit photos in a pitch dark room of night skies, at max brightness, the iMac is NOT for you.
Not the best pictures (they're pretty bad, but I'm kind of busy right now), but there's definitely light leakage, and with the exposure up it looks VERY similar to yours.
I'll say this:
A calibrated display is about 120cdm/2. That's a pretty darn low brightness level where you won't see any light leakage in a photograph-editing environment.
But, if, for whatever reason, you edit photos in a pitch dark room of night skies, at max brightness, the iMac is NOT for you.
Attachments
The one thing that stands out in this thread, is that the light leakage seems to emanate from the same areas on panel ( mine has same pattern ). So this will probably exist on all panels to some degree. Also I believe the glass lamination is causing some degree of pressure on panel creating clouding and uneven light distribution. This can be seen on black screen at full brightness and wiping panel with microfiber cloth ( as if cleaning surface ) and lightly applying pressure. For me issue translates to white point anomalies ( cooler and warmer ) areas on panel. Since I spend most time in applications with white background it becomes somewhat distracting. So I need to just get over it, except the nature of the beast and realize it's only thing on the market like it and enjoy the positives which are many
Last edited:
FYI, here's mine at half brightness and full brightness. I can easily over-expose it to look like yours, but it's not a big deal at all, and this is in a dark room when these pictures are taken.
Not the best pictures (they're pretty bad, but I'm kind of busy right now), but there's definitely light leakage, and with the exposure up it looks VERY similar to yours.
I'll say this:
A calibrated display is about 120cdm/2. That's a pretty darn low brightness level where you won't see any light leakage in a photograph-editing environment.
But, if, for whatever reason, you edit photos in a pitch dark room of night skies, at max brightness, the iMac is NOT for you.
Yours looks great, that's a keeper. I am so jealous, lol.
The OPs, even with overexposure, looked terrible. I posted a picture, on the 1st page, of my ipad air 2 I had to replace due to bad bleed. Light bleed is very common, it just depends to what extend. Also had a bad leaking rMBP where I had to replace the screen, and the new one is perfect. If you are anal about displays than never play the light bleed game in a dark room, it's not fun since you will loose most of the time.
Last edited:
Yeah it's pretty good, but it's NOT perfect. My crappy pictures don't really do it (in)justice. But it's certainly good enough, and as you say - I'm not going to dwell too much on it.
I doubt it will be resolved until they start using OLED displays in a few years. Until then LCD backlight bleed will continue to be an issue
I doubt it will be resolved until they start using OLED displays in a few years. Until then LCD backlight bleed will continue to be an issue
Exactly, unfortunately it is inherent with the technology.
Mine was much worse than others, but I'm afraid swapping wouldn't do much. I'm sure all the panels have bleed of some sort.
Just quickly scanning this thread, but aren't most of these observations and images representing the extremes of the screen brightness being totally cranked up?
My home office (average lighting I'm sure) only requires the screen brightness to be set at around 1/10th of the full brightness level (both day and night).
This screen is gorgeous. Extreme settings would likely expose "light bleed" but is that a real world usage issue?
Maybe there are exceptions. But personally I have never experienced such clean sharp quality print and images (provided the images are sharp to begin with).
My home office (average lighting I'm sure) only requires the screen brightness to be set at around 1/10th of the full brightness level (both day and night).
This screen is gorgeous. Extreme settings would likely expose "light bleed" but is that a real world usage issue?
Maybe there are exceptions. But personally I have never experienced such clean sharp quality print and images (provided the images are sharp to begin with).
Hey ,
I think missed what you decided to do in the end, I think you were mentioning a refund.
Did you get a refund or replacement?
If you did get a replacement what did appe say and how is the new one?
I'm curious. Thanks
I purchased the machine from B&H. I decided to return it instead of getting a new machine because I knew that most likely I would not be satisfied with the light bleed.
Thanks for you quick reply.
I understand you completly as I hate extreme light bleed myself. Had it happening three times now, twice on iPads and once on a rMBP, and it's a deal breaker for me.
You planning to still get one in the future?
Im also curious if you checked the store models in regards to the UI lag you mentioned? I wonder if yours was faulty or if its Yosemite not being optimised yet.
Sorry for the questions and thanks again.
As much as I (want) one, I'm going to hold out for the next generation when it gets a design refresh. (Could be a year or two). I'm also holding out because I really think the AMD is underpowered for the retina display and that's why I had lag doing normal tasks.
Correct. It's one of the worst aspects of the technology. All current display technologies are a compromise in some way or another (even OLED). But with LCD I think the move to IPS panels was 2 steps forward and 3 steps back. The previously common PVA panels (and its derivatives) had MUCH better uniformity and black level at the expense of very slight colour shift at different viewing angles. Personally I think that was a better set of compromises than what IPS offers.